Cutaneous melanoma nearly always arises on parts of the body that receive abundant sun but, rarely, it can arise on parts that do not, such as the palms of the hands or soles of the feet. These rare cases of acral and mucosal melanomas, which often feature mutations in the transmembrane tyrosine kinase KIT, do not respond to current melanoma therapies.
Simcere Zaiming Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has received clinical trial approval from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for the company’s antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), SIM-0686, for FGFR2b-positive, locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors.
Cutaneous melanoma nearly always arises on parts of the body that receive abundant sun but, rarely, it can arise on parts that do not, such as the palms of the hands or soles of the feet. These rare cases of acral and mucosal melanomas, which often feature mutations in the transmembrane tyrosine kinase KIT, do not respond to current melanoma therapies.
Briacell Therapeutics Corp.’s subsidiary, Briapro Therapeutics Corp., is developing novel, high affinity antibodies to B7-H3 using molecular modeling techniques. As both an immune checkpoint molecule that regulates T-cell activity and a cell surface molecule expressed on many types of cancer cells, B7-H3 is a promising drug target.
Although CD19-directed CAR T cells can initially induce remission in 70-90% of patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), post-CAR relapses are frequent. These relapses are driven by insufficient persistence of CAR T cells, allowing for antigen-positive B-ALL re-emergence and loss of the targeted epitope either in isolation or as part of lineage-switching.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinom a (PDAC), frequently detected at advanced stages, has a 5-year survival rate of 12%. Metastases are common, including hepatic metastasis, which is particularly lethal due to the liver’s immune-tolerant environment and rich blood supply that facilitate tumor growth.
Curevac NV announced that the FDA has cleared its IND application for a phase I clinical study of CVHNLC in patients with squamous non-small-cell lung cancer (sqNSCLC). CVHNLC is Curevac’s investigational mRNA-based precision immunotherapy.
Tharimmune Inc. has announced preclinical data from its expanded pipeline with HS-1940, a dual-target multispecific biologic engineered to bind to both programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and HS-3215, a dual-target biologic binding to HER2 and HER3 receptors. Both use the proprietary Epiclick technology, a multispecific antibody engineering platform.
ALX Oncology Holdings Inc. has received FDA clearance for the IND application for ALX-2004, the company’s potential best- and first-in-class antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) for the treatment of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-expressing solid tumors.
AT-rich interactive domain-containing protein 1A (ARID1A) encodes a switch/sucrose nonfermentable (SWI/SNF) complex and is mutated in around 10% of colorectal cancers. ARID1A deficiency damages DNA damage repair increasing tumor mutation burden in ovarian and gastrointestinal cancers.
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