CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. has received IND approval from the FDA for a phase I study in the U.S. of its antibody-drug conjugate CPO-204 in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer.
Sotio Biotech AS has exercised its first of five exclusive, target-specific options with Legochem Biosciences Inc. for antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) SOT-106, which is currently being evaluated in preclinical studies in multiple solid tumor indications.
Point Biopharma Global Inc. has released new preclinical data from its pan-cancer fibroblast activation protein-α (FAP-α) targeted program, PNT-2004. The preclinical study focused on assessing the potential of the lead candidate in the PNT-2004 clinical program, [177Lu]PNT-6555, in combination with anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) immunotherapy.
Context Therapeutics Inc. has selected CTIM-76, a T cell-engaging bispecific antibody, as its lead clinical development candidate to target Claudin-6 (CLDN6)-positive cancers. Resulting from a research collaboration and licensing agreement with Integral Molecular Inc., CTIM-76 is a CLDN6 x CD3 bispecific antibody that incorporates a highly selective CLDN6 binding arm and a CD3 binding single-chain Fv domain in an IgG format with a silenced Fc that is designed to be functionally monovalent to avoid aberrant T-cell activation and to enhance the safety profile.
Does cancer cause autoimmune disease or is it the other way around? In looking at the question of which comes first, the chicken or the egg, researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Australia found that a genetic mutation that alters immune cells in leukemia is behind certain autoimmune disorders.
Rgenta Therapeutics Inc.’s $52 million in a series A money will let the RNA-focused firm pursue its small-molecule drug efforts “for the next two or three years,” as candidates in cancer and neurology make their ways toward the clinic, said co-founder and CEO Simon Xi. “We’ll go where the science leads us,” he told BioWorld, adding that the cash on hand is sufficient to complete a phase I study.
Astrazeneca plc is beefing up its cell therapy capabilities in immuno-oncology by acquiring Neogene Therapeutics BV for an initial outlay of $200 million. There’s up to $120 million more on the table for undisclosed milestones and what the companies called a “non-contingent consideration.” Even without the additional earnouts, the deal represents a profitable return for Neogene’s shareholders. The Amsterdam-based firm had raised $110 million in a series A round in 2020, which represented the largest A round in Europe that year. Since then, it has started to move its first program, an autologous engineered T-cell receptor (TCR) T-cell therapy directed against up to five neoantigens, toward a phase I trial in patients with solid tumors.
A combination of radiation therapy and CD47 blockade induced an abscopal effect in animal studies even in animals that lacked T cells, researchers reported in the Nov. 21, 2022, online issue of Nature Cancer.
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