A promising but side effect-ridden phase III study by Novartis AG with oral imatinib in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) led Boston-based Aerovate Therapeutics Inc. to start exploring two years ago an aerosol form of the kinase inhibitor, and the project has won backing to the tune of $72.6 million in series A money.
LONDON – Scientists investigating the impact of SARS-CoV-19 on protein expression in human cells have shown that infected cells develop virus-laden membrane protrusions, or filopodia, which may explain the rapidity of viral spread through the body.
The activity of many proteins is controlled through phosphorylation by kinases and dephosphorylation by phosphatases. Overactive kinases are one of the major drivers of tumors and, as a result, kinase inhibitors are a mainstay of oncology drug development. But “activation of the brakes, the phosphatases, could be equally therapeutically viable for the treatment of a broad range of cancers” to kinase inhibition, Goutham Narla told the audience at the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting.
