Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc and Saniona AB have entered into a global license agreement for Jazz to obtain exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize SAN-2355 for epilepsy and other potential indications.

Vasthera Co. Ltd. has received IND clearance from the U.S. FDA, enabling it to initiate a phase I trial for VTB-10 for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Vasthera identified a deficiency of the enzyme peroxiredoxin (PRX) in PAH lesions and used its Redoxizyme platform to develop VTB-10, a small-molecule enzyme that precisely replicates PRX function.

Adding another name to an impressive roster of partners assembled over the past few years, Skyhawk Therapeutics Inc. inked a neurology-focused deal with Merck KGaA aimed at discovering small-molecule RNA-targeted drugs that could be worth more than $2 billion.

Researchers from China Pharmaceutical University and collaborators have identified various naphthalene and indane derivatives as selective USP7 inhibitors.

Overexpression of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) has been observed in a wide range of tumors, where it is associated with malignant transformation, tumor progression, poor prognosis, and resistance to therapy.

Melanoma is one of the most mutation-prone cancers, with 90% of cases involving the V600E mutation in BRAF kinase. Several therapies are available against melanoma, but each one is associated with substantial drawbacks. Researchers at Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and collaborators reasoned that it might be effective to simultaneously inhibit both angiogenesis and immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment.

Experimental drugs that directly inhibit the NSD2 enzyme have shown potential as an effective strategy against hard-to-treat cancers, such as lung and pancreatic tumors driven by KRAS mutations. The therapeutic mechanism involves reversing a histone H3 methylation that promotes open chromatin and the expression of oncogenes.

Quantumpharm Inc., known as Xtalpi Inc., announced receiving $51 million up front from a potential $5.99 billion deal with Dovetree LLC on Aug. 6. The collaboration, first inked through a letter of intent between the two parties on June 23, will combine Shenzhen, China-based Xtalpi’s AI-based and robotics-driven discovery platform with Dovetree’s “biological insights.” The goal will be to select and validate potential first-in-class candidates for Dovetree across five areas of oncology, immunology and inflammatory diseases, neurological disorders and metabolic dysregulation.

K36 Therapeutics Inc. has obtained IND clearance from the U.S. FDA for KTX-2001, a selective, oral, small-molecule inhibitor of nuclear receptor-binding SET domain protein 2 (NSD2), a histone methyltransferase and oncogene that activates gene expression in some cancers.