Just shy of four years ago, MEI Pharma Inc. and Helsinn Group hashed out a $464 million deal to develop and commercialize pracinostat. Now an interim futility analysis has persuaded them to halt their phase III study in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) while, pending further evaluation, patients enrolled in other pracinostat studies continue their treatment.
The checkpoint molecule CD47 has high hopes riding on it in oncology as being the innate immune equivalent of PD-1. Multiple companies are developing blockers against CD47 and/or its ligand, SIRPa, for the treatment of various tumors.
Bolt Biotherapeutics Inc.’s $93.5 million series C round “takes us well into the back end of 2021 and into 2022,” CEO Randall Schatzman told BioWorld, with enough money that the firm is “not impeded in terms of the creativity [we’re] bringing to the table.”
Multiple sessions at the American Association for Cancer Research Virtual Annual Meeting II covered how COVID-19 is affecting cancer patients, from how clinical trials needed to be modified during the pandemic to how real-world evidence can play a role now and in the future.
BEIJING – Beijing-based cellular immunotherapy firm Immunotech Biopharm Ltd. said June 28 that it intends to raise up to HK$1.1 billion (US$141.9 million) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on July 10, with shares priced between HK$10.5 and HK$11 apiece.
LONDON – Enterome SA has raised €46.3 million (US$52.6 million) in a mixture of debt and equity, enabling it to take a new type of cancer vaccine, based on microbiome-derived antigens that mimic neoantigens expressed on tumor cells, into the clinic.
Nearly a week after filing for a $115 million IPO that it had put off for more than a year, and two months after dosing the first patient in its phase I trial in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, Poseida Therapeutics Inc. has closed on a $110 million series D to continue its CAR T-cell therapy programs.
At a session of the American Association for Cancer Research Virtual Annual Meeting II, multiple FDA regulators gave presentations on various topics to help drug companies understand the ever-evolving oncology regulation.
Targeted therapy offers an opportunity for personalized medicine that's specific for a patient's tumor, but the hyper-focused treatment creates possibilities for cells to mutate and become resistant to the therapy.
Gilead Sciences Inc. has acquired a 49.9% equity interest in privately held Pionyr Immunotherapeutics Inc., which could receive up to $1.15 billion in potential future milestone payments in the deal.
RSS
