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

The magic of making proteins disappear

In our latest company interview we continue our ongoing AACR series on various protein degraders and how they may be useful in hitting difficult targets where small molecule TKIs have struggled mightily for various reasons, which we discuss in detail.

The protein degraders are what we might call large small molecules – they have a large molecular weight in Dalton terms – yet despite their unwieldy size they do offer a number of distinct benefits, which could potentially lead to improved efficacy, reduced toxicity, and enhanced outcomes in the setting of both cancer and autoimmune disease.  At least this is nice in theory, but what actually happens in practice?

Can we learn from the preclinical rationale and experiments to get a sense of what might happen in the clinic?

Find out more about what one emerging young biotech are accomplishing on the protein degradation front in both hematologic malignancies and solid tumours…

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An interesting turn of events for GSK and the BCMA niche

All aboard the BCMA train – or not?

No matter, this was an interesting one with a few twists in the tale. It also offers some additional context as to why GSK’s experimental BCMA ADC therapy, belantamab vedotin, missed out on a late breaker at ASH.

When you read the briefing documents you can quickly see why this might have been the case.

In the latest installment of this story – the last one was the late breaker than wasn’t at ASH19 – things turned out to be rather more intriguing than many may have initially realised…

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The brightest flame casts the darkest shadow

George Martin’s quote seems rather apt this morning as NextCure announced there was disappointing single agent activity with their Siglec–15 directed agent (NC318) in an ongoing phase 1/2 trial.

There were a couple of initial partial responses reported at SITC last year and now it may seem as if the wheels are falling off the wagon.

What can we learn from the latest update?

It turns out quite a bit…

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Making a splash in the competitive CAR-T space

Continuing our latest cell therapy mini-series, this time around we focus on a novel and creative approach to CAR-T cell therapy, which is quite different from what we have described before with other companies in this niche.

One emerging trend is the development of bi- and even tri- specific approaches designed to target multiple aberrations in the cancer cells, but what’s the best way to achieve this? Suppose we ditch the core dogma and try another way of doing things?

The entirely new concept making the splash is also coming from an emerging young biotech company few readers will likely have heard of, yet what they are doing reminds me we can borrow from the past and paraphrase a watch ad from the 1980’s for elegant and simple timepieces – some day all CAR-Ts will be made this way.

The secret sauce this time around isn’t quartz, however, but something completely different…

To learn more from our oncology analysis and get a heads up on insights and commentary on an emerging novel and creative CAR T cell therapy approach, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

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New developments in CAR-T cell therapies including controversial ones

In the second part of our cell therapy series this week, we take on three quite different issues.

These include the following:

  • A new dual CAR in development
  • Where cell therapy may be heading and how to address the limitations
  • The Cellectis CS–1/SLAMF7 clinical hold

Not all CAR T cell therapies are going to end up as a bridge to transplant – some of them are clearly intended to be more efficacious than their predecessors – but along the way the trials, tribulations and clinical challenges continue apace.

These are all meaty topics to consider, so with out much further ado, let’s roll…

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Looking through the window at some novel new product development concepts in oncology

Not in San Diego – What we wanted to explore in this post was some nice examples of either creative thinking outside the box or where researchers have challenged existing dogma and revealed some intriguing or unexpected findings. These are all examples from talks or posters showcased yesterday during the second AACR virtual meeting…

We take a look at several quite different approaches, which may either turn out to be useful new agents in clinical development, new targets, or even some unexpected tweaks in clinical trial design based on emerging evidence on the biology side that may lead to a new understanding in an area where previous attempts failed to yield a positive result…

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How the immune response to cancer can be shaped by the nature of the cancer cells

Not in San Diego – In normal times of past years, the AACR annual meeting generally takes place once a year in April before we haed onto oter events such as ASGCT, ASCO, and EHA. In these abnormal times in the middle of the COVID–19 pandemic, however, the virtual event was split into two, with the first online event in April covering mainly early clinical data, and now we get to learn from the meaty scientific presentations, which are being highlighted this week.

A network of mutations, tumour suppresses, metabolic and immune processes, as well as other hidden factors can unexpectedly impact therapy outcomes in NSCLC

We have a lot of translational researchers reading BSB, so I wanted to kick off the first of the AACR Virtual Meeting series with a scientific focus, which is likely of interest to many for a number of obvious reasons.

The good news is this a topic we have covered before and so there’s already a body of work to build on for reference since this latest round of information not only adds to what we know, but also highlights some additional unknown unknowns yet to be elucidated.

The dichotomy is an essential part of the very essence and fun of science – the more we think we know, the less we really know in practice, especially as the various layers of the onion get gradually peeled off over time.

This latest review mixes up translational research with clinical research…

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Reflections on the latest lurbinectedin and abemaciclib developments

Stormy waters – Oncology R&D is a fine line between success and over the edge sometimes!

BSB Reader Mailbag – With the FDA approval of lurbinectedin on Monday and two very different recent announcements regarding adjuvant therapy readouts for CDK4/6 inhibitors, we received a bunch of BSB reader questions on both topics.

It’s been a while since we dived into the mailbag in a busy conference season, so this is a great time to reflect on some broader thoughts in oncology R&D for context.

Here, we look at two key aspects…

  • Am I enthused about the lurbinectedin data or not?
  • What half dozen factors could we be thinking about when considering CDK4/6 inhibitors in adjuvant HR+/HER2- breast cancer in order to decide if one is better than the other or does luck play a part?

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Who is winning the CD20xCD3 Bispecific Race to Market?

Virtual meetings mean we miss the fun of German pop-up sausage stands and focus solely on the new emerging clinical data!

EHA25 Virtual, Not-In-Frankfurt – There’s a lot of commercial interest in CD20 x CD3 bispecifics, and in this post we’re taking a look at some of the latest clinical data presented at recent ASCO and EHA virtual meetings. Companies mentioned include Regeneron, Roche/Genentech, Genmab/Abbvie, Xencor, and IGM Biosciences.

Any analysis of a rapidly evolving and fast-moving landscape only represents a snapshot in time at the point it was taken, and this post is not intended to be a comprehensive landscape report, you’d pay a lot more than a yearly sub to BSB for that, but we’ve been following the field, and there are some trends emerging.

What makes it interesting is there is some nuance required in the interpretation of data, and with that in mind we spoke to an investigator at the forefront of clinical research who has done trials with several of the CD20 x CD3 bispecifics in development; the insights were quite illuminating.

This post offers an update on the CD20 bispecific landscape, analysis of some of the recent data at EHA and ASCO, as well as expert opinion, what more could you ask for?

To read our latest expert interview, and gain insights from our oncology analysis and commentary around data emerging from the ASCO and EHA virtual meetings, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

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Important findings on the renal cell cancer front

Looping across different types of analyses can yield intriguing and unexpected results

Not in Chicago – It still feels surreal not to have been to windy city and back for the annual meeting at ASCO this year, such was the ongoing effect of the pandemic in the oncology world.

That said, the virtual meeting has produced some gems this year, including some very important findings many may have missed.

In our latest post meeting report we focus on both biomarkers and clinical findings.

We look at how there are various elements may interplay in unexpected ways, whether signatures from one trial are helpful in another, are there likely to be changes in treatment patterns as a result of data presented and where some emerging early signals might be useful.

One other aspect which crossed my mind was how a deep scientific approach used in one particular cancer might have potential applications in other tumour types with few somatic mutations present such as TNBC, prostate cancer or soft tissue sarcomas.

The results might produce quite different results, yet the process itself might be rather useful to consider…

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

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