HEC Pharma Co. Ltd. recently presented HEC-201625, a small-molecule PD-L1 inhibitor for cancer immunotherapy that blocks the PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway. HEC-201625 was tested in vitro and in vivo in MC38 syngeneic murine model, as well as in xenograft A375 and NCI-H358 models.

Infex Therapeutics Ltd. has secured £4.3 million (US$5 million) to support the continued advancement of the company’s pipeline of novel anti-infectives targeting antimicrobial resistance and other priority infectious diseases.

Fibrobiologics Inc. is expanding its fibroblast-based therapeutic platform to target hantavirus. The pathophysiology of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome involves uncontrolled inflammatory responses, endothelial barrier dysfunction and progressive pulmonary fibrosis, mechanisms that Fibrobiologics’ fibroblast platform is specifically designed to modulate.

Researchers at Opus Genetics Inc. reported the efficacy of OPGx-BEST1, an AVV-based gene therapy developed to deliver a functional BEST1 transgene to retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells to re-establish normal BEST1 expression and activity.

At the European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague, researchers from Juvena Therapeutics Inc. presented the effects of JUV-161, a fusion protein consisting of human insulin-like growth factor 2 linked to human serum albumin, in preclinical models of myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) and sarcopenia.

Fractyl Health Inc. has received clinical trial application authorization in the Netherlands to initiate a first-in-human phase I/II study of RJVA-001, the first clinical candidate from the company’s Rejuva Smart GLP-1 gene therapy platform.

A new mRNA and lipid nanoparticle (mRNA-LNP) platform could selectively reprogram in vivo cytotoxic effector T cells (Teff), the cells responsible for eliminating infected or tumor cells. To achieve this, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania conjugated LNPs with fractalkine, a molecule that binds to the CX3CR1 receptor, which is a marker of Teff cells. Using this strategy, the researchers delivered an mRNA encoding new proteins such as IL‑2 or human CD62 L‑selectin, opening the door to temporarily reprogramming these cells within the body, both in the blood and in lymphoid tissue, where they reside and become activated.