A collaboration between Bristol-Myers Squibb and Kyowa Hakko Kirin to test a combination of Kyowa’s Poteligeo (mogamulizumab), an anti-CCR4 antibody, and BMS’ Opdivo (nivolumab) in a Phase I/II trial in advanced or metastatic solid tumors was announced. Also, Merck announced the acquisition of cCAM Biotherapeutics for $605MM for its CM-24 monoclonal antibody that target CEACAM1. Continue reading
Immunocor raised $320MM in a private financing round to support its anti-cancer platform. That’s a lot of money for a single financing – in fact, it is the largest private fundraising by a European biotechnology company. What’s the attraction? Continue reading
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
In the Phase III ELOQUENT-2 study, patients receiving elotuzumab plus standard therapy compared with patients receiving standard therapy alone, lived a median time of 19.4 months until their disease progressed or until they died, compared with 14.9 months in those who received standard therapy alone. In addition, at a median follow-up period of two years, elotuzumab reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 30 percent. Continue reading
Bavituximab is a monoclonal antibody that binds to phosphatidyl serine (PS), a molecule this is expressed in the inner side of the cell membrane. The drug is being developed by Peregrine Pharmaceuticals for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer and is in a late stage trial called SUNRISE – A Phase III, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Multicenter Trial of Bavituximab Plus Docetaxel Versus Docetaxel Alone in Patients With Previously Treated Stage IIIb/IV Non-Squamous Non Small-Cell Lung Cancer. Continue reading
Angiopoietin inhibitor, trebananib, did not extend overall survival (OS) in a Phase 3 study in ovarian cancer. In the TRINOVA-1 trial of 900 women with recurrent ovarian cancer following platinum-based chemotherapy, patients receiving trebananib plus paclitaxel had a 19.3 month overall survival versus 18.3 months OS for women receiving paclitaxel, alone. The difference was not statistically significant. Continue reading
The combination of Herceptin plus pan-HER (EGFR and Her 2 an 4) kinase inhibitor neratinib resulted in a 33% improvement in progression free survival versus Herceptin alone in breast cancer patients. Rituxan combined with idelalisib, PI3K inhibitor, resulted in a near doubling of progression-free survival at 24 weeks versus Rituxan, alone in patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and small cell lymphoma. The news for neratinib tripled the valuation of Puma Biotechnology, while the FDA granted approval of Gilead’s drug Zydelig (idelalisib). Continue reading
Antibody Dependent Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity (ADCC) is a process by which the Fab (variable region) of antibodies, produced by B-cells, first bind to antigens on target cells (cancer), and their Fc (constant regions) then bind white cells (macrophages, granulocytes, and NK – natural killer cells), which destroy the target cells. The antibodies opsonize the target and then attract white cells to destroy the target. Continue reading
Amgen reported encouraging data from a 189 patient phase 2 trial at this year’s ASCO meeting on blinatumomab in patients with Philadelphia Chromosome (9,22 translocation) negative relapsed/refractory B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) – see http://ecancer.org/conference/514-asco-2014/video/2913/blinatumomab-shown-to-be-beneficial-in-relapsed-refractory-b-precursor-acute-lymphoblastic-leukaemia.php. Continue reading