Cancer researchers are increasingly turning to the microbiome to understand why some patients respond well to treatment while others face severe complications. Gut microbial communities shift during intensive therapies such as bone marrow transplantation, and those changes influence infection risk, immune recovery and long‑term survival. New advances in microbial sequencing and engineering redefine this community as a measurable clinical parameter that can be monitored, modeled, and even therapeutically reshaped to improve outcomes in oncology and other conditions.

While the emergence of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy in recent years has significantly improved cancer outcomes, some patients have been unable to experience the full therapeutic benefits of ICIs due to significant gastrointestinal inflammation linked to treatment. Seres Therapeutics Inc. is looking to change that with its live biotherapeutic candidate, SER-155, offering impressive findings from phase I data in ICI-related enterocolitis, or irEC.

Astrazeneca plc has added a dual PDE3/4 inhibitor candidate to its chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) portfolio via a deal worth up to $2.1 billion with Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd., a Sino Biopharmaceutical Ltd. subsidiary.

The EMA is recommending withdrawing Amgen Inc.’s complement inhibitor Tavneos (avacopan) from the market in Europe, saying data provided at the time it assessed the MAA “were found to be incorrect and misleading and could no longer be relied upon for demonstrating Tavneos’ effectiveness.”

Nuvectis Pharma Inc.’s shares climbed further after the oncology-focused biotech nabbed select rights to a late-stage complement factor B inhibitor (HSK-39297/NXP-100) and a phase I BRAF inhibitor (HSK-42360/NXP-200) from Haisco Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. for $40 million up front.

Molecular subtyping of disease is typically associated with cancer. Now, researchers at the University of Cambridge are applying it to infections.

J-Pharma Co. Ltd. is progressing the most clinically advanced L-type amino acid transport 1 (LAT1) inhibitor, nanvuranlat (JPH‑203), in a global phase III Beacon-BTC study of biliary tract cancer following U.S. FDA alignment.

Spyre Therapeutics Inc.’s striking “two for two” data on ulcerative colitis (UC) candidates, SPY-001 and SPY-002, drew applause from multiple analysts, putting eyes on the Boston biotech’s upcoming top-line data of anti-IL-23 antibody SPY-003 – the third biologic module in a six-strong inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) lineup.

Elixiron Immunotherapeutics Inc. announced positive interim open-label phase II Alzheimer’s disease (AD) study findings of enrupatinib, an oral brain-penetrant colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor inhibitor, with plans to move the asset into a biomarker-based and placebo-controlled study.

Investors in Dianthus Therapeutics Inc. apparently chose to ignore subtleties in the difference between efforts with that firm’s claseprubart vs. those by competitor Sanofi SA, which said that the phase III Mobilize study testing riliprubart in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) will be stopped for futility.