Trex Bio Inc., which kicked off 2022 with a big pharma partnership, is back at it again, starting the new year with a potential $1.1 billion agreement with original backer Eli Lilly and Co. targeting immune-mediated diseases. Under the terms, Trexbio gets $55 million up front, with Lilly picking up an exclusive worldwide license for candidates from three programs.

Multiple myeloma (MM) represents about 10% of all blood cancers, remaining an incurable disease with a 5-year overall survival rate of 56%. B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) is a receptor in the cell surface that is highly expressed in malignant plasma cells, and in normal cells, that promotes cell proliferation and survival by binding to APRIL and BAFF ligands.

G-protein coupled receptor family C group 5 member D (GPRC5D) is a tumor-associated receptor that is highly expressed in multiple myeloma (MM) and is a potential target for therapy in MM. Preclinical data have been presented for FT-555, an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived CAR-NK (CAR-iNK) cell product that exerts dual targeting on GPRC5D and CD38 in combination with daratumumab.

Peptide-drug conjugates are an emerging class of molecules that allow efficient targeted drug delivery into tumors. Researchers from Oncopeptides AB and their collaborators presented data on the novel peptide-drug conjugate OPDC3, which has a novel alkylating payload, in models of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

The most common cause of anemia in chronically ill hospitalized patients is due to inflammatory anemia (IA) that is caused indirectly by diseases such as autoimmune, cancer, chronic kidney disease, congestive heart failure, or pulmonary disease. The precise and common etiology of these diseases involves hypercytokinemia that leads to excessive increases in hepcidin, a master regulator of iron homeostasis that blocks intestinal iron absorption when levels are too persistently high.

Non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) originate from a clonal expansion of B cells (85%), T cells/NK cells (15%) or macrophages (~1%) due to an accumulation of genetic lesions in tumor suppressor genes. Approximately 82,000 new cases of NHL were diagnosed in 2021.

Oncoprotein Myc is known to be dysregulated in about 70% of cancers, and it is highly expressed in leukemias and lymphomas. Targeting Myc has not been successful and is still an unmet clinical need for cancer patients.

The primary reason for hospitalization of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) is an acute systemic painful vaso-occlusive episode (VOE), which serves as an antecedent to acute chest syndrome (ACS). It has been previously demonstrated that P-selectin-dependent neutrophil-platelet aggregation and the complement pathway activation contribute to the vaso-occlusive pathophysiology in SCD.

Researchers from Cytovia Therapeutics Inc. have presented preclinical data for the novel natural killer (NK) cell engager antibody CYT-338, which was designed using the proprietary FLEX-NKTM platform. CYT-338 contains a novel FLEX-linker to redirect NK cells expressing NKp46 activation receptor to kill CD38-expressing tumors, including multiple myeloma (MM). It was observed that the addition of CYT-338 led to dose-dependent enhancement iNK and PBNK cytolysis of the MM tumor spheroids.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is characterized by hematopoietic precursors arrested in early stages of development. Approximately 20,000 diagnoses and 11,000 deaths occur annually in the United States despite treatment advances.