Cancer therapies can eliminate specific tumors based on their genetic content. However, some cancer cells survive. How do they do it? Part of the answer lies in extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA), an ace up the tumors’ sleeve to adapt and evade attack. Three simultaneous studies in the journal Nature lay all the cards on the table, revealing ecDNAs’ content, their origin, their inheritance, their influence in cancer, and a way to combat them.
Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) enzyme inhibitors used to treat B-cell cancers, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, also produce resistance by causing mutations in the protein. Now, a study on the BTK degrader NX-2127 showed the compound could be effective in eliminating BTK regardless of its mutations.
Researchers have identified a new class of antibiotics that works by blocking the transportation of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to the outer membrane of the gram-negative bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii. The most advanced member of the class, zosurabalpin (RG-6006, Roche AG), was effective against multiple A. baumannii strains, including carbapenem-resistant and multidrug-resistant strains.
Researchers have used explainable artificial intelligence (explainable AI) to find structurally new antibiotics with minimal toxicity. They reported their findings online in Nature on Dec. 20, 2023. In animal testing, compounds identified via the method showed that they had activity against drug-resistant gram-positive bacteria including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), one of the most serious bacterial public health threats.
A newly discovered antibiotic has been shown to block the synthesis of bacterial cell walls via immutable targets, raising the prospect of a class of drugs that will not lose effect through the development of antimicrobial resistance. Clovibactin, isolated from soil bacteria, targets the cell wall precursor molecules lipid II, lipid III and undecaprenyl phosphate (C55PP), all of which have a pyrophosphate group in common.
To jumpstart the development of much-needed antibiotics, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) released a new report Sept. 28 demonstrating the economic benefit of granting additional exclusivity for another drug as a way of incentivizing antibiotic R&D.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Radiopharm Theranostics Ltd. have launched Radiopharm Ventures LLC, a joint venture (JV) that will develop radiopharmaceutical therapies for cancer. Radiopharm Theranostics owns 51% of shares in the new entity, while MD Anderson owns 49%.
Combining the metabolites glutamine or inosine with ampicillin (AMP) could represent a new therapeutic approach to antimicrobial resistance that also avoids the development of acquired resistance to next-generation antibiotics, according to a new Chinese study led by scientists at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) in Guangzhou.
Having created a profitable preclinical services business, Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. is now working to develop its own pipeline of antibody therapeutics, recently inking a partnership with China Resources Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd to develop drugs for oncology and immunology indications and raising “tens of millions of dollars” in a new financing round to support the development of its antibody drugs.
Beigene Ltd.’s PARP inhibitor, pamiparib, won conditional approval from China’s National Medical Products Administration for treating patients with germline BRCA mutation-associated recurrent advanced ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer who have been treated with two or more lines of chemotherapy.
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