Delix Therapeutics Inc. has been awarded a $320,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, to support the advancement of DLX-007.
Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are a group of disorders of which the main hallmarks are bone marrow fibrosis and atypical megakaryocytes (MK) accumulation. Both Rho kinase (ROCK) and Aurora kinase (ARK) pathways are involved in correct MK maturation.
A new degrader strategy has been previously proposed to mitigate platelet toxicity associated with Bcl-xL degraders. This strategy consists of selectively degrading Bcl-xL by the von Hippel-Lindau protein (VHL) E3 ligase in tumor cells, but not in platelets, which minimally express VHL. DT-2216 was developed as the first Bcl-xL degrader of this kind; however, this clinical candidate has still shown some platelet toxicity in vivo.
With an initial €8 million (US$8.4 million) in seed funding in the bank, Tessellate Bio has emerged from stealth to tackle cancers that rely on the less well explored synthetic lethality mechanism of alternative lengthening of telomeres.
Immuneering Corp. has obtained FDA clearance of its IND application for IMM-6-415, an oral, twice-daily small molecule in development for the treatment of advanced RAF or RAS mutant solid tumors.
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC has divulged compounds acting as lipid A export ATP-binding/permease protein (MsbA) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of gram-negative (multidrug-resistant) bacterial infections.
Repare Therapeutics Inc. has identified membrane-associated tyrosine- and threonine-specific Cdc2-inhibitory kinase (PKMYT1) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.