Gliomas are malignant tumors in the brain characterized by aggressive growth, poor prognosis and high mortality, and for which effective therapies are still lacking. Zinc finger protein 207 (ZNF207) is highly expressed in gliomas and represents a promising therapeutic target; researchers from the China Pharmaceutical University have developed and presented data for the ZNF207 inhibitor TMLZ-G46.
Evotec SE has announced the nomination of a small-molecule preclinical development candidate from its multi-target drug discovery alliance in medical dermatology with Almirall SA. The program is aimed at developing novel treatments for immune-mediated inflammatory skin diseases with high unmet medical need. The collaboration, established in 2022, leverages Evotec’s fully integrated, AI/machine learning enhanced discovery and preclinical development platforms.
More than four decades on from the approval of the first biologic drug, the industry has reached a tipping point, and biotech drugs now outnumber small molecules in the global R&D pipeline. At the start of the biotech industry, progress was slow. Between 1983 and 1995, the U.S. FDA approved an average of two biologics each year. Now, biologics have taken the lead by the smallest of margins, accounting for 50.1% of drugs in development at the start of 2026, according to the Pharma Annual Review 2026, published by Pharmaprojects, a firm that tracks global pharma R&D.
A study involving a small cohort of women who have received womb transplants has cast fresh light on how the immune system shapes pregnancy outcomes, opening up new avenues of research into implantation failure, preeclampsia and preterm birth. Using an array of single cell analyses, scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) studied the composition and gene expression profiles of immune cells in tissue samples from five women who had received womb transplants.
Dysregulation of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway is frequently observed across a wide range of cancers and contributes to uncontrolled cell proliferation, enhanced cellular metabolism, and tumor progression.
Bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) is an epigenetic regulator that promotes transcription of oncogenic drivers such as MYC and contributes to tumor growth and therapy resistance in colorectal cancer, making it a promising therapeutic target. Researchers from Hangzhou Kexing Biochem Co. Ltd. described the discovery and preclinical characterization of compound [I], a potent BRD4 inhibitor.
Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd. has acquired an exclusive license for a preclinical small-molecule program from Sitryx Therapeutics Ltd. The program offers a novel oral immunometabolic approach to modulating disease-driving immune cells with potential for multiple autoimmune and inflammatory disease indications.
After closing an oversubscribed $85 million series B round, Quantx Biosciences Inc. is gearing up to begin clinical trials of its two lead immunology compounds, a STAT6 oral small-molecule inhibitor and an IL-17 oral small-molecule inhibitor.
Hubei Polytechnic University (Huangshi, China) scientists and collaborators aimed to develop potential tubulin polymerization inhibitors that may also synergize with immunotherapies for cancer treatment.