Immuno-oncology
In this episode of Denatured, you’ll hear from from Lewis Bender, CEO at Intensity Therapeutics and Paul-Peter Tak, president, CEO and board director at Candel Therapeutics. We explore how intratumoral therapies trigger systemic anticancer immunity from a local injection, and redefine a foundational platform in immuno-oncology.
With companies including AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Revolution Medicines clamoring to get in on Summit Therapeutics’ Akeso-partnered PD-1xVEGF antibody, one analyst calls the asset “the next major backbone” of cancer treatment.
Astellas Pharma could secure the exclusive global rights to Audax Biosciences’ DAX-044, an antibody-cytokine fusion therapy that activates the immune system in the vicinity of the tumor.
Invikafusp alfa, a first-in-class dual T cell agonist, showed an objective response in various types of cancer, particularly among patients who did not respond to previous checkpoint inhibitor therapy.
As trispecifics, cell engagers and other complex formats multiply, drug developers are seeking discovery and engineering partners to help navigate an expanding universe of molecular possibilities.
Following their blowout win in melanoma last month, Merck and Moderna are leading the way among a new crop of personalized cancer vaccines. Here are five companies with similar therapies hoping to break through where others have previously failed.
A year to the day after the Trump administration slashed $500 million in funding from mRNA-based programs, the FDA approved Moderna’s flu vaccine based on the technology. Weeks later, Moderna and Merck revealed positive Phase 3 results for their personalized mRNA-based cancer vaccine. In the words of one mRNA specialist, “science won.”
The Phase 3 readout is the first for ivonescimab beyond non-small cell lung cancer to show a significant overall survival benefit, according to Summit Therapeutics and China-based partner Akeso.
Merck may not have had the splashiest presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, but the data show why the Big Pharma remains king of oncology, analysts say.
“King Keytruda’s reign continues,” analysts at BMO Capital Markets declared after Chinese data for Summit Therapeutics’ ivonescimab were revealed at the American Society for Clinical Oncology in Chicago.
PRESS RELEASES