Biotech Strategy Blog

Commentary on Science, Innovation & New Products with a focus on Oncology, Hematology & Cancer Immunotherapy

About MaverickNY

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Posts by MaverickNY

Seeing the wood from the trees at ASH23

Just a couple of years ago a particular hematologic target was all the rage with multiple companies, large and small, rushing a variety of early stage agents with different modalities and designs into the clinic.

Then silence ensued.

Some of them have inevitably gone by the wayside with time, while others are now showcasing their preclinical and clinical chops at the forthcoming annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in San Diego next month.

As with every oncology R&D niche there are winners and losers galore.

Here we identify ten key abstracts to watch out for, plus an additional one which could shed important light on some of the earlier findings…

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Insights on an emerging competitor landscape

It’s Thanksgiving week in the US!

It’s a short week for us here on BSB because it’s Thanksgiving on Thursday followed by Black Friday the next day.

Now to be clear, we’re not having a sale on that day or even on Cyber Monday, but since it’s my birthday tomorrow, we do have a very rare offer (now live) for interested parties.

Check out our pricing page for more details!

Not all of the best drugs are born in the USA, however, as our latest landscape review and ASH23 Preview amply illustrates.

This emerging niche may have a few surprises hidden in it, and not necessarily from the expected quarters.

Here we highlight some abstracts to watch out for in San Diego in the context of recent developments in the space.

We also explain select ones we find intriguing, highlight emerging biotechs to watch out for (and why), plus identify those which could lead to some unexpected future dog drug heaven exits…

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Wielding AI’s power for scientific good

Protein structure Source: Generate Biomedicine

With the incredibly rapid advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) models of late there is growing potential for an exponential impact on R&D, especially in the field of oncology.

While some observers may well be sceptical or wary, there are ways we can use these tools for greater scientific good by generating better, smarter drug designs rather than just mere productivity gains.

As more companies are exploring difficult or intractable targets, the need for enhanced computational power is increasing.

In our latest post, we combine some amazing discovery findings from the upcoming American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting with a story around the evolution of computational models and how they can help some brave companies and researchers develop new medicines with a difference rather than yet another me-too drug.

Are you ready for a tempestuous revolution rather than a slow paced evolution?

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Wrestling an intractable cancer target into submission

Santa Fe, NM

When it comes to intractable or tricky to drug targets, I’ve always thought this is where companies should put their best people on these projects and give them space and creativity to come up with new solutions to an age old problem.

There is both beauty and opportunity in either being first or best to a previously untamed oncology niche.

Why chase the herd of me-toos when you can conquer what was previously considered impossible?

After all, this is where there is advantage to be gained, especially if you have a head start then it’s up to everyone else to define how they are different and better than the first to the frontier land.

In our latest review, we explore the fresh opportunities to be had for savvy companies who have created novel pipeline agents in an early, yet emerging niche…

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Unveiling the science behind a new IO strategy

Fall forest trail

Today is one of those ‘welcome to the frontier of cancer therapeutics, where innovation meets possibility’ moments.

In the realm of cutting-edge biotech, a new IO player has emerged from the north east, charting a course to change cancer treatment for the better.

This biotech company is navigating uncharted territory, exploring novel approaches to enhance T cell interactions, with a specific focus on overcoming T cell exhaustion – a common hurdle in advanced cancers which often limits our ability to mount a sustained immune response.

Who are they and what precisely are they doing differently?

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Setting the scene

Can TIGIT stand out from the crowd in gastric cancer?

We have seen all sorts of molecules come along in gastric-esophageal carcinomas, from antibodies, ADCs, bispecifics, small molecules, even CAR-T cell therapies.  Some have been more successful than others.

As the competition heats up even in the expanding number of subniches, it’s going to take some stellar data to stand out from the crowd.

We’ve already seen several miss such as Beigene’s much touted Fc-competent anti-TIGIT antibody ociperlimab in the second line setting at ESMO23 last month, while pembrolizumab continued its onward march at the ESMO Plenary back in February.

Now we have three more earlier stage agents to look at across different modalities such as Akeso’s PD1xCTLA4 bispecific cadonilimab, Keymed/AstraZeneca’s Claudin 18.2 ADC CMG901 and Arcus/Gilead’s anti-TIGIT antibody, domvanalimab.

In our latest review, we take a look at how these agents are doing…

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SITC23 Scorecard for emerging novel IO therapies

Every year post SITC we offer a critique and short reviews with a running scorecard of some of the emerging new developments, which captured our attention.

Time for some new directions?

When going through this process some years we barely managed to find half a dozen promising yet early gems – the good news is we have ten to share plus four additional ones to be covered in separate company interviews.

So what was interesting this year – and just as importantly – why was it intrguing, and what does it all mean?

The good news is there are some really creative and fresh ideas coming down the pike replacing others likely to fade away quietly to dog drug heaven…

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Unexpected developments at SITC23

Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego

Every now and then you come across some initial phase 1 data which turns your head and makes you wonder why it is working so well in heavily pretreated patients and what’s different about its particular design?

This was my reaction last week reading a SITC abstract – I wanted to learn more about not only the molecule itself, but also the other early stage agents with different targets being presented.

And here we are because it turned out there’s some nifty reasons why it worked when a prior drug against the same target had already failed in some patients as we discovered when talking to the company in our latest in-depth interview…

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Tagging the Donkey

San Diego, California

It’s time for the infamous ASH Dash with the abstract drop today!

We’ll be posting our series of in-depth previews around various themes/tumour targets and annual trend analysis in due course.

For now we wanted to highlight an emerging approach, which may well turn out to be disruptive in certain hematologic malignancies.

The catch?  It could happen sooner than you think.

What’s more, there’s data at ASH – making this our first ASH Preview, albeit of a slightly different kind from prior years…

In our latest expert interview we learn how, why, and when this technology could change the way we treat patients and pave the way forward for a new wave of biotechs developing these products.

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Pointing the IO way

Pointing the way

A few years ago at SITC 2016, we wrote about a raft of early agents, which were then considered all the rage against a variety targets at the time…

  • Modulating MDSCs, M2 TAMs, Tregs
  • TLR agonists
  • Adding MEK or TIGIT to checkpoint blockade
  • Immune agonists from 4-1BB to VISTA
  • And so on…

While some of the trials are still ongoing, a few have fallen by the wayside and still other targets continue to receive sporadic attention.

This year’s crop of emerging agents and targets are a very different bunch altogether and the breathless hype has been replaced by much more quiet determination and optimism.

What to watch out for in 2023? 

We offer eight areas to explore and check out – most of them are up and coming small to medium biotechs focused on oncology rather than big pharma cos with money to burn…

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