Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) is a serine protease that is highly overexpressed in the stroma of most epithelial-derived tumors – including pancreatic, breast and colorectal cancers – in the context of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs).
Immuneering Corp. has obtained FDA clearance of its IND application for IMM-6-415, an oral, twice-daily small molecule in development for the treatment of advanced RAF or RAS mutant solid tumors.
Gigagen Inc., a subsidiary of Grifols SA, has received clearance from the FDA of its IND application to conduct a phase I trial of GIGA-564 for the treatment of solid tumors.
Pasithea Therapeutics Corp. has reported promising preclinical results from two in vivo studies evaluating the antitumor efficacy of PAS-004 (CIP-137401), a small-molecule allosteric inhibitor of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1 and 2 (MEK 1/2), in NRAS mutation cancer xenograft models.
Nextpoint Therapeutics Inc. has received FDA clearance of its IND application for NPX-887, a fully human monoclonal antibody targeting HHLA2 (B7-H7), a novel immune checkpoint and tumor target antigen highly expressed in many cancers independently of PD-L1.
Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Ltd.’s subsidiary Simcere Zaiming Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has received FDA clearance of an IND application for SIM-0501, an oral small-molecule inhibitor of ubiquitin-specific peptidase 1 (USP1), for advanced solid tumors.
Phenomic AI Inc. has announced new collaboration agreements to help advance drug discovery for stroma-rich tumors using its Sctx single-cell transcriptomics platform.
KSQ Therapeutics Inc., in collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Cell Therapy Manufacturing Center (CTMC), have announced FDA clearance of an IND application for a phase I/II study of KSQ-001EX, KSQ’s lead engineered tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (eTIL) program.
Pasithea Therapeutics Corp. has received written responses from the FDA to questions submitted for a type 2 pre-IND meeting regarding the clinical development plan for PAS-004 (CIP-137401).
Carisma Therapeutics Inc. has received FDA clearance of its IND application for CT-0525, an ex vivo gene-modified autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-monocyte cellular therapy intended to treat solid tumors that overexpress human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2).