On September 25, 2023 Pierre Fabre Laboratories and Vernalis (R&D) Ltd ("Vernalis"), a fully owned subsidiary of HitGen Inc., reported a long-term partnership to identify pre-clinical candidates against multiple oncology targets (Press release, Vernalis, SEP 25, 2023, View Source;utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pierre-fabre-laboratories-and-vernalis-announce-a-drug-discovery-collaboration-in-oncology [SID1234635389]).

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Under the terms of the agreement, Vernalis will use its expertise to enable drug discovery against an undisclosed portfolio of targets and use fragment and structure-based methods to identify small molecules that modulate their activity. This research will be combined with the oncology experience of Pierre Fabre Laboratories to identify drug candidates for treatment of a range of cancers for further development and commercialisation by Pierre Fabre Laboratories. The research at Vernalis will be funded by Pierre Fabre Laboratories who will also pay research and clinical milestones and royalties on marketed products. The detailed terms of the agreement are not disclosed.

James Murray, Research Director of Vernalis said: "This strategic partnership is built on the Vernalis track record for innovation and success in enabling drug discovery and identifying clinical candidates for a wide variety of therapeutic targets. We look forward to building this long-term partnership with Pierre Fabre Laboratories, leveraging their deep expertise in cancer biology and clinical development."

Francesco Hofmann, Head of Research and Development for Medical Care at Pierre Fabre Laboratories said: "Partnering with Vernalis represents an important milestone for us. Leveraging the expertise of Vernalis in key areas of Structure Based Drug Design to deliver high quality clinical candidates on multiple Oncology targets is a real asset to develop our Small Molecule Drug Discovery pipeline".

On September 25, 2023 Nerviano Medical Sciences S.r.l., a member of NMS Group S.p.A and a clinical stage biotech discovering and developing innovative therapies for the treatment of cancer, reported its participation to the World ADC 2023 summit that will be held in San Diego (CA) from October 16th to October 19th, 2023, with two poster presentations (Press release, Nerviano Medical Sciences, SEP 25, 2023, View Source [SID1234635387]):

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"NMS-P945 an unique opportunity for enhanced efficacy versus MMAE and deruxtecan"

NMS-P945 is a novel proprietary payload linker with DNA damaging mechanism and superior antiproliferative activity than MMAE and deruxtecan in chemoresistant models.

"A novel platform of diversified cytotoxins and targeted payloads to drive ADC innovation"

NMS has generated a portfolio of novel and diversified payload linkers selected through a rigorous approach that leverages our proprietary chemical collection. This strategy is aimed at identifying optimal match with individual tumor types and targets and reaching a new generation ADCs with foreseen improved selectivity and antitumor efficacy even in chemoresistant settings.

NMS is keen to establish partnerships to leverage the value of its novel payload linker platform by conjugation with selected partner antibodies to fully exploit platform features.

On September 25, 2023 Kintara Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTRA) ("Kintara" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of new solid tumor therapies, reported the presentation of compelling patient case studies in a poster at the 2023 European Association for Neuro-Oncology (EANO) Annual Meeting in Rotterdam. Presented on September 23, the poster focused on two patient cases from Kintara’s Phase 2 study evaluating the safety and tolerability of VAL-083 when administered concurrently with radiation therapy (RT) in newly diagnosed MGMT-unmethylated glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) following surgical resection (Press release, Kintara Therapeutics, SEP 25, 2023, View Source [SID1234635386]).

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In the first case, a 32-year-old woman with grade four GBM (MGMT-unmethylated) received conventional radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy with VAL-083 followed by adjuvant VAL-083 for a total of 13 cycles of VAL-083. The patient was tumor-free and has survived more than four years as of the last follow-up in March 2023. In the second case, a 49-year-old man with grade four GBM (MGMT-unmethylated) received radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy with VAL-083 followed by VAL-083 as an adjuvant for a total of 12 cycles. Two years after the initial treatment with VAL-083 was discontinued, a new lesion was found, and the patient had a second resection, which revealed a grade four astrocytoma. The patient was re-treated with VAL-083 and was stable as of the last follow-up in March 2023.

A copy of the abstract can be found at View Source

A copy of the poster is available on Kintara’s website at View Source

On September 25, 2023 Kineta, Inc. (Nasdaq: KA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel immunotherapies in oncology that address cancer immune resistance, reported that it will present a poster on the Company’s anti-CD27 agonist antibody program at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Special Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy, to be held on October 1-4, 2023 in Toronto, ON, Canada (Press release, Kineta, SEP 25, 2023, View Source;utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=kineta-to-present-new-preclinical-data-on-lead-anti-cd27-agonist-antibody-at-aacr-special-conference-on-tumor-immunology-and-immunotherapy [SID1234635385]). Thierry Guillaudeux, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Kineta, will be presenting new preclinical data on the company’s anti-CD27 agonist antibodies in development for the treatment of advanced solid tumors.

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Presentation Details:
Poster Title: CD27 is a new promising T cell co-stimulatory target for cancer immunotherapy
Poster Number: B034
Session: Poster Session B
Session location: Metropolitan Ballroom East
Presenter: Thierry Guillaudeux, Ph.D.
Date / Time: Tuesday, October 3 at 4:45-7:15 P.M.

On September 25, 2023 Glycotope GmbH (Glycotope) and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association reported to have signed an agreement to explore the potential of combining Glycotope’s antibodies against protein/carbohydrate combined glyco-epitopes (GlycoTargets) with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology developed by the Max Delbrück Center (Press release, Glycotope, SEP 25, 2023, View Source [SID1234635384]).

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CARs are engineered synthetic receptors that function to redirect lymphocytes, most commonly T-cells, to recognise and eliminate cells expressing a specific target antigen. These cell-based therapies have demonstrated exciting results in clinical trials and are rapidly becoming powerful alternatives to conventional treatments for hematologic cancers in particular. However, in some indications, including harder to treat cancers with solid tumors, success has been limited. A major problem facing drug developers is the selection of suitable antigens that are only expressed on tumors, and can therefore be targeted safely. In the scope of the newly established collaboration, highly tumor-specific antibodies developed by Glycotope will be combined with the CAR technology of the Max Delbrück Center to analyze their suitability for the treatment of solid tumors.

"CAR-T cells have dramatically improved the treatment of hematologic malignancies. In stark contrast, CAR-T cells lack efficacy against solid tumors, which by far outnumber incidence and mortality rates of leukemia and lymphoma. Epidemiologically, breast, lung, prostate, and colon cancers are the most common "killers" which cannot be successfully targeted using current T cell therapies," said Dr Armin Rehm, who heads the Translational Tumorimmunology Lab at the Max Delbrück Center. "But antibodies can recognize tumor-associated aberrant glycosylation, making it an attractive and tumor-specific target structure.This feature, together with a broad tumor-specific expression, paves the way for the generation of glycan-redirected CAR-T and NK cells. Thus, we are joining forces for a new generation of CAR-T and NK cells," said Dr Höpken, Head of the Lab Environmental Regulation in Autoimmunity and Cancer at the Max Delbrück Center, and Dr Rehm.

"We are pleased to have gained another renowned collaboration partner and look forward to working with the experienced scientists from Uta’s and Armin’s groups to evaluate how our targeting approach can help advance cellular therapies for solid tumors," added Dr Patrik Kehler, CSO at Glycotope.

Glycotope’s antibodies target specific tumor-associated carbohydrate structures or protein/carbohydrate combined glyco-epitopes (GlycoTargets). Targeting these specific antigens enables broad indication range, long-term treatment potential and reduced on-target/off tumor toxicity, key elements of highly potent therapies. Based on this unrivalled tumor-specificity, Glycotope’s antibodies are highly suitable for a multi-function platform approach with independent modes of action to provide a tailored therapy format for as many patients as possible.

The CAR program at the Max Delbrück Center includes several proprietary antibody binders targeting hematologic tumors. This program involves the development of a full preclinical validation, a clinical scale automated manufacturing platform, and the initiation of two phase I/II clinical trials in collaboration with clinical partners. A comprehensive molecular toolbox of modular CAR components enables rapid integration of new antibody binders. Extensive experience in CAR design, retroviral engineering for CAR transfer, regulatory advice by authorities, and established methodologies to generate T cell and NK cell effector populations for in vitro and in vivo testing will facilitate the implementation of innovative antibodies in our next-generation CAR platform, targeting tumor-associated glycan structures.