A little more than three months after it raised $115 million in a Series C financing round, Caribou Biosciences late last week filed for an initial public offering whose size has not yet been determined, though the company’s S-1 registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, included…

A research study led by the University of Kansas suggests that the FDA-mandated monitoring period of diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients receiving chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy could be halved without harm to patients. Writing in the journal Blood Advances, first author Nausheen Ahmed, a researcher and hematologist…

Blood proteins may be better than clinical information at determining a person’s risk of developing 67 diseases within the next 10 years, according to information collected through the UK Biobank. The findings demonstrate how thousands of proteins measured in a single blood sample can predict the onset of diverse diseases.…

As it expands from oncology into autoimmune disease, Cullinan Therapeutics (formerly Cullinan Oncology) yesterday announced a $280 million private placement. The company’s lead compound is now CLN-978 for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), which it believes has the potential to be a safe, first-in-class, off-the-shelf, disease-modifying treatment in autoimmune diseases.  “Today’s…

In a crucial Phase I/II trial, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have reported significant success in treating patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell malignancies using cord blood-derived chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) natural killer (NK) cell therapy targeting CD19. The findings, published in Nature Medicine, show…

Adding immunotherapy to chemotherapy almost doubled survival in patients with an advanced type of bladder cancer, in the first of its kind trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine and at the annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO). The multicenter, international study was co-led by Mount Sinai…

Three therapeutic regulatory approvals in less than a year signal that the promise of the human microbiome may finally be paying off. All of the approved therapies focus on treating recurrent Clostridium difficile infection, but what is next for the field? With promising oncology-related trial results from a number of…

After decades of research, cell and gene therapies are gaining traction in the biotech industry. Here are five investor-favored private startups with products already in clinical development. While conventional medications are often effective at controlling symptoms or modifying a disease, there are many conditions where their benefits are limited, such…

Cell and gene therapy have surprisingly long histories. Cell therapy has existed in the form of bone marrow transplant, used to treat cancers and other conditions, since the late 1950’s, although it only came to prominence with the approval of the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell cancer therapies (Kymriah…

Viruses have evolved with humans for millions of years, so it’s no surprise they’ve evolved tricks to evade our natural, or innate, immune responses. Unfortunately, it’s often unclear what these tricks are. But now, thanks to researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine, one of these…

Recent research demonstrating how important the human microbiome is for maintaining good health has led to the founding of many biotech companies hoping to create microbiome-based therapeutics. These five biotech companies all have candidates in clinical trials and are primed to be among the first to receive market approval. The…

Research led by Tel Aviv University and the University of Lisbon has identified a small molecule inhibitor which may be a more accessible and effective alternative to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy antibodies already being used to treat a range of cancers. Inhibiting programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) and the PD-ligand 1…

Artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled patient-centric oncology clinical trial enrollment company Massive Bio and AdhereTech, a smart device company that provides real-time data to help drive clinical decisions announced they will work together to develop digital health technology solutions. The partnership will focus on oral oncology therapies with the aim of providing…

In a deal worth approximately $250 million, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will acquire Checkmate Pharmaceuticals in a deal that expands the buyer’s immuno-oncology pipeline. Checkmate’s lead candidate is included in the deal. Vidutolimod (CMP-001), is being developed as a monotherapy and in numerous combinations—including in tandem with Regeneron’s marketed multi-indication cancer drug…

Immune therapy with checkpoint inhibitors against  PD-L1 and PD-1 is usually considered fairly gentle treatment in the cancer treatment field as far as side effects. But up to 30% of patients receiving them can develop serious toxicity, particularly when used in combination treatments. To help identify those patients ahead of…