Elevar Therapeutics Inc. and Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.’s licensing deal for camrelizumab (SHR-1210; Airuika in China) will add the PD-1 antibody to Elevar’s liver cancer armory for pairing with rivoceranib, its tyrosine kinase inhibitor on the brink of U.S. FDA review.
A new deal between privately held Hummingbird Bioscience Pte. Ltd. and Endeavor Biomedicines Inc. is just one of three antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) agreements reached in the past week, marking a fourth-quarter surge for the therapy. Endeavor has acquired the exclusive, worldwide rights to Hummingbird’s HMBD-501, a HER3-targeted ADC with an exatecan payload. Hummingbird could receive up-front and milestone payments of up to $430 million, along with royalties from net sales.
The University of Minnesota has disclosed monocarboxylate transporter (MCT1) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, graft-vs.-host disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, obesity and diabetes.
Research at Aurigene Oncology Ltd. has led to the discovery of a mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma translocation protein 1 (MALT1) inhibitor AU-MALT1-01 for the potential treatment of B-cell lymphomas including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).
Caribou Biosciences Inc. has received FDA clearance of its IND application for CB-012, an allogeneic anti-C-type lectin-like molecule-1 (anti-CLL-1) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. CLL-1 is highly expressed on acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells and leukemic stem cells, but it is not expressed on hematopoietic stem cells.
Structure-guided lead optimization at Merck & Co. Inc. has led to the discovery of MK-1084 as a highly potent and selective KRAS G12C-GDP inhibitor. As reported at the recent AACR-NCI-EORTC conference, the candidate demonstrated an excellent off-target and ion channel profile, with low potential for bile salt export pump (BSEP) inhibition.
Vividion Therapeutics Inc. has disclosed VVD-065, a novel, first-in-class, allosteric molecular glue of the KEAP1-CUL3 E3-ligase complex, for the potential treatment of NRF2-activated cancers. NRF2 (nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2) is a significant mediator of antioxidant response.
The mRNA technology used in vaccines against viral infections could also be developed for cancer therapies. A group of scientists has designed a circular RNA (circRNA) encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) that acts in the mitochondria of tumor cells through the protein gasdermin-D (GSDMD) and reduces adenocarcinoma. The work was published on Oct. 16, 2023, in Nature Cancer.