Sellas reversed merged into Galena, a peptide vaccine company whose lead product, NeuVax, for breast cancer failed. Sellas’ lead product is galinpepimut-S for AML (acute myelogenous leukemia) and mesothelioma, as well as other cancers. Continue reading
Category Archives: Dendritic cells
Argos’ Phase 3 Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Study Discontinued by Data Monitoring Committee
Rocapuldencel-T is an autologous dendritic cell immunotherapy for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma about which we have written previously. It is produced by isolating patient tumor mRNA, which is then electroporated into patient dendritic cells in the presence of CD40 ligand. The rationale of this approach is to bypass mechanisms by which cancer cells dampen the anti-tumor immune response, including down-regulation of MHC Class I molecules. If the cancer antigens are presented on licensed dendritic cells, logically, the immune system would be appropriately stimulated to attack the cancer. Continue reading
Celgene Acquires EngMab for BCMA Program
Celgene acquired EngMab for $600MM to enrich its programs targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Celgene is exploiting BCMA in both CAR T (chimeric antigen receptor T-cell) and bispecific antibodies targeting CD-3 (Cluster of differentiation 3), Continue reading
Roche Signs $310MM Early Stage Deal with for mRNA Vaccines
Roche will be collaborating with BioNTech to develop personalized vaccines based on BioNTech’s mRNA products combined with Roche’s PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor, Tecentriq (atezolizumab), which was approved for bladder cancer in May 2016. Continue reading
Blocking CD47 Innate Checkpoint Control for Cancer Treatment
Several companies, including Trillium, Celgene, Tioma, and Forty Seven are developing products that block CD47 for the treatment of cancer. Researchers have also shown that attacking CD47 may be a better approach to bone marrow conditioning prior bone marrow transplant. Continue reading
RNA Vaccines in Melanoma and Prostate Cancer
Vaccine strategies for cancer immunotherapy depend on the induction of dendritic cells (DC) in close proximity to T cells. This is best accomplished in lymphoid tissue. However, directing vaccines to lymphoid tissue has been quite challenging. Continue reading
Combination Therapy of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors to Combat Lung Cancer – James P. McCauley, Contributor
Researchers at AstraZeneca have completed a small-scale study which demonstrated the synergistic benefit of utilizing two immunotherapy drugs to combat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) over just a single immunotherapy drug. The study found that utilizing an immune checkpoint inhibitor for PD-1, called durvalumab, in combination with another immune checkpoint inhibitor for CTLA-4, called tremelimumab, had a tumor response rate of 23% for metastatic NSCLC. Researchers at AstraZeneca are, indeed, confident that combination immune checkpoint therapy is the key to developing more efficient immunotherapies to target and effectively treat cancer. Continue reading
Cell-based Immunotherapies in the News
Baxalta, the biopharmaceutical spinoff of Baxter, entered into a $1.7 B deal with Precision BioSceinces for 6 CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell) projects, and Saronic Biotechnology announced positive data in preclinical studies of its autologous dendritic cell vaccine for hepatocellular carcinoma. Continue reading