In multiple sclerosis (MS), macrophages and microglia play a dual role that could be used to treat this neurodegenerative disease. These cells promote inflammation that demyelinates neurons but also sweep away the debris of damaged myelin and produce neurotrophic factors that would allow its restoration. According to a group of scientists from the University of Hasselt in Belgium, damage or repair depends on a double switch that combines the action of two enzymes, one that desaturates and another that elongates fatty acids. By reducing the levels of these enzymes, phagocytic cells would replenish the myelin instead of engulfing it. Read More
Beam Therapeutics Inc. has released new preclinical data demonstrating the ability of its in vivo drug candidate, BEAM-302, to directly correct the PiZ mutation, the primary disease-causing mutation associated with severe α1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD). Read More
Proteros Biostructures GmbH has established a new collaboration with Orion Corp. The two companies are engaging in a joint multitarget collaboration for early-stage drug discovery projects in oncology and pain using Proteros’ discovery platform, and now have decided to combine their expertise to assemble a chemically diverse small-molecule library collection. The nonexclusive agreement enables Proteros to exclusively offer access to this high throughput screening (HTS) library to all its clients. Read More
Researchers from the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, along with other affiliated organizations, have published details on the synthesis and in vivo characterization of a novel series of 177Lu-labeled peptides with strong binding affinity to the cholecystokinin CCK2 receptor, an important molecular target which is highly expressed in a range of cancers. Read More
Artelo Biosciences Inc. has completed a pre-IND meeting with the FDA regarding the manufacturing, preclinical and clinical development plan for ART-26.12. Read More
Carrick Therapeutics Ltd. has received FDA clearance of its IND application for CT-7439, a novel cyclin dependent kinase 12/13 (CDK12/13) inhibitor. Read More
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. has disclosed adenosine A2A (ADORA2A) and/or A2B (ADORA2B) receptor antagonists reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer. Read More
Noetik Inc. has closed an oversubscribed $14 million seed financing round. The company has built a multimodal tissue profiling platform that combines self-supervised learning with spatial biology to tackle problems in cancer immunology. Read More
Insilico Medicine IP Ltd. has synthesized membrane-associated tyrosine- and threonine-specific Cdc2-inhibitory kinase (PKMYT1) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer. Read More
Researchers at Xuzhou Medical University have evaluated the inhibitory effect of mitochondrial metabolism inhibitor mitolonidamine (Mito-LND) on the growth of glioblastoma (GBM) cells and studied its potential mechanism. Read More
Researchers from Beijing Inno Medicine Co. Ltd. recently reported preclinical data for the novel liposome encapsulated rosuvastatin calcium candidate, YN-001, being developed for the treatment of atherosclerosis. Read More