Shaking up corporate and pipeline structure, San Diego-based cancer developer Erasca Inc. in-licensed two assets from China-based biopharmas in all-cash deals, while laying off 18% of its workforce, primarily in drug discovery. The flurry of announcements made on May 16, which included $160 million raised in private placement, showed that Erasca would scrap three existing pipeline assets – ERAS-007, ERAS-801 and ERAS-4 – and reshape development to a RAS-targeting franchise.
A new horizon may be opening up in low-grade serious ovarian cancer (LGSOC) with the advent of Verastem Oncology Inc.’s therapy pairing two small molecules: avutometinib (VS-6766), a kinase inhibitor that binds to and inhibits the kinase activities of RAF and MEK to block the signal transduction pathways they mediate; and defactinib (VS-6063), an inhibitor of FAK.
South Korea’s HLB Co. Ltd. saw its stock (KOSDAQ:028300) drop nearly 30% on May 17 as CEO Jin Yang-gon announced the U.S. FDA’s complete response letter (CRL) to its NDA seeking approval of its rivoceranib and camrelizumab (Airtuika, Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.) combo for liver cancer.
The U.S. FDA granted accelerated approval to Amgen Inc.’s Imdelltra (tarlatamab) for treating adults with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer with disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. The approval may well lead the drug to blockbuster status while bolstering the company’s cancer portfolio.
The Surveillance Heartcare Outcomes Registry trial demonstrated that Caredx Inc.’s Heartcare test identifies acute cellular rejection in heart transplant patients better than donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) alone, while reducing biopsies and improving clinical outcomes. Heartcare combines two non-invasive tests, dd-cfDNA and Allomap Heart gene-expression profiling.
Shouyao Holdings (Beijing) Co. Ltd. has patented inhibitors of fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR), particularly FGFR2 and/or FGFR3, described as potentially useful for the treatment of cancer.
Shanghai Leadingtac Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has divulged proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTACs) compounds comprising an E3 ubiquitin ligase binding moiety covalently linked to a son of sevenless homolog 1 (SOS1) targeting moiety reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, neurofibromatosis type 1, Costello syndrome, cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome and Noonan syndrome.
Even though HER3 is validated as a promising therapeutic target for cancer therapy, no HER3-targeting antibodies or antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have been approved for clinical use. Investigators at Duality Biologics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. have developed DB-1310, a new HER3-targeting ADC being studied for the treatment of solid tumors, and published findings from preclinical characterization.
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