Biotech Strategy Blog

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

Posts tagged ‘Checkpoint Blockade’

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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Are there challenging times ahead for KRAS inhibitor combinations?

One of the biggest challenges in any cancer combination trial is optimising the therapeutic window.  This is especially the case when there are known overlapping toxicities.  We’ve seen this happen many times in the past with targeted therapies where promising approaches from preclinical studies are subsequently abandoned in phase 1 trials because the toxicities can limit the dose that can be achieved, thereby impacting the response rates or outcomes in a negative fashion.

Immunotherapy trials also present additional challenges to be addressed in the form of immune-related adverse events, which might be potentiated or reactivated by subsequent targeted therapies, not all of which can be predicted from preclinical experiments.

Several KRAS inhibitors have already been abandoned in phase 1 development due to unexpected systemic events surfacing, as have various IO-IO or IO-targeted therapy combinations.

What happens when the KRAS and IO worlds collide?  Are there toxicities which might scupper future promising combinations and send us all back to the drawing board again?  Does the lion roar or whimper?

In our latest post, we explore the ins and outs of one such emerging controversy, including some thought leader persectives…

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WCLC21 Preview of key data to watch out for

Time for some new directions in lung cancer?

It seems only a few months ago we covered WCLC20 and here we are again with another lung cancer conference.  This is because the pandemic certainly made an impact last year in more ways than one since the meeting was split into two, with the second half of the sessions being showcased in January.

This time around we highlight quite a few presentations on the IO and KRAS related pathway fronts, as well as some updates on various targeted therapies – with a few unexpected surprises in store.

There are also some important genomic and biomarker presentations to watch out for…

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AACR21 Preview 6 Exploring a novel and early target for cancer therapeutics

What stands out as a possible new cancer target to therapeutically drug?

Every year as part of our AACR Preview series, I pick a novel target to illustrate where innovative ideas are coming to the fore based on new and often early scientific evidence.

There is also the hope they might lead to future clinical drug development and emerging pipelines.

Some of these targets can turn out to be tough to drug for various reasons, including narrow therapeutic windows limiting the dosing schedule that can be realistically achieved (bromodomains come to mind), while others lead to some intriguing compounds which end up going further than expected.

Here’s the sixth article in this year’s series where we identify and discuss an early novel target of interest…

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Old Dog New Tricks

As often happens in cancer research, a new class of compounds emerges every so often, fades out with various tricky clinical challenges then roars back again anew with target variations on a similar theme, as new data become available.

Most cancer signalling pathways veer towards the complex rather than simple, so can we learn from the past and try again by aiming at different compartments and cells?

Some recent translational data relating to IO and cancer immunotherapy can offer us fresh hope for potential novel combinations, especially with immunotherapies rather than chemotherapies.

The molecule designs have also moved on too thus offering additional opportunities and possibilities, which may not have the same difficulties with the therapeutic window limitations seen a decade ago.

There’s always something new to be hopeful about, so let’s take a look at what new ideas are emerging from the doldrums…

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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…

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When IO, targeted therapy and oncogene worlds collide

Rodin’s The Thinker sculpture   Source: Wikimedia Commons

Recently, I have been pondering a raft of clinical and translational data we have seen emerge across multiple virtual conferences from several different categories of therapies such as checkpoint blockade, targeted therapies, PARP inhibition, epigenetics, and even mathematics.

Many people tend to look at these disparate categories and see them as quite different therapeutic options, but lately I have began to wonder if they are in fact much more inextricably linked than seems obvious at first glance?

This turned into a broader strategic post about advanced solid tumours and how we might think a little differently about underlying concepts and conceptual frameworks…

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Every cloud has a silver lining

And we’re off!

Rays of hope during dark days

No, no, not to the races – and certainly not to Cheltenham – but rather it’s that time of the year when the first of our annual AACR Preview series drops.  While some cancer conferences have been postponed and even cancelled, others such as AACR and ASCO are proceeding with virtual meetings, proving that even dark times can offer hints of hope.

This is good news for both young researchers and companies alike in getting data out there and shared because life goes on as time and tide wait for no man.

The actual abstracts themselves won’t be revealed until later in the month on April 27th, but for now we get a taster of this year’s truncated event since the titles available for the first virtual meeting.

Often time, this glimpse is sufficient to garner some useful clues, so what does this year hold in store for us all?

This Preview series will be in multiple parts – a review of some of the key oral sessions from the first virtual program (targeted agents, immunotherapies, cell therapies, novel targets, translational studies etc) followed by a review of the posters in the final part.

To get started, let’s take a look at some of the important presentations we can expect to hear on the first day…

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A core strategy or trick play in cancer research?

There are multiple players in the Magic Roundabout, but are some more important than others and will different culprits turn out to have hidden meanings? You may never see Ermintrude in the same way again 😉

Without a doubt, there are multiple potential ways we can go about improving responses to cancer immunotherapy, not just in terms of targets, combination approaches, different modalities etc, but also by manipulating the tumour microenvironment or thinking about directing different immune cells in positive ways.

In our latest review, we look at one area where emerging work appears to bearing fruit as multiple groups suddenly get one of those, a-ha! moments.

It’s not just happening in one tumour type either, nor is it limited to one type of therapy or modality, which makes it all the more intriguing to think about.

We heard about one example of this mechanism last year and now it’s time to explore things in more detail. This also means companies quick on the uptake could well take advantage ahead of their competitors.

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Under the Radar

We get to chat with many leading oncologists and cancer researchers on Biotech Strategy Blog – it’s truly one of the perks of the job to meet experts and hear them discuss their early research.

Like a tutorial, we have the opportunity to ask questions and improve our own understanding, but where it becomes really interesting is when they talk about promising translational opportunities, because this is what we are about.

How do you translate basic research into oncology new products and figure out where are the viable opportunities?

In this post, we spoke with one of the world’s leading immunologists – someone we’ve never spoken to before – who a few weeks ago spun-out a company to commercialize one of their early research areas and while we were doing the interview told us about another commercial opportunity they had in mind. This was very much “under the radar” and in a relatively earlier stage of commercialization. Both targets have potential for synergy in our view, particularly in combination strategies and cancer immunotherapy regimens.

With one company in stealth mode and the other only incorporated a matter of weeks ago (at time of writing they don’t yet have a website), it’s exciting to see science translation in action.

This is one of the reasons why one of the many tribes that read BSB are those in business development and licensing (BD&L) or investment roles.

In this post we interviewed the delightful Prof. Akiko Iwasaki from Yale. We’ve also put together commentary on the opportunities and the science behind them, as well as some recent anecdotes gleaned from another expert in one of the fields discussed.

If you are part of a BD&L team then do consider purchasing a group or team license. We’d be happy to have our group sales department discuss this further with you.

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