Oric Pharmaceuticals Inc. is quitting development of ORIC-101 after interim analyses of two phase Ib studies concluded that the clinical activity does not justify going forward with the compound. The company was testing ORIC-101, a glucocorticoid receptor antagonist, combined with Abraxane in various solid tumors and paired with Xtandi in metastatic prostate cancer.

A new mechanism has been discovered by which cells infected with the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes are able to escape the immune response, and which at the same time confers a higher probability that infected cells will adhere to and infect cerebral vessels and cross the blood-brain barrier.