By Amirah Al Idrus
PARP inhibitors such as Merck and AstraZeneca’s Lynparza have changed the game for patients with ovarian cancer, but they’re still not a cure, as cancers can outsmart these drugs and develop resistance. Zentalis Pharmaceuticals is developing a WEE1 inhibitor that it hopes to combine with PARP inhibitors and other cancer medicines to boost their efficacy—and its early phase 1 data are promising.
read more
By Angus Liu
BeiGene has detailed its Novartis-partnered tislelizumab's first global pivotal trial win, teeing up a potential filing outside its home country. The PD-1 drug cut the risk of death by 36% over docetaxel in previously treated non-small cell lung cancer.
read more
By Amirah Al Idrus
Sanofi bet big on engineered IL-2 in 2019, dropping $2.5 billion to acquire Synthorx and its lead program, THOR-707. Now, the French pharma is reporting early phase 1 data showing the treatment could deliver the promise of cytokines for cancer treatment without their nasty side effects.
read more
By Angus Liu
Eli Lilly’s Retevmo is already approved to treat lung and thyroid cancers driven by alterations in the RET gene. Now, the Indianapolis pharma believes it has data to support an expansion into all cancers bearing that biomarker.
read more
By Angus Liu
PI3K inhibitors were once viewed as a blockbuster opportunity in blood cancer. But patient deaths in clinical trials for earlier-line use of Gilead Sciences’ first-to-market Zydelig dashed those hopes. Now, in what could be viewed as a redemption of the drug class, Bayer’s Aliqopa has safely come up with a success.
read more
By Angus Liu
OncoMyx Therapeutics showed its armed rabbit pox virus could stimulate several inflammatory pathways relevant to an anti-tumor immune response. The therapy slowed tumor growth in a mouse model of non-small cell lung cancer.
read more
By Arlene Weintraub
An MD Anderson team discovered that mutant KRAS and p53 rely on a protein called CREB1 to drive the growth and spread of pancreatic cancer. Blocking CREB1 in mouse models of the disease reduced metastases, they reported.
read more
