LONDON – After the hard, solitary slog through months of pandemic, U.K. biotech finally convened in person, buoyed by the contribution the sector has made to dealing with COVID-19, and evidently pleased to be face-to-face once more.
Biogen Inc. opened the 37th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) virtual meeting with data showing those treated with its multiple sclerosis (MS) therapies had an effective antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination.
New and updated preclinical and clinical data presented by biopharma firms at the American Association for Cancer Research virtual International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, including: Basilea, Black Diamond, Catalym, Compass, Immuneering, Repare.
On the last day of this year’s Molecular Targets meeting, an annual joint conference of the American Association for Cancer Research, the National Cancer Institute and the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer, the final plenary went from molecular to macro in a lively discussion of the biggest roadblock in cancer drug development, and what can be done to improve it.
A lack of toxicity and the shrinking of tumors were at the heart of new interim data produced from a two-stage phase II study by Relay Therapeutics Inc. The company reported that the oral small molecule RLY-4008, designed to elicit responses across a broad spectrum of resistance mutations and in multiple tumor types, selectively inhibited fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) 2 in ways that are not limited by off-target toxicities of hyperphosphatemia (FGFR1) and diarrhea (FGFR4).
New and updated preclinical and clinical data presented by biopharma firms at the American Association for Cancer Research virtual International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, including: Aileron, Amgen, Amunix, Bridgebio, Clovis, Cogent, Curis, Deciphera, Essa, Forma, Gennao, Hummingbird, Ikena, Immunome, IMV, Kineta, Kinnate, Medicenna, Monte Rosa, Nuvalent, Oric, Phio, Prelude, Relay, Salarius, Second Genome, Spectrum, Turning Point.
Data from two phase I studies from Prelude Therapeutics Inc. helped open the American Association for Cancer Research virtual International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics on Oct. 7 but tugged the company’s stock sharply downward.
Brii Biosciences Ltd. shared interim data from a phase III trial of its neutralizing monoclonal antibody (mAb) combination therapy for SARS-CoV-2, BRII-196 and BRII-198, that showed a 78% reduction in the risk of hospitalization or death in patients receiving single dose of the cocktail.
New data on the COVID-19 antibody therapy Ronapreve (casirivimab + imdevimab), already used to treat non-hospitalized patients in multiple countries, could potentially support expanding its use to certain recently hospitalized patients with the disease.
New and updated preclinical and clinical data presented by biopharma firms at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology Congress, including: Abbvie, Arcutis, BMS, Dermavant, Eli Lilly, Leo, Novartis, Rapt, Sanofi.