It’s been a decade since the first checkpoint inhibitors were approved, but the problem of low response rates remains in many forms of cancer. Highlight Therapeutics SL, of Valencia, Spain, hopes to change all that with an approach that primes the body to become more responsive to immunotherapies.

Shares of Ultimovacs ASA (OSE:ULTI) climbed 16.6% to NOK148.60 (US$17.82) on news the FDA will expedite an eventual review of its investigational cancer vaccine, UV-1, in combination with checkpoint inhibitors for the potential treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

In studies that give new insights into both developmental biology and the origins of melanoma, investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical College have identified the activity of chromatin remodeling protein ATAD2 as necessary for cells with the oncogenic mutation V600E to give rise to melanomas. Involvement of epigenetic factors in cancers, or their targeting, is not new in cancer – as HDAC inhibitors as well as newer drugs such as the EZH2 inhibitor Tazverik (tazemetostat, Epizyme Inc.) demonstrate. But to Richard White and his colleagues, the point of their work is not so much about individual targets.

In studies that give new insights into both developmental biology and the origins of melanoma, investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical College have identified the activity of chromatin remodeling protein ATAD2 as necessary for cells with the oncogenic mutation V600E to give rise to melanomas.

LONDON – Endomag Ltd. has received endorsement from the U.K. health technology assessment body NICE, opening the way to broader adoption of its Magtrace non-radioactive cancer staging technology in the National Health Service, and providing backing for commercialization of the system in other markets.

Oncohost Ltd. has opened eight U.K. trial sites in the study assessing the ability of its artificial intelligence (AI)-driven proteomics profiling technology to single out which cancer patients will respond to treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors. The sites will carry out proteomic analyses of blood samples from patients with late-stage melanoma or non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), to predict their likely response to immunotherapy.

Phase II data from Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc. in advanced melanoma at the recent meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology turned up an important relationship between previous anti-PD-1 therapy exposure and the durability of treatment response. Findings added weight to the idea that tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) should be deployed earlier in therapy.

Veriskin Inc. has emerged from stealth mode with a noninvasive technology for skin cancer diagnosis and screening. The hand-held device, called Truscore, is designed to help nonexpert users quickly ascertain if a suspicious skin lesion is cancerous. Truscore works by detecting and interpreting force-induced hemodynamic differences between normal and malignant skin sores. It uses a proprietary artificial neural network-based artificial intelligence algorithm and protocols to differentiate skin cancers from other harmless skin conditions.

Castle Biosciences Inc. deepened the moat around its position in melanoma diagnostics with the acquisition of Myriad Mypath LLC from Myriad Genetics Inc. The acquisition gives Castle (NASDAQ:CSTL) the Myriad Mypath Laboratory in Salt Lake City where the Mypath Melanoma 23-gene expression profile (GEP) test is owned and offered. Mypath Melanoma joins Castle's Decisiondx Diffdx-Melanoma, enabling Castle to provide comprehensive molecular testing for difficult-to-diagnose melanocytic lesions.