The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting opened at the McCormick Place convention center in Chicago with after-lunchtime sessions on breast cancer, melanoma, sarcoma and advancements on adjuvant cancer vaccines. As ASCO revved up, the CEOs of Merck & Co. Inc., Gilead Sciences Inc. and Eli Lilly and Co. vented their frustrations about the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act on innovation.
Meliora Therapeutics Inc. has patented cyclin-dependent kinase 11 (CDK11) inhibitors and apoptosis inducers reported to be useful for the treatment of breast cancer and melanoma.
Rakovina Therapeutics Inc. has described dual NAD+ ADP-ribosyltransferase (poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase; PARP) and histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of Ewing sarcoma.
Bristol Myers Squibb Co. has identified proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) compounds comprising a E3 ubiquitin ligase-binding moiety coupled to a proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase receptor Ret (RET; CDHF12; PTC) targeting moiety through a linker reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Almac Discovery Ltd. has nominated a new preclinical candidate molecule, ALM-401, a first-in-class bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting EGFR/ROR1. It is being developed for the treatment of refractory lung cancer characterized by dual expression of ROR1 and EGFR.
Actym Therapeutics Inc. has obtained IND clearance from the FDA to begin a phase I trial of ACTM-838. The first-in-human study will enroll patients in the U.S. and Australia with advanced solid tumors who have failed prior lines of therapy and have no clinically beneficial treatment options.
Germline variants that did not affect gene function nevertheless affected multiple aspects of breast cancer risk, via their visibility to the immune system and its reactions. Perhaps most surprisingly, the same genetic constellations that were protective at the very earliest stage of breast cancer, stage 0 or ductal carcinoma in situ, were associated with worse outcomes once a tumor had become invasive.
After shares climbed 36% on May 24 following the release of an American Society of Clinical Oncology abstract detailing an impressive phase II overall response rate in first-line head and neck cancer with bispecific antibody petosemtamab in combination with pembrolizumab, Merus NV is raising $400.2 million in an upsized follow-on offering.
Urteste S.A. has developed a urine-based diagnostic test for the early detection of brain tumors. The prototype, which can detect the activity of brain-specific enzymes in urine, is a breakthrough test and the first solution of this type in the world, Grzegorz Stefański, CEO and co-founder of Urteste S.A., told BioWorld.
Biosplice Therapeutics Inc. has disclosed dual-specificity tyrosine-(Y)-phosphorylation regulated kinase 1A (DYRK1A) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.