Exploiting deficiencies in tumor cells’ inability to repair damage to their DNA has been one of the most successful endeavors of oncology research in recent memory. There are four approved PARP inhibitors to treat certain types of breast, ovarian, pancreatic and prostate cancers. Multiple other synthetic lethal combinations that might push repair-deficient tumors into cell death are being investigated. In the July 29, 2022, issue of Science, researchers at Yale University have described another approach to turning DNA repair defect against itself. Startup Modifi Biosciences Inc. is now on course to translate that work.
Increased payload capacity for gene therapies, off-the-shelf genome-engineered allogeneic cell therapies, reduced cost of goods and faster bioprocesses, are promised by “big DNA” specialist Replay Holdings LLC. The newco arrived with a $55 million seed round and having assembled a portfolio of technologies for writing and delivering large pieces of DNA.
South Korea’s Medipost Co. Ltd. is gearing up for phase III trials in the U.S. of its stem cell therapy, Cartistem, an allogeneic human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy for treatment of knee articular damage in patients with osteoarthritis.
The technology behind one of the most high profile COVID-19 vaccine development programs has been re-engineered to correct a design fault and now forms the basis of newco Vicebio Ltd. The London-based company has shown its face for the first time following its founding in 2019 around molecular clamp technology from the University of Queensland, Australia.
Controlling the epigenetics of a patient, figuring out what genes are expressed and understanding their level of expression, is at the center of Epic Bio, a new company founded by Stanley Qi, co-inventor on the CRISPR patent held by the University of California.
PDC Therapeutics SA has passed the first test of its novel nanocarrier technology, getting approval to move up from the initial dose in the phase I trial of lead product RS-0139, which targets a docetaxel payload to tumors expressing the integrin receptor.
Clarity Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is progressing three of its targeted copper theranostics through the clinic that are based on its sarcophagine technology that securely holds copper isotopes inside a cage-like structure, called a chelator. The SAR technology allows a unique pairing of copper isotopes, copper-64 and copper-67, for both cancer diagnosis and therapy.
After filing patents on a decades-old antipsychotic, Aneurotech BV is laying plans for a U.S. phase IIIb trial of the drug as an adjunctive therapy in major depressive disorder. The study will assess the effects of ANT-01, a low dose of pipamperone, a selective antagonist of both the serotonin 5-HT2A and D4 dopamine receptors, which has been on the market in some countries in Europe and elsewhere for more than 40 years.
The only way to avoid food allergies right now is to stay away from whatever triggers them and, at best, grab some rescue epinephrine in case there’s trouble. Peanut allergies have an FDA-approved treatment, but the remainder of the troublemakers don’t have any therapies. Hoping to change that, Alladapt Immunotherapeutics Inc. closed a $119 million financing to develop its food allergy treatments. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company’s lead candidate is ADP-101, an oral immunotherapy that is in a phase I/II trial and an open-label extension study of children and adults.
Although there has been huge progress in treatment of cystic fibrosis over the last decade, with Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. becoming the first to address the underlying cause of the disease with its Kalydeco (ivacaftor), approved in 2012, there are still many patients who aren’t eligible for treatment.
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