At a recent meeting on “Research priorities for preventing and treating Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias” (ADRD), convened by the National Academies, one consensus priority on ADRD research was that there needs to be more of it at every stage. Several speakers presented stark numbers on the relative volume of research in cancer and neurodegeneration. Research output, measured in peer-reviewed papers, for dementia is estimated to be around 10,000 papers annually, compared to 150,000 for cancer, while AD clinical trials are also few and far between compared to cancer trials. This final installment of BioWorld’s series on Alzheimer’s explores some of the reasons for this discrepancy along with the latest advances and ongoing efforts to accelerate research and drug development in the field. Read More
Bladder cancer is among the top 10 malignant tumors, still with a high mortality rate. There is a need for reliable biomarkers for early diagnosis of the disease. Proximity extension analysis (PEA) is a method that uses a quantitative PCR readout to analyze protein levels in plasma in longitudinal studies and genomic association studies. Read More
Researchers from Catholic University of Korea published data from a study that investigated the effect of miRNA-21a-5p on fibrosis development in systemic sclerosis (SSc). With the aim of assessing the pathological impact of miRNA-21a-5p on skin and lung fibrosis in vivo, a bleomycin-induced SSc murine model was developed, and the mice were hydrodynamically injected with plasmids containing pre-miRNA-21a-5p or anti-miRNA-21a-5p. Read More
Inmed Pharmaceuticals Inc. has reported new preclinical data demonstrating INM-901’s pharmacological effects for the potential treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Several preclinical studies were conducted in well-characterized Alzheimer’s disease models. Read More
Gram-negative bacteria require the metalloenzyme LpxC for their outer membrane biogenesis. Blacksmith Medicines Inc. has identified an LpxC inhibitor, FG-960, which has shown a robust in vitro and in vivo profile against multidrug-resistant Enterobacterales. FG-60 is currently being investigated for the treatment of urinary tract infections (UTIs). Read More
Mina Therapeutics Ltd. has announced a research collaboration and licensing agreement option with Nippon Shinyaku Co. Ltd. for the discovery and potential development and commercialization of small activating RNA (RNAa) therapeutic candidates targeting rare neurodegenerative diseases for which there are currently no treatment options. Read More
Arvinas Operations Inc. has disclosed proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) compounds consisting of a cereblon E3 ubiquitin ligase binding moiety coupled to a Raf kinase B G466V and/or V600E mutant targeting agent through a linker. Read More
Odyssey Therapeutics Inc. has entered into a strategic research collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, a Johnson & Johnson company, to jointly discover and optimize small-molecule medicines against select therapeutic targets. Read More
Scientists at Inventisbio Co. Ltd. and Inventisbio LLC have synthesized phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase α (PI3Kα) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, PIK3CA-related overgrowth spectrum (PROS) and congenital lipomatous overgrowth, vascular malformations, epidermal naevi and skeletal abnormalities (CLOVES syndrome). Read More
Scientists at Nikang Therapeutics Inc. and Shanghai Blueray Biopharma Co. Ltd. have identified tetracyclic derivatives acting as GTPase KRAS (G12D mutant) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer. Read More
It has been previously demonstrated that insulin-reactive B cells act as antigen-presenting cells to promote type 1 diabetes by stimulating pathogenic T cells and leading to destruction of insulin-producing beta cells of pancreatic islets. Read More
Aethon Therapeutics Inc. has entered into a collaboration agreement with Revolution Medicines Inc. under which Aethon will use its Hapimmune platform to discover novel bispecific antibodies to mount an immune attack directed towards cancer cells hit by Revolution Medicines’ RAS(ON) inhibitors. Read More
Caris Discovery, the therapeutic research arm of Caris Life Sciences Inc., has established a multiyear strategic partnership with Merck KGaA to accelerate the discovery and development of first-in-class antibody-drug conjugates for cancer patients. Read More
Nanjing Zhongrui Medicine Co. Ltd. has described protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) activators reported to be useful for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Read More
Additional early-stage research and drug discovery news in brief, from: Alzecure Pharma, Asher Biotherapeutics, Cantargia, Genprex, JD Bioscience, Surrozen. Read More
