CHICAGO – Speaking at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, John Heymach of Houston's MD Anderson Cancer Center, called new phase III data with Merck & Co. Inc.'s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) "a double whammy" of upside for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients: non-chemotherapy benefit with lower side effects. "An era in which chemotherapy was the only option for NSCLC patients has drawn to a close," he said.
CHICAGO – A call for trials more inclusive of racial and ethnic minorities opened the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), as researchers unveiled the first prospective study of the hormonal therapy Zytiga (abiraterone) from Johnson & Johnson for advanced prostate cancer (PC) in black men vs. white men. Findings ratified what clinicians already had observed retrospectively: Black men respond better to the drug than white men.
After the approval by the FDA in February of Apadaz for short-term management of acute pain, eyes turned to Coralville, Iowa-based Kempharm Inc.'s partnering talks, which are expected to yield fruit by the year's end. (See BioWorld, Feb. 26, 2018.)
Excitement ran high last week – at the company, anyway – when Montreal-based Clementia Pharmaceuticals Inc. rolled out positive data from part B of its ongoing phase II trial testing palovarotene, a retinoic acid receptor gamma agonist, to treat the rare, life-threatening genetic bone disease called fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP).
A new understanding of how the almost 100-year-old ketogenic diet works to reduce seizures is guiding Bloom Science Inc. in its twin-pronged approach, which involves developing a medical food for epilepsy as well as an oral drug for orphan indications within the category.
The phrase "game changer" in the context of prostate cancer seems like a bold claim, but at least one analyst sees that degree of potential for one of Endocyte Inc.'s pipeline candidates. But first, consider the West Lafayette, Ind.-based firm's chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) effort, which drew attention at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting last month in Chicago.
Astrazeneca plc's long-time-coming approval of Lokelma (sodium zirconium cyclosilicate) oral suspension for adults with hyperkalemia puts another weapon in the hands of doctors, and there's more coming down the pike, albeit far off.
As Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. marches ahead with the phase III trial testing what could become the first approved lupus nephritis (LN) therapy, company backers are watching with interest another, lesser known indication where the cyclosporine analogue voclosporin might also work: focal segmental glomerular sclerosis (FSGS), a glomerular disease that can cause nephrotic syndrome. A phase II experiment is slated to start next month. Both conditions involve high amounts of protein in the urine, or proteinuria.
Amgen Inc. having scored the first of four expected approvals in the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor class with Aimovig (erenumab) for preventing migraine, Wall Street set about handicapping odds for the others in a large market.
