Two independent studies applied CRISPR-based genetic editing – one to treat leukemia and the other to target myeloma – to overcome the challenges faced by CAR T cells, such as exhaustion, impaired activation and fratricide, a phenomenon in which they attack each other.
Checkpoint inhibitors have transformed cancer therapy by enhancing immune responses against tumors. However, their effectiveness is limited, as many patients do not respond due to the absence of a pre-existing immunity against the cancer cells. Addressing this gap requires new immunotherapies that can promote cancer-cell antigen recognition and engage multiple immune pathways to effectively reprogram the tumor microenvironment and stimulate a robust antitumor response.
Simcere Zaiming Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has obtained IND clearance by the FDA for SIM-0609, a CDH17-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) for the treatment of advanced solid tumors. An IND was also approved in China earlier this month.
Rakuten Medical Inc. is advancing a pipeline of solid tumor therapeutics built on its Alluminox platform worldwide, having gained conditional early approval of ASP-1929, an Alluminox-derived photoimmunotherapy, in Japan in 2020.
The U.S. FDA approved Merck & Co. Inc.’s Keytruda Qlex (pembrolizumab and berahyaluronidase alfa-pmph) injection on Sept. 19, making it the first and only subcutaneously (SC)-administered immune checkpoint inhibitor that can be administered in about a minute.
When used as monotherapy against tumors, small molecules that mimic the SMAC protein and thereby inhibit apoptosis are ineffective. The same is true for inhibitors of BET family proteins. If each therapy on its own does not work, what about the two therapies together?
The U.S. FDA approved Merck & Co. Inc.’s Keytruda Qlex (pembrolizumab and berahyaluronidase alfa-pmph) injection on Sept. 19, making it the first and only subcutaneously (SC)-administered immune checkpoint inhibitor that can be administered in about a minute.
HCW Biologics Inc. has developed second-generation, tissue factor-targeting T-cell engagers (TCEs) to treat solid tumors, particularly pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma, constructed with its novel proprietary TRBC product discovery and development platform technology.
Xtalpi Inc. has announced regulatory clearances in Australia and Taiwan for phase I trials of PEP-08, a next-generation PRMT5 inhibitor candidate developed under its AI drug discovery collaboration with Pharmaengine Inc., for solid tumors. This milestone triggered a payment to Xtalpi under the partnership agreement.
About two years since its founding, new company Radiance Biopharma Inc. signed a deal in which it could pay up to $1.165 billion to Novatim Immune Therapeutics Co. Ltd. for global rights outside of certain Asian countries to a bispecific nanobody antibody-drug conjugate that targets c-MET and EGFR to treat solid tumors.
