Lantern Pharma Inc. has generated a new class of highly specific and highly potent antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with a cryptophycin drug-payload, in collaboration with Bielefeld University.
Researchers from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and collaborators have successfully treated bladder tumors in mice using urease-powered nanobots. The testing consisted of the administration of 18F-nanorobots to tumor-bearing mice divided into four groups depending on tumor volumes using a group of non-tumor-bearing mice as control. Importantly, the therapy remained in the bladder with only a very small proportion of radioactivity seen in other organs. The results were published in Nature Nanotechnology on Jan. 15, 2024.
Veracyte Inc. revealed plans to buy C2i Genomics Inc. at the J.P. Morgan Health Care Conference in San Francisco on Jan. 8, a move that will significantly expand its portfolio of cancer diagnostic and monitoring assays. The terms include $70 million in Veracyte shares to be paid at closing plus an addition $25 million payable in cash or Veracyte shares over the next two years if C2i achieves certain performance milestones.
Ractigen Therapeutics Co. Ltd. has submitted a clinical trial application in Australia seeking to conduct a phase I study of RAG-01, a small activating RNA (saRNA) drug candidate, in patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer who have not responded to Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy.
Flare Therapeutics Inc. has patented peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ, PPARG) inverse agonists reported to be useful for the treatment of bladder cancer.
Ferring Pharmaceuticals A/S has struck a deal with Royalty Pharma for $500 million, capital it plans to plough into achieving a successful launch of its approved bladder cancer gene therapy, Adstiladrin (nadofaragene firadenovec), in the U.S., as well as enabling it to upgrade and expand its manufacturing sites.
Investors will have to wait for durability of response (DoR) data from Urogen Pharma Ltd.’s phase III Envision study with UGN-102 (mitomycin intravesical solution) in low-grade, intermediate-risk, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, but urologists already characterize what’s available so far from that study, as well as Atlas – another late-stage experiment – as practice-changing.
Theralase Technologies Inc. has pioneered technology said to selectively infiltrate and kill non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) at the cellular level. Bladder cancer generally is the 10th most common cancer in the world (6th in men and 17th in women), and gradually showing up in greater numbers in other patient groups.
