RAS is the most mutated oncogene in cancer (about 30% rate), where mutations in KRAS are the most prevalent. The approval of covalent KRAS G12C inhibitors has shown allosteric inhibition of KRAS to be a feasible therapeutic strategy, and there is interest in developing new KRAS-directed therapies to target additional KRAS mutants. Amgen has presented data regarding its pan-KRAS inhibitor AMG-410.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a generative AI model that was able to generate novel antibiotic structures from either chemical fragments or de novo, starting from ammonia, methane, water or no starting point at all. In a study that was published online in Cell, the team tested two dozen of more than 10 million structures that were proposed as potential antibiotics by the model.

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.

Esophageal carcinoma (EC) is a tumor type of the digestive tract that accounts for about 300,000 deaths worldwide annually, with high aggressiveness and poor prognosis. Chinese researchers have investigated the implication of the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase 18 family member A1 (ALDH18A1) in EC.