UL16 binding protein 6 (ULBP6) is a molecule belonging to the stress-induced NKG2D ligand family and its expression is up-regulated on the surface of cancerous cells, binding to the immune-activating NKG2D receptor on natural killer (NK) and T cells, thus promoting immune evasion.

Metastatic solid tumors may be curable now. Among the most profound results presented over the weekend at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2024 Congress were the 10-year data from the Checkmate-067 and Keynote-006 trials, the phase III trials that tested Opdivo (nivolumab, Bristol Myers Squibb Co.) and Keytruda (pembrolizumab, Merck & Co. Inc.) as first-line agents in advanced or metastatic melanoma.

Vironexis Biotherapeutics Inc. has come out of stealth mode, disclosing that it has more than 10 product candidates it’s been developing over the last three years. The therapies are built on the company’s AAV-based platform, Transjoin, which is designed to have patients' livers express bispecific antibodies that bind to both CD3 on T-cells and various targets on tumor cells.

Researchers from Sensei Biotherapeutics Inc. presented preclinical data for the novel CD28xVISTA bispecific antibody (BsAb), SNS-201, being developed for the treatment of prostate cancer.

OS Therapies Inc. has announced promising data in animal models of ovarian cancer for its first therapeutic candidate developed based upon its proprietary tunable antibody-drug conjugate (tADC) platform.

Cancer immunotherapy based on programmed death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) has made huge steps toward overcoming cancer, but many patients still experience poor response to anti-PD-L1 therapy or do not have a durable response.

Bivictrix Therapeutics plc has announced promising initial in vivo data for BVX-002, its lead solid tumor bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) program. The preclinical study is investigating BVX-002 dosed once weekly, with a total of four doses given, in a murine xenograft model of ovarian cancer, using the human cell line OVCAR-3.

Medigene AG has obtained FDA clearance of its IND application for lead program MDG-1015 for the treatment of advanced gastric cancer, ovarian cancer, myxoid/round cell liposarcoma and synovial sarcoma.

Nextpoint Therapeutics Inc. has unveiled NPX-372, a novel T-cell engager for solid tumors. NPX-372 is a CD3 bispecific antibody with unique capabilities to redirect T cell-mediated cytotoxicity toward B7-H7-positive tumors such as colorectal carcinoma, non-small-cell lung cancer, renal cell carcinoma and prostate cancer.