Copper overload within the body may lead to cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, inflammation or fibrosis, among others. Copper chelation is an effective strategy to counteract this potential overload; mitochondria play an important role, as they are the main copper-using organelles in the cells. Copper chelators have been developed, but they have shown some undesired off-target effects and low specificity, which suggests the need for new therapies in the field.
Cue Biopharma Inc. has reached a preclinical milestone in its collaboration and license agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, following the latter’s selection of a first compound for lead optimization. The milestone triggers a $7.5 million payment to Cue.
Fortitude Biomedicines Inc. has disclosed that its lead program, FORT-202, is a first-in-class T-cell-targeting bispecific antibody for the potential treatment of axial spondyloarthritis. As a bispecific antibody, FORT-202 is designed to address multiple disease-causing pathways and is expected to significantly improve therapeutic efficacy.
Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) research over the past century has shown that leukemia may be driven by an invisible hand of inflammation. The bone marrow and inflammation, then, may hold the keys to preventing blood cancers, according to John E. Dick’s plenary session at the 2026 Korean Society of Hematology International Conference (ICKSH 2026), held March 26, 2026. Work in Dick’s lab has found acute myeloid leukemia (AML) HSCs that harbor preleukemic mutations long before any disease diagnosis. These insights have enabled predictive models that could identify individuals at elevated AML risk years before the onset of outright disease, opening the door to new prevention strategies.
Work at Ventus Therapeutics US Inc. has led to the identification of new caspase-4 allosteric and/or caspase-5 inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of sepsis, stroke, myocardial infarction, acute respiratory distress syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, hidradenitis suppurativa, diabetic nephropathy and diabetic retinopathy, among others.
Rapt Therapeutics Inc. has patented new fused ring imidazole compounds acting as TNF-α modulators and thus reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, pain, metabolic and autoimmune disease, inflammation, neurological, cardiovascular and eyes disorders.
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder best known for its motor symptoms. However, a proportion of patients also develop dementia as the condition advances. Yet the biological divide between those who experience this cognitive decline and those who do not has remained an open question. Are they different conditions or simply stages of the same disease?
Biolojic Design Ltd. has earned an additional milestone payment from its collaboration partner, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., for TEV‘325 (TEV-56308, formerly BD-9), a multibody targeting IL-13 and thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) for autoimmune disease
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