For 75 years, the standard tools for autoimmune disease have consisted of steroids, cytotoxics and broad biologics that tamp down the entire immune system. They can help, but they are rarely curative. “They’re blunt instruments,” Regcell Inc. CEO Mike McCullar told BioWorld. “They can’t distinguish good immune cells and bad immune cells,” which is why many carry black-box warnings and must be taken for years, sometimes for life.
The overexpression of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2b (FGFR2b) is tied to tumor progression in several malignancies, such as cholangiocarcinoma, HER2-negative gastric cancer and breast cancer. Lunan Pharmaceutical Group Corp. has developed a novel IgG1 monoclonal antibody against FGFR2b, LNF-2102, for the potential treatment of cancer.
Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has divulged antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) potentially useful for the treatment of cancer. The ADCs comprise an antibody or antigen-binding fragment linked to a cytotoxic drug through a linker.
Alethio Therapeutics (formerly known as Alethiomics Ltd.) has emerged from stealth with two antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) programs for the treatment of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs).
Scientists at Wuxi XDC (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. and Wuxi XDC Singapore Pvt Ltd. have divulged antibody-drug conjugates comprising antibodies covalently linked to cytotoxic drugs reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Convalife Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. has presented data for their bispecific antibody CVL-006, which targets both PD-1 and VEGF-A. CVL-006 blocks both the PD-1-driven immune pathway plus VEGF-A-driven angiogenesis, thus conferring a dual mechanism for superior antitumoral activity.
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), have developed a new type of allogeneic immune cell therapy that demonstrated potent antitumor activity against triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in preclinical studies.
Adoptive cell therapy represents a major step forward in treating hematological cancers. Among its different approaches, chimeric antigen receptor natural killer (CAR-NK) cells are drawing growing interest.
Merck KGaA has prepared and tested new antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) comprising monoclonal antibodies targeting sodium-dependent phosphate transport protein 2B (SLC34A2; NaPi-2b) linked to exatecan through a β-glucuronidase cleavable linker. They are described as potentially useful for the treatment of ovarian and non-small-cell lung cancer.