7 Hills Pharma Inc. has been awarded $4.7 million from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to support its cell/gene therapy development program.

Merck KGaA has announced it is advancing M-3554, a potential first-in-class anti-GD2 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), toward the clinic. M-3554 links an exatecan payload with an anti-GD2 antibody.

CD38 is a cell surface receptor, up-regulated in several types of tumors, and involved in cell activation, proliferation and differentiation.

Almac Discovery Ltd. has nominated a new preclinical candidate molecule, ALM-401, a first-in-class bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting EGFR/ROR1. It is being developed for the treatment of refractory lung cancer characterized by dual expression of ROR1 and EGFR.

Actym Therapeutics Inc. has obtained IND clearance from the FDA to begin a phase I trial of ACTM-838. The first-in-human study will enroll patients in the U.S. and Australia with advanced solid tumors who have failed prior lines of therapy and have no clinically beneficial treatment options.

Georgiamune Inc. has gained FDA clearance for its IND application for GIM-531, a first-in-class oral regulatory T cell (Treg) inhibitor that enables the restoration of a strong immune response against cancer.

Anaveon AG has received FDA approval of its IND application to conduct a phase I/II study of ANV-600.

A group of scientists from Basel University Hospital have designed an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that eliminated blood cancer cells without attacking healthy hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which they modified by base editing and transplanted to renew an altered blood system. They achieved this by focusing on the panhematopoietic marker CD45.