“The impoverished laboratory environment in which mice and rats are maintained has been very good at increasing experimental replicability,” Steven Austad told the audience at the 12th Aging Research & Drug Discovery Meeting (ARDD) in Copenhagen last week. “But at the cost of sacrificing translational relevance.” Read More
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and malignant primary brain tumor. Non-muscle myosin II (NMII) paralogues (NMIIA, IIB and IIC) have multiple roles in normal cell physiology, but also contribute to pathological states, including GBM. Because oncogenic kinase inhibitors often fail in GBM due to pathway redundancy, targeting NMIIs, which are common downstream effectors, may offer a more effective strategy. Read More
Charm Therapeutics Ltd. has closed an oversubscribed series B funding round, raising $80 million to advance its next-generation menin inhibitor into clinical development. Current menin inhibitors show promise in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) treatment but are limited by the rapid emergence of resistance mutations that cause treatment failure. Read More
Editas Medicine Inc. has nominated a lead in vivo development candidate, EDIT-401, a potential one-time therapy designed to significantly reduce LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. The in vivo gene editing medicine is designed to treat hyperlipidemia by directly editing the LDLR gene to increase LDLR protein expression and reduce LDL-C levels. Read More
Scientists at National University of Singapore and Agency for Science Technology & Research Bioprocessing Technology Institute have identified MAPK-interacting kinase (MNK) inhibitors, particularly MNK1 and MNK2 inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) metastatic to the brain. Read More
Omass Therapeutics Ltd. has entered into an exclusive collaboration and license agreement with Genentech Inc., a member of the Roche Group, for the rights to develop and commercialize Omass’ preclinical oral small-molecule program for inflammatory bowel disease. Read More
Researchers from Cardiff University have discovered a new class of highly potent and selective inhibitors targeting the LIM domain kinases (LIMKs), a family of enzymes that play a critical role in regulating actin filament turnover. This turnover is involved in the cytoskeletal remodeling, proliferation and migration. Read More
Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has disclosed compounds acting as Myt1 kinase (PKMYT1) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer. Read More
Nanjing Zenshine Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. has synthesized phosphoric acid derivatives reported to be useful for the treatment of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Read More
The addition of photoisomerizable moieties in drugs opens the possibility of rapid and reversible light-dependent switching between an active and inactive form. Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and the University of Barcelona have developed MRS-7787, a photoswitchable adenosine A3 receptor (A3R) agonist that controls A3R through topical skin irradiation. Read More
Shanghai Huilun Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has described sodium channel protein type 10 subunit α (SCN10A; Nav1.8) blockers reported to be useful for the treatment of pain, multiple sclerosis, Charcot-Marie-tooth disease and arrhythmia. Read More
Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a complication of diabetes and a leading cause of end-stage renal disease globally, with a rate of about 40% in patients with diabetes and limited access to therapeutic options. Read More
