At the 61st American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, multiple companies presented clinical trial data showing their drugs and devices helped patients with pancreatic cancer live longer or improve their ability to respond to treatment.
Biontech SE and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. are teaming up to develop Biontech’s BNT-327 in a deal possibly worth over $11 billion. BNT-327 is in the hot new class of bispecific antibodies targeting programmed death-1 (PD-1) or its ligand (PD-L1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The bispecifics take advantage of two well established mechanisms of action that help tumors grow; PD-1/PD-L1, which tells immunogenic T cells not to attack the tumor, and VEGF, which tumors excrete to produce new blood vessels to supply oxygen and other nutrients to the tumor.
Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. has described protein cereblon (CRBN) inhibitors and proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) compounds reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Treeline Biosciences Inc. has divulged proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) comprising cereblon (CRBN) ligands coupled to a Bcl-2-like protein 1 (Bcl-xl; Bcl-X; BCL2L1) targeting moiety via a linker acting as Bcl-xl degradation inducers reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Among gynecological cancers, ovarian cancer is the deadliest one and with the worst prognosis primarily due to resistance to platinum-based therapies. Esculetin has been shown to exert antitumoral effects in some cancer types, but its effect on ovarian cancer is not well known.
Multiple myeloma (MM) is a complex and heterogeneous blood cancer, and current risk assessment tools like the Revised International Staging System (R-ISS) have limitations in accurately predicting prognosis, especially for the intermediate-risk R-ISS II group.
The polarization of macrophages is crucial in modulating the tumor microenvironment and impacting cancer development. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified as key regulators in this process.
Interferon (IFN)-α, on paper, should be quite effective against hepatocellular carcinoma, the most frequent form of primary liver cancer. IFN-α can suppress tumor growth directly by acting on tumor cells, as well as indirectly by activating cytotoxic CD8+ T cells. In addition, it can slow replication of hepatitis B virus, which is involved in 50% to 80% of cases of hepatocellular carcinoma. However, IFN-α on its own has performed disappointingly in clinical trials.
Despite the advancement of AI and machine learning technologies and their incorporation into cancer treatment and drug development, a lack of trust and understanding of these new approaches is impeding care and treatment.
In yet another China antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) deal, Astellas Pharma Inc. is inlicensing a phase I/II ADC targeting Claudin 18.2 from Evopoint Biosciences Co. Ltd. for up to $1.34 billion.
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