Ascletis Pharma Inc. presented subgroup data from a phase II trial showing its subcutaneous PD-L1 antibody envafolimab (ASC-22) was able to functionally cure chronic hepatitis B, according to hepatitis B surface antigen decline following 24-week treatment.
Results published Feb. 17, 2023, in Immunity have given a wider view of what happens in the earliest stages of HIV infection. Treatments against HIV prevent the replication of the virus, but do not kill the reservoir of latently infected cells that starts to build almost immediately upon infection.
Erytech Pharma AS, repositioning itself to recover from a tough phase III cancer study failure in 2021, will merge with Pherecydes Pharma SA, which specializes in precision phage therapy for treating resistant and/or complicated bacterial infections.
Calibr at Scripps Research and the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute (Gates MRI) have entered into a strategic licensing agreement to advance development of a novel investigational compound for treatment of tuberculosis (TB).
Assembly Biosciences Inc. has selected development candidate ABI-5366 to progress to IND-enabling studies from its long-acting herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) helicase inhibitor program for high-recurrence genital herpes. The company is targeting IND/CTA filings in the first half of next year.
Bavarian Nordic A/S plans to buy two travel vaccines plus a phase III chikungunya vaccine candidate from Emergent Biosolutions Inc. for about $380 million. Emergent will receive a $270 million up-front payment and perhaps as much as $110 million in future milestone payments. The vaccines are Vivotif, for preventing typhoid fever, and Vaxchora, for preventing cholera caused by Vibrio cholerae serogroup O1. Both oral vaccines have U.S. FDA and European approvals.
Cathepsin L (CTS-L) is a lysosomal enzyme responsible for degrading endocytosed proteins to generate immunogenic antigens for adaptive immunities. In the current study, researchers reported data from a study that aimed to assess the potential of targeting procathepsin L (pCTS-L) as a potential therapeutic strategy against sepsis.
Thylacine Biotherapeutics Inc. has entered into a license agreement with Columbia University for worldwide exclusive rights to develop and commercialize a novel antiviral peptide platform invented and refined at Columbia.