Sotio Biotech AS, a company owned by PPF Group, has entered into a license and option agreement with Synaffix BV, a Lonza company, to develop next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for the treatment of solid tumors.

At the AACR-NCI-EORTC meeting in Boston, Aurigene Oncology Ltd. reported their research on paralogue selective degraders of SMARCA2 (AU-SM2-1) and SMARCA4 (AU-SM4-1).

Cancer treatments for targeting tumor amplifications lag behind those targeting point mutations – and part of the reason may be that amplifications often reside on extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA). Since ecDNA was first described back in 1965 as minute chromatin bodies in brain cancer cells, the use of large-scale DNA sequencing techniques has revealed the presence of ecDNA across a wide range of cancer types. “The circular structure of ecDNA is associated with increased proto-oncogenic capacity in comparison to linear amplifications. Another key feature is that ecDNA does not contain centromeres,” Roel Verhaak, from Yale School of Medicine, told the audience in a session at the 2023 AACR-NCI-EORTC Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Boston.

Precision cancer biotech Abion Inc. announced a positive interim phase II readout for ABN-401, its novel c-mesenchymal-epithelial transition (c-MET)-targeting tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), lighting a runway to its next trial as a combination regimen.

No one is looking in the rearview mirror at Medtronic plc as a fresh U.S. FDA approval for the next generation version of its intrathecal drug delivery system allows the company to leave behind a spate of problems associated with its Sychromed II device. The device delivers medication directly to the fluid surrounding the spinal cord via a small catheter positioned to deposit the drug at the site of most severe pain. The targeted delivery improves management of chronic and cancer-related pain as well as management of severe spasticity without use of systemic opioids.

Medilink Therapeutics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. has entered into a strategic research collaboration and worldwide license agreement with Biontech SE for the development of a next-generation antibody-drug conjugate candidate (ADC) against HER3.

Researchers from Panolos Bioscience Inc. and affiliated organizations have published preclinical data for PB-101, a novel glycosylated decoy protein targeting both vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and placental growth factor (PlGF).