oncology

Oncology has benefited from a wave of advances in recent decades. From 1991 to 2018, the age-adjusted overall cancer death rate dropped 31%, according to an analysis from American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). That death rate dropped 2.4% between 2017 and 2018, marking the most significant annual reduction. The reasons for such improvements are multifaceted,…

Mission Bio (San Francisco) is a growth-stage company spun out of the microfluidics lab at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) in 2014. “We have been commercial since late 2017,” said the company’s CEO, Yan Zhang, in a recent interview. Initially focusing on oncology, Mission Bio has cast its gaze across precision medicine to…

Precision oncology firm Black Diamond Therapeutics (Nasdaq:BDTX) has announced a restructuring plan to free up cash to prioritize the development of BDTX-1535 and BDTX-4933. The company plans on trimming nearly one-third of its workforce. BDTX shares ticked up about 1% to $2.75 after announcing the news yesterday but fell 4% today to $2.64. According to…

GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE/NYSE:GSK) has reached a deal to acquire Sierra Oncology (Nasdaq:SRRA) to bolster its oncology pipeline. Under the terms of the proposed deal, GSK would pay $44 per share for a total value of approximately $1.9 billion. GSK shares were mostly flat in mid-day trading, dipping 0.032% to $46.52. SRRA shares surged 38.31% to…

In 2016, then-Vice President Joe Biden announced a Cancer Moonshot initiative to speed the development of new therapies to treat cancer. Biden is now launching a new initiative committed to improving the cancer survival rate by at least 50% by 2047. The plan also aims to improve the quality of life for patients with cancer.…

Radiomics, or the science of advanced imaging analytics, is an emerging field that promises more personalized care, improved clinical decision support and greater efficiency in clinical trials.  Radiomics are being used to discover new biomarkers, improve the accuracy of diagnosis, predict the risk of disease and likelihood of treatment response, and identify clinical endpoints. Today,…

AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) has extended an agreement with the University of Chicago related to collaborative preclinical oncology research. The North Chicago, Illinois–based company and the university are working together on research involving biomarkers and therapeutic applications related to existing AbbVie programs. In the past, the organizations have also explored new drug delivery methods to improve…

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK) is moving forward with its plan to acquire its collaborator GammaDelta Therapeutics Ltd. (London). The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions. Takeda projects that the deal will close in the first quarter of its fiscal year, which will end on June 30, 2022. The acquisition would bolster Takeda’s immuno-oncology…

The developer of a cloud-based application for oncology care and research, SimBioSys, has raised $15 million in Series A funding. Genoa Ventures and Northpond Ventures led the funding round, which also involved AV8 Ventures, Heritage Medical Group, and Mayo Clinic. SimBioSys also announced that existing investors and its founders participated in the financing, raising a total of $21 million. The company…

Merck & Co. (NSDQ:MRNA) scientists have explored fighting cancer by way of the STING (stimulator of interferon genes)-controlled innate immune pathway. Now, the company has published research in Advanced Therapeutics detailing a preclinical study with its partner Vesselon Inc. that reported impressive pharmacokinetics results related to MSA-1, a STING agonist. The researchers found that low…

Minorities tend to participate in clinical trials at far lower rates than their real-world demographics and prevalence of the disease, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology. In addition, minorities often have worse outcomes for certain cancers than the broader public. Just one example: the mortality rate for Black women with breast cancer is 40% higher than…

Immunotherapy-specialist Hookipa Pharma (NSDQ:HOOK) has announced a clinical collaboration and supply agreement with Merck (NYSE:MRK). Hookipa will test its immunotherapeutic HB-200 in conjunction with Merck’s blockbuster anti-PD-1 therapy, Keytruda (pembrolizumab), as first-line treatment for patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Last year, Merck raked in $14.5 billion in sales revenue from Keytruda.…

A multi-year partnership between Janssen Research & Development (NYSE: JNJ) and ConcertAI (Cambridge, Mass.) will focus on using real-world data and AI for oncology applications involving multiple cancer types. ConcertAI will work “almost an extension of [Janssen’s] R&D development process,” said Jeff Elton, CEO of the company. The two companies’ teams will work closely together…

RedHill Biopharma Ltd. (Nasdaq: RDHL) announced positive results from a Phase 2 U.S. study involving its opaganib in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with pneumonia.  The study indicated that opaganib reduced the need for supplemental oxygen therapy and an earlier hospital discharge. RedHill also concluded that the drug was well-tolerated based on the placebo-controlled Phase 2 study,…

Community-based clinical trials are growing more common in oncology for several reasons. First, drug developers are looking to boost recruitment efforts and address traditional ethnic and economic health disparities in such studies. Second, community hospitals are growing better equipped to participate in such trials. And finally, drug developers are working on expanding the pool of…

While drug developers continue to develop promising investigational cancer drugs, conducting clinical research in oncology remains difficult. Here’s how AI-enabled software can help.  The statistics on inadequate trial recruitment and endemic challenges in oncology clinical trials are well known. They have only gotten worse over the past 20 years. While the number of cancer treatments…

Rybrevant, a novel fully-human bispecific antibody from the Janssen division of Johnson & Johnson, became the first treatment for people with non-small cell lung cancer with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 20 insertion mutations. In particular, the indication covers such cancer that has progressed on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. The agency also approved the…

COVID-19 has complicated oncology trials and care, slowing down the success seen against cancer. While the cancer death rate fell 29% between 1991 and 2017, according to the American Cancer Society, the coronavirus pandemic has threatened to interfere with oncology drug development trials. COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on oncology “Cancer patients have been disproportionately negatively affected…

Endevica Bio (formerly TCI Peptide Therapeutics) started in 2009, focusing on peptides that affect the melanocortin system, which mammals use to regulate food intake and energy homeostasis. The company’s core focus is on a drug candidate known as TCMCB07, a potential treatment for cachexia in cancer patients. Cachexia, a wasting disorder that can result in…

The precision oncology company 4D Path has committed to partnering with the U.K.-based University of Leeds at least until 2027. The two entities are already collaborators, having worked together on three completed breast cancer clinical trials. In particular, researchers at the University of Leeds have used 4D Path’s Q-plasia OncoReader Breast software to analyze data from more…

What do cupcakes have to do with oncology, and more specifically, predictive diagnostics? Before I explain, I’ll provide some context. I recently came across an image that illustrated the difference between how Doppler radar detects conditions for a Tornado Watch versus a Tornado Warning using cupcakes.1 One side of the graphic shows each of the…

The U.S. saw a reduction in cancer deaths from 1991 to 2014. According to the latest data from the 2017 Cancer Progress Report, just released by the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR), over 2.1 million lives have been saved. The AACR cites immunotherapy and precision medicine are at the forefront of this progress. Its…

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the most commonly exploited target in modern medicine; however, they have historically not been targeted in oncology.  Recently, researchers have identified opportunities for targeting GPCRs in oncology, resulting in increased focus by drug developers in using GPCRs as targets in oncology.  This article provides background information on GPCRs as drug…