Vevo Therapeutics Inc. raised $12 million in an over-subscribed seed round to build out an in vivosingle-cell screening platform, which will enable it to interrogate simultaneously the effects of small molecule drug leads on multiple cancer cell lines.
New and updated clinical data presented by biopharma firms at the ESMO Immuno-Oncology Congress 2022, including: Immunocore, Jounce, NGM, Promontory, Rapt.
Shares of Oncopeptides AB dropped 35% Dec. 7 on the U.S. FDA’s request to withdraw marketing authorization of Pepaxto (melflufen), a drug that had gained accelerated approval in early 2021 for use in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. The move followed a negative advisory committee vote in September 2022 and is based on the outcome of the confirmatory phase III Ocean study.
Replimune Group Inc. has found consistent treatment efficacy in its pivotal phase II Ignyte melanoma study. The interim data strongly bolstered the stock (NASDAQ:REPL), which ended Dec. 7 with a 22% increase to $23.09. The new results for the combination treatment show what Replimune called clinically meaningful durable activity across the range of anti-PD1 failed cutaneous melanoma presentations, including in patients with moderate to high tumor burden, with 85% of responses ongoing.
Accession Therapeutics Ltd. has raised £16.6 million (US$20.3 million) in a series A round, as it prepares to take two targeted oncolytic/payload combination viruses into the clinic. At the same time, the company disclosed that the scientist who devised the tumor-only targeting mechanism is Alan Parker, professor of translational virotherapies at Cardiff University.
In a massive deal that is one of the year’s biggest, Akeso Inc. signed a collaboration and license deal with Summit Therapeutics Inc. to out-license its bispecific antibody, ivonescimab (AK-112), for development and commercialization in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan.
All gains made throughout the summer have vanished as the BioWorld Cancer Index (BCI) has hit its lowest point in 2022. Down 41.9% this year, BCI diverged in October from the path taken by both the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), both of which are moving upward. Still, NBI is down 7.8% and DJIA is down 5.4% for the year.
Theratechnologies Inc. paused enrollment of a phase I trial testing TH-1902, its lead peptide-drug conjugate for sortilin-expressing cancers, after finding efficacy "not convincing enough" nor outweighing adverse events in some participants, an undisclosed number of which experienced neuropathy and eye toxicity, the company said.
Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s ahead-of-deadline approval from the U.S. FDA of Rezlidhia (olutasidenib) twice-daily capsules for adults with relapsed/refractory (r/r) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) came as a surprise to the company, but followed encouraging interactions, “including a very positive midcycle review meeting,” said CEO Raul Rodriguez, adding that the firm will “redouble our efforts to make sure we're able to convey the information supporting this product” to the marketplace. Regulators had assigned the compound a Feb. 15, 2023, PDUFA date.