Biotech Strategy Blog

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

Posts tagged ‘MYC’

How creative thinking can turn our heads

Bullish or bearish?

For the longest time many folks have been rather bearish when it comes to drugging seemingly intractable targets in oncology.

It doesn’t always have to be this way though.

Lately, our perceptions have been slowly changing over time as scientists find new ways to tackle the R&D equivalent of the north face of the Eiger for the first time without modern technological advances.

The annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is often a good place to start when it comes to hearing about novel approaches to turn our heads.

In this report, we take a look at some inspired thinking with a fresh look at the science behind what could become a new target to aim at…

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What to watch out for at TARGETS23 – Part 2

Charles River, Boston in October for the TRIPLE/TARGETS meeting

With the AACR-NCI-EORTC molecular targets meeting (aka TARGETS for short) kicking off later today with a couple of education sessions and keynote talks, it’s time to put up our final preview on this conference.

Sometimes what starts out intending to be a short review ends up a much longer one because you discover there are an unexpected number of more intriguing compounds coming through biotech pipelines than you anticipated.

This is a good thing given today’s hostile market where raising money has become much more challenging of late. The health of the industry is very much driven by innovation from small, nimble biotechs producing intriguing products and new ways of doing things.

I’m delighted to say we found quite a few of these examples this year that break the cycle of the humdrum same old, same old trend.

In the first review we highlighted a number of key topics relating to KRAS, HRAS, and other areas.

In this latest version we explore and discuss over a dozen topics relating to DNA damage response (DDR), epigenetics, synthetic lethality and others.

In fact, I will go as far as to say a few of the class of 2023 may well stand out for years to come if all goes to plan in the clinic, although they are unlikely to be the more obvious examples I’ve seen touted lately…

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What science tells us about future directions in lung cancer

The World Conference on Lung Cancers (WCLC) annual meeting in Singapore showcased important scientific findings illuminating new directions against these deadly diseases.

While some clinical presentations fell a little short of expectations, smaller sessions revealed some important gems illustrating the intricacies of lung cancer biology where art and science intersect.

In the end lung cancer remains complex, heterogeneous, often aggressive, and evolving. Emerging translational research undoubtedly brings hope towards guiding more targeted therapeutic strategies.

The art is in creatively leveraging emerging science to tackle these lethal diseases from every angle.

Here we highlight seven areas where we ought to be paying attention to when considering future directions in lung cancer…

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Targeting MYC – trick or treat?

Trick or Treat?

For the last two years we have head much about our ability to drug intractable targets, with KRAS G12C being the first to fall and other similar mutations now firmly in many companies sights.

What if we were to consider going beyond KRAS and targeting another of the four horsemen of the apocalypse?

The count is still out on TP53 and β-catenin, while MYC was long thought to be the scariest and most difficult to consider for numerous reasons.

We’re interrupting our SITC Preview series to switch horses and highlight some important developments coming out of Europe this week.

In this post we highlight several new preclinical and clinical developments relating to the MYC oncogene, which includes some candid expert commentary from an expert in the field…

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Going beyond PARP1/2 inhibition with novel approaches

Immune cells and tumour cells can act like a changing kaleidoscope depending on the situation

While we have seen many studies on the mechanisms of primary and acquired resistance to small molecule inhibitors leading to rational combination therapies, our understanding of what’s going on under the hood in response to protein degradation or immunotherapies is much less certain.

In our latest post, we explore how these worlds are now starting to collide and how tumour behavior at the time of resistance can better inform translational studies as well as future clinical combinations.

While there have been numerous studies emerging on the dual IO-IO front, let’s not forget there are still many opportunities to explore synergies with small molecule agents to address mechanisms of resistance…

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New directions in small cell lung cancer

Linie 30 Florisdorf, Vienna

With all the frequent attention on lung cancer of late – mostly on the most common form, non-small cell lung cancer – it’s easy to forget small cell lung cancer (SCLC) in the rush to highlight new developments.

It’s time to talk turkey about old and new agents in the quest to improve outcomes for people with this dismal disease.

The good news is there are also a raft of scientific developments emerging, which may potentially help us better identify discrete subsets and enable the matching of appropriate regimens to the underlying biology.

At the World Conference in Lung Cancer this week in Vienna we’ve been following the numerous trials (and tribulations!) of progress in this niche, with a look at several key readouts through the lens of a thoracic lung cancer specialist.

What does he have to say and where are things heading next for the field?

To find out more, check out the interview below…

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Learning from what patients tumours are telling us

There’s gold in dem hills

Some time ago in an interview with a well regarded cancer expert, the topic of learning more from patients tumours came up, and with it some of the challenges inherent in the process, such as access to biopsy samples.

If you think about, while post mortems can tell us why an individual person’s lesions stopped responding to a particular therapy, it’s only when we have huge broad (many tumour types) and deep (primary and metastatic lesions) in datasets with a richness of data that we can truly learn about patterns and trends.

What truly drives metastases and when?  Can we determine novel and more accurate biomarkers earlier than we currently have?

There’s plenty of gold nuggets to be found in the latest genomics research…

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Oncology trends and directions to watch out for in 2022

Proof that the sun came on a Wednesday in England this winter – hard not to be upbeat on days like this!!

As we continue our journey looking forward in 2022 and beyond, it’s time to start putting some meat on the bones, so to speak, in terms of what specifically we can look forward to hearing more about.

January brings a renewed sense of hope, despite the dreary weather in many places around the world, even in the Blighty the sun sometimes shines (right).

With this uplifting comes a fresh sense of new directions too, which is as true for both life in general as it is for oncology R&D.

With this in mind, in our latest review, we highlight six key areas to watch out for and explain why we are interested in following them with regards to early oncology new product development…

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Sticking it to MYC addicted cancers and other targets

Two people can look at a mountain and see it differently

We have written quite a bit about protein degradation and molecular glues over the last two years, including sharing our findings, analysis and discussions with various company and academic expert interviews.

This time around it’s time to look at another biotech active in this space, albeit with completely different targets and approaches than what we have covered in detail previously.

We also look at what makes a great target from their perspective and how a deep understanding of certain elements may give them an advantage.

One of the beauties of this niche for me is not everyone is doing the exact same thing and there’s plenty of room for novel ideas to flourish and be investigated in both discovery and clinical phases.

So what’s unique about this company and why should you pay attention to what they are doing?

BSB subscribers can read more on our latest discussion around some novel early stage pipeline targets plus a company interview – you can log-in or click to access our latest 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…

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