Shanghai-based Henlius Biotech Inc. and India’s Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd. agreed upon a potential €185 million (US$195.38 million) licensing deal for Intas to develop and sell Henlius’ China NMPA-approved lung cancer drug, serplulimab, across Europe and India. Serplulimab (HLX-02) is a recombinant humanized PD-1 monoclonal antibody (MAb) injection that first gained approval as Hansizhuang in March 2022.
NaPi2b is a sodium-dependent phosphate transporter that is mainly responsible for phosphate homeostasis in humans. Overexpression of NaPi2b has been associated with several types of cancers such as lung, ovarian, thyroid or breast carcinomas and thus is considered a therapeutic target to exploit in these conditions.
Kumquat Biosciences Inc. has described heterocyclic compounds and PROTACs acting as GTPase KRAS (G12D, G12C, G12S and G13D mutant), and/or G12V and wild-type GTPase KRAS inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Researchers at Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have synthesized cucurbitacin B derivatives acting as NF-κB activation inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory disorders.
In a positive sign for its future success, Harbinger Health Inc. closed a $140 million series B fundraising round, bringing total funds raised since its founding in 2020 to $190 million. The new funds will be used to support completion of the company’s CORE-HH 10,000 participant study of its blood-based multicancer early detection (MCED) test. The company expects to complete enrollment in CORE-HH, a three-part case control, adaptive study with development, validation and longitudinal cohorts in 2024.
U3-1402/patritumab-GGFG-DXd is the first HER3-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) showing clinical efficacy in non-small-cell lung cancer. However, an elevated proportion of patients with this cancer express low levels of HER3 and are nonresponsive to this ADC. In addition, novel ADCs are needed to treat other cancer types, including colorectal cancer.
Researchers from Kanaph Therapeutics Inc. and Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology have disclosed prostanoid EP2 and/or EP4 receptor subtype dual antagonists reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.