Laekna Inc. outlicensed select rights to LAE-002 (afuresertib), an oral pan-AKT kinase inhibitor licensed from Novartis AG in 2018, to Qilu Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. under a potential ¥2.045 billion (US$287.23 million) deal.
Roche AG’s Genentech unit landed another clinical victory with giredestrant that provided a major stock boost for competitor Olema Pharmaceuticals Inc. Made public were positive phase III data from the Lidera study testing selective estrogen receptor degrader and complete estrogen receptor antagonist (CERAN) as an adjuvant endocrine treatment for people with ER-positive, HER2-negative, early stage breast cancer (BC).
Shanghai Phrontline Biopharma Co. Ltd. has described antibody-drug conjugates comprising an antibody or antigen-binding fragment targeting HER2 (erbB2) covalently linked to a cytotoxic drug through a linker reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is one of several ABC transporters that can pump drugs out of tumor cells and thereby render chemotherapy ineffective. Overexpression of P-gp can give rise to multidrug resistance, making cancers quite difficult to treat. Several inhibitors of P-gp have been described, but none has entered the clinic, mainly because of poor efficacy or adverse reactions.
Type I protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) are an attractive target for inhibiting growth of triple-negative breast cancer. Several small-molecule inhibitors of these enzymes are in various stages of preclinical development, while clinical trials of the inhibitor GSK-3368715 had to be terminated early because of poor efficacy and toxicity.
Novartis AG has described peptide-drug conjugates comprising cyclic peptides targeting HER2 (erbB2) covalently linked to a radiolabeled metal chelator through a linker reported to be useful for diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
During the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, scientists from Plexium Inc. presented the identification of a new class of potent, selective, cereblon (CRBN)-based molecular glue degraders of CDK2 using its proprietary monovalent degrader platform.
CIS Biopharma AG recently presented an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting the L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM/CD171) as a potential candidate for the treatment of advanced tumors.
Two attractive drug targets in tumors are carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX), which helps maintain pH homeostasis in the hypoxic tumor, and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), which can reduce oxidative stress. Researchers from Università degli Studi di Firenze and collaborators aimed to inhibit both CAIX and GPX4 simultaneously.
Sutro Biopharma Inc. has outlined its next-generation antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) pipeline following recent IND clearance and initiation of phase I for its tissue factor-targeting ADC, STRO-004.
