Johnson & Johnson (J&J) announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ambrx Biopharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a proprietary synthetic biology platform, for $2 billion. Ambrx has been advancing its portfolio of next-generation antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) in a range of cancer indications. With the…

AstraZeneca’s antibody drug conjugate datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd) has shown a statistically significant  improvement for the dual primary end-point of progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared to the current standard-of-care treatment docetaxel, the company announced on Wednesday. The company also noted that…

Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, reporting at the European Society of Medical Oncology Congress in Barcelona, say that an antibody-drug conjugate that delivers chemotherapy directly to the tumor site has shown “impressive” activity against HER2-positive breast cancer that has spread to the brain. The findings, according to the study…

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators have found that a year of treatment with an antibody and chemotherapy drug conjugate is highly effective at preventing recurrence of HER2-positive breast cancer in patients with stage 1 disease. The Phase II ATEMPT clinical study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, showed that 97%…

Ajinomoto has announced a deal with Exelixis to incorporate AJICAP, its proprietary site-specific bioconjugation and linker technologies, in the development of Exelixis antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) programs. Ajinomoto is eligible to receive development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments as well as royalties on commercial sales. Exelixis is developing next generation ADCs…

By Scott Tomlins, MD, PhD, Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer, Strata Oncology   Sponsored content brought to you by ADCs are part of the expression-based therapy revolution in cancer treatment Oncology is seeing accelerated development of new expression-based therapy classes with the potential to deliver unprecedented improvements in patient outcomes.…

Tumor size has a strong impact on survival rates of patients with pancreatic cancer (PC), which are some of the worst of all cancer with a five-year survival rate of only 10%. The larger the tumor, the less likely it is to be cured by resection. There have been cases,…

Scientists from King’s College London have made a significant breakthrough in the treatment of aggressive breast cancer by developing a tailored drug that exploits the cancer cells’ weaknesses. This innovative approach, published in Clinical Cancer Research and funded by Breast Cancer Now, offers new hope for patients with triple-negative breast…

Bristol Myers Squibb is acquiring Orum Therapeutics’ ORM-6151 program for $100M upfront and total deal value of $180M. In a twist on antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), Orum is pioneering Dual-Precision Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD²) and Targeted Protein Stabilization (TPS²). ORM-6151 is a first-in-class, anti-CD33 antibody-enabled GSPT1 degrader that has received the…

Synthetic DNA company Twist Bioscience announced today that it has entered an antibody discovery, option and license agreement with pharma giant Bayer valued at up to $188 million. The agreement will see Twist Biopharma Solutions leverage its “Library of Libraries” to conduct antibody research against unnamed therapeutic targets, with Bayer…

As part of the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Orlando, FL, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have not only identified a new target for drug-resistant ovarian cancer but also provided supporting evidence for a potential treatment approach.…

Confo Therapeutics, a leader in targeting G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), this week announced an agreement with Daiichi Sankyo for the discovery and development of small molecule agonists against an undisclosed CNS target. Confo will receive upfront and milestone payments totaling $183 million and tiered royalties on sales from any resulting…

The biotech company Aethon Therapeutics has launched in New York to develop antibody immunotherapies for tumors that have developed resistance to current cancer drugs. The company is funding its work with a $30 million Series A round. Aethon is the result of an alliance between the life sciences venture capital…

Over the last week, the world of cancer research, diagnostics and therapeutics has been congregating on the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) website to view a wide variety of cutting-edge research presentations at the organization’s annual conference. The biggest congress in Europe with a focus on cancer research, the…

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is notoriously difficult to treat because it lacks the receptors for estrogen, progesterone, and the growth factor HER2, all three of which can be targeted with effective cancer therapies. Standard chemotherapy regimens provide limited benefit against TNBC, and patients with metastatic disease have a poor prognosis…