The EMA has started a review of Amgen Inc.’s Tavneos (avacopan) after questions were raised about the integrity of the data in the Advocate study that the agency assessed when granting approval of the vasculitis treatment in January 2022.
Although CAR T-cell treatment can lead to clinical remissions in patients with hematological malignancies, relapse rates ultimately remain high. Previous research has found that T memory stem cell content in the infused CAR T-cell products correlated with better expansion and persistence in lymphoma patients. As a result of these observations, several approaches are being investigated to generate CAR T cells characterized by a less differentiated phenotype.
A new horizon may be opening up in low-grade serious ovarian cancer (LGSOC) with the advent of Verastem Oncology Inc.’s therapy pairing two small molecules: avutometinib (VS-6766), a kinase inhibitor that binds to and inhibits the kinase activities of RAF and MEK to block the signal transduction pathways they mediate; and defactinib (VS-6063), an inhibitor of FAK.
Kinase inhibitors have emerged as crucial cancer therapeutics due to the involvement of kinases in cancer signaling. At the AACR, Neosome Life Sciences LLC has provided data on their kinase inhibitor NEOS-223 for the potential treatment of tumors. The compound was tested in several cancer cell types, as well as in in vivo cancer models in mice.
Harmonic Discovery Inc. has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement for a small-molecule drug candidate for the treatment of FLT3-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) from Bioventures (University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences) and University of California San Francisco (UCSF).
Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (Sobi) AB is offering a hefty 95% premium to shareholders in CTI Biopharma Corp., as it tables a $9.10-per-share cash offer for the company, which implies a total equity valuation of $1.7 billion. Shares in Seattle-based CTI (NASDAQ:CTIC) had closed May 9 at $4.82 but surged 85% to close at $8.93 during trading May 10. The premium calculation is based on CTI’s 30-day volume-weighted average trading price of $4.67 prior to the deal announcement.
Chemoproteomics studies have uncovered multiple potential kinase drug targets in the Plasmodium protozoan that causes malaria, and subsequent screening of approved kinase inhibitor drugs has now thrown up several hits with lethal activity at different stages of the complex life cycle of the parasite. Researchers at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, working with scientists at Glaxosmithkline plc, describe the activity in Plasmodium of one of these kinase inhibitors, the cancer drug sapanisertib, in a paper appearing in Science Translational Medicine, Oct. 19, 2022.
Using a two-drug combination, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) have been able to achieve brain-specific inhibition of several kinases.
Having initiated its first two clinical trials in non-small-cell lung cancer since January, Nuvalent Inc. said it expects to unveil preliminary dose-escalation data before year-end. Ahead of the data, Nuvalent's phase I/II Arros-1 trial evaluating NVL-520, a kinase inhibitor, in patients with advanced ROS1-positive NSCLC and other solid tumors, continues to enroll participants.
New evidence about the role of the RSK family of protein kinases in cancer has cut through conflicting experimental data to demonstrate they have different functions and that the RSK4 isoform is a promoter of drug resistance and metastasis in lung and bladder cancer.
