Immuneoncia Therapeutics Inc. raised ₩33.9 billion (US$24 million) from its Kosdaq listing May 19. Shares closed at ₩7,500 – 108% higher than its offering price of ₩3,600 per share. Immuneoncia, a joint venture founded in 2016 between Seoul, South Korea-based Yuhan Corp. and San Diego-based Sorrento Therapeutics Inc., noted that the funds will support R&D operations until 2026.
Although HER2-targeted therapies have become a mainstay in cancer treatment, some tumors evade them by stripping away the portion of the HER2 receptor that most therapies are built to recognize and bind to, but Taiwan’s AP Biosciences Inc. is developing bispecific antibody AP-402 to address treatment-resistant HER2+ cancers.
More telling than the U.S. FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee’s 4-5 vote May 21 on the overall benefit-risk of Urogen Pharma Inc.’s UGN-102 (mitomycin) is that the panel’s urology specialists and the patient representative all voted yes, saying the drug would be an important alternative to what is often a continuing cycle of surgery for patients with recurrent low-grade intermediate-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.
Orionis Biosciences Inc. is sticking with Genentech Inc. in a second deal to discover small-molecule monovalent glue therapies for treating cancer. Privately held Orionis is getting $105 million up front and could earn more than $2 billion in R&D, development, commercial and net sales milestones, plus royalties. The multiyear collaboration calls for Orionis to handle discovery and optimization of molecular glues, with Genentech in charge of later-stage preclinical and clinical development, regulatory filing and commercialization of any small molecules the partnership produces.
Pfizer Inc. is paying $1.25 billion up front and up to $4.8 billion in milestone payments to gain global, ex-China rights to SSGJ-707, a PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody from 3Sbio Inc. that recently won China clearance for a phase III study in lung cancer as a potential first-line monotherapy. Announced after U.S. market hours May 19, the exclusive agreement for SSGJ-707 spells up to $6.15 billion combined for Shenyang, China-based 3Sbio, along with separate tiered double-digit royalty payments on sales of SSGJ-707, if approved.
Researchers at the University of Chicago have shed light on the role of tumor-promoting factors induced by radiotherapy and their potential impact on future therapeutic strategies. The article, published in Nature on May 14, 2025, points to radiation-induced amphiregulin as a key driver of tumor metastasis.
With a PDUFA date less than four weeks away, Urogen Pharma Inc. has been having a rough ride on the Street since the U.S. FDA released a joint briefing document for the May 21 Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting on UGN-102 (mitomycin).
Incyte Corp.’s Zynyz (retifanlimab-dlwr) has received another U.S. FDA approval and put some distance between it and a 2021 complete response letter. The FDA gave the humanized monoclonal antibody targeting PD-1 the nod for first-line treatment of adults with inoperable locally recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal. That makes it the only approved first-line treatment for this cancer.
Newco Avidicure NV arrived on the scene with a hefty $50 million in seed funding to advance novel antibody formats the company says will surpass the best qualities of first-generation antibodies, checkpoint inhibitors, T-cell engagers and antibody-drug conjugates.
The U.S. FDA granted Abbvie Inc. accelerated approval for antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) Teliso-V (telisotuzumab vedotin), newly branded Emrelis, making it the first treatment for previously treated advanced non-small-cell lung cancer with high c-Met protein overexpression.
RSS
