Harpoon Therapeutics Inc. provided updated interim monotherapy data from 71 patients in its phase I/II trial testing HPN-328 in small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) and other neuroendocrine tumor types in a poster at the European Society of Medical Oncology Congress (ESMO). Wall Street immediately began comparing the compound, which takes aim at delta-like ligand 3 (DLL3) with a similar prospect from Amgen Inc. that recently yielded promising results.
Some cancers with a poor prognosis have had no new treatments in decades. Advances in the genetic characterization of these tumors now offer a range of possibilities for the development of new therapies that could completely change the quality of life and survival of these patients.
On track to move its lead candidate, MC-339, into the clinic for small-cell lung cancer in 2024, Mariana Oncology Inc. raised $175 million through an oversubscribed series B round co-led by Deep Track Capital and Forbion. The radiopharmaceutical company was incubated for 18 months before raising $75 million through a series A in December 2021, and has since built out its R&D division and a phase I/II manufacturing unit. It currently has 50 employees.
Chengdu Easton Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. has described lysine-specific histone demethylase 1A (KDM1A, LSD1) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Genprex Inc. announced that the FDA has granted orphan drug designation to the company's lead drug candidate, Reqorsa immunogene therapy (quaratusugene ozeplasmid, GPX-001), for the treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Reqorsa contains a plasmid that expresses the tumor suppressor gene TUSC2, the expression of which is reduced or not present in SCLC.
Shanghai Lisen Imprinting Pharmaceutical Technology Co. Ltd. has disclosed EGFR (HER1; erbB1) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of small-cell lung (SCLC) and l lung cancer (NSCLC).
Circle Pharma Inc. has selected CID-078 as its first clinical development candidate. CID-078 is an orally bioavailable macrocycle with dual cyclin A and B inhibitory activity that drives synthetic lethality in multiple tumor types.
Coimmune Inc. has obtained a license to target delta-like ligand 3 (DLL3) with IL-18 armored chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology. The company exercised an option to obtain an exclusive license in the DLL3-targeted, allogeneic CAR-cytokine induced killer (CAR-CIK) cell therapy field to IL-18 armored CAR technology under an agreement with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK).
Imaginab Inc. has selected and advanced into IND-enabling studies IAB-56, a minibody designed to target the αvβ6 integrin for use as Lu-177 radiopharmaceutical therapy in solid tumors. In parallel, the DLL3-targeting program, IAB-57, will further assess several leads in the coming quarter prior to initiation of IND-enabling studies later this year.
Generate Biomedicines Inc. and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have established a strategic collaboration to jointly discover and codevelop protein therapeutics for up to five oncology targets in advanced cancers, including small-cell and non-small-cell lung cancer.
