News and Trends 21 Jul 2017 Roche Abandons Spanish Cancer Epigenetics Drug Roche has decided to terminate its license agreement with Spanish biotech Oryzon Genomics after rearranging its portfolio priorities. Oryzon Genomics, a biotech based in Barcelona working on epigenetics, was notified yesterday by Roche about the discontinuation of their deal concerning the biotech’s lead candidate, ORY-1001. Roche announced the decision was not based on clinical data, […] July 21, 2017 - 1 minutemin - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 20 Jul 2017 SHIVA Trial: France’s Big Shot at Precision Medicine for Cancer SHIVA01 and SHIVA02 are large-scale trials run in France to evaluate the efficacy of precision medicine that have created ripples in the oncology field. Although molecular alterations are shared among different types of cancer, drug development today is still mainly based on tumor localization. The only recent exception is MSD’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) an antibody approved by […] July 20, 2017 - 5 minutesmins - By Timothé Cynober Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 19 Jul 2017 Update: British Biotech Starts Phase II Trial in the Second Deadliest Cancer Update (19/07/2017): Tiziana has enrolled its first patient with refractory hepatocellular carcinoma in the Phase IIa trial with milciblib. Results are expected in the fourth quarter of 2018. Published on 24/04/2017 Tiziana Life Sciences has received approval to start Phase II in Israel with its leading compound, a CDK inhibitor targeting one of the deadliest cancers. […] July 19, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 12 Jul 2017 Genomic Testing in Oncology: From Single Genes to Whole Genomes Personalized medicine would be nothing without genomic testing tools. Here’s an overview of how the field has rapidly evolved in the past years. BRCA (BReast CAncer) is one of the most famous gene variants for breast cancer testing. But aside from being a game-changer from a scientific perspective, it also changed the laws of genomic testing. […] July 12, 2017 - 5 minutesmins - By Timothé Cynober Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 11 Jul 2017 Novartis largely dodged deaths from its CAR-T therapy, but FDA still has safety concerns Editor’s Note: Novartis did note a death from cerebral hemorrhage in its hearing with the FDA yesterday. With the application review hearing set for tomorrow, the FDA has shared its thoughts on Novartis’ CAR-T candidate. Up front are serious safety concerns. Novartis’ CTL019, or Tisagenlecleucel, wowed the audience at ASH last fall with a stellar 82% […] July 11, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 5 Jul 2017 Results are in from the First Human Trial of an Universal Cancer Vaccine BioNTech has published results from the first clinical trial for an mRNA-based individualized vaccine with the potential to target all cancer types. Published in Nature, the results from the first trial in humans with a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine hint that BioNTech is on a promising track towards the development of a universal cancer vaccine. All […] July 5, 2017 - 4 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 5 Jul 2017 Cutting Through the BS in Biopharma: How To Spot Hype Faced with the oft-quoted figure that 90% of clinical trials end in failure, how can patients, investors, and readers be spared more disappointment? After discussing failures in biotech at Refresh earlier in June, I headed to Copenhagen last week for the European Conference for Science Journalists to cajole a panel into discussing how some of these stories feature […] July 5, 2017 - 4 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 4 Jul 2017 British Liquid Biopsy for Ovarian Cancer Outperforms the Gold Standard The British company Angle has announced results from a large-scale trial that seem to indicate its liquid biopsy technology could surpass the gold standard in ovarian cancer diagnosis. Angle, in the UK, is developing liquid biopsy tests to replace biopsies in the diagnosis of cancer. The company has announced results from a 400-patient trial in […] July 4, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 30 Jun 2017 Belgian Biotech Starts Phase Ib with an off-the-shelf mRNA Therapy for Melanoma eTheRNA has started a Phase Ib trial in patients with melanoma to test a cancer immunotherapy based on off-the-shelf mRNA technology. eTheRNA is one of the few companies working in mRNA therapies that are running clinical trials. The Belgian biotech has announced the start of a Phase Ib trial with its candidate TriMix-MEL, also called ECI-006, in patients […] June 30, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 29 Jun 2017 Servier Recruits Viral Vector Expert to Step Up its CAR-T Technology Transgene will help Servier develop new methods based on viral vectors to improve the precision of genetic modifications and the production of CAR-T cells. The French pharma Servier decided to enter the promising CAR-T field in 2015, when it acquired the rights to UCART19 from Cellectis. The therapy, currently in Phase I, has already saved two babies […] June 29, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Jun 2017 UPDATE: The First Off-the-Shelf CAR-T Cancer Therapy has Entered the Clinic Update (28/06/2017): Cellectis has announced the first administration of UCART123 in its Phase I trial in Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Update (07/02/2017): the FDA has granted Cellectis IND approval to start clinical trials with UCART123. Original publication 04/01/2017 Cellectis is preparing to start the first clinical trial ever using an allogeneic CAR-T therapy that could reduce […] June 28, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 22 Jun 2017 What are the Biggest Cancer Challenges? The UK Offers £20M Prizes for Solutions! Cancer Research UK is taking applications for £20M prizes from research groups worldwide that want to solve the biggest challenges in cancer research. Cancer Research UK is launching today its second round of the Grand Challenge to tear down some of the biggest barriers to the advancement of cancer therapy. The charity will shortlist the most promising […] June 22, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email