A review of 2025's noteworthy advances in medical research, including GLP-1 receptor agonists as anti-aging drugs, tumor-agnostic therapies and xenotransplants.
Hutchmed (China) Ltd. has moved closer to establishing China’s first domestically developed FGFR-targeted therapy for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, after the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) accepted its NDA for fanregratinib (HMPL-453) and granted the drug priority review.
Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health has disclosed bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BD2 domain) (BRD4 BD2) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of diabetes, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular disorders, male contraception, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, viral and parasitic infections and cancer.
Venetoclax has shown good results for adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in combination with azacitidine, but there is increasing evidence of inherent and acquired resistance. High expression of nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) has been associated with cancer aggressiveness and poor prognosis due to increased nicotinamide metabolism.
Previous work showed that histone ‘readers’, which bind to post-translational modifications on histones, may be upregulated in melanoma and thereby upregulate oncogenes. Given that the histone reader ATAD2 is known to be overexpressed in several types of cancer, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham asked whether the same is true in melanoma.
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as potential markers of disease, since they associate with proteins that regulate gene expression, translation or stability, among others, and where hypoxia might play a role in this scenario. In recently published work, researchers analyzed clinical data from patients with lung adenocarcinoma to identify hypoxia-modulated lncRNAs in vivo and in vitro, and which could correlate with prognosis.
Over the course of the year, and continuing into the latest scientific meetings, an extraordinary breadth of new antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) designs was reported, with innovations spanning targets, linkers, payloads, conjugation chemistries and overall architectures. Once defined by a simple “one target, one payload” model, the field is lately expanding into a more versatile and diverse therapeutic space.
Hanx Biopharmaceuticals (Wuhan) Co., Ltd. raised HK$586 million (US$75.37 million) in its IPO on the Hong Kong Securities Exchange (HKEX:3378) on Dec. 23 to advance its clinical stage immuno-oncology pipeline.
China’s National Medical Products Administration approved Innovent Biologics Inc.’s NDA for Tabosun (ipilimumab N01, IBI-310) in combination with sintilimab as neoadjuvant treatment for stage IIB-III resectable microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair deficient colon cancer.
U.S. policy, China’s strategic rise, blockbuster deals and AI dominated South Korea’s biotechnology industry this year, with U.S. tariffs and the Biosecure Act’s hitch onto 2026 legislation serving as major topics of speculation.
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