Interax Biotech Ltd. and Alveus Therapeutics Inc. have signed a strategic research collaboration and licensing agreement to develop a differentiated small-molecule candidate for metabolic disease. Designed to overcome the limitations of current obesity medications, the candidate is expected to deliver durable weight loss with superior tolerability.
Medicenna Therapeutics Corp. is advancing MDNA-113, a first-in-class, IL-13-directed and conditionally activated PD-1 x IL-2 bifunctional superkine, through preclinical development toward a planned IND filing in the second half of this year.
About 10% of acute hepatitis cases and 50% of acute liver failure are caused by drug induction, where treatment remains largely limited. The SLIT/ROBO signaling axis is composed of the secretory SLIT proteins (SLIT1, SLIT2 and SLIT3) and their corresponding receptor ROBO. This axis is known to be involved in organ development, angiogenesis and leukocyte migration, as well as cancer metastasis, and has shown protective effects against organ damage.
Once it was considered to be more or less a passive energy-storing device that could double as a cushion. But increasingly, fat is conceptualized as an endocrine organ as much as a tissue type. Now, separate research groups have reported new insights into the functional roles of different fats based on their anatomical location and functional characteristics.
Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. has prepared and tested proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) compounds comprising an E3 ubiquitin ligase binding moiety covalently linked to an estrogen receptor α(ER-α; ESR1) targeting moiety via a linker reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Researchers from Jiangsu Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. and Shanghai Hansoh Biomedical Co. Ltd. have defined cytochrome P450 11B2, mitochondrial (CYP11B2; aldosterone synthase; ALDOS) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of chronic kidney disease, diabetic nephropathy, congestive heart failure, hypertension, primary aldosteronism and Cushing syndrome as well as kidney and myocardial fibrosis.
Biolexis Therapeutics Inc. has identified AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activators reported to be useful for the treatment of diabetes, ischemia-reperfusion injury, dyslipidemia, obesity, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, spinal muscular atrophy and Alzheimer's disease, among others.
Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. has disclosed chemically modified polypeptides acting as gastric inhibitory polypeptide receptor (GIPR) and/or glucagon receptor (GCGR) and/or glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists reported to be useful for the treatment of obesity.
Medulloblastoma is one of the most common pediatric brain malignancies. A deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying tumor cell fate determination is crucial to develop novel, effective and safe therapeutic strategies. With this aim, researchers from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and collaborating institutions recently conducted a study integrating whole-genome bisulfite sequencing and bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data from 189 human medulloblastoma samples.