New company Pan Cancer T BV is preparing for a clinical trial of a next-generation T-cell receptor-engineered T cell it has designed to remove the current barriers and make T-cell therapies effective in treating solid tumors. Its products have two distinguishing features: They are targeted at antigens the company has shown are exclusively and robustly expressed by multiple solid cancers, and have a minor genetic modification that enhances the durability of autologous TCR-Ts in the tumor microenvironment after they are administered back into a patient.
The lively antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) space chalked another collaboration as Taipei, Taiwan-based Foreseen Biotechnology Co. Ltd. scored a global licensing agreement worth as much as $1.03 billion with Ipsen SA, of Paris, for antibody-drug conjugate FS-001, which is said to bear first-in-class potential. The drug takes aim at a novel tumor-associated antigen that is overexpressed in many solid tumors and plays a critical role in tumor proliferation and metastasis, the companies said.
Kazia Therapeutics Ltd.'s stock shot up 248% on July 10 after the Sydney-based company reported that paxalisib showed a 3.8-month improvement in overall survival, a 33% improvement, for newly diagnosed unmethylated patients with glioblastoma (GBM) compared to the concurrent standard-of-care arm in the pivotal GBM-Agile phase II/III study.
The industry is looking, with renewed hope, to the “promise” of messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics for a wide range of diseases beyond COVID-19, and not only in vaccine form but also for gene and cell therapies.
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. is adding one more income stream to its portfolio, with the $100 million acquisition of Apeiron Biologics AG, owner of royalty rights to Qarziba, a treatment for high risk neuroblastoma that is currently marketed in 35 countries and is en route to approval in the U.S.
Soligenix Inc. investors were extremely enthusiastic about the positive interim update for the company’s cancer therapy and light device, Hybryte, for treating for treating early stage cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. The Princeton, N.J.-based company’s stock (NASDAQ:SNGX) soared a whopping 464% before closing at a more modest but still massive of 271% increase to $7.42 each on July 9.
Biocity Biopharmaceutics Co. Ltd.’s selective endothelin receptor type A antagonist, SC-0062, met the primary endpoint of reducing proteinuria in a phase II chronic kidney disease trial. The candidate showed a clinically meaningful and statistically significant reduction in proteinuria, with a clear dose-response relationship and good safety profile.
Ideaya Biosciences Inc. appears to be in the lead to develop a treatment for tumors with deletions in both copies of methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP). Despite the large market with an estimated annual incidence rate in the U.S. of approximately 75,000 patients, there are no FDA approved therapies for MTAP-deleted solid tumors.
As developers in the oft-troubled TIGIT class forge onward, Roche Holding AG’s Genentech unit provided an unfavorable update July 5 on the phase II/III Skyscraper-06 study testing anti-TIGIT candidate tiragolumab plus Tecentriq (atezolizumab) and chemotherapy vs. Keytruda (pembrolizumab, Merck & Co. Inc.) and chemo as first-line treatment for non-squamous non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Nanjing, China-based Iaso Biotherapeutics Co. Ltd. has bought out global rights to human anti-B cell maturation antigen CAR T Fucaso (equecabtagene autoleucel) from partner Innovent Biologics Inc.
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