Metastatic solid tumors may be curable now. Among the most profound results presented over the weekend at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2024 Congress were the 10-year data from the Checkmate-067 and Keynote-006 trials, the phase III trials that tested Opdivo (nivolumab, Bristol Myers Squibb Co.) and Keytruda (pembrolizumab, Merck & Co. Inc.) as first-line agents in advanced or metastatic melanoma.
Three biopharmas debuted on Nasdaq Sept. 13, raising a combined $703 million for two Massachusetts-based companies focused on bifunctional antibodies for autoimmune diseases and cancer, and one Midwestern firm developing peptide therapies for endocrine and metabolic disorders.
Imcheck Therapeutics SAS’s gamma-delta T-cell activating antibody has become a poster child for the French government’s plan to reduce dependence on imports of biopharmaceuticals by directly supporting domestic development and manufacture of 20 novel products by 2030. The Marseille-based company has been awarded nondilutive public funding of €20.18 million (US$22.4 million) as part of the €54 billion France 2030 strategy, which aims to restore the country’s industrial competitiveness.
Immuneering Corp. CEO Benjamin Zeskind said he is “pleased with enrollment across the full trial” that’s ongoing with IMM-1-104 in cancer, and 30 subjects are due per arm in five arms that the phase IIa experiment includes.
Vironexis Biotherapeutics Inc. has come out of stealth mode, disclosing that it has more than 10 product candidates it’s been developing over the last three years. The therapies are built on the company’s AAV-based platform, Transjoin, which is designed to have patients' livers express bispecific antibodies that bind to both CD3 on T-cells and various targets on tumor cells.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has described proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) comprising an E3 ubiquitin ligase-binding agent coupled to cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9)-targeting moiety via linkers acting as CDK9 degradation inducers reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Researchers from Janssen Biotech Inc. and Yuhan Corp. have synthesized EGFR (HER1; erbB1) (mutant) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer and immunological disorders.
Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. has discovered proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) compounds comprising Von Hippel-Lindau disease tumor suppressor (VHL)-binding moiety covalently linked to Bcl-2-like protein 1 (Bcl-xl; Bcl-X; BCL2L1)-targeting moiety through a linker. They are reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
The University of Michigan has identified proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) comprising cereblon (CRBN) ligands coupled to signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3)-targeting moiety via linker acting as STAT3 degradation inducers.
Researchers from The University of Tokyo and affiliated organizations sought to identify molecules within AML cells that suppress NK cell activity, and as such, fully harness the antileukemic functions of NK cells.