As congressional scrutiny of the U.S. FDA’s accelerated approval path continues, the agency is focusing research efforts into appropriate disclosure on direct-to-consumer websites about a drug’s accelerated approval and the status of confirmatory trials. Previous research by the FDA’s Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (OPDP) found that 27% of DTC websites providing information about a drug with accelerated approval don’t disclose that the products are on the market through accelerated approval.

Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have turned pancreatic cancer’s immunosuppressive properties, and mechanisms, against itself. The team have used the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes as a delivery vehicle for tetanus toxoid protein, a highly immunogenic antigen that is used in childhood tetanus vaccinations. In mouse models of pancreatic cancer, treatment reduced both primary tumors and metastases, and extended survival.

In its drive to rewrite the rules of the tumor microenvironment so it can capture of the holy grail of successfully battling solid tumors by using T cells, Affini-T Therapeutics Inc. has completed an oversubscribed $175 million. The focus is to develop multiple oncogene driver programs for treating solid tumors such as those with mutated KRAS variants into the clinic, pursue complementary technology licenses to strengthen its cell therapy platform and to optimize its discovery engine.

Oric Pharmaceuticals Inc. is quitting development of ORIC-101 after interim analyses of two phase Ib studies concluded that the clinical activity does not justify going forward with the compound. The company was testing ORIC-101, a glucocorticoid receptor antagonist, combined with Abraxane in various solid tumors and paired with Xtandi in metastatic prostate cancer.

Researchers at the University of Queensland have found a genetic link between endometriosis and ovarian cancer subtypes, enabling them to identify potential drug targets for therapy and increasing the understanding of both diseases.

Bristol Myers Squibb Co.’s relatlimab will hit the market as the first U.S. FDA-approved LAG-3 inhibitor, cleared by the agency for use in a fixed-dose combination with Opdivo (nivolumab) to treat adult and pediatric patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma. The approval, a day ahead of the March 19 FDA target date, adds another type of immune checkpoint inhibitor to the oncology arsenal, which already includes drugs targeting PD-1/PD-L1 and CTLA4.

Volastra Therapeutics Inc., dedicated to taking aim at chromosomal instability (CIN) to design cancer drugs by way of its CINtech platform,, scored a potential $1 billion-plus agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMS) to find synthetic lethal targets as drug candidates.