The U.S. FDA gave Bot Image Inc. a coveted threefer with 510(k) clearance for its Prostatid artificial intelligence (AI) software for detection, diagnosis and monitoring of prostate cancer using both standard MRI and a non-invasive bi-parametric MRI, which does not require a contrast agent.
Prostate cancer is the second most prevalent solid tumor in men and the fifth leading cause of cancer mortality in men worldwide. One of the proteins overexpressed in prostate cancer is serine/threonine-protein kinase PIM-1. There is evidence about the potential role of PIM-1 as a target in prostate cancer and the effect in cellular apoptosis that reducing levels of PIM-1 through its inducers JAK2/STAT3 may exert.
While Moderna Inc. CEO Stéphane Bancel was the one on the hot seat at a March 22 hearing before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, biopharma profitability in general, and capitalism itself, came under fire as committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) railed about corporate greed in the sector.
CSPC Megalith Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has disclosed antibody-drug conjugates comprising a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting nectin-4 covalently linked to cytotoxic agents through a linker. They are reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
As it struggles to launch a recently approved drug, Acer Therapeutics Inc. hit pause in its ACER-801 (osanetant) program after top-line data in the phase IIa proof-of-concept study failed to hit statistical significance.
Optimism for the GoCAR-T program had perked somewhat after a mid-February update, but hopes were definitively dashed as Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc. made known March 15 its decision to quit the phase I/II study testing two prospects in heavily pretreated cancer. The Houston-based firm’s stock (NASDAQ:BLCM) closed at 43 cents, down 50%, as Wall Street reacted to news regarding the study, designed to test GoCAR-T cell prospects BPX-601 and BPX-603 when combined with the activating agent rimiducid, a lipid-permeable tacrolimus analogue.
Voltron Therapeutics Inc., a portfolio company of Lucius Partners LLC, has signed a new sponsored research agreement (SRA) with the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard Medical School to initiate a preclinical immuno-oncology study targeting prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) in prostate, renal cell and urothelial cancers.
Radiopharmaceutical company Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. is acquiring a phase II actinium-based alpha-emitter radiopharma program for prostate cancer from Radiomedix Inc.
