Work at Escient Pharmaceuticals Inc. has led to the discovery of novel Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor member X4 (MRGPRX4) antagonists as potential therapeutic candidates for the treatment of cholestatic and uremic pruritus.
ABM Therapeutics Inc. presented a novel small-molecule, ATP-uncompetitive, phosphorylated MEK (pMEK) inhibitor – ABM-4095 – that potently prevents phosphorylation of MEK by RAF with moderate inhibition of MEK kinase activity; it is being investigated for the potential treatment of pancreatic cancer.
At the AACR meeting, Innovent Biologics Inc. discussed the discovery and preclinical evaluation of a B7-H3/EGFR bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (bsADC).
The formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) is a common feature in the renal glomeruli of patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA) vasculitis. The use of a DNA repair antibody, such as PAT-DX-1 from Patrys Ltd., could inhibit NET formation by interfering with DNA damage responses in the neutrophil, which lead to the release of DNA.
“Hot and cold tumors may need different types of immunotherapy,” Jay Berzofsky told the audience as the American Association for Cancer Research’s (AACR) 2024 annual meeting kicked off this weekend. In an educational session on cancer vaccines, Berzofsky, who is head of the National Cancer Institute’s Molecular Immunogenetics and Vaccine Research section, explained that when immunotherapy fails in hot tumors, it fails despite the existence of an immune response, due to an immunosuppressive microenvironment.
Shasqi Inc. recently reported the discovery of novel candidates using their proprietary Click Activated Protodrugs Against Cancer (CAPAC) platform, which aims to selectively activate high doses of cancer drugs directly at the tumor site. To achieve this, CAPAC consists of two separate components: a tumor-targeted activator and an inactivated payload.
DNA-encoded library (DEL) technology is a promising new tool for identifying ligands for challenging protein targets, allowing for the preparation and screening of large chemical libraries with significantly reduced time, costs and material requirements when compared to HIT-finding strategy.
Pfizer Inc. has presented preclinical data on its first-in-class, selective cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4) inhibitor compound, PF-07220060, that has shown 20-fold and 4-fold increased selectivity for CDK4 vs. CDK6 compared to palbociclib and abemaciclib/ribociclib, respectively.
It has been previously demonstrated that B7-H3 and EGFR are co-expressed in multiple solid tumors. At the ongoing AACR meeting in San Diego, researchers from Innovent Biologics Inc. presented preclinical data for their bispecific antibody (bsAb), IBI-334, against B7-H3 and EGFR.
Kinase inhibitors have emerged as crucial cancer therapeutics due to the involvement of kinases in cancer signaling. At the AACR, Neosome Life Sciences LLC has provided data on their kinase inhibitor NEOS-223 for the potential treatment of tumors. The compound was tested in several cancer cell types, as well as in in vivo cancer models in mice.
RSS
