Eisai and Bristol Myers Squibb are ending their $650M collaboration for the co-development and co-commercialization of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) farletuzumab ecteribulin (FZEC), due to “ongoing portfolio prioritization efforts within Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS).” Formerly known as MORAb-202, FZEC is a folate receptor alpha (FRα)-targeting antibody drug conjugate (ADC). Eisai and…

The non-hormonal menopause therapy market may get a boost soon as Bayer’s elinzanetant met primary and secondary endpoints in two pivotal Phase III trials. The drug significantly reduced the frequency and severity of moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms (VSM), commonly known as hot flashes, in post-menopausal women. Neurokinin receptors help…

Enhertu (AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s trastuzumab deruxtecan) has become the first tumor-agnostic, FDA-approved, HER2-directed therapy. It is approved for adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive (IHC 3+) solid tumors. Enhertu is an antibody drug conjugate (ADC) that consists of a HER2 monoclonal antibody attached to a number of topoisomerase…

Women’s health is chronically underfunded both in the public and private sectors and has been for many years. No one knows this better than Piraye Yurttas Beim, CEO and founder of Celmatix, a women’s health biotech company focused on improving ovarian health. Since founding Celmatix in 2009, she has been…

A new study from investigators at Duke University leveraging IGA antibodies to target and eliminate tumor-promoting molecules deeply embedded within cancer cells shows promise to provide more effective and less toxic treatment for cancer than currently used therapies. The research, led by Jose Ramon Conejo-Garcia, MD, PhD, an immunologist at…

Researchers at City of Hope have developed a new targeted chemotherapy that shows promise against all solid tumor types, in preclinical studies. The new drug candidate, AOH1996, targets proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) a protein once that to be “undruggable” with early research showing that the targeted chemotherapy appears to…

CD70 is highly expressed on drug-resistant cancer cells in EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) representing a promising new target for treatment of cancer cells that remain after a patient receives EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy. The new research from investigators at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer…

Many biologists seek signals of gene expression and study the structure of tissues. Sequencing RNA (RNA-seq) reveals gene expression, and techniques evolved into single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq), which uncovers the gene expression in just one cell. For spatial information about organisms, scientists use microscopy. To put together these two methods, scientists…

By Kenny Wong Kenny Wong Precision medicine is advancing quickly: In genomics, there are currently more than 160,000 testing products, with 30 new tests each day.1 Examples include: diagnostic testing to identify whether an individual has a specific genetic condition (e.g. cystic fibrosis); non-invasive prenatal screening to…

Elevation Oncology’s drug candidate seribantumab, currently being evaluated is a Phase II study, has received FDA Fast Track designation for tumor-agnostic  treatment of advanced cancers harboring an NRG1 gene fusion. Seribantumab is a fully human IgG2 monoclonal antibody that binds to human epidermal growth factor receptor 3 (HER3). HER3 is…

Patients with advanced solid tumors carrying ATM gene alterations and BRCA1/2 defects had durable and prolonged responses when treated with the oral ataxia-telangiectasia and Rad3–related protein inhibitor elimusertib (Bayer). These results were from a phase 1b trial (NCT03188965) that involved more than 140 patients and was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)…

A new spatial functional genomics technology called Perturb-map developed at Mount Sinai, New York, allows users to find genes that regulate cell-extrinsic functions at an unprecedented scale and at single-cell resolution. The technology employs a genetic barcode to mark cancer cells, normal neighboring cells and components of the tumor microenvironment…

A large international study has revealed almost 300 genetic variants associated with early or late menopause, mostly linked to DNA damage response. In an experimental study in mice, the researchers also found that they were able to extend reproductive span in the animals by manipulating the DNA damage response pathway,…

Scientists based at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have discovered a new class of drugs that they think has potential to treat a subtype of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma—mantle cell lymphoma—that is normally fatal. The drug candidates are small molecules that inhibit the action of the SOX11 oncogene and in…

Studies in laboratory cell lines and in mouse tumor models show an antibiotic developed in the 1950s called novabiocin effectively targets and kills cancer cells with abnormal BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, which normally help to repair damaged DNA. The research team, based at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, showed the drug…