Biotech Strategy Blog

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

Posts tagged ‘cholangiocarcinoma’

Lucky 7 – Meet the Cancer Drug Disruptors

How to stand out from the crowd

They say there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

In oncology’s latest chapter, a number of innovative compounds are proving there’s more than one way to shut down a cancer cell.

From molecular orchestration to cellular sleight-of-hand, these approaches are rewriting the traditional playbook of targeted therapy.

In our latest analysis, we offer seven up and up coming early stage targeted therapies to watch out for and explain why they may stand out from the competition going forward…

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Reflections on ESMO22

Vive La France! 

Despite the raft of negative trials presented in Paris this year, it wasn’t all bad news, although for a while it certainly seemed this way with quite a few phase 3 trials missing their primary endpoints.

It’s time for our ESMO review where we highlight no less than 10 trials offering positive vibes and encouraging signals, particularly in early stage development.

So what were the standouts and why do they matter?

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New controversies in GI malignancies

Gastronomic delicacies in Paris

In our second ESMO 2022 Preview we take a look at some of the key trials being presented in gastrointestinal cancers and highlight what to watch out for on this front.

While a few readers will no doubt be keen to skip to the KRAS section to learn more about sotorasib and adagrasib in colorectal cancer, make no mistake there’s plenty going on in new product development in several other GI cancers too, both with targeted therapies as well as immunotherapies.

Curious to learn more?

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A critical review of five different targeted therapy approaches at ASCO

Can we scale new heights with next generation anti-cancer agents?

One of the fascinating things about ASCO is how early new product development readouts outside of ‘hot’ names (or stock tickers) can often be ignored, forgotten, or simply dismissed as me-toos with seemingly comparable data.

The thing is, two people can look at a mountain and see it differently, much like five blindfolded people might describe various aspects of an elephant based on their perceptions of what’s in front of them – imagine what a tail versus a trunk or ear might produce, for example.

This is also particularly true with targeted therapies, which are undergoing something of a renaissance of late.

In this post, we look at five targets (and tumour types) where we are seeing some solid progress either with single agent therapy or with combination approaches, some of which – be warned – are rather controversial…

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Important changes to watch out for in the GI cancer landscape

It’s that time of year when the ASCO GI and GU Symposiums come around, with GI up on deck first.

End of a rocky road for some GI cancers

Finally, after what seems like positive trials being few and far between we have a veritable raft of them to highlight, mostly for good reasons instead of bemoaning yet another negative phase 3 study – exciting times!

There’s also some up and coming agents in earlier development to watch out for, as well as the potential for additional indications for established drugs already approved by Health Authorities – what’s not to like?

In our latest conference Preview, we highlight some important trials and discuss them in the context of what’s gone before them to evaluate whether they will make an impact – or not…

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A look at Relay’s surgical approach to FGFR inhibition

O’ still small voice of calm

Later today we will see the much anticipated first look at the initial data from Relay on their selective FGFR2 inhibitor, RLY–4008. Their poster on the PI3Kα inhibitor, RLY–2608 was made available in the ePoster hall yesterday.

Ahead of the presentation in the second plenary session, we take a look at some of the issues and challenges to think about.

This is especially key since this is a first-in-human phase 1 trial, meaning the dose escalation portion of the study where the focus is on tolerability and safety, and where it also behooves us to look at the broader picture in this context rather than indulge in breathless hype.

BSB subscribers can read up on our latest commentary and analysis from the cancer conference season on our TRIPLE meeting coverage – you can log-in or click to access our latest analysis.

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New developments in GI cancers from ASCO GI 2020

Are GI cancers still marooned on an island or are they catching up with other solid tumours in terms of progress?

San Francisco – In the past, whenever I posted updates on any of the GI cancers they attracted noticeably less attention than other solid tumours and rightly so, especially given the lack of new agents and compelling data. If the highlight of a meeting is debating the merits of left versus right side tumour responses or bolus versus infusional administration then the plot has kind of been lost in the morass of abstracts available.

This year, however, things are looking up with a tidy group of studies that have what I call ‘interestingness’ – in other words, results that will tempt us to look deeper rather than merely skim in the hope of something new and shiny.

This weekend in San Francisco saw some highlights (and also lowlights) in the form of new clinical data emerging from the 2020 ASCO GI conference. That means we’re due a review so let’s rock ’n roll though the important studies to see what stands out from the crowd…

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Will pembrolizumab extend its activity in GI cancers?

Franciscan Crab Restaurant San FranciscoWe saw at ASCO last year that response to checkpoint immunotherapy is feasible in some patients with colorectal cancer, but what about other gastrointestinal tumours such as pancreatic, duodenal and biliary cancers?

Can their activity extend beyond the obvious hypermutated tumours such as melanoma, lung, renal and bladder cancers?

Many of you will know that most pancreatic cancers, for example, are detected late and prognosis in metastatic disease is generally poor. You also typically don’t see much coverage of the other GI non-CRC cancers from cancer conferences in the medical media outside of pancreatic cancer occasionally.

At the ASCO Gastrointestinal symposium (#GI16) this past weekend, there was some new data of note in these tumour types that is well worth highlighting and discussing because it may have a major impact on the GI landscape.

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The value of BRAF targeted cancer therapies in lung and colorectal cancer

It’s time for the August mailbag where we answer questions about cancer research and R&D from subscribers.

After the recent queries about immuno-oncology, it’s time to focus a little on targeted therapies again. Neither chemotherapies nor targeted therapies are going to go away – they are still the bedrock of many treatment approaches in the clinic today. Sadly though, much of the new data for the latter trials were easily swamped by the sheer tsunami of immunotherapy data in Philadelphia (AACR) and Chicago (ASCO).

One important area that we have been discussing on both blogs for some time is the value of well designed basket trials.  It’s time to revisit this concept in the light of new data relating to the BRAF V600 mutation outside of metastatic melanoma.

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