Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies and mRNA-based vaccines represent two of the most significant new modalities to gain regulatory approval in the past decade. Capstan Therapeutics Inc. has emerged from stealth with bold ambitions to combine these two approaches in mRNA-programmed cell therapies that will be generated in vivo from patients’ endogenous cells. It has so far secured $165 million in equity funding to pursue that vision.
Melbourne-based Occurx Pty Ltd. announced a AU$16 million (US$11 million) series B round that will progress lead candidate OCX-063 to phase II trials in chronic kidney disease. The capital raise was jointly led by Brandon Biocatalyst and Uniseed and includes a AU$1.5 million grant from Australian biomedical incubator Cureator.
Microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase-1 (mPGES1) is a molecule belonging to the MAPEG superfamily and is involved in the conversion of PGH2 to excess PGE2 associated with pain and inflammation. Gesynta Pharma AB presented first data on the mPGES1 inhibitor GS-248 for the treatment of pain and inflammation. In their experiments, GS-248 demonstrated a human whole-blood assay (hWBA) IC50 of 0.4 nM, and hWBA activity about 1000-fold more potent than that of celecoxib. No cross reactivity was observed with COX1 or COX2. Moreover, the compound showed IC50 values for human, dog, rat/mouse and minipig mPGES1 of 2.5, 1.3, > 1000 and 23 nM, respectively.
Bristol Myers Squibb Co. has agreed to pay up to $1.9 billion plus royalties, plus an up-front payment of undisclosed value, for Gentibio Inc.’s expertise in engineered regulatory T cells (Tregs) to treat inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The agreement follows soon after BMS’ $4.1 billion acquisition of cancer biotech Turning Point Therapeutics Inc., as well as an expansion of its oncology partnership with Bridgebio Pharma Inc. to the tune of $905 million.
More than 10% of Americans suffer from chronic pain, and how to prevent acute pain from turning chronic has been a critical question in pain research. But according to a study published in the May 11, 2022, issue of Science Translational Medicine, that approach has it backwards. In several animal models of pain, the resolution of acute pain was an active process. Chronic pain happened when those active processes failed to occur.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have gained new insight into how different inflammatory conditions reinforce each other via trained innate immunity.
The deal that could bring IGM Biosciences Inc. more than $6 billion is 2022’s largest and cracks the BioWorld top 10 list as the ninth biggest ever. Sanofi SA and IGM agreed to develop, manufacture and commercialize immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody agonists in treating cancer and immunology/inflammation targets. IGM is getting $150 million up front once the deal closes, which the company expects to happen in the second quarter of 2022.
Space travel has known effects on human health and biology. Some, such as loss of bone density, are well understood, while others, like inflammation, are not. Now, organ-on-a-chip maker Emulate Inc. is conducting experiments on the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory (ISS-NL) aimed at revealing clues to how the brain functions in microgravity.
At a recent lecture at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Mehta, who is chief of the laboratory of inflammation and cardiometabolic diseases at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute and an adjunct professor of medicine at George Washington University, described his insights into the links between psoriasis, inflammation and cardiometabolic disease.
"My fondest hope is that maybe depression and other mental health disorders may be diagnosed by underlying cause, rather than categorized dualistically," Edward Bullmore, director of the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, and head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, told his audience at the European Congress of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP). "I think it's much more aligned with the way that the rest of medicine has been working for some time."
