Sofinnova Partners raised a whopping €1.2 billion (US$1.26 billion) over the past year to invest in life sciences companies ranging from incubation to later-stage growth, and spanning biotech, med tech, industrial biotech and digital medicine.
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains one of the most aggressive and challenging subtypes to treat due to the lack of targeted therapies. Therefore, identifying molecular drivers of TNBC progression and metastasis is crucial for the development of new treatment strategies.
The nuclear protein charged amino acid-rich leucine zipper 1 (Crlz-1) has been shown to play a role in the rapid proliferative stages of B-cell development, being targeted by the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.
In8bio Inc. has unveiled INB-600, its next-generation γδ T-cell-based T-cell engager (TCE) platform designed to address one of the shortcomings of current existing γδ TCEs, specifically insufficient numbers of γδ T cell effector cells to deliver clinical impact. The platform could have applications across oncology as well as autoimmune diseases.
Laekna Inc. has obtained FDA clearance of its IND application for LAE-120, an allosteric and highly potent USP1 inhibitor, for the treatment of advanced solid tumors.
Although radiotherapy is widely used in cancer treatment, its effects on the tumor microenvironment (TME) can be immunosuppressive as well as immunostimulatory. Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) is expressed by cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in several tumors, with higher levels linked to a weakened immune response to immune checkpoint blockade in patients.
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have uncovered a key mechanism underlying the treatment resistance of melanoma with the BRAF V600E mutation through pathways involved in focal adhesion and extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling. These two processes remodel the tumor cell environment in melanoma through the RAF/MEK cell signaling pathway. However, the combined use of FAK inhibitors with a RAF-MEK clamp overcame this resistance.
Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)-focused Callio Therapeutics debuted on March 3 with the closing of a $187 million series A financing round based on cancer drug technology and assets in-licensed from Hummingbird Bioscience Pte Ltd.
Guangdong Fapon Biopharma Inc. has obtained IND clearance from the FDA for FP-008, its first-in-class immunocytokine for patients with solid tumors refractory to anti-PD-1 therapy.