Genmab A/S is paying $8 billion to acquire Merus NV, gaining rights to the latter’s phase III-stage petosemtamab, a bispecific antibody initially in development for head and neck cancer, and continuing the firm’s strategy to transition from a royalty-based operation to a fully integrated biopharma.
CDR-Life Inc. has announced CDR-609 as its next clinical candidate. Built on the company’s proprietary M-gager platform, CDR-609 is a novel T-cell engager targeting LGR5, a surface antigen widely expressed on common solid tumors, including colorectal, gastric, liver and pancreatic cancers.
Intriguing scientific data continue to roll out in the head and neck cancer space, where the need for therapies has spurred a number of drug firms to try new approaches, which BioWorld examines in part two of a series that began in the Dec. 30 issue.
Carina Biotech Pty Ltd. has submitted an IND application to the FDA to conduct a first-in-human phase I/IIa trial of CNA-3103, its LGR5-targeted chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy candidate, in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.
Using long-term in vivo imaging combined with computational modeling, a multinational team of researchers has gained new insights into what makes potential stem cells able to fulfill their role functionally.
