1st Biotherapeutics Inc. has received clearance from the FDA for its IND application to evaluate FB-849, a small-molecule hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1) inhibitor, in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Researchers from Nalo Therapeutics Inc. presented the discovery and preclinical evaluation of a novel orally bioavailable and brain-penetrant epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor, NX-019, being developed as a potential therapeutic agent to treat EGFR-mutant solid tumors.

Onxeo SA has expanded its pipeline of drug candidates with OX-425, an optimized new compound of the OX-400 series sourced from its proprietary Platon platform.

Astrazeneca plc is beefing up its cell therapy capabilities in immuno-oncology by acquiring Neogene Therapeutics BV for an initial outlay of $200 million. There’s up to $120 million more on the table for undisclosed milestones and what the companies called a “non-contingent consideration.” Even without the additional earnouts, the deal represents a profitable return for Neogene’s shareholders. The Amsterdam-based firm had raised $110 million in a series A round in 2020, which represented the largest A round in Europe that year. Since then, it has started to move its first program, an autologous engineered T-cell receptor (TCR) T-cell therapy directed against up to five neoantigens, toward a phase I trial in patients with solid tumors.

Molecure SA has received clearance from the Polish Office for Registration of Medicinal Products, Medical Devices and Biocidal Products to conduct the first clinical trial of OATD-02.

Trophoblast glycoprotein, also known as 5T4, is widely expressed in several solid tumors; cluster of differentiation 47 (CD47) is an ubiquitous immune checkpoint receptor that is also overexpressed in many solid tumors as well as in hematological cancers. A Yuhan Corp. research team has presented preclinical results on YH-38560, a bispecific fusion protein that targets both 5T4 and CD4 for the potential treatment of solid tumors.

Catalym GmbH raised €50 million (US$51.3 million) in a series C round to expand and accelerate phase IIa development of visugromab (CTL-002), a first-in-class growth differentiation factor 15 inhibitor, across a range of solid tumor indications.

Researchers from Carisma Therapeutics Inc. have provided details on the discovery and preclinical evaluation of a novel mesothelin-targeting chimeric antigen receptor macrophage (CAR-M), CT-1119, being developed as a potential solid tumor immunotherapy candidate.