Eikon Therapeutics Inc. has received IND clearance from the FDA to initiate phase I studies with IMP-1734, a highly selective poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1) inhibitor developed in partnership with Impact Therapeutics Inc.
It has been previously demonstrated that glypican-3 (GPC3) is differentially expressed in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), making it a promising target for radiopharmaceutical therapy to treat HCC. At the ongoing meeting of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine in Vienna, researchers from Rayzebio Inc. and Peptidream Inc. presented the preclinical characterization of a novel proprietary peptide binder of GPC3, RAYZ-8009.
Osimertinib is a third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor with documented efficacy in non-small-cell lung cancer. However, in most cases, patients develop resistance to this treatment by mechanisms that are not clear in half of the cases. Researchers from Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital presented data on BC-3448, a bispecific antibody targeting EGFR and CD3 aimed to recruit T cells to tumors with high EGFR expression leading to T cell-driven tumor cell killing. The compound presents a stronger binding affinity for EGFR than for CD3 to avoid the development of cytokine release syndrome, which is a safety issue common in CD3-based bispecific antibodies.
With the U.S. FDA’s approval of Biolinerx Ltd.’s stem cell mobilization agent Aphexda (motixafortide) for treating multiple myeloma (MM) patients, the company is prepping for a launch in the next two or three weeks.
Moderna Inc. has more than COVID-19 vaccines in the hopper, and the company aims to add still more oomph by way of an oncology deal with Immatics NV that could be worth more than $1.7 billion for the latter, which banks $120 million up front and stands to collect research funding as well.
Springboarding off the success of its AI-based imaging software for cancer detection, the deep learning-based artificial intelligence (AI) company Lunit Inc. has another AI software, called the Lunit Scope, up its sleeve for which it hopes to gain U.S. FDA approval by 2025.
Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd.’s HER3-directed antibody-drug conjugate patritumab deruxtecan showed clinically meaningful and durable responses in patients with EGFR-mutated locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the Herthena-Lung1 phase II trial.