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Cartography Biosciences Advances Strategic Oncology Collaboration with Gilead’s First Option Target Exercise

On April 9, 2026 Cartography Biosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company advancing a differentiated pipeline of antibody-based cancer therapies, reported that Gilead Sciences, Inc. has exercised the first of its options to exclusively license a novel oncology target discovered and validated through Cartography’s proprietary ATLAS and SUMMIT platforms arising out of the parties’ collaboration.

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The option exercise represents a key milestone in the companies’ multi-year strategic collaboration to discover and develop therapies against novel tumor-selective targets and target pairs in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and the most common form of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), adenocarcinoma.

"This milestone demonstrates the power of our ATLAS and SUMMIT platforms and their ability to systematically identify and validate high-value, tumor-selective targets," said Kevin Parker, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Cartography Biosciences. "Gilead’s decision to advance this program highlights the strength of our discovery engine and the potential to expand the landscape of actionable targets in solid tumors. We look forward to continuing our collaboration and progressing additional programs toward the clinic."

Under the terms of the agreement, Gilead will assume responsibility for further research, development, and commercialization of programs directed to the optioned target. Cartography will receive an option exercise fee, as well as potential future development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments and royalties on product sales.

"Gilead’s exercise of this first option is a meaningful step in our collaboration and reflects the strength of the targets emerging from our platform," said Chester Wong, SVP, Head of Business Development at Cartography Biosciences. "We are excited about the continued momentum of the collaboration and the opportunity to advance additional programs together."

The collaboration leverages Cartography’s ATLAS and SUMMIT platforms, which translate insights from proprietary single-cell datasets into cell-specific therapies. Cartography’s computational biology and target validation platforms identify tumor antigens and antigen combinations with high specificity that are designed to address a central challenge in oncology—identifying targets that enable potent anti-tumor activity while minimizing off-tumor toxicity.

Cartography continues to apply its platforms to generate a pipeline of novel targets and target pairs across solid tumors, supporting both partnered programs and its growing, wholly owned portfolio, including its lead clinical program, CBI-1214, a T-cell engager currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 trial for colorectal cancer.

Cartography will continue discovery and validation activities under the collaboration, with Gilead retaining option rights to additional targets emerging from the platform.

(Press release, Cartography Biosciences, APR 9, 2026, View Source [SID1234664264])

Cardiff Oncology Announces Key Leadership Appointments to Strengthen Executive Team for Next Phase of Growth

On April 9, 2026 Cardiff Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRDF), a clinical-stage biotechnology company leveraging PLK1 inhibition to develop novel therapies across a range of cancers, reported the appointment of Mani Mohindru, PhD, as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), following her time as Interim CEO, and that she will continue as a member of the Board. The Company also appointed Josh Muntner as Chief Financial Officer and Ajay Aggarwal, MD, MBA, as Chief Operating Officer, effective April 6 and April 27, respectively. Together, these appointments reflect Cardiff’s commitment to building an experienced leadership team to advance onvansertib and deliver on the program’s long-term potential.

"I am honored to step into the role of Chief Executive Officer at this important time for Cardiff. We have made meaningful progress advancing onvansertib in first-line RAS-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer and remain focused on delivering clinical data to support our registrational program," said Mani Mohindru, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Building the right team to advance this promising asset is central to our strategy and to ultimately delivering a potential new therapy to patients in need."

Dr. Mohindru continued, "We are excited to welcome Josh and Ajay to our team. Josh is a highly accomplished financial leader with a strong track record of executing complex financings and building trusted relationships across the investment community. Ajay brings deep clinical development and operational expertise, with a proven ability to advance programs from early research through late-stage development. Together, their complementary experience strengthens our ability to execute our strategic priorities."

Josh Muntner

Mr. Muntner brings deep expertise in capital markets strategy, financial operations and supporting clinical-stage organizations through key inflection points. He is a seasoned biopharma finance executive with more than 25 years of experience spanning investment banking and corporate leadership roles, including as CFO of both private and publicly traded biotechnology companies. Previously, Mr. Muntner served as Chief Financial Officer of Imvax, Inc., where he led all finance functions, including raising $86 million in a convertible financing. Prior to that, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Mesoblast Ltd., a Nasdaq- and ASX-listed biotechnology company, where he completed multiple cross-border equity and debt financings totaling approximately $300 million and helped expand the company’s U.S. investor base. Earlier in his career, Mr. Muntner held senior roles in investment banking, completing more than 90 transactions and raising over $9 billion in equity and debt financing for life sciences companies. Mr. Muntner serves as a member of the Board Directors at Devonian Health Group Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing immunomodulatory treatments for inflammatory diseases.

Mr. Muntner holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University.

Ajay Aggarwal, MD, MBA

Dr. Aggarwal is a board-certified Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine physician with more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, spanning respiratory, immunology and oncology drug development. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development at Aclaris Therapeutics, where he led clinical strategy and execution across multiple programs.

Prior to Aclaris, Dr. Aggarwal served as Chief Medical Officer of CereXis, Inc., a company advancing therapies for rare neurology and oncology indications. He has also held clinical leadership roles at Insmed, Inc. and AstraZeneca PLC, where he successfully advanced several compounds from preclinical stages into late-stage clinical development.

Earlier in his career, he held academic leadership roles, including Chief of Medicine at a VA Hospital, and has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications. He is a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians.

Dr. Aggarwal received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and his medical degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Inducement Grant Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)

In connection with Mr. Muntner joining Cardiff Oncology, the Company’s Board of Directors approved the grant of non-qualified stock options to purchase 486,650 shares of Cardiff Oncology common stock outside of the Cardiff Oncology 2021 Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan. The stock option was granted as an inducement material to Mr. Muntner becoming an employee of Cardiff Oncology in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4). The option was granted as of April 6, 2026, and has an exercise price of $1.58 per share, the closing price on the grant date. The option vests over four years with 25% vesting after 12 months and the remaining shares vesting monthly over the following 36 months, subject to Mr. Muntner’s continued employment with Cardiff Oncology on such vesting dates.

(Press release, Cardiff Oncology, APR 9, 2026, View Source [SID1234664263])

C4 Therapeutics Expands Long-Term Partnership with Roche Through New Collaboration Agreement Focused on Discovering and Developing Degrader-Antibody Conjugates (DACs)

On April 9, 2026 C4 Therapeutics, Inc. (C4T) (Nasdaq: CCCC), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to advancing targeted protein degradation science reported that it has entered into a new collaboration agreement with Roche (SIX: RO, ROP; OTCQX: RHHBY) to advance research in the emerging degrader-antibody conjugate (DAC) modality. Working together, C4T and Roche will combine antibody-drug conjugation (ADC) and targeted protein degradation (TPD) to develop a new way to treat cancers that leverages both the specificity and catalytic efficiency of degraders with the delivery capabilities of ADCs.

"For the past decade, C4T and Roche have worked together to drive research in targeted protein degradation and to establish this modality as a new way to treat cancer," said Andrew Hirsch, president and chief executive officer of C4 Therapeutics. "Our new collaboration leverages C4T’s ability to design highly catalytic and selective degraders, as well as degrader payloads for DACs, alongside Roche’s extensive experience developing ADCs with specific binding. Together, these capabilities build a powerful new modality that can offer transformative medicines for patients."
"Roche has been a believer in targeted protein degradation and its potential for differentiation early on, when partnering with C4T for the first time in 2016," said Boris Zaïtra, head of corporate business development, Roche. "Our relationship with C4 Therapeutics is built on a decade of trust and shared scientific ambition. We are pleased to enter into our third collaboration, expanding our long-standing partnership to pioneer the emerging modality of degrader-antibody conjugates (DACs)."

Under the joint research plan, C4T and Roche will collaborate on two programs to develop DACs against undisclosed oncology targets exclusive to the collaboration. C4T will use its proprietary TORPEDO platform to design degrader payload candidates. Roche will select and design the antibody as well as conjugate the antibody to the degrader payload. Roche will be responsible for advancing DAC candidates through preclinical and clinical development as well as commercialization.

C4T will receive a $20 million upfront payment for the two programs. Should Roche exercise its option for a third target, C4T will receive an additional payment. Across the collaboration, C4T will receive near-term discovery milestone payments. C4T is eligible to receive over $1 billion in discovery, regulatory and commercial milestone payments. In addition, C4T is entitled to tiered royalties on future sales, subject to reductions under certain circumstances as described in the collaboration agreement.

About Degrader-Antibody Conjugates (DACs)

ADCs over the last 15 years have made important contributions to cancer therapy, but their clinical utility has historically been challenged by a limited therapeutic margin. Degrader-based ADCs, or degrader-antibody conjugates (DACs), represent a potential step-change in this modality. By utilizing degrader payloads that target specific cellular dependencies, DACs offer a superior therapeutic index. These small-molecule degraders are characterized by a catalytic mechanism of action—a feature unique to this approach—rendering them exceptionally well suited for targeted antibody delivery.

(Press release, C4 Therapeutics, APR 9, 2026, View Source [SID1234664262])

Anixa Biosciences to Participate in RedChip’s Biotech Resurgence: Platforms and Pipelines of Today’s Innovators Conference on April 16, 2026

On April 9, 2026 Anixa Biosciences, Inc. ("Anixa" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: ANIX), a biotechnology company focused on the treatment and prevention of cancer, reported that Dr. Amit Kumar, Anixa’s Chairman and CEO, will participate in the upcoming RedChip Biotech Resurgence: Platforms and Pipelines of Today’s Innovators virtual investor conference on April 16, 2026, at 3:30 pm ET.

The presentation will cover several topics, including an overview of the Company and its business model, the Company’s breast cancer vaccine meeting primary endpoints and generating protocol-defined immune responses in 74% of participants in its Phase 1 clinical trial, and the Company’s ovarian cancer CAR-T therapy, lira-cel, exhibiting positive survival data in its ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial.

RedChip’s virtual investor conference brings investors direct access to publicly traded companies advancing the future of healthcare across biopharma, medtech, diagnostics, and digital health. Throughout this full-day virtual event, company executives will present their business models, pipeline strategies, clinical and commercial milestones, and competitive positioning within an evolving healthcare landscape. Each session will include a live Q&A, giving investors the opportunity to engage directly with leadership teams.

Registration to attend this virtual investor conference may be completed at: Event Registration.

(Press release, Anixa Biosciences, APR 9, 2026, View Source [SID1234664261])

IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. entered into a clinical collaboration agreement with AstraZeneca to evaluate the efficacy and safety of IDE849

On April 8, 2026, IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. (the "Company") reported to have entered into a clinical collaboration agreement with AstraZeneca plc ("AstraZeneca") to evaluate the efficacy and safety of IDE849, the Company’s investigational, potential first-in-class DLL3 TOP1 antibody-drug conjugate, in combination with AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi (durvalumab), a programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor, in extensive-stage small cell lung cancer ("SCLC"). The Company will sponsor the clinical combination study and AstraZeneca will supply Imfinzi.

The Company is advancing a multi-site global Phase 1 clinical trial for IDE849 in DLL3 upregulated solid tumor indications, including SCLC, neuroendocrine carcinomas ("NECs"), neuroendocrine tumors ("NETs"), and melanoma. The study will be enrolling patients globally, including in North America, Europe, Australia, South America, and Asia.

DLL3 has been reported to be upregulated in multiple solid tumor types, including in SCLC, NECs, NETs, non-small cell lung cancer, and melanoma, among others. DLL3 has limited extracellular expression in normal tissues, making it a promising potential therapeutic target in these solid tumors, for which there remains significant unmet medical need.

(Press release, Ideaya Biosciences, APR 8, 2026, View Source [SID1234664268])