PERTH, Australia – Sydney-based Chimeric Therapeutics Ltd. has acquired exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize the City of Hope Cancer Center’s chlorotoxin chimeric antigen receptor cell therapy that uses a peptide derived from scorpion toxin to direct T cells to target glioblastoma.
Sessions at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress, that has just concluded, provided an excellent opportunity for investors and analysts alike to familiarize themselves with the late-stage progress of new therapeutics aimed at improving cancer treatment. Overall, data presented at the meeting appear to have been positively received, a factor that has helped push up the value of the price-weighted BioWorld Cancer index this month.
Following days of speculation, Illumina Inc. said today it will acquire liquid biopsy startup Grail Inc. for $8 billion in cash and stock, bringing back into the fold a company it spun out in 2016. The deal gives Illumina a major stake in the race the race to develop a less-invasive way to diagnose cancer. Since spinning out, Grail has raised nearly $2 billion from big-name investors with promises of a blood test for early cancer detection and is hoping to introduce its liquid biopsy as a laboratory-developed test (LTD) as early as next year.
Gilead Sciences Inc.’s recent decision to acquire Immunomedics Inc. looks even smarter now in light of the full data in a phase III study of Trodelvy (sacituzumab govitecan-hziy) released at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) over the weekend.
Gastric cancers were the focus of the final plenary session of the European Society for Medical Oncology’s Virtual Congress 2020. Results from the Checkmate-649, ATTRACTION-4, and Keynote-590 studies showed that advanced gastroesophageal tumors can benefit from first-line treatment with PD-1 checkpoint blockers in addition to chemotherapy, staving off progression and death by a few months.
One of the highlights of the first presidential program at this year’s European Society for Medical Oncology 2020 Virtual Congress were results from the Checkmate 9ER study by Toni Choueiri, who is the director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Checkmate 9ER tested the use of a combination of checkpoint blocker Opdivo (nivolumab, Bristol Myers Squibb Co.) and receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor Cabometyx (cabozantinib, Exelixis Inc.) as first-line treatment for advanced renal cell carcinoma.
CDK 4/6 inhibitor Verzenio (abemaciclib, Eli Lilly and Co.) reduced the risk of recurrence in women with high-risk hormone receptor driven and HER2-negative breast cancer when added to endocrine therapy in the monarchE phase III trial.
New and updated preclinical and clinical data presented by biopharma firms at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020, including: Amgen, Astrazeneca, Bayer, Blueprint, BMS, Chi-Med, Eisai, Exelixis, Genentech, Genmab, Immunomedics, Innovent, Ipsen, Janssen, Lilly, Macrogenics, Merck, Novartis, Oncternal, Ose, Pieris, Regeneron, Roche, Sanofi, Seattle Genetics, Veru.
Shares of Marseilles, France-based Innate Pharma SA took a hit recently after making known the adjustment of its lucrative deal with Astrazeneca plc for monalizumab in recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN), but opinions are divided on what it means.
New and updated preclinical and clinical data to be presented by biopharma firms at the European Society for Medical Oncology Virtual Congress 2020, including: Agenus, Alkermes, Astrazeneca, Autolus, Ayala, Beigene, Daiichi, Deciphera, Eisai, Essa, Faron, Helsinn, Immunomedics, Immutep, Incyte, IO, Ipsen, Italfarmaco, Menarini, Mirati, Regeneron, Sanofi, Sensei, Spectrum, Sumitomo, Takeda.
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