Prostate cancer, the second most frequent malignancy among men worldwide, can be treated using various antagonists of the androgen receptor, but many patients develop resistance within 18-24 months, and the resistance can block efficacy of not only the first-line antagonist but later-line antagonists as well. Therefore next-generation antagonists based on novel scaffolds are urgently needed.
Minerva Biotechnologies Corp. recently released details on their work to develop a treatment for HER2-positive patients who have acquired resistance to Herceptin (trastuzumab) or Enhertu (trastuzumab-deruxtecan).
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) accounts for more than 90% of cases of pancreatic cancer, and prognosis for PDAC remains poor despite treatment advances. One reason is that PDAC downregulates the display of antigens on the surface of tumor cells, helping it evade the patient’s immune system and therapies involving immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Incyte Corp.’s Zynyz (retifanlimab-dlwr) has received another U.S. FDA approval and put some distance between it and a 2021 complete response letter. The FDA gave the humanized monoclonal antibody targeting PD-1 the nod for first-line treatment of adults with inoperable locally recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal. That makes it the only approved first-line treatment for this cancer.
Halda Therapeutics LLC has synthesized heterobifunctional compounds able to bind both androgen receptor and bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4; HUNK1) reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
ADC Therapeutics SA has described antibody-drug conjugates comprising antibody targeting sodium-dependent phosphate transport protein 2B (SLC34A2; NaPi-2b) covalently linked to exatecan through a linker reported to be useful for the treatment of ovarian cancer and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Gen1e Lifesciences Inc. has disclosed drugs targeting extracellular-regulated kinase (ERK) reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, inflammatory disorders, autoimmune and lung diseases.
Starg (Wuhan) Pharmaceutical Technology Co. Ltd. has discovered compounds acting as diacylglycerol kinase ζ (DGK-ζ) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which accounts for up to 80% of cases of primary liver cancer, is typically diagnosed in an advanced stage, meaning a poor prognosis. Understanding what drives progression may help identify proteins and pathways that can be targeted to slow down the disease.