China will deepen its health care reforms and will focus on enhancing its public health care capacity at the primary care level and at public hospitals, according to resolutions passed at the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in July.
Closely watched-for phase I data from Elevation Oncology Inc. in the Claudin 18.2 space sent shares of the Boston-based firm (NASDAQ:ELEV) down 63%, or $1.35, to close Aug. 6 at 78 cents. Elevation provided initial data from the dose-escalation portion of the ongoing experiment with antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) EO-3021 in patients with advanced, unresectable or metastatic solid tumors likely to express Claudin 18.2, including gastric, gastroesophageal junction (GEJ), pancreatic or esophageal cancers.
Big pharma continues to invest heavily into molecular glue degraders. The latest deal has Eisai Co. Ltd. striking up a research collaboration that could bring Seed Therapeutics Inc. up to $1.5 billion in up-front and milestone payments. The two said they plan to discover, develop and commercialize MGDs for several undisclosed neurodegeneration and oncology targets.
Risen (Shanghai) Pharma Eng Co. Ltd. and Risen (Suzhou) Pharma Tech Co. Ltd. have divulged proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) compounds comprising an E3 ubiquitin ligase binding agents coupled to GTPase KRAS or its mutant targeting moiety through a linker reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Jacobio Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. has prepared and tested cellular tumor antigen p53 (TP53) (Y220C mutant) stabilizers reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Researchers from the University of Brescia have presented the discovery and preclinical characterization of novel fibroblast growth factor (FGF) trap small molecules, being developed for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM).
Researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and affiliated organizations have presented data from a study that aimed to identify the prognostic markers related to abnormal methylation in ocular melanoma, including uveal melanoma (UM).
Immunovia AB significantly increased the accuracy of its test for the early detection of pancreatic cancer, achieving an 85% sensitivity and a specificity of 98%.
Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMS) has terminated its $1.3 billion-plus deal for Agenus Inc.’s anti-TIGIT bispecific antibody AGEN-1777 as part of a promised belt-tightening. In May 2021, BMS paid Agenus a non-refundable $200 million up-front payment in cash for the licensing, manufacturing and commercialization agreement, then a $20 million milestone payment in December 2021 and another clinical milestone payment in January 2024 for $25 million.
The possibility of a 2025 approval looks to be off the table for Actinium Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Iomab-B, at least in the U.S. In a move that H.C. Wainwright analyst Joseph Pantginis dubbed “a major surprise,” the FDA has requested a head-to-head study demonstrating overall survival before it will consider approving the radiotherapy candidate for use in patients with active relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia.