Tag Archives: Genentech

Recent immune checkpoint study failures do not dampen enthusiasm for the future

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are simply cancer wonder drugs about which we are learning more each day. Because they don’t work optimally in many patients and some even hyper-progress, the goal is to determine ways to expand their effectiveness to more patients. As such, the number of clinical studies with checkpoints and checkpoint combinations continues to grow.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors act by blocking the abrogating phase of the immune response that is necessary to prevent autoimmune disease – by prolonging the immune response against cancer, a more robust and prolonged immune response, which is required for effective cancer therapy, is achieved with checkpoint therapy. Continue reading

TIGIT, a CTLA4-esque Immune Checkpoint for Cancer

Immune checkpoint-directed therapy is producing unprecedented clinical results in many patients. So much so, that the FDA recently reversed its longstanding policy or approving cancer drugs based on site of origin, to the presence of a biomarker (microsatellite instability (MSI-H) or mismatch-deficient repair (dMDR) as the indication for therapy with pembrolizumab (Ketruda), and PD-1 blocker. Cancers expressing MSI-H or dMDR mutate at a rapid rate, presenting novel epitopes to the immune system, which is readily mobilized against them so that tumor infiltrating T-cells are reliably present. Blocking the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway in this context allows for prolongation of the immune response and better clinical results. Continue reading

EGFR Antibody Necitumumab Recommended for Lung Cancer & Other Anti-EGFR MAb’s to Address EGFR Resistance

The Oncology Drug Advisory Committee voted (informally) to recommend approval of Lilly’s necitumumab in combination with gemcitabine and cisplatin for the first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Continue reading

Cancer Immunotherapy Projections – Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors lead the way

The worldwide market for cancer immunotherapies is anticipated to grow from $1.1B in 2012 to $9B in 2022, that equals a 23/8% annual growth.  Leading the growth are the immune checkpoint inhibitors.

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