While people living with HIV can lead virtually normal lives thanks to antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV persists in a latent state within cellular reservoirs that scientists do not know how to eliminate. “Transcription is a critical step in the viral life cycle. … But there are currently no drugs suppressing HIV transcription, and that may be one of the reasons why current antiretroviral therapy is not curative,” Melanie Ott told the audience at the 13th IAS Conference on HIV Science this week in Kigali, Rwanda. Read More

Illimis Therapeutics Inc. raised ₩58 billion (US$42 million) in a series B financing round. The funds will support development of ILM-01, its lead bispecific fusion protein candidate, into preclinical development for Alzheimer’s disease by the second half of 2025, along with the company’s neuroimmunology portfolio. Read More

Palatin Technologies Inc. has announced preclinical results for PL-7737, an oral selective melanocortin MC4 receptor (MC4R) agonist, showing effectiveness in rodent models of obesity. Read More

Acumen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and JCR Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. have entered a collaboration, option and license agreement to develop a novel therapeutic candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Read More

Atai Therapeutics Inc. has synthesized new tetrahydro pyridine-substituted indole and azaindoles acting as 5-HT2A receptor partial agonists reported to be useful for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Read More

The U.S. FDA has cleared Aavantgarde Bio Srl’s IND application for AAVB-039, the company’s gene therapy program for Stargardt disease, the most common inherited form of macular degeneration. Read More

Incretin-based therapies have demonstrated substantial efficacy in the treatment of metabolic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes but the need for frequent injections remains a major barrier to patient adherence and comfort. Read More

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are therapeutics that combine an antibody with a cytotoxic payload via a chemical linker to specifically target certain cells. Tumor-associated mucin-1 (TA-MUC1) is a glycosylated form of the MUC1 protein that is expressed in several cancer cells, thus being an interesting target for ADC development. Read More

Biosplice Therapeutics Inc. has prepared and tested 4-alkoxypyrrolo[2,1-F][1,2,4]triazines acting as dual specificity tyrosine-phosphorylation-regulated kinase 1A (DYRK1A) inhibitors potentially useful for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Read More

A Black Diamond Therapeutics Inc. patent describes new alkyne-substituted quinazoline derivatives acting as EGFR (HER1; erbB1) inhibitors particularly, EGFR mutant inhibitors, potentially useful for the treatment of cancer. Read More

Hypertensive nephropathy is a major complication of hypertension characterized by inflammation and fibrosis in the kidneys. Recent findings have suggested that agrin may play a critical role in some tissue types such as in the heart or skeletal muscle. Read More

Akebia Therapeutics Inc. has identified new derivatives of ([1,2,4]triazolo[5,1-a]isoquinoline-5-carbonyl)glycinate acting as prolyl 4-hydroxylase (PHD) inhibitors. Read More

Amgen Inc. has patented indazole-containing compounds acting as GTPase KRAS (G12D mutant) inhibitors potentially useful for the treatment of cancer. Read More

Dysfunction of the tumor suppressor p53, commonly resulting from MDM2 overexpression or gene mutations, plays a key role in breast cancer progression. While the bioactive compound piperine has been shown to enhance p53 activity, its clinical utility is limited by poor bioavailability, potential toxicity and the risk of adverse drug interactions. Read More