Researchers working at Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic reported in the November 8, 2021, issue of NatureCancer that an inhibitor of the beta-amyloid producing enzyme, BACE1, could reprogram tumor-promoting M2 macrophages to exert M1 tumor-suppressing activities in animal models of glioblastoma multiforme.
Alpha Tau Ltd. has secured a second breakthrough device designation for its Alpha Dart radiation treatment for solid cancer tumors. The FDA has granted the Jerusalem-based company’s technology a designation for the treatment of patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), an aggressive malignant brain tumor. GBM has an average five-year survival rate of less than 10% and is the most common malignant tumor of the brain or central nervous system. According to the designation, the Alpha Dart system can be used to treat recurrent GBM as an adjunct to standard medical therapies or as a standalone therapy after standard medical therapies have been exhausted.
Vigencell Inc., a company focused on immune cell therapy, raised ₩99.4 (US$85.17 million) through an IPO on South Korea’s Kosdaq board and plans to use the funds to drive its R&D and company operations. “We particularly want to increase the competitiveness of our pipeline by advancing our technology and clinical development,” Vigencell CEO Tai-Gyu Kim told BioWorld. “We will also expand our discovery of new candidates and R&D in general, as well as updating our facilities and hiring researchers.”
New top-line data from Kintara Therapeutics Inc.’s phase II study of its lead candidate, VAL-083, in recurrent glioblastoma multiforme were incrementally better than data released in April, and that’s just fine with CEO Saiid Zarrabian. “Normally, in my experience, top-line data usually regresses a little,” Zarrabian told BioWorld. “The fact that it improved could be a reflection of the small size of the study, but it adds a little more interest to top-line data.”
With Pharmabcine Inc.’s anti-angiogenic antibody TTAC-0001 (olinvacimab) already in testing against recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and metastatic triple negative breast cancer, CEO Jin-San Yoo is now giving serious thought to starting trials to test it in children with brain tumors. Plans to begin four additional trials between the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022 are also underway.
PERTH, Australia – Imagion Biosystems Ltd. has entered a collaborative research program with therapeutic antibody development company Patrys Ltd. to combine their technologies to target brain tumor imaging and diagnosis.
Century Therapeutics Inc. raised $160 million in a series C round to progress its preclinical pipeline of allogeneic cell therapies for cancer, which are derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and to expand its operational, laboratory and production facilities across several locations.
PERTH, Australia – Sydney-based Kazia Therapeutics Ltd. has out-licensed its ovarian cancer drug, Cantrixil (TRX-E-002-1), to Sweden’s Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB in a deal worth up to $46 million.
Oasmia will pay $4 million up front, and development milestones worth up to $42 million and double-digit sales royalties.
While several companies are looking to help recurrent glioblastoma patients, Carthera SAS has taken a step forward by bringing its Sonocloud-9 device into a phase I/II clinical trial. Northwestern University in Chicago will collaborate with the company in the trial, which is expected to enroll up to 39 patients. The first patient already has been treated.
Sonalasense Inc., a company working in the field of sonodynamic therapy, is collaborating with the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute to conduct a first-in-human clinical trial of its noninvasive sonodynamic therapy for the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (rGBM). The sonodynamic platform technology uses a dual approach with aminolevulinic acid (ALA) and MRI-guided focused ultrasound to target glioblastoma cells for destruction.
