Eleven vaccines have now been approved by the World Health Organization for preventing COVID-19, but all exhibit drastically reduced activities after 6 months. Unlike vaccines that express only the spike protein as the immunogen, live attenuated vaccines have the potential to confer a broader and more durable protection.

Approximately 20,000 patients diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphomas died in 2022 despite current treatments; 30-40% of these cases involved diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Monoallelic mutations in histone acetyltransferases (HATs) occur in over 39% of germinal center DLBCLs. Activation of intact wild-type alleles offers an opportunity to overcome the mutated allele.

Researchers from Taipei Medical University presented the discovery of novel store-operated calcium channel (SOC) inhibitors as potential anticancer candidates. Synthesis and optimization of a series of difluorobenzamide derivatives led to the discovery of MPT-0M004 as the lead candidate with promising SOC inhibitory activity. In vitro, both migration and invasion of colorectal cancer cells were significantly suppressed after 48 hours of treatment with MPT-0M004, with the growth inhibitory effect of the compound being similar to that seen for the reference SOC inhibitor.

2021 was the year Aduhelm (aducanumab, Biogen Inc.) was approved as the first amyloid-β-busting drug for Alzheimer’s disease. And in 2022, there was as much need for an effective AD drug as ever. Aduhelm’s commercial fate was sealed with the decision of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that the drug would only be reimbursed in clinical trials approved by the CMS or the NIH.

Affimed NV has received clearance of a clinical trial application (CTA) by the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) for a phase I study of AFM-28 (AFM28-101) in CD123-positive relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

The FDA has cleared an IND for a clinical trial in the U.S. of NBL-020, a fully human antibody drug independently developed by CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd.'s subsidiary Novarock Biotherapeutics Ltd., for the treatment of advanced solid tumors.