Oncology

Gilead has waived its option to acquire Pionyr, allowing the US biotech to explore other partnerships and financing opportunities as it advances a promising pipeline of macrophage-targeting antibodies.

The US firm’s Zynyz has won accelerated approval for the treatment of first-line Merkel cell carcinoma, bouncing back from a prior regulatory setback, but its third-to-market status leaves it with the crumbs under the table in this orphan indication.

Siegall is moving on after an unhappy exit from Seagen with a new role at another company with a novel targeted oncology platform.

ChatGPT’s ability to perform sophisticated analysis and writing tasks has taken the world by storm, and now one developer has launched its own AI aimed at revolutionizing pharma’s business intelligence functions.

Allorion's key innovative attractions include discovery platforms for allosteric inhibitor screening and the discovery of synthetic lethality targets/molecules, along with a small but growing pipeline of novel assets. Founded in 2020, the China- and US-based biotech has now raised more than $100m in three financing deals, including a $50m series B.

Immuneel’s COO, Dr Arun Anand, talks to Scrip about how things are shaping for the Indian start-up’s autologous CD19 directed CAR-T cell therapy and the ‘journey to be traversed’ on the pricing front. He believes India could potentially see cell therapies being commercialized in the next 12 to 18 months.

Pfizer and Astellas announced positive topline Phase III results in non-metastatic prostate cancer for Xtandi, one of the top-selling drugs in Pfizer’s portfolio set to lose patent exclusivity this decade.

Merck & Co’s combination treatment has disappointed in a challenging group of lung cancer patients, marking yet another setback for the increasingly precarious anti-TIGIT space even as some analysts say this is not the end of the road.

Neuroscience and oncology fuel high hopes for therapeutic R&D progress among 90-plus surveyed biopharma industry leaders.

Seagen’s pipeline includes 11 new molecular entities and would double Pfizer’s early-stage oncology clinical pipeline. A next-generation cytotoxic payload for ADCs is on the way too.

The German biotech has highlighted its myelofibrosis drug candidate, pelabresib, as a key value driver going forward after a year of hard knocks and lackluster Monjuvi sales that forced the firm to downsize its workforce and cease preclinical operations.

In February, Jounce’s future looked bleak after the failure of vopratelimab and fears that its finances would run out. Now, it has two suitors with Concentra making a bid to compete with an all-stock merger with the UK’s Redx.