LONDON – Enterome SA has raised €46.3 million (US$52.6 million) in a mixture of debt and equity, enabling it to take a new type of cancer vaccine, based on microbiome-derived antigens that mimic neoantigens expressed on tumor cells, into the clinic.
Nearly a week after filing for a $115 million IPO that it had put off for more than a year, and two months after dosing the first patient in its phase I trial in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, Poseida Therapeutics Inc. has closed on a $110 million series D to continue its CAR T-cell therapy programs.
At a session of the American Association for Cancer Research Virtual Annual Meeting II, multiple FDA regulators gave presentations on various topics to help drug companies understand the ever-evolving oncology regulation.
Targeted therapy offers an opportunity for personalized medicine that's specific for a patient's tumor, but the hyper-focused treatment creates possibilities for cells to mutate and become resistant to the therapy.
Gilead Sciences Inc. has acquired a 49.9% equity interest in privately held Pionyr Immunotherapeutics Inc., which could receive up to $1.15 billion in potential future milestone payments in the deal.
Almost all solid tumors are treated with multiple drugs because the combinations have better efficacy than single-agent treatments. But finding those combinations can be difficult in an ever-growing sea of pair-wise combinations.
Bolstered by the success of CTLA4 and PD-(L)1 antibodies, companies are exploring new targets to encourage the immune system to attack tumors. "While these agents have demonstrated efficacy in a proportion of cancer patients, there clearly is room for improvement to lift the tail of the curve," Michele Teng, associate professor at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, told the audience at the clinical trials plenary session of the American Association for Cancer Research Virtual Annual Meeting II, where researchers presented data from a pair of immunotherapies looking to build on the success targeting PD-(L)1.
Xpovio (selinexor), an oral selective inhibitor of nuclear transport from Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc., of Newton, Mass., received FDA approval today for treating adults with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), including DLBCL arising from follicular lymphoma, after at least two lines of systemic therapy. Xpovio will be available immediately in the U.S., the company said, and, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the launch will be a virtual one.
BEIJING – Suzhou, China-based Ascentage Pharma Group Inc. said on Monday that it is working with Astrazeneca plc’s hematology R&D unit, Acerta Pharma, to develop a combination therapy of its Bcl-2 inhibitor, APG-2575, with Acerta's BTK inhibitor, Calquence (acalabrutinib). The first patient has been dosed in the U.S.
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