The industry is looking, with renewed hope, to the “promise” of messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics for a wide range of diseases beyond COVID-19, and not only in vaccine form but also for gene and cell therapies.
Phase I/II data of IDCT (rebonuputemcel), a cell therapy in development for chronic and progressive lumbar degenerative disc disease and one that has both regenerative medicine advanced therapy and fast track designations in the U.S., has been published in the International Journal of Spine Surgery for showing statistically significant improvements in pain, disability and quality of life.
Soligenix Inc. investors were extremely enthusiastic about the positive interim update for the company’s cancer therapy and light device, Hybryte, for treating for treating early stage cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. The Princeton, N.J.-based company’s stock (NASDAQ:SNGX) soared a whopping 464% before closing at a more modest but still massive of 271% increase to $7.42 each on July 9.
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.
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. (MSD), known as Merck & Co. Inc. in the U.S. and Canada, terminated its potential $1.86 billion deal with San Diego-based Artiva Biotherapeutics Inc. for novel chimeric antigen receptor-natural killer cell therapies. GC Cell disclosed news of the terminated deal on the Korea Exchange near market close of June 25, saying it was notified by Artiva after the decision was reached by MSD’s internal decision makers.
A patient death and cases of pneumonitis overshadowed positive signs of efficacy for South San Francisco-based Lyell Immunopharma Inc.’s ROR1 CAR T-cell candidate, LYL-797, which is treating triple-negative breast cancer and non-small-cell lung cancer in a phase I trial.
Cambridge, U.K.-based Astrazeneca plc is looking to Asia, specifically China and Singapore, to build an innovative cancer-focused pipeline filled with antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and cell therapies.
The U.S. FDA granted accelerated approval to Amgen Inc.’s Imdelltra (tarlatamab) for treating adults with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer with disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. The approval may well lead the drug to blockbuster status while bolstering the company’s cancer portfolio.
Immatics NV’s IMA-203 “looks like a melanoma drug,” said Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Eric Schmidt after he took a peek at the latest data, prepared as part of an upcoming meeting with the U.S. FDA. The candidate emerged from Immatics’ Actengine platform, set up to formulate a personalized therapy in which a patient’s own T cells are collected, genetically modified and then reinfused. Immatics offered data with IMA-203 as a monotherapy that targets preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma from an ongoing phase I trial testing what’s been established as the recommended phase II dose of 1-10x109 TCR-T cells in 30 heavily pretreated metastatic melanoma patients who were evaluable for efficacy.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. has tapped into Treefrog Therapeutics SA’s high-throughput stem cell manufacturing technology in a deal worth potentially up to $780 million to help it advance its type 1 diabetes programs, including phase I/II asset VX-880.
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