Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc., of Bethesda, Md., said it launched a phase II program combining its personalized immune therapy Dcvax-L and PD-1 inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab, Merck & Co. Inc.) for colorectal cancer with liver metastases. The investigator-initiated study will treat patients for up to six months with the combination regimen, with a long-term follow-up regarding patient survival. Read More
Contrafect Corp., of Yonkers, N.Y. said it was granted a $2.1 million technology/therapeutic development award through the U.S. Department of Defense peer-reviewed medical research program. It will support the development of the company's principal therapeutic candidate, CF-301, a bacteriophage-derived lysine, which is active against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. By targeting a conserved region of the cell wall that is vital to bacteria, resistance is less likely to develop to CF-301. Read More
HONG KONG – Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, have established that site-specific phosphorylation of tau protein inhibits amyloid beta (Abeta) plaque toxicity in mice with Alzheimer's disease (AD), providing valuable new insights into AD pathogenesis that could potentially result in new treatments. Read More
LONDON - An influential parliamentary committee has demanded the government makes an immediate commitment to exempt EU scientists working in the U.K. from new immigration controls introduced as a result of the referendum vote to leave the EU. Read More
A high dose of the late-stage migraine prevention therapy erenumab (AMG 334), co-developed by Amgen Inc. and Novartis AG, trimmed about two more migraine days than placebo from an average 8.3 monthly migraine days experienced by patients during the last three months of a confirmatory phase III trial. A low dose of the antibody bested placebo by a lesser 1.4 days. Safety was comparable to placebo, Amgen said. Read More
DUBLIN – Morphosys AG is, after a long haul, finally within touching distance of having one of its Hucal antibodies on the market, following a BLA filing in psoriasis by partner Janssen Research & Development LLC in support of guselkumab, which targets the p19 subunit of interleukin-23 (IL-23.). Read More
Gilead Sciences Inc. reported another late-stage pipeline setback after a pair of phase III trials evaluating JAK inhibitor momelotinib (formerly GS-0387) in myelofibrosis missed key endpoints. SIMPLIFY 1 and 2 were designed to compare momelotinib to Jakafi (ruxolitinib, Incyte Corp.) or best alternative therapy (BAT) in patients with primary myelofibrosis, post-polycythemia vera myelofibrosis or post-essential thrombocythemia myelofibrosis. In the double-blind, active-controlled SIMPLIFY 1 study, 432 myelofibrosis patients who were not previously treated with a JAK inhibitor were randomized (1-to-1) to momelotinib or ruxolitinib for 24 weeks. In SIMPLIFY-2, 156 patients previously treated with but not refractory to ruxolitinib were randomized (2-to-1) to momelotinib or BAT for 24 weeks. Read More
