Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare approved Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd.’s Ezharmia (valemetostat tosilate), the first dual inhibitor of histone methyltransferases EZH1 and EZH2 for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory adult T-cell leukemia and lymphoma. It’s Daiichi Sankyo’s fifth new oncology medicine approved in Japan in the past three years.
Shares of Lava Therapeutics NV rocketed by more than 90% Sept. 26 as the company disclosed a licensing deal with Seagen Inc. to develop and commercialize preclinical-stage EGFR-targeting bispecific candidate LAVA-1223, which comes with $50 million in up-front funding and up to a potential $650 million in milestones. It also adds further validation for harnessing gamma-delta T cells to treat cancer, an approach that is growing increasingly popular.
Stratosvir Ltd. aims to overcome the drawbacks experienced with oncolytic viruses, using technology based around vaccinia viruses that allow for a systemic injection and with a larger payload capacity. Stratosvir was started up by CEO Chris Ullman and co-founder Antonio Postigo in 2020 with funding from Cancer Research UK and the Deep Science Ventures, tasked with finding new ways of treating solid tumors.
The U.S. FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) took up the matter of Oncopeptides AB’s long-storied multiple myeloma (MM) drug, Pepaxto (melphalan flufenamide), and briefing documents ahead of the meeting – which provided little cause for optimism – proved predictive of ODAC’s vote. Shares of Oncopeptides (Stockholm:ONCO) have dropped more than 64% over the past five days as investor jitters worsened.
Guangzhou Henovcom Bioscience Co. Ltd. has identified new imidazole TGF-β receptor type-1 (TGFBR1; ALK5; SKR4; TβR-I) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, hepatic fibrosis, inflammation, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, diabetic nephropathy and renal disorders, among other disorders.
Shanghai Qilu Pharmaceutical Research and Development Centre Ltd. has described new serine/threonine-protein kinase PLK4 (STK18) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Levena Biopharma Co. Ltd. and Sorrento Therapeutics Inc. have synthesized antibody-drug conjugates consisting of auristatin analogues covalently linked to monoclonal antibody targeting B-cell maturation protein (BCMA) through a linker.
Kancera AB has shown that its Fractalkine-blocking candidate drug may increase the efficacy of platinum-based chemotherapy and reduce tumor growth in animal models of ovarian cancer.
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