Gilead Sciences Inc. said after U.S. market close March 23 that it will acquire privately held Ouro Medicines LLC and its autoimmune BCMA/CD3 bispecific T-cell engager, gamgertamig, in a deal valued at $2.17 billion.
Astellas Pharma Inc. and Vir Biotechnology Inc. have signed a global co-development pact to advance VIR-5500, Vir’s PRO-XTEN dual-masked CD3 T-cell engager targeting prostate-specific membrane antigen for treating prostate cancer. Under the deal terms, San Francisco-based Vir will receive $335 million in up-front and near-term payments, including $240 million in cash, $75 million in equity investment and a $20 million near-term milestone. Vir is also eligible to receive up to $1.37 billion in development, regulatory and sales-based milestones plus royalties on ex-U.S. sales.
It may be a year later than originally planned, but Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. is set to commercialize Lynozyfic (linvoseltamab) in the U.S. following FDA approval for use in adults with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. A bispecific antibody targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) and CD3, Lynozyfic was cleared under the accelerated approval pathway, with continued approval contingent upon a confirmatory trial.
Cullinan Therapeutics Inc. swept up ex-China rights to a multiple myeloma (MM)-targeting BCMAxCD3 bispecific T-cell engager (TCE) velinotamig from Chongqing Genrix Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. via a potential $712 million deal June 4. The plan is to repurpose the cancer drug to autoimmune disease.
Cullinan Therapeutics Inc. swept up ex-China rights to a multiple myeloma (MM)-targeting BCMAxCD3 bispecific T-cell engager (TCE) velinotamig from Chongqing Genrix Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. via a potential $712 million deal June 4. The plan is to repurpose the cancer drug to autoimmune disease.
Janux Therapeutics Inc. CEO David Campbell said the firm will be talking with the U.S. FDA about “what we may or may not be able to do [in order to get JANX-007] to patients more rapidly,” though he noted that the agency has “primarily been focused on overall survival” in considering prostate cancer drugs, so more work on that endpoint may be required. “We’ll keep that in mind,” he said.
MDX-2001 (Modex Therapeutics Inc.) was engineered as a potentially first-in-class tetraspecific lymphocyte activator and survival enhancement receptor (LASER) recognizing CD3 and CD28 on human T cells and c-MET and TROP2 on tumor cells.
CDR-Life Inc. has reported preclinical data for the CDR-813, a novel antibody fragment-based bivalent T-cell engager targeting preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma (PRAME) on HLA-A*02:01.
Intriguing data in pancreatic cancer didn’t do much to help shares of South San Francisco-based Cytomx Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:CTMX), which closed May 9 at $2.04, down $2.15, or 51%, as the company made known initial findings from the ongoing CX-904 phase Ia dose-escalation study, showing a favorable safety profile and confirmed anticancer activity.
Scientists at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. have found a new way to permanently stop allergy through a combination of therapies that prevents the production of antibodies in secondary lymphoid organs and in bone marrow. The approach was tested in vivo in cynomolgus monkeys and in a mouse model.
