Biotech Strategy Blog

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

About MaverickNY

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Posts by MaverickNY

Kicking KRAS to the kerb

Singapore – host for WCLC23

In our second post from the World Congress on Lung Cancer (WCLC) being held in Asia this year, we review over half a dozen datasets on KRAS developments.

Here we cover preclinical and clinical updates, monotherapy and combinations, as well as some likely future directions based on emerging data…

For the record there were also a couple of controversial surprises in store this year…

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WCLC23 – SCLC highlights and lowlights

Can we see the wood from the trees in ES-SCLC?

Much of the noise and attention in lung cancer is usually focused on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) at cancer conferences.

While it has a greater prevalence than its more difficult to treat cousin, small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), the good news is there are now quite a few emerging novel agents and targets being evaluated in this disease.

Here we highlight and discuss some of the progress being made (or not) in the context of the broader landscape…

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Adding up the evidence

Is the emerging early stage myeloma landscape as bleak as Titan in Clydebank?

For years we have seen much of the therapeutic research in multiple myeloma concentrated on three main categories:

  • Proteasome inhibitors
  • IMiDs
  • Anti-CD38 antibodies

Then came a raft of anti- BCMA and GPRC5D targeted approaches in various forms, but what else should we be looking out for?

It turns out there’s quite a few contenders of interest – we cover some of them in our latest look at early stage compounds to watch out for…

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Targeted Therapy Trials: Why some drug developers keep missing the mark

Post Banksy exhibition – Wellington has now gained an extra cone. It reminds me of what cell/compartment should we be targeting in oncology trials.

Some of the challenges with personalised medicine is we often see companies either treating a targeted therapy in an untargeted fashion thereby diluting the signal or enriching for one not yet conclusively and clinically established.

In both cases, the results are inevitably suboptimal.

Additionally, not all drugs within the same category are the same.  They often have dissimilar scaffolds or target different cells and compartments, all of which can have a positive or negative impact on clinical outcomes.

In our latest post, we explore and discuss emerging insights around strategies undertaken in clinial trials and how they may offer some clues for certain company readouts over the next quarter…

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Taking Myeloma by the Horns

The recent failure of the British Air Traffic Control System brought home to many the importance of flight plans and how easily and suddenly things can change.

Knowing the direction and waypoints a journey will take, allows travel to be co-ordinated across countries, as well as in combination with others.

The same idea applies to complex diseases such as multiple myeloma where we see treatment regimens evolve as new therapeutic modalities such as CAR-T cells or bispecific T cell engagers come to market and new clinical trial data is published.

Highland cows with horns are a fearsome lot!

With a raft of new data coming out post-pandemic, experts are starting to piece together new treatment plans and thoughts about where the field is going.

BSB will be at ASH23 in San Diego this year, so consider this post our first preview of some of the discussions and challenges we expect to hear about in multiple myeloma.

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New Developments in Targeting Pancreatic Cancer

If there’s one area of unmet medical need highlighting the challenges of oncology drug development, it’s pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and advanced disease in particular.

Bowling ’em over with quirky data, Guv!

Recently, several research groups have published papers showing the results of preclinical studies targeting KRAS mutations in pancreatic cancer.

Could the raft of novel KRASG12D inhibitors and degraders in development have a potential therapeutic role to play?

In our latest review, we discuss what actionnable insights for drug development can be taken from this recent research, as well as some of the challenges associated with translational research in this area given the limitations of preclinical models.

Do we need to think beyond KRAS and tackle the stroma first?  In this post we highlight some companies who are already looking into this approach.

Finally, we pull this together in the context of other oncogenes like MYC and discuss how it impacts the tumour microenvironment. Targeting PDAC is complex, but the pieces of the jigsaw are gradually being put together…

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Exploring unexpected targets in brain tumours

Marooned or heading off somewhere exciting?

As we head into the long August Bank Holiday and Labor Day celebrations, I wanted to offer some stimulating, yet thought provoking topics for readers to consider.

Make no mistake the food for thought ideas described are not lightweight per se, but may offer some useful insights on glioblastoma with implications for exploring future research angles.

There are also two bonuses included: first up is some commentary on TIGIT and lastly, we highlight an impressive new tool that’s available to interested and enlightened companies, which may be of particular interest to our Pharma readers who gather market sentiments.

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The ADC merry-go-round

Unedited, unfiltered – the ‘hey, look at me!’ pink elephant really was this lurid!

It’s time for our second Preview from the World Congress in Lung Cancer being presented in Singapore next month.

In this edition we’re going to focus on the next raft of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) coming through in early development.

Do any stand out as the next big kahuna or are the numbers too glaringly garish, waiting to be knocked off their coconut shies?

In this review we review the evidence and take some stands…

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The scudding clouds of freedom

All too often the noise and attention is thrust upon the latest flashy or shiny new lures rather than on refining or redirecting the sails based upon changes in the wind patterns as more data become available.

In the book Dracula, Bram Stoker wrote:

“…the passing gleams of the moonlight between the scudding clouds crossing and passing, [are] like the gladness and sorrow of a man’s life.”

He might just as well been referring to drug company pipelines, where early stage agents rise and fall in favour as we follow their trials and tribulations from discovery and preclinical development through to evaluation in the clinic.  Success is fleeting and more often than not, many will fizzle and disappear in the blink of an eye.

Sometimes though, new information or intelligence comes together to point a different way forward.  It’s not necessarily going to be ‘better’, but like other aspects of life, taking action and moving forward is usually a sounder strategy than standing still.

Here, we look at a couple of developments that seemingly hit the skids a few years ago, but new evidence may offer some more focused direction forward…

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A flurry of new biomarkers are coming to the fore

Jockeying for position

Our latest post discusses recent updates on biomarker research across several cancer types.

These include several types of lung cancer, as well as prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and bladder cancer.

Not all the trials mentioned returned a positive result, although some were much more encouraging. Either way, there is much to learn from the analyses and offer some pointers for the future.

Also included are a dozen or so pharma or biotech companies whose work might be impacted by the findings described within. Yours could be one of them…

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