Biotech Strategy Blog

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

Posts tagged ‘IRAK4’

Insights on an emerging competitor landscape

It’s Thanksgiving week in the US!

It’s a short week for us here on BSB because it’s Thanksgiving on Thursday followed by Black Friday the next day.

Now to be clear, we’re not having a sale on that day or even on Cyber Monday, but since it’s my birthday tomorrow, we do have a very rare offer (now live) for interested parties.

Check out our pricing page for more details!

Not all of the best drugs are born in the USA, however, as our latest landscape review and ASH23 Preview amply illustrates.

This emerging niche may have a few surprises hidden in it, and not necessarily from the expected quarters.

Here we highlight some abstracts to watch out for in San Diego in the context of recent developments in the space.

We also explain select ones we find intriguing, highlight emerging biotechs to watch out for (and why), plus identify those which could lead to some unexpected future dog drug heaven exits…

To continue reading our latest highlights on oncology new product development including commentary and analysis BSB subscribers can log-in or you can click to access the content.

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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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Going after intractable cancer targets

At a relatively quiet JPM devoid of the usual intense deal flurry many seem to thrive on, perhaps the biggest news this year has been the Arrakis-Amgen RNA (as opposed to using small molecules) degrader collaboration announced this afternoon. You can check out the published work on their RNA degrader concept here.

Pathway to success for TPD may lie in taking aim at intractable targets

There’s still plenty of mileage to come from the traditional approach though, something we covered yesterday and highlight again today in two very different expert interviews.

For me, regardless of which approach you choose to use, the long term potential of these agents in oncology is in the ability to eliminate targets previously thought to be intractable, thereby expanding the ‘druggable’ proteome.

In our latest expert interview, we highlight one company’s efforts against an array of difficult or intractable targets with their protein degrader platform…

BSB subscribers can read up on our ongoing commentary and analysis from the JPM conference – you can either log-in or click to access the back story behind the latest innovations.

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New developments in the protein degradation niche

Degron (red)  Credit: Dmeyer314 via wikipedia

One of the emerging hot areas in cancer research these days is the field of protein degradation, which finally seems to have come of age.

This also means plenty of opportunities to discuss new developments as they evolve.

So what’s new and why are the latest updates important?

BSB subscribers can read more on our latest look at targeted protein degradation related topics – you can log-in or click to access our ongoing oncology coverage.

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The battle of protein degraders versus inhibitors continues apace

To simply say, “it’s complicated!” is a often bit of an understatement in cancer research.

Imagine any advanced cancer in the refractory setting might have multiple changes and defects driving oncogenic activity, which makes targeting just one or even two of them somewhat limiting in terms of the potential impact on outcomes.

Then there’s the whole separate debate of which approach to a given target is the best one – a small molecule degrader or an inhibitor or an antibody?

The best way to tackle these issues is to develop a detailed roadmap with various key landmarks identified, plus flags highlighting areas for further investigation.

Perhaps an underrated aspect of oncology research is the increasing use of chemical probes (degraders or small molecules) to explore the underlying biology in order to understand what needs to be done next in the form of resistance mechanisms or synergies, for example.

The findings generated from this research could then lead to the development of next generation pipeline agents or suggest novel combination approaches to evaluate, which may not have been obvious at first sight.

In this latest post, we take a look at various examples using protein degraders and small molecules though the lens of select patient populations, various tumour targets, and even mechanisms of resistance…

To learn more about our ongoing post AACR21 meeting analysis and expert interviews to get a heads up on key oncology commentary and insights, subscribers can log-in or you can click to gain access to BSB Premium Content.

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AACR21 Preview 1 Emerging targets for protein degradation and molecular glues

Saw this arrangement in a local orchid garden, which reminded me of the blobs used to illustrate E3 ligase – protein complexes

In the first of our new season AACR Preview series, we continue to explore what’s happening in the protein degradation and molecular glue niche.

Yes, it’s still early days and there’s much we don’t know but it should be useful to follow the developments and see what can be learned.

Perhaps a few observers might be surprised at the sheer range of targets being evaluated in R&D pipelines since some of these are definitely not of the every day kitchen sink kind of variety.  There is no doubt in my mind some will be easier or much harder than others, but what is intriguing is the depth of the details which are starting to emerge of late.

So what’s in store and which abstracts stood out this year in this niche?

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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…

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

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