Following strong phase I study data in malignant melanoma released a year ago, Ultimovacs ASA’s lead candidate, UV-1, stumbled in the phase II trial, which did not meet the primary endpoint of progression-free survival in second-line treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma.
Neophore Ltd. announced a £6 million (US$7.4 million) extension to its series B, bringing the total for the round to £21.5 million and enabling it to take forward a second DNA mismatch repair program.
Accession Therapeutics Ltd. has raised £16.6 million (US$20.3 million) in a series A round, as it prepares to take two targeted oncolytic/payload combination viruses into the clinic. At the same time, the company disclosed that the scientist who devised the tumor-only targeting mechanism is Alan Parker, professor of translational virotherapies at Cardiff University.
Treatment with anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors is not effective in all cases, and around 10% of melanoma patients actually experience a rapid deterioration, a phenomenon known as hyperprogressive disease. Some studies have linked hyperprogression to specific immune cell populations or genes, and it remains unclear if this complication can be directly attributed to checkpoint immunotherapy or not.
The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London is shifting the focus of drug discovery from molecular targets in cancer cells to take in the whole ecosystem supporting tumor growth, evolution and the development of resistance. The aim is to exploit new understanding of the way cancers evolve within the ecosystem of the body, the interaction between cancer cells and the immune system, and the reliance of a tumor on the tissue and growth signals that surround it. Manipulating this environment could make cancer cells become “extinct,” ICR researchers say.
Catalym GmbH reported in an oral session at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting in Paris that its first-in-class growth differentiation factor 15 inhibitor, visugromab, demonstrated preliminary signs of efficacy in a heavily pretreated group of cancer patients who were resistant or refractory to checkpoint inhibitors.
Owkin Inc. has secured CE marking for two first-in-class artificial intelligence (AI)-based diagnostics, marking a move from research use only and towards the mainstream for AI in enabling faster and more efficient analysis of digital pathology slides.
New data from the phase I study of Ultimovacs ASA’s lead candidate showed positive two-year overall survival data for the cancer vaccine. UV-1, combined with the checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab, Merck & Co. Inc.) for treating malignant melanoma, demonstrated a 24-month survival rate of 73% in all 30 patients in the study.
Tilt Biotherapeutics Ltd. has closed a €10 million (US$10.7 million) round, enabling it to start two phase II trials of its armed oncolytic virus, TILT-123, in combination with checkpoint inhibitor drugs.