DUBLIN – Shares in Oncopeptides AB dropped 26% July 8 on news that the FDA had placed a partial clinical hold on a raft of trials involving its newly approved multiple myeloma drug Pepaxto (melphalan flufenamide; melflufen), following a bizarre incident involving the incomplete handover to an independent review committee of data from a phase III head-to-head trial in myeloma, which had pitted melflufen against Pomalyst (pomalidomide).
A collaboration between Oncosec Medical Inc. and Merck and Co. that yielded positive phase II study data has paved the way for a phase III study between the two companies. Oncosec’s DNA-plasmid interleukin-12 (IL-12) Tavo (tavokinogene telseplasmid) will be combined with Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in a randomized, global phase III study for treating late-stage metastatic melanoma.
The whopper June buyout of by Morphosys AG of Constellation Pharmaceuticals Inc. brought renewed attention to myelofibrosis (MF) and other players in the space, such as Sierra Oncology Inc.
Getting cell therapies to work against solid tumors is proving difficult – but two biopharma firms have begun early-stage studies with technologies that aim to crack this tough nut. Gadeta B.V. and Apeiron Biologics AG are using two different approaches to cell therapy that they hope will be effective against tough-to-treat solid tumors.
LONDON – Following on from the $25 million up-front payment received on sealing their recent research collaboration, Mina Therapeutics Ltd. is now in line for a $15 million equity investment from Eli Lilly and Co. Inc.
Advaxis Inc.’s long journey is ending happily by way of a merger with Biosight Ltd. that leaves the new firm with $50 million to help advance aspacytarabine (BST-236), a prodrug of cytarabine for acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.
New top-line data from Kintara Therapeutics Inc.’s phase II study of its lead candidate, VAL-083, in recurrent glioblastoma multiforme were incrementally better than data released in April, and that’s just fine with CEO Saiid Zarrabian. “Normally, in my experience, top-line data usually regresses a little,” Zarrabian told BioWorld. “The fact that it improved could be a reflection of the small size of the study, but it adds a little more interest to top-line data.”
Just months after Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc's inventory of a therapy key to treating certain acute lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphoblastic lymphoma patients appears to have run out, FDA approval has arrived for an alternative: a recombinant version of the medicine the company developed, Rylaze (asparaginase Erwinia chrysanthemi (recombinant)).
Arrivent Biopharma Inc. has raised a series A financing worth up to $150 million to in-license compounds from China and bring them to the rest of the world. Arrivent’s focus is in oncology and its first in-licensed asset is furmonertinib, a third-generation EFGR tyrosine kinase inhibitor from Shanghai-based Allist Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.
As the first flagship action of Europe’s plan to beat cancer, the European Commission launched its Cancer Knowledge Center June 30. The new online platform will map the latest evidence on cancer, provide health care guidelines and quality assurance schemes, and monitor and project trends in cancer incidence and mortality across the EU, where cancer is the No. 1 killer for people younger than 65.
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