Biotech Strategy Blog

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

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Posts by MaverickNY

Strategic direction and future impacts in multiple myeloma

Shining a light on hidden gems in the myeloma niche

If we want to go beyond the proteasome inhibitors, IMiDs and anti-CD38 antibodies in multiple myeloma, there are plenty of emerging candidates these days.

This is excellent news, but how will it all fit together, and which gems were under-rated at the recent ASH meeting?

The latter may catch a few people by surprise when the clinical aspects are considered in the totality of what needs to be done and in which patient subsets.

We discuss near and medium term aspects, which may have a lasting impact and also talk about why they matter.

To find out, the final part of our myeloma mini-series offers an engaging and thoughtful fireside chat with a global thought leader in this niche…

To learn more from our oncology analysis and get a heads up on the latest insights and analysis pertaining to the multiple myeloma landscape, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

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How bispecifics will make an impact in myeloma

With all the time and attention surrounding the BCMA-based products in multiple myeloma, including ADCs and CAR-T cell therapies, it’s easy to forget there are other approaches coming down the pike.

Building new mosaics and novel regimens in myeloma is coming

Beyond the hullabaloo there are various bispecific antibodies and T cell engagers in early stage development – not only is the modality different, but the targets might differ too.

How are all of these novel approaches doing in the clinic and how might they all fit together in future regimens? The myeloma world as we know it of proteasome inhibitors and IMiDs may not yet be a thing of the past, but the landscape is certainly changing.

In our third installment of the myeloma mini-series, we tackle these issues and look at near and medium term strategic directions, which can be considered and how these might impact different combination approaches and lines of therapy in order to further improve outcomes in this disease.

To learn more from our oncology analysis and get a heads up on the latest insights and analysis pertaining to the multiple myeloma landscape, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

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Looking through the window at the cilta-cel data

As part of our latest mini-series focusing on multiple myeloma, yesterday we looked at the BMS approach to tackling multiple myeloma with a variety of different modalities against BCMA and other targets.

Today it’s the turn of J&J’s Janssen to be in the BSB hot seat.

In the first part of the company interview today, we take a look at their current and strategic directions in CAR-T cell therapies, including some thought leader reactions. In the second part tomorrow morning we discuss what they are doing with their T cell engagers against different targets in multiple myeloma.

To learn more from our oncology analysis and get a heads up on the latest insights and analysis pertaining to the multiple myeloma landscape, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

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An exciting pipeline of early stage oncology agents from BMS

Over the last decade we have seen great strides taking place in the field of multiple myeloma as the disease has moved from an acute to a more chronic one with the advent of proteasome inhibitors and IMiDs. We’re still not curing many people, however.

The good news is there is now a raft of completely different agents with varying novel targets and modalities emerging at a rapid pace in early to near-term clinical development.

This raises some important strategic questions to think about for the future way beyond which ones look most promising because the bigger question is how will new regimens evolve to challenge the standard of care in each line of treatment?

CAR-T cell therapies are certainly in the mix here, but where will they be optimally used in the future, how do we go about figuring out which people should receive which particular option?

The issues at stake are much more complex than simply asking which BCMA directed therapy is going to be the ‘winner’ because myeloma doesn’t work like this given the preponderence of doublet and triplet regimens.

A better way of exploring new opportunities will be to consider who has what synergies with whom and how might they fit together in a more cogent and coherent fashion.

In order to explore the evolving multiple myeloma landscape, we decided to take a step back and explore the new options from a more strategic perspective. To accomplish this, we interviewed two companies who are active in this niche as well as some specialist thought leaders. It’s a highly relevant time to consider the issues given the broad discussions likely to emerge at JPM21 this week.

We kick off the latest mini-series with a look at the BMS pipeline opportunities in myeloma, who will be followed by J&J tomorrow, and finally discussion with a global expert on Wednesday – so without much ado, let’s roll!

To learn more from our oncology analysis and get a heads up on the latest insights and analysis pertaining to the multiple myeloma landscape, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

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Important learnings from targeted therapies from SABCS

In the last post from SABCS, we looked at what’s new on the translational front with the MYC oncogene in terms of breast cancer.

This time around we turn our attention to other targets and subsets of interest, which don’t involve immunotherapy – more on the latter in a separate article.

Today’s featured image is inspired by my dear friend Jody Schoger and Lisa Adams, who inspired us to find a little beauty in the world each day, no matter how hard it might seem.  2015 was very bad year for losing wonderful BioTwitter chums in the breast cancer community – they may be gone, but never forgotten 🙁

In particular, we highlight new developments in four key areas of interest, with some intriguing observations to discuss…

To learn more from our oncology analysis and get a heads up on the latest insights and commentary pertaining to the SABCS meeting, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

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Finding success in hard to treat breast cancers

Finding pathways to success in breast cancer

The last week brough a huge tsunami of data across varied topics ranging from hematologic malignancies (ASH), breast cancer (SABCS) and immunotherapies (ESMO IO) – we’re still digging our way out of it all!

There’s plenty of detailed analyses yet to come from all of these meetings, including some KOL interviews and thought provoking pieces to consider as well.

Here we look at some translational findings from academic researchers as well as companies involved in clinical trials in breast cancer. Yes, it’s time for some post SABCS reviews on a series of different topics…

To learn more from our oncology analysis and get a heads up on the latest insights and commentary pertaining to the SABCS meeting, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

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If it’s Tuesday it must be Belgium

Today’s title refers a little tongue in cheek to an old Britishism in reference to a 1960s film about group travel of all things – in those days people apparently took bus tours to various places around Europe to see the sights, often with disastrous results or with comedic events ensuing…

For me, in the modern world the catchy phrase has always been about the transfer or shuttle day between different cities for cancer conferences – sometimes ASCO and EHA have been back to back, for example, while Tuesday is always the frantic shuttle day between ASH and SABCS for many.  At least this year with the virtual events there won’t be unexpected delays due to an ice storm in Dallas or some other vagary of inclement weather causing chaos!

As we straddle events between ASH and SABCS, not to mention ESMO IO coming up at the weekend, it’s time for some discussion around some emerging feel-good data to be greatly encouraged by, as well as a thought leader interview from a specialist in the TKI space.

To learn more from our oncology analysis and get a heads up on the latest insights, expert interview, and commentary pertaining to the ASH meeting, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

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A critical review of bispecific antibodies at ASH20

We are big fans of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting, it certainly is the global meeting for hematology! The quality of research presented is very high; it’s where you see groundbreaking and practice changing hematology data, sometimes from unexpected sources.

Last year brought us long lines, crowded escalators, and jam packed halls, especially for the niche sessions.  It’s hard to imagine any of these in pandemic these days, especially if someone were to start suddenly coughing and sneezing in the seat behind…

A bit of nostalgia from ASH19: Up close and personal

Will we all be together again for #ASH21? According to virology experts, we’ll need 70% of people (around the world, not just in one country!) to have had a COVID-19 vaccine before we can lower our masks and do away with social distancing.

Even if 70% of health care professionals are vaccinated, a not unrealistic figure if you look at the flu vaccine uptake, going to an in-person meeting means you still have to navigate the cumulative risk associated with airports, flights, hotels, ground transportation, plus eating out in an urban environment where the very visible inequality that exists in America means it is highly unlikely everyone you may come into contact with, directly or indirectly, will be vaccinated.

There’s also the uncertainty of how durable any vaccination is, raising the prospect that any COVID-19 vaccination is unlikely to be “once and done” – will we all need boosts six months later? The logistics for all of this are just mind blowing.

Despite the exhortations from ASH leadership that they look forward to seeing us in Georgia next year at #ASH21 and we should all plan to be there, as things stand we don’t recommend booking your flights to Atlanta and #ASH21 just yet.

BSB expects 2021 to be another year of virtual meetings!

Meanwhile, on with the business of exploring the emerging data from ASH 20.

In this latest post, we are highlighting a few of the presentations that caught our attention on the various bispecific antibodies and T cell engagers in advanced lymphomas and multiple myeloma…

To learn more from our oncology analysis and get a heads up on the latest insights and commentary pertaining to the ASH meeting — including our daily highlights coverage, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

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ASH Day 1 highlights and lowlights Part 2

The first day of ASH oral presentations brought some unexpected surprises from several quarters, both good and not so good.

In this second review of the highlights, we cover some important translational research, as well as various clinical studies in both AML and multiple myeloma.

The latter focuses on discussing some subtleties and nuances to watch out for in the BCMA CAR T cell space.  A number of people have been declaring ‘wins’ to different products across the board, but it’s way too early to call at this stage given phase 1 trials do not always predict what will happen in pivotal registration trials.  There are also some challenges to address along the way so we put these findings in context.

To learn more from our oncology analysis and get a heads up on the latest insights and commentary pertaining to the ASH meeting — subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

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Bigging up targeted therapies at ASH 2020

A look at upregulated targets outside of the BCR signalling pathway and what small molecules are looking promising

In our final preview of ASH 2020 exploring key abstracts and what to watch out for this weekend, we offer the second half of our discussion around small molecules in early stage development.

There’s always a roller coaster ride in any early stage drug development and small molecule inhibitors are no different from antibodies, bispecifics, or even immunotherapies in this respect.

There are certainly some unexpected and surprising overlaps discussed and uncovered here plus also some novel combination approaches either being considered or which may potentially need to be considered in the future.

So what’s in store this time around?

To learn more from our oncology analysis and get a heads up on the latest insights and commentary pertaining to the ASH meeting — including our final Preview ahead of the meeting this weekend, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

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