Cancer therapies can eliminate specific tumors based on their genetic content. However, some cancer cells survive. How do they do it? Part of the answer lies in extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA), an ace up the tumors’ sleeve to adapt and evade attack. Three simultaneous studies in the journal Nature lay all the cards on the table, revealing ecDNAs’ content, their origin, their inheritance, their influence in cancer, and a way to combat them.

Abbisko Therapeutics Co. Ltd.’s colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor inhibitor, pimicotinib, met both primary and secondary endpoints in the phase III Maneuver global study evaluating pimicotinib for treatment of tenosynovial giant cell tumor.

Autolus Therapuetics plc has been granted FDA approval for Aucatzyl (obecabtagene autoleucel) for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in adults, becoming the first marketed CAR T therapy that does not have a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy attached to its label. The approval of Aucatzyl was based on results of the Felix clinical trial in relapsing/remitting ALL, which showed a strong safety profile compared to existing CAR T-cell therapies. The conduct of the trial was dogged by the COVID-19 pandemic, but of the 65 patients from an initial dosed cohort of 95 for whom efficacy was evaluated by the FDA, 63% achieved overall complete remission.

Microbiome specialist Enterobiotix Ltd. has reported positive results for the phase Ib trial of its EBX-102 fecal microbiota therapy in patients with stable liver cirrhosis. The placebo-controlled study involved first-in-human dosing with the company’s encapsulated oral formulation of microbiota derived from the stools of healthy donors. After initial dosing, patients were followed up for 12 weeks to assess changes in a range of clinical and blood biomarkers.