Biotech Strategy Blog

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

Posts tagged ‘trametinib’

The Nexus Frontier

Futuristic image created with WALL-E   Source: Blue Ice Publishing

The Nexus Frontier stands as a bold and groovy movement at the intersection of discovery and understanding, where complexity meets clarity.

It’s a frontier where scientific rigour and human relatability converge.

In other words, it’s time for a collaborative guest post from a physician CMO to learn about his perspectives and reactions to recently presented data.

What jumped out?

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RevMed’s approach to kicking KRAS to the kerb

Source: Dr Tillman Pearce, CMO at ALAFIA

It’s all too easy to take life for granted until one is faced with an unexpected devastating diagnosis such as a terminal Stage IV cancer – cholangiocarcinoma or pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) come to mind, for example.

When we see new early stage agents emerge from Pharma pipelines showing a promising and different concept from what’s gone before then it’s hard to imagine anyone not wanting to see it break the mould and succeed, regardless of who the company is.

This doesn’t mean we should borrow a pair of Dame Edna Everage’s sparkly rose-tinted glasses and abandon common sense.

Last Friday we saw the first-in-human data from a phase 1 readout centred on Revolution Medicines new KRAS inhibitor, RMC-9805, in a presentation by Dr David Hong at the ENA Triple meeting in Barcelona.

The company also presented several posters on the pipeline agents and held a conference call to discuss their progress and next steps.  The PanCan community are naturally excited to see some progress with the early stage agents.

This is the second example we’ve seen this month where a company has publicly announced a phase 3 trial opening based almost entirely on phase 1 data.  Will it end well or flounder down the road?

In our latest analysis we take a look at some of the many challenges and opportunities to consider when handicapping the odds of success…

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What do the Konami code and targeting KRAS have in common?

It seems astonishing to realise only a couple of years ago KRAS was considered undruggable intractable and here we are, not only with one drug approved, another filed and veritable long list of fast followers, but a whole ecosystem of different agents vying for a place at the table.

The wonderful news is we are starting to think more broadly about life beyond G12C mutations, not only with different combinatorial approaches, but also also in the context of how to tackle other related mutations as well.

Here, we wanted to explore the evolving universe more broadly and assess criticality as well as applicability – which agents might shine tomorrow if clinical data turn out positive?  The simple answer is more than you know.

So just who are the rising stars in this emerging landscape and what can we learn about them?

Be warned in advance – this is one of our longest and most comprehensive reviews on BSB with over 30 compounds highlighted in different guises, so grab a cup of Joe and be prepared to come with an open mind…

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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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Five key areas to watch out for at ASCO22

Star of the show?

In our latest ASCO Preview this year we highlight five key areas to watch out for, why they have been selected for attention, and also offer some broader competitive context.

In short, it’s time to talk about some of the key abstracts I’m excited about at ASCO this year.

Please note this particular selection excludes immunotherapy and cell therapy products since they will be covered separately…

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Buildings walls versus building cathedrals

Gaudi Cathedral, Barcelona

It seems oddly surreal of my photo editor to remind me that on this day in the past we were in Barcelona (right) for some conference or other and this year’s EORTC-NCI-AACR Molecular Targets meeting (aka the Triple in industry parlance) was cancelled in Spain in favour of a virtual meeting, thanks to the ongoing pandemic.

There is no doubt that thinking big in cancer research is vitally important, but sometimes we have to consider the difference between building cathedrals for the long-term rather than building simple walls as short-term fixes.

Here we consider some examples in the context of oncology drug development and also open the monthly October BSB mailbag…

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A hidden gem in the KRAS niche

Attention on small molecule inhibitors – after being in the doldrums for a while – seem to be making a comeback over the last year with much attention focused on a few companies developing new selective agents in specialised niches.

Time for a KRAS spring clean!

One such space is KRAS inhibition. Not just in terms of direct or indirect inhibition, but also with regards to tackling acquired resistance mechanisms such as SHP2.  While there has been quite the frenzy over what Amgen, Mirati, Revolution Medicine and a few others are all doing, other companies are quietly getting on with the business of producing some nice work and will soon be ready for the off.

In our latest review we explore some of the factors involved, which companies will need to be concerned about going forward, especially in the context of future combination strategies.

In solid tumours, with targeted therapies the winners are not always the ones who reached the market first, but rather the crafty ones who optimise the combination strategies and become ingrained in protocols across multiple situations.

Here we look at one of the hidden gems in the KRAS space and explore what it does, why it’s important and how it might fit in.  We also include a company interview with a scientist who gets the broader implications…

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ESMO17 Day 4 Highlights and Lowlights

Greetings from continental Europe!

ESMO Madrid Conference Center

We have a LOT of data to discuss today from ESMO and have also included an interview with one expert that was conducted under embargo on an important topic.

Of course, the usual in-depth analyses on new targets and early compounds in development will duly follow in the post-meeting output, but there’s plenty of practice changing data to consider and also some results that may trigger alternative thinking from where we are now.

We also received questions from BSB readers on certain trials and some of these are answered in today’s update on the road…

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ESMO16 Preview 1 Novel Target Data Offers Potential to Overcome Barriers to Cancer Drug Resistance

September 1st… as the hot summer floats away from London town and cooler autumn days draw in, it’s time to think about the upcoming fall cancer conference season – it’s quite a busy one this year!

In the coming weeks, I will be rolling out our series on the ESMO 2016 Previews (Twitter #ESMO16) and taking a more in-depth look at various topics of interest. The Copenhagen meeting is later than usual and also more compressed, with numerous sessions now held simultaneously. It used to be that you could take a break between key sessions, but not any more – there’s a lot going on this year.

View of Thames BarrierOne of the things that jumped out to me from a preliminary review of this year’s hectic ESMO program is an interesting novel target that had some early preclinical data at AACR, but that sadly got lost in the tsunami of data there.

It is good to have that reminder and be able to return to it in the context of broader data because overcoming barriers to drug resistance with targeted therapies is still an important issue that is worth researching.

You likely won’t see it in many analyst reports or previews, however, although it’s a hidden gem of great interest and well worth exploring in terms of what we know so far. This means that readers will be both prepared and intrigued – don’t be surprised to hear about some BD&L deals in this niche in the future.

Curious? Subscribers can go here now to get all the details…

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Biotech Strategy questions answered on BRAF, MEK, immunotherapy, mirvetuximab soravtansine and venetoclax

Last month’s Biotech Strategy mailbag – where we answer questions from subscribers – turned out to be rather controversial with strong feelings running in several camps on Puma Biotech’s neratinib in breast cancer.

This time around we have a bunch of questions on completely different topics and compounds to cover:

  • BRAF plus MEK and/or immunotherapy in BRAFV600 metastatic melanoma
  • Immunogen’s IMGN853 – now known as mirvetuximab soravtansine – in platinum resistant ovarian cancer
  • AbbVie/Genentech’s ABT–199/GDC–0199 venetoclax

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