Researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and collaborating institutions aimed to shed light on the physiological role of mesothelin (MSLN) and to identify antibodies that directly inhibit its function in tumor progression.
Agora Open Science Trust’s wholly owned open science drug development company, M4K Pharma, has nominated M4K-2009 as the lead development candidate for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). The ALK2 inhibitor program is now advancing into IND-enabling studies for this pediatric brain cancer.
Laigo Bio BV has raised €11.5 million (US$13.7 million) in a seed round for the further development of a new approach to inducing targeted protein degradation by E3 ubiquitin ligases.
Synnovation Therapeutics Inc. has described heterocyclic compounds acting as nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NFE2-related factor 2; NFE2L2; NRF2) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Lanova Medicines Ltd. has synthesized antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) comprising antibodies targeting sialyl-Tn antigen (STn) linked to an exatecan derivative through a linker reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Wigen Biomedicine Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. has disclosed phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase α (PI3Kα) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of solid cancers and hematological cancers.
The overexpression of ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase 1 (ENPP1) is tied to poor prognosis in several cancer types, including osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma, and is therefore a potential therapeutic target in these cancers. In this regard, Avammune Therapeutics Inc. is developing an ENPP1 inhibitor – AVA-NP-695.
Receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) helps promote the survival of cancer cells, and degrading it can sensitize tumors to immunotherapy against PD-1. Degrading the entire protein seems to be essential: merely blocking its kinase activity does not sensitize tumors.