Autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has been one of the most recent successes in cancer treatment, but limitations, such as manufacturing, costs or antigen escape in therapies directed against only one target that leads to resistance, highlight the need for new approaches. Classical natural killer T (NKT) cells engineered to express CARs constitute a novel type of allogeneic therapy that does not require T-cell receptor (TCR) gene editing, thus avoiding graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD).
As its pharma peers continue to place big bets on antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), Sanofi SA is ditching the only advertised ADC program in its pipeline, after it failed an independent interim analysis.
Starpharma Holdings Ltd.’s DEP docetaxel phase II trial met its primary endpoints, demonstrating antitumor activity in multiple advanced, metastatic cancers, including pancreatic, gastro-esophageal, non-small-cell lung cancer and cholangiocarcinoma.
Haisco Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. has synthesized poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1; ARTD1) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Researchers from Blueprint Medicines Corp. presented data from a study that aimed to assess the effects of combining cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) inhibitor BLU-222 with CDK4/6 inhibitors, such as palbociclib or ribociclib, to overcome CDK4/6 inhibitor resistance in HR-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer.
In an article published on Dec. 18, 2023, in Nature, researchers from the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona (Spain) and Wellcome Sanger Institute in Hinxton (U.K.) reported achieving a milestone regarding KRAS targeting in cancer. The team quantified the impact of >26,000 KRAS variants and how these mutations affected protein folding and its interaction with the six main effectors – RAF1, PIK3CG, RALGDS, SOS1, K27 and K55.
Immunoscape Pte Ltd. and Mink Therapeutics Inc. have entered into a collaboration agreement to discover and develop next-generation T-cell receptor (TCR) therapies against novel targets in solid tumors.
MYB is a transcription factor essential for cell proliferation and differentiation, and is regarded as a target for cancer therapy because it is overexpressed in many different tumor types such as adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, among others.