Biotech company Syros Pharmaceuticals just raised $53.1 MM in a Series B financing after raising a $30 MM Series A financing in 2013. This is big money for a small company – and, the money comes from some very savvy biotech investment funds. Continue reading
Unum Therapeutics is a new immunotherapy biotechnology company in which Fidelity Biosciences, Atlas Ventures and Sanofi invested $12 MM in a Series A (first venture round) of investment. Continue reading
Roche (Genentech) entered into a $1 billion deal with NewLink Genetics, a company with an IDO (indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase) inhibitor. Continue reading
Novartis entered into a $90 MM deal with Oxford Biomedica for use of its lentiviral vectors with its CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) modified T-cell product, CTL019, being developed with researchers at UPENN. Continue reading
Regen Biopharma recently filed an IND (Investigational New Drug Application) with the FDA to permit the initiation of Phase 1 clinical trials of its dCellVax treatment for advanced breast cancer. Continue reading
Antigen Presenting Cells (APc’s – dendritic cells, monocytes, and macrophages) are the key to provoking a robust adaptive immune response. But are all APC’s created equally in this regard? Not exactly. Continue reading
Multi-modality (surgery, chemo, radiation) therapy and combination chemotherapy (e.g, CHOP and ABVD) have long been the mainstays of treating cancer. So, we should not be surprised to read about the discovery made by scientists at Rice University and MD Anderson regarding a two-step approach involving radiation and immunotherapy. Continue reading
The Chop protein, not to be confused with the CHOP chemotherapy regimen for lymphoma (Cyclophosphamide, Hydro doxorubicin – Adriamycin, Oncovin – vincristine, and Prednisone), is a multifunctional transcription factor. This 29 kda protein that is produced following unfolded protein stress in the endoplasmic reticulum, which then triggers apoptosis. Continue reading
An experimental drug, CPI-613, was shown to be safe and induce several responses in a Phase I study of patients with advanced refractory hematologic malignancies. The drug targets mitochondrial enzymes of cancer cells and is not harmful to normal cells at therapeutic doses. Continue reading
As tumors grow and become unresponsive to external cellular signals, the level of oxygen in the masses decreases; mutated cells, those with malfunctioning p53, grow and thrive greater than 0.2 mm from the blood supply. Continue reading