Researchers at Kanazawa University, Japan, have reported a mixed-glial culture on/in soft substrate (MGS) platform to investigate cancer-glia interactions in vitro. Using this model, they showed that astrocytes favored brain metastasis by promoting metabotropic glutamate mGlu1 receptor (mGluR1) expression in cancer cells and stabilizing EGFR. Eishu Hirata, an associate professor at the Cancer Research Institute, Division of Tumor Cell Biology and Bioimaging at Kanazawa University, and his team
published their work on Feb. 2, 2024, in Developmental Cell.
Oncology company Arrivent Biopharma Inc.’s stock (NASDAQ:AVBP) shot up 11% on Jan. 26, its first day of trading, with its upsized IPO pricing 9.72 million shares at $18 each, raising gross proceeds of $175 million.
Allorion Therapeutics Inc. could receive $40 million in up-front and near-term payments from Astrazeneca plc in the companies’ exclusive option and global license deal. The two plan to develop and commercialize an L858R mutated allosteric inhibitor for treating EGFR inhibitor-mutant non-small-cell lung cancer.
Work at Beijing Tide Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has led to the development of proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) compounds comprising an E3 ubiquitin ligase binding moiety coupled to an EGFR (HER1; erbB1)-targeting moiety through a linker.
Researchers from Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co. Ltd. and Doma Biopharmaceutical (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. reported the discovery and preclinical data of DM-005, a novel fully human EGFR × MET bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) being developed for the treatment of cancer.
Precision cancer biotech Abion Inc. announced a positive interim phase II readout for ABN-401, its novel c-mesenchymal-epithelial transition (c-MET)-targeting tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), lighting a runway to its next trial as a combination regimen.
Precision cancer biotech Abion Inc. announced a positive interim phase II readout for ABN-401, its novel c-mesenchymal-epithelial transition (c-MET)-targeting tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), lighting a runway to its next trial as a combination regimen.
Osimertinib is a third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor with documented efficacy in non-small-cell lung cancer. However, in most cases, patients develop resistance to this treatment by mechanisms that are not clear in half of the cases. Researchers from Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital presented data on BC-3448, a bispecific antibody targeting EGFR and CD3 aimed to recruit T cells to tumors with high EGFR expression leading to T cell-driven tumor cell killing. The compound presents a stronger binding affinity for EGFR than for CD3 to avoid the development of cytokine release syndrome, which is a safety issue common in CD3-based bispecific antibodies.
Biocity Biopharma announced that the U.S. FDA has accepted its investigational new drug (IND) application for BC-3448, a bispecific antibody that targets the T cell marker CD3 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), bringing antitumor T cells in proximity to EGFR-expressing cells. To reduce the risk of cytokine release syndrome (CRS), a known risk of CD3-targeting antibodies, the bispecific has a higher affinity for EGFR than CD3.
Researchers from Jiangsu Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. presented the discovery and preclinical evaluation of novel EGFR(T790M/C797S) inhibitors for the treatment of mutant non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).