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.
Back-to-back papers in the June 22, 2023, issue of Nature have identified separate molecular mechanisms underlying sex-specific cancer outcomes. Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that increased expression of the epigenetic enzyme KDM5D, which is located on the Y chromosome, contributed to cancer progression in KRAS-mutated tumors. In the same issue of Nature, a team from Cedars-Sinai reported new insights into the consequences of losing the entire Y chromosome.
The U.S. FDA issued a complete response letter regarding the BLA for Immunitybio Inc.’s bladder cancer treatment, N-803 (Anktiva), halting the drug’s development and slicing the stock value in half. The problems stem from the FDA’s pre-license inspection of Immunitybio’s third-party contract manufacturing organizations, the company said. It said the FDA also had recommendations for specific chemistry, manufacturing and controls issues and assays that needed to be resolved before the BLA can be approved.
A new urine test from Convergent Genomics Inc. correctly predicts bladder cancer as early as 12 years before clinical symptoms occur, new data presented at the 2023 American Urological Association annual meeting shows. The Uroamp test, which can be administered at home and in point-of-care settings, could increase survival rates and help to reduce health care costs.
