Antibodies targeting cytotoxic T-lymphocyte protein 4 (CLTA-4) have faced challenges due to frequent adverse events and limited efficacy, thus pushing the search for next-generation anti-CTLA-4 antibodies that balance T regulatory cell (Treg) depletion with CD8 T-cell activation for cancer immunotherapy.
Mestag Therapeutics Ltd. has been awarded a £1.5 million ($1.9 million) grant from Innovate UK’s Cancer Therapeutics program to accelerate the development of MST-0300.
Invenra Inc.’s bispecific antibody, INV-724, developed for the treatment of neuroblastoma, has been awarded orphan drug and rare pediatric disease designations by the FDA.
China’s Genor Biopharma Co. Ltd. agreed to out-license GB-261, its bispecific antibody candidate primarily targeting B-cell lymphomas, to TRC 2004 Inc., a U.S.-based newco co-founded by Third Rock Ventures LLC and Two River Group Holdings LLC.
LTZ Therapeutics Inc. has completed a series A financing of more than $20 million to advance the development of its myeloid engager pipeline to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases. The closing of this round brings LTZ’s total funding to about $50 million.
Dren Bio Inc. has entered into a strategic collaboration with Novartis Pharma AG which will focus on the discovery and development of therapeutic bispecific antibodies for cancer leveraging Dren Bio’s proprietary Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform.
The targeted delivery of radionucleotides into tumors, known as radioimmunotherapy (RIT), has proven effective mainly in hematological cancer treatment, but its usefulness in solid tumors needs further exploration. Researchers from Oncoone Research & Development GmbH described the use of Pretarg-it, a novel pre-targeted RIT strategy that consists of ON-105 and the radioactively labeled DOTA-di-HSG peptide.
Beijing Gensciences Inc. has developed a FVIIIa-mimetic bispecific antibody named SS-315 for the treatment of hemophilia A. SS-315 was developed by targeting FX with its upper Fab arms and FIXa with its down-side scFv arms, respectively; the hemostatic potential of SS-315 was investigated in vitro and in vivo.
Scientists at the University of Washington have engineered human plasma B cells modified to express long-lasting bispecific antibodies that could be used to treat leukemia without requiring continuous dosing.
“We are trying to engineer plasma cells to make as a stable source for biologic drugs. One thing that is really unique about plasma cells is that they can live for a really long time … up to 10 years or even 100 years depending on the type of plasma cell that that you make,” Richard James, senior author of the study, principal investigator at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, and associate professor at the University of Washington, told BioWorld.
CDR-Life Inc. has expanded its pipeline of novel T-cell engagers (TCE) with the addition of CDR-813 and CDR-505. CDR-813 is a highly potent and selective TCE candidate targeting tumors expressing PRAME (preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma) in HLA-A*02:01 patients.
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