Researchers from University of Belgrade, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and affiliated organizations have provided details on the discovery of novel orally bioavailable BET inhibitors as potential anticancer drug candidates.

Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd.’s PARP inhibitor, senaparib (JS-109/IMP4297), met the primary endpoint of progression-free survival in a phase III ovarian cancer study, according to a prespecified interim analysis.

Alentis Therapeutics SA has closed a $105 million series C round which will fund simultaneous phase II and phase Ib trials of anti-Claudin-1 antibodies in the treatment of organ fibrosis and phase I development in fibrosis-associated cancers. At the same time, the company will extend the reach of its Claudin-1 biology into antibody-drug conjugates and bispecific constructs, to further exploit the role of the transmembrane protein in maintaining cellular integrity and controlling cell-to-cell signaling.

Tumor cells are known to produce high amounts of intracellular lipids, leading to increased levels of fatty acids, cholesterol and membrane phospholipids. Death domain-associated protein (DAXX) is a small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO)-binding protein that plays a role in transcription regulation by interacting with transcription factors such as p53 and NF-κB.

The most comprehensive study to date of how lung cancer evolves in response to selection pressures indicates the genetic profile at diagnosis can be used to predict how a tumor is likely to progress, opening up new prospects for personalized medicine and potential therapeutic targets. The data were generated in Tracerx (Tracking cancer evolution through therapy), a £14 million (US$17.4 million) study funded by the charity Cancer Research UK (CRUK) with the aim of defining how clonal heterogeneity of tumor cells affects the risk of recurrence and survival.