Biotech Strategy Blog

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

Posts tagged ‘NSCLC’

How to Knock Out Cancer’s Backup Plan

Boston Commons in the Fall

Cancer’s got moves… sneaky moves to ensure its survival when you throw targeted therapies its way.

Monotherapy whacks just one piece of the beast. Crafty tumour cells can simply switch on alternate pathways to drive growth again. It’s like a hydraulic game of Whac-A-Mole.

But what if you could outsmart cancer’s backup systems? Shut down its escape route for a while longer?

New preclinical data reveal a smart 1-2 punch that can trap tumours in a corner. The sweet science of vertical and cross pathway inhibition.

This new technique tags both early and late players in pathways like MAPK and PI3K/mTOR. When this happens, cancer’s got no fallback. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Tumours take a sustained beating with every line of therapy thrown at them. Signalling disrupted. Proliferation caged. Apoptosis triggered. TKO.

Combinations tested in NSCLC, RCC, CRC and pancreatic cancer. Impressive, durable regressions.  Researchers now poised to take this clever combo into the human ring.

Want the insider details? A ringside seat to the science? Step this way and we’ll walk you through the preclinical data blow-by-blow…

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.

This content is restricted to subscribers

A flurry of new biomarkers are coming to the fore

Jockeying for position

Our latest post discusses recent updates on biomarker research across several cancer types.

These include several types of lung cancer, as well as prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and bladder cancer.

Not all the trials mentioned returned a positive result, although some were much more encouraging. Either way, there is much to learn from the analyses and offer some pointers for the future.

Also included are a dozen or so pharma or biotech companies whose work might be impacted by the findings described within. Yours could be one of them…

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.

This content is restricted to subscribers

What’s hot in lung cancer?

Gardens by the Bay in Singapore

With the abstract titles now available for the World Congress in Lung Cancer (WCLC), it’s time to take a look at what we can expect for the meeting coming up in early September.

In our latest conference Preview, we have highlighted several education sessions to look at, as well as ten key oral presentations to watch out for…

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.

This content is restricted to subscribers

Digging deep for answers

Imagine walking through some delightful countryside or along the coastal headlands…

Suppose you are then informed somewhere in this vicinity is a small patch – just one – of bright purple thistles in full bloom and your job is to find them as quickly and expeditiously as possible.

This is one challenge facing Pharmaland on a daily basis and while it sounds easy in theory, it often is more time consuming to answer than many may realise, including analysts chasing their colour commentary.

Today’s story explains the problem and illustrates how it might be tackled…

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.

This content is restricted to subscribers

An under-rated gem at ASCO23

Reflections from Chicago

While many observers are intently focused on the plenary and oral tumour type sessions at ASCO, in the next couple of posts we will be offering some reflections on some of the hidden gems in the poster halls.

These presentations can afford glimpses into what to expect in future clinical trial readouts in the not too distant future.

Of late many companies have been struggling to raise funding in a tough economic climate, especially if they are powered by a novel target or approach, while others are well funded and settled.

In this example, we discuss a well funded biotech with a novel approach to targeting difficult to treat advanced cancers.  What’s not to like?

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

This content is restricted to subscribers

Chemistry in context – next generation cell therapies

Roses in the Marie Curie garden

If a Nobel Prize for cancer cell therapy is awarded – and at BSB we wouldn’t be surprised to see this happening at some point in the future – then there’s a good chance it would be awarded in Chemistry and not Medicine or Physiology.

The discovery and development of novel constructs, novel targets, coupled with the application of gene editing and synthetic biology, is very much a case of chemistry in context.

The development of CAR T cell therapy is making rapid progress and already we are seeing glimpses of potential next generation therapies with very different looks from the currently approved products.

In this post we highlight several catching our attention, for good and not so good reasons…

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.

This content is restricted to subscribers

Standing out from the crowd in lung cancer

What’s standing out from the crowd in lung cancer?

It seems hard to imagine only a few years ago lung cancer was still in the doldrums with various chemotherapy doublet and triplet regimens showing little or no benefit for people with small cell (SCLC) or non-small cell (NSCLC) lung cancer.

Fast forward and my, how things have changed today with a raft of targeted and immunotherapies making a real difference to many people’s lives!

In our latest discussion highligting important trial readouts and published data, we also offer some potential new developments which might be useful down the road…

BSB subscribers can read more on our latest update and commentary regarding lung cancer – you can log-in or click to access our latest analysis.

This content is restricted to subscribers

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…

BSB subscribers can read more on our latest cancer conference preview  – you can log-in or click to access our latest expert interview.

This content is restricted to subscribers

Tooting the DDR horn

Every year the sweet spot sandwiched between AACR and ASCO comes around all to quickly, as we’re wrapping up interviews conducted at one and preparing the previews for the other, never mind ESMO Breast, AAI, and ASGCT all coming in May as well.

Cambridge Botanical Gardens

This year is no different and I’m delighted to say they segue rather nicely for once!

It’s hard to believe we’ve been writing about DNA damage repair and PARP inhibitors since 2008/2009 or so, and still this topic just keeps growing and growing!

We’ve certainly come a long way since those early days and now the broader DDR niche is also expanding as more targets are identified and evaluated, both in animal models as well as the clinic.

This list will also increase as CRISPR screens continue to identify synthetically lethal targets – some will be useful, others will fall by the wayside due to lack of efficacy or poor tolerability. Finding a balance between the two will therefore be a big key to success.

In this post we’re going to start with an update on the PARP1/2 inhibitors then catch up on data from other DDR family targets and finally explore a pipeline discussion with an industry expert who is well versed in the DDR field.

To learn more about our ongoing post AACR21 and pre ASCO 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.

This content is restricted to subscribers

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…

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

This content is restricted to subscribers

error: Content is protected !!