Marker Therapeutics Inc.’s update from the safety lead-in stage of its phase II study of MT-401 in treating post-transplant acute myeloid leukemia saw response in one of the six participants. The results from the study of the multitumor-associated antigen-specific T-cell product also known as zelenoleucel saw firms such as Oppenheimer cut its target price for Marker to $5 from $8 and Piper Sandler to cut its target price from $5.50 to $4.
Remix Therapeutics Inc., a company developing small molecules to manipulate RNA processing, stands to earn upward of $1 billion through a new strategic collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV. A Cambridge, Mass.-based startup, Remix last year patented new RNA splicing modulators. It will receive an initial payment of $45 million for research funding plus potential preclinical, clinical, commercial and sales milestone payments, and royalties. Janssen gains exclusive rights to three targets with applications in immunology and oncology.
Modra Pharmaceuticals BV is planning to move its oral formulation of docetaxel into a pivotal trial, hoping to offer advanced prostate cancer patients a safer treatment option than intravenous chemotherapy. The Amsterdam, the Netherlands-based company has just announced phase IIb results in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer from ModraDoc-006/r, a tablet containing docetaxel and co-administered with ritonavir to enhance bioavailability.
Before taking on the role of CEO at Bluesphere Bio Inc., David Apelian would have said the most exciting work he’d done in immuno-oncology had been at Globeimmune Inc., where he’d served as chief medical officer for more than a decade, working in the field of cancer immunotherapy “back when no one believed the immune system would be something we could leverage against cancer.”