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Gems from the Poster Halls at EORTC-NCI-AACR in Munich
Gems from the Poster Hall on Wednesday at EORTC-NCI-AACR Molecular Targets meeting in MunichNovember 30, 2016
Making breast cancer cells become normal again
Can we revert the mutant phenotype in breast cancer and return to a normal, non cancerous phenotype?November 30, 2016
ENA 2016 Immunotherapy Symposium Highlights
Highlights from the Charles River Immunotherapy Symposium in Munich, 2016November 29, 2016
ASH16 Super Friday Preview
If you have plans to be in San Diego for #ASH16 what should you attend on Friday?November 28, 2016
Juno plays Russian Roulette with JCAR015
A most unfortunate follow-up to the ongoing safety issues with Juno's JCAR015 and neurotoxicity in the run-up to #ASH16November 23, 2016
SITC 2016 Can Nektar Boost Checkpoint Performance
Without effector T cells in the tumour, checkpoints won't work. So how do we attract more in? Here's one way to do it...November 16, 2016
SITC 2016 New Immunotherapy Drug Development
A look at new ways to boost checkpoint therapy performance including agents in development from small biotechsNovember 17, 2016
SITC 2016 Update on the Competitive Urothelial Cancer Market
Update on important new data in urothelial cancers and how the landscape is moving quicklyNovember 15, 2016
Red Flags in SITC Lirilumab plus Nivolumab Head and Neck Cancer Data
Does adding lirilumab to nivolumab move the needle in relapsed SCCHN?November 14, 2016
ASH16 Preview on Acute Myeloid Leukemia AML
An in-depth review of what to expect from AML new product development in San DiegoNovember 11, 2016
ASH16 Preview of CAR T Cell Therapies
What To Watch Out For in CAR T Cell Therapies at ASH in San Diego in December 2016November 7, 2016
ASH16 Abstracts are out! So What's Hot at ASH16? My Initial Impressions
Initial impressions of abstracts for ASH16 in San DiegoNovember 3, 2016
Promising new combos in cancer research pipelines
Four more combination trials of interest in cancer research that may be worth watching out forNovember 2, 2016
ESMO16 Gems from the Poster Halls Part 2
Four pretty cool approaches to combination cancer immunotherapy stood out at #ESMO16 in Copenhagen...November 1, 2016
Glycomics The Third Language of Life
How will glycomics impact cancer research? Some interesting new developments are emerging in this fieldOctober 27, 2016
Insights from biomarkers in ovarian cancer
Can biomarkers help us improve clinical trial outcomes?October 25, 2016
Where does rucaparib fit in ovarian cancer?
How does the rucaparib data at ESMO fit in the treatment paradigm and what's next for PARPi?October 24, 2016
What do Myriad Genetics really think of the Niraparib data?
Following the dispute between Tesaro and Myriad on HRD testing, here's Myriad's perspective on the data presentedOctober 20, 2016
New Directions in Advanced Lung Cancer
Yesterday saw the FDA approval of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for the second-line treatment of metastatic…October 19, 2016
ESMO16 Day 3 Daily Digest
Commentary on Sunday at ESMO16 with a focus on the lung cancer data in the Presidential SymposiumOctober 10, 2016
ESMO16 Day 2 Digest
Commentary on Day 2 at ESMO16October 8, 2016
What Tesaro aren't telling you about niraparib
What you need to know about the Tesaro niraparib ovarian cancer data presented at ESMO 2016.October 8, 2016
ESMO16 Congress Day 1 Digest
Commentary on Day 1 at ESMO 2016 Congress in Copenhagen.October 7, 2016
How do you calculate Immunoscore? A tour of HalioDx
Audio Slideshow tour of HalioDx lab that shows how digital pathology is used to calculate Immunoscore an immune based colon cancer assayOctober 3, 2016
September BSB Reader Mailbag
Latest BSB mailbag covers targeted therapies, immunotherapy and #ESMO16September 29, 2016
Corvus moves fast to target tumor microenvironment and improve checkpoint responses
Corvus Pharmaceuticals accelerates development of A2A receptor antagonist CPI-444 that could improve checkpoint responses.September 26, 2016
Manipulating the Microbiota to Improve Clinical Outcomes. An interview with Eric Pamer
Interview with Dr Eric Pamer on impact of the microbiota on the innate and adaptive immune systems and future directions.September 28, 2016
Targeting Natural Killer Cells in AML
New research shows potential of cell therapy with allogeneic memory-like natural killer NK cells in AML.September 27, 2016
Is Targeting Neoantigens the Next Frontier in Cancer Immunotherapy?
Interview with Prof Ton Schumacher at scientific meeting to celebrate 40 years of Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML).September 22, 2016
François Romagné Accelerates Cancer Immunotherapy Innovation in Marseille
Interview with Professor François Romagné, Scientific Director of MI-mAbs, an immuno-oncology drug discovery venture in the Marseille Immunopôle cluster.September 21, 2016
Innate Pharma at an Inflexion Point. An interview with CEO Hervé Brailly
Interview with Innate Pharma CEO Dr Hervé Brailly on clinical trial readouts expected and his vision for companySeptember 20, 2016
Why target the Innate Immune system? An interview with Eric Vivier
Professor Eric Vivier is Director of the Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy and a co-founder of Innate Pharma and the Marseille Immunopôle. He is a leading researcher in the field of innate immunity.September 19, 2016
HalioDX CEO Vincent Fert outlines commercial strategy for Immunoscore in US and Europe
Interview with HalioDx CEO Vincent Fert on commercial strategy for Immunoscore diagnostic test.September 14, 2016
ESMO16 Preview 7 Key Trials in Breast Cancer
A look at some of the key breast cancer abstracts to watch out for at #ESMO16 in CopenhagenSeptember 14, 2016
ESMO16 Preview Novel Targeted Therapies
Five key approaches in developmental therapeutics in the spotlight at ESMO16September 13, 2016
What's Hot in Ovarian Cancer at ESMO16?
A look at 9 key abstracts in ovarian cancer at #ESMO16 and what to expectSeptember 8, 2016
ESMO16 What's Hot in Head and Neck Cancer?
What can we expect in Head & Neck cancer at #ESMO16 in Copenhagen?September 7, 2016
ESMO16 Preview on Late Breaking Abstracts in Lung Cancer
A look at what to expect from the lung cancer late breakers at #ESMO16 - are there any surprises or controversies?September 6, 2016
ESMO16 Preview 1 Novel Target Data Offers Potential to Overcome Barriers to Cancer Drug Resistance
Overcoming barriers to resistance in epithelial cancers - a look at a novel oncogenic targetSeptember 1, 2016
August Journal Club – Cancer Immunotherapy
Launch of the BSB Journal Club - this inaugural edition explores T cell dysfunction and exhaustionAugust 25, 2016
Modelling the Tumour Microenvironment
Interview with Prof Fran Balkwill from Barts Cancer Institute on 3D modelling of the tumor microenvironment in ovarian cancerAugust 22, 2016
PsiOxus is a cancer immunotherapy company to watch – Part 2 of an interview with CEO John Beadle
Part 2 of interview with PsiOxus Therapeutics CEO Dr John Beadle discusses corporate strategy and challenges faced by an emerging biotech company.August 17, 2016
Can PsiOxus become a world leading immuno-oncolytic virus company?
An innovative and promising approach to cancer immunotherapy using adenoviruses to deliver multiple warheads to tumoursAugust 16, 2016
Beyond T-VEC – a look at oncolytic viral immunotherapy
A primer on the oncolytics viral therapy landscape - beyond T-VECAugust 15, 2016
Can neoantigen vaccines make a difference in cancer research?
This is the second in our mini-series on neoantigens and looks at whether neoantigen based cancer vaccines can make a difference in the treatment of solid tumors.August 10, 2016
NEON shines the light on Neoantigen targeted Cancer Immunotherapy
Cary Pfeffer of Third Rock Ventures describes how a novel neoantigen vaccine in academia transitioned into a commercial company with exciting prospects...August 11, 2016
What are neoantigens and why do they matter in cancer immunotherapy?
A primer on neoantigens and their importance in cancer researchAugust 9, 2016
Detailed thoughts on BMS CheckMate–026 1L trial in NSCLC
The BMS CheckMate-026 trial in 1L NSCLC did not meet it's primary endpoint. What can we learn from the failure?August 5, 2016
New developments in allogeneic cellular therapies
Collaborations in the adoptive cell therapy space have now branched out from autologous to allogeneic products. What's the skinny?August 5, 2016
What's new on emerging resistance to cancer immunotherapy?
What factors contribute to resistance with checkpoint blockade and how can this be overcome?August 4, 2016
Biotech Mailbag – Jounce & the CAR T Race to Market
July Reader Q&A - thoughts on Jounce, Celgene, BMS, J&J and CAR T cell therapies...July 27, 2016
Can we safely revisit the IGF pathway with combinations?
Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim have announced a clinical trial collaboration in metastatic breast cancer with the CDK4/6 inhibitor, abemaciclib, and the IGF antibody, BI 836845.July 14, 2016
The changing face of the SCCHN landscape
A example of how different targeted therapy and immunotherapy combinations could be both useful and different from what we've seen beforeJuly 12, 2016
JUNO setback by Patient Deaths due to CAR T Cell Neurotoxicity
Juno ROCKET trial put on clinical hold following 3 death due to cerebral edema. What's the skinny?July 7, 2016
Can epigenetics play a role in immunomodulation?
Will priming the tumour microenvironment with epigenetic therapies such as HDACs lead to enhanced activity with subsequent immunotherapy?July 7, 2016
One Step Beyond
With so many new anti-cancer agents, including immunotherapies, emerging in company pipelines, this means that we could see the evolution of important therapy sequences... going beyond combinations.July 5, 2016
The impact of niraparib on the ovarian cancer landscape
How will niraparib impact the ovarian cancer market?June 30, 2016
Xencor and Novartis storm the hematologic bispecific market
The oncology bispecific market is heating up with J&J collaborating with Macrogenics and Novartis with Xencor. We discuss the skinny...June 28, 2016
The potential downside of cancer immunotherapy
We've seen some wonderful responses with checkpoint blockade and cancer immunotherapies, but there are some downsides that need to be considered.June 27, 2016
How to turn a cold tumour into a hot one
Can we turn a cold tumour into a hot one where some patients can respond to therapy?June 23, 2016
Checkpoint blockade in MSI High cancers
Update on ASCO checkpoint blockade data for colorectal and other MSI-High cancersJune 22, 2016
Immunoscore validated as an important biomarker for colon cancer
An easy to use new biomarker emerges to help oncologists select colon cancer patients for cancer immunotherapies.June 20, 2016
Reader Mailbag – TCR T cell Gene Editing in Multiple Myeloma
Gene editing is coming to the US CAR T cell space - what's happening and what will the impact be?June 17, 2016
Beyond PD-L1 Immunotherapy Biomarkers
Can we find and use several biomarkers to triangulate responders and non-responders?June 16, 2016
Urothelial Cancer Immunotherapy is a Competitive Landscape
A look at the increasingly competitive metastatic urothelial carcinoma landscapeJune 15, 2016
Contemplations on ASCO Lung Cancer Data with Dr Stephen Liu
What to make of the various combination trials presented at ASCO 2016?June 13, 2016
5 Important and Emerging Trends from ASCO 2016
A number of points of strategic importance fell out of the ASCO data dump. What are they and why do they matter?June 9, 2016
BMS Ipilimumab prostate cancer immunotherapy trial fails but where is the data?
Prior to chemotherapy men with advanced prostate cancer did not live longer if they received ipilimumab compared to just receiving placebo. The phase 3 trial was a failure.June 5, 2016
ASCO 2016 Monday Blog #ASCO16
Commentary from Monday at ASCO 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in ChicagoJune 6, 2016
ASCO 2016 Sunday Blog #ASCO16
Top-line commentary from Sunday at ASCO 2016 annual meeting.June 5, 2016
ASCO 2016 Chicago Saturday Blog #ASCO16
Top-line commentary from Saturday at ASCO 2016 annual meeting.June 4, 2016
ASCO 2016 – Top 10 Immunotherapy Abstracts Worth Checking Out
What are our Top Ten immunotherapy abstracts of note at ASCO 2016?June 2, 2016
ASCO 2016 Preview on Targeted Therapies
The poster childs for targeted therapies have been surprising - CML and lung cancer -- what's new here at #ASCO16?June 1, 2016
The BET Bromodomain Landscape in Cancer Research
The bromodomain market has exploded in recent years with many more agents in the development. Are they all the same though?May 26, 2016
What we learnt at AACR about Aduro ADU-S100
Can we safely combine a STING agonist with a checkpoint inhibitor to generate more effectiveness in melanoma and lymphomas? We asked experts at AACR what they really thought...May 25, 2016
Gems from the AACR Poster Hall – Part 2
A look at Bayer's early oncology pipeline and a curious new class called MNK (Mink) inhibitorsMay 24, 2016
Statistical Challenges of Immunotherapy Clinical Trial Design
What can we learn about clinical trial design from immunotherapy combinations?May 23, 2016
Drug Discovery Targets Cancer Vulnerabilities
Commentary from the AACR Precision Medicine Conference in Miami on Targeting the Vulnerabilities of Cancer.May 20, 2016
George Coukos Drives Novel Ovarian Cancer Immunotherapies Forward
How can we improve T cell trafficking in ovarian cancer? Professor Coukos highlights numerous ways this could be achieved!May 16, 2016
Gems from the Poster Hall at AACR16 – Part 1
A look at small biotechs producing quality preclinical data at #AACR16 that may lead to clinical development in the near futureMay 12, 2016
Is APRIL an exciting new target in Multiple Myeloma?
A look at the BCMA/APRIL landscape in multiple myeloma - this is rapidly becoming a competitive targetMay 11, 2016
Targeting OX40 in advanced cancers – Part 2
Beyond checkpoint blockade, companies are now exploring what happens when you combine them with immune agonists such as OX40. Here we explore an industry perspective.May 10, 2016
AACR Cancer Immunotherapy Insights from Dr Bernard Fox
A wide ranging discussion about how to light the fires in non-immunogenic or cold tumours - OX40, STING, vaccines and more discussed!May 9, 2016
Can chemotherapy improve checkpoint blockade in advanced colorectal cancer?
Can we safely and effectively add a checkpoint inhibitor to standard chemotherapy and VEGF inhibition? Early proof of concept in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.May 4, 2016
Breaking the Immunology Rules – an interview with Dr Michel Sadelain on how CAR T cell therapy will crack solid tumors
At the recent AACR meeting, Dr Michel Sadelain gave a presentation on turbocharged CAR T cells, and shared some of his ideas on how to move the field forward.May 5, 2016
Controversy: Is Chemotherapy Immunotherapy?
Chemotherapy can have a potentiating effect on cancer immunotherapy. The positive effects may surprise some readers...May 3, 2016
7 Significant Things I Learned at AACR16 That You Don't Want to Ignore
What were the major learning points from AACR that will make an impact over the next 1-2 years? Chhhhanges are afoot...May 2, 2016
Thunderbirds are GO!
Season 2 of the Novel Targets has launched, plus the eagerly awaited April Readers Q&A MailbagApril 29, 2016
AACR 2016 New Orleans Day 4 Blog
Commentary on Tuesday sessions at AACR 2016 annual meetingApril 19, 2016
AACR 2016 New Orleans Day 3 Blog
Commentary on Monday at AACR 2016 annual meetingApril 18, 2016
AACR 2016 New Orleans Day 2 Blog
Commentary from Sunday at 2016 AACR annual meetingApril 17, 2016
AACR 2016 New Orleans Day 1 Blog
Commentary on Day 1 of AACR 2016 annual meeting in New Orleans.April 16, 2016
What next for Bcl2 inhibitors after venetoclax's approval in CLL?
Where next for Bcl2 inhibitors beyond CLL and Del17p? Which novel combinations might be an attractive strategy?April 13, 2016
Osimertinib front-line data wows European Lung 2016
First-line data for AstraZeneca's ($AZN) third generation EGFR inhibitor osimertinib (Tagrisso) impresses at the 2016 European Lung Cancer Conference in Geneva.April 14, 2016
AACR 2016 CD40 Cancer Immunotherapy
In this preview of AACR 2016, we're looking at the CD40 landscape, some of the new companies that have entered the scene and what presentations to look out for at AACR 2016 (and why they matter).April 8, 2016
OX40 immune agonists at AACR 2016
Today post is on OX40 (CD134) as a novel immuno-target and what the OX40 cancer immunotherapy landscape looks like.April 7, 2016
AACR 2016 GITR Cancer Immunotherapy
There are now several agonist antibodies in development and entering the clinic that seek to activate GITR, and new data is expected at AACR 2016.April 6, 2016
AACR 2016 Cancer Immunotherapy Targeting IDO1 TDO
This post looks at some of the data at AACR 2016 for cancer immunotherapies that target IDO1 and TDO and their downstream effectors.April 5, 2016
Targeting Acquired Resistance in Prostate Cancer
The discovery of a novel target in castration-resistant prostate cancer offers the potential to overcome or delay acquired resistance to enzalutamide.April 4, 2016
AACR 2016 A Preview of anti TIM-3 and LAG-3 Checkpoints
A look at alternative checkpoint inhibitors, anti-TIM-3 and LAG-3 compounds in early development at AACRApril 1, 2016
Beyond Blinatumomab – Update on Bispecific T cell Engagers
In this post I've taken a close look at one cancer immunotherapy approach with a lot of data at AACR - bispecific T cell engagers.March 31, 2016
Future of Cancer Immunotherapy
Commentary on some of the latest cancer immunotherapy papersMarch 29, 2016
Biotech Strategy Blog Mailbag Monday
Subscriber questions on recent immuno-oncology, Genentech, Kite Pharma and Gilead company newsMarch 21, 2016
Top 10 Abstracts at AACR 2016
Pick of 10 abstracts at AACR 2016 annual meeting in New Orleans that may answer critical cancer research questionsMarch 17, 2016
What's Hot at AACR 2016? Annual Meeting Preview 1
Cancer Immunotherapy dominates AACR 2016 annual meeting in New Orleans.March 16, 2016
Making CAR T cell therapy more effective in leukemia and solid tumors
Finding new ways to optimise CAR T cell therapy in CLL and solid tumours may be closer than you think...March 15, 2016
Gems from the EBCC10 Poster Hall
Review of 4 noteworthy posters at the 2016 European Breast Cancer Conference in Amsterdam organised by European Cancer Organisation ECCOMarch 10, 2016
Trends in Haplo transplants impact Bellicum
Trends in Haplo stem cell transplants may impact Bellicum Pharmaceuticals adjunct T Cell therapy BPX–501March 9, 2016
Is TIM–3 the next important checkpoint target?
Could immune resistance be reversed or prevented by the addition of appropriate checkpoint blockade? Which ones matter though, that is the critical question?March 3, 2016
Could a Novel Cell Therapy replace CAR T Cell Therapy?
Interview at BMT Tandem 2016 about a novel cell therapy that could compete with or replace CAR T cell therapyMarch 1, 2016
Are checkpoints playing with fire?
Commentary on presentation by Dr Philippe Armand at BMT Tandem meeting on "Checkpoint Blockade in SCT, Data & Hope, Promise & Peril"February 25, 2016
Optimizing CD19 CAR T Cell Therapy
Interview with Dr Michael Jensen on CD19 CAR T Cell TherapyFebruary 23, 2016
Challenges and Opportunities of CAR T Cell Therapy in CLL
Interview at BMT Tandem 2016 with Dr David Porter U Penn on CD19 targeted CAR T cell therapy in CLLFebruary 19, 2016
What's hot at BMT Tandem 2016 in Honolulu?
Preview of noteworthy sessions at 2016 BMT Tandem meeting in Honolulu, HawaiiFebruary 17, 2016
The Next Big Wave in Multiple Myeloma
How do we decide how to incorporate the newly approved drugs in Multiple Myeloma and what's the next wave of therapies we can expect to see evolve?February 11, 2016
What's driving the GvHD Landscape? #BMTTandem16
What are some of the strategic trends and drivers in the Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD) space at #BMTTandem16?February 9, 2016
Will Unum's approach take the CAR T cell therapy market by storm?
Unum have developed a completely different approach to traditional CAR T cell therapies. Will they make an impact in patients?February 4, 2016
Immunotherapy for Lymphoma using T cells Targeting Multiple Tumor-Associated Antigens
A novel cell therapy approach uses T cells targeting multiple tumor-associated antigens.February 3, 2016
Update on Targeted therapies and Immunotherapies in Gastric Cancer
Who will move the needle in gastric and oesophageal cancers - targeted therapies or checkpoint immunoherapies?January 27, 2016
Will pembrolizumab extend its activity in GI cancers?
Will checkpoint blockade be effective in multiple GI cancers and if so, why?January 25, 2016
Why didn't Ipilimumab plus Chemo work in Metastatic Urothelial Cancer?
A trial of gemcitabine plus cisplatin plus ipilimumab in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer failed to meet it's primary endpoint.January 22, 2016
Potential of a Novel Non-Invasive Liquid Biopsy Prostate Cancer Biomarker
A novel non-invasive liquid biopsy may offer a potential novel biomarker that will help in sequencing prostate cancer drugs.January 21, 2016
New combinations and targets in advanced prostate cancer
How do we overcome resistance to Zytiga? There are some encouraging developments in this area to report.January 20, 2016
A New Race to Market in Advanced Prostate Cancer
Two biotech companies are in a race to market for a novel target in advanced prostate cancer.January 19, 2016
Is Ocular Toxicity a big deal with Denintuzumab Mafodotin SGN-CD19A? #JPM16
An interview with Seattle Genetics CEO, Dr Clay Siegall on CD19A ocular toxicity and the competition from checkpoint inhibitors in Hodgkin's lymphoma.January 11, 2016
Day 3 Highlights from JP Morgan Healthcare Conference #JPM16
Commentary on Wednesday corporate presentations at 2016 JP Morgan Healthcare conference in San FranciscoJanuary 13, 2016
Highlights of #JPM16 Healthcare Conference Day 2
Commentary on some of the presentations at Day 2 of JP Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco.January 12, 2016
Highlights of #JPM16 Healthcare Conference Day 1
Commentary around some of the corporate presentations at Day 1 of the 2016 JP Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco.January 11, 2016
Midostaurin in AML – Better Late than Never!
An in-depth look at the FLT3 inhibitor midostaurin and its potential impact on the treatment for AML.January 6, 2016
New Horizons in CLL Treatment
ASH 2015 interview with Dr Ian Flinn, Director of the Blood Cancer Research Program at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute.January 5, 2016
New Treatments for CLL with Deletions in 17p
A look at the new CLL 17p deletion data at ASH in the late breaker sessionJanuary 4, 2016
Understanding the Cellectis UCART19 Case Report – Part 2 of an Interview with Prof Waseem Qasim
Part 2 of ASH 2015 interview with Prof Waseem Qasim (GOSH) on the first in man gene edited allogeneic CAR T cell therapy.December 16, 2015
Potential of Gene Editing – Part 1 of Interview with Prof Waseem Qasim
Part 1 of an interview with Prof Waseem Qasim.December 15, 2015
Promising new agents in development for breast cancer
Five promising new agents in development for the treatment of ER+ or HER2+ or triple negative breast cancer emerge from #SABCS15December 14, 2015
Checkpoint therapy update in metastatic breast cancer
Adding chemotherapy or an ADC boosts the immunogenic effects prior to checkpoint therapy in metastatic breast cancersDecember 11, 2015
Manic Monday at ASH 2015
Commentary on "Manic Monday" at ASH 2015December 7, 2015
Highlights from Plenary Sunday at #ASH15
Commentary on Plenary Sunday at the 2015 ASH annual meeting in Orlando.December 6, 2015
Highlights from Saturday at ASH 2015 Annual Meeting #ASH15
Commentary on Saturday at ASH15December 5, 2015
ASH 2015 Preview: will venetoclax fall or rise?
In the last of our American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2015 annual meeting previews, we take a broad…December 2, 2015
ASH15 Preview on Aggressive Lymphomas
There are an encouraging number of promising therapies in development for Aggressive Lymphomas at ASH this year - which ones should you watch out for?December 1, 2015
ASH15 Multiple Myeloma Preview
With four new approvals in multiple myeloma in 2015, ASH is expected to have a surfeit of riches to review for this disease...November 30, 2015
Future of Cancer Immunotherapy Biomarkers
Where is the field of immune biomarkers going beyond PD-L1 in the next few years?November 27, 2015
ASH15 Preview Checkpoints in classical Hodgkin Lymphoma
Checkpoints in classical Hodgkins Lymphoma - how is the data holding up one year on?November 25, 2015
Exploring the Potential of Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines
At the recent Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) annual meeting, Dr Chris Heery presented a poster on the results of a phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate the safety and tolerability of a therapeutic vaccine targeting brachyury.November 23, 2015
Why do some FLT3 inhibitors work in AML and some don't?
A look at the FLT3 AML landscape - what's new?November 19, 2015
Q&A on hot topics in CAR T cell therapies
Our latest Q&A based on reader questions - In the Hot Spot: On CAR T cell therapiesNovember 18, 2015
Preview of ASH15 Late Breaking Abstracts
Preview of some of the late-breaking abstracts at the 2015 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology ASH15 in Orlando.November 16, 2015
Novel Immunotherapies and Combinations
Interview with Dr Mario Sznol on Novel Immunotherapies and CombinationsNovember 17, 2015
Gut Bacteria Impact Checkpoint Inhibitor efficacy
Dr Tom Gajewski (University of Chicago) talks about work from his lab that shows the gut microbiota can impact the efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors.November 16, 2015
AstraZeneca's AZD9291 osimertinib is approved as Tagrisso
AstraZeneca's AZD9291 was approved by the FDA in EGFR T90M mutation positive lung cancer today and is now known as osimertinib or Tagrisso.November 13, 2015
Strategies to overcome CAR T cell therapy resistance
Interview with a leading expert on strategies to overcome CAR T Cell Therapy ResistanceNovember 12, 2015
How long do we need to give a checkpoint inhibitor for?
At SITC 2015, we heard a tremendous amount of data, but a fresh controversy emerged regarding checkpoint inhibition...November 11, 2015
Do Cellectis CAR T Cells Really Work?
Expert opinion on First Clinical Application of TALEN Engineered Universal CAR19 T Cells in B-ALLNovember 10, 2015
Mixed results with Macrogenics enoblituzumab at SITC
Enoblituzumab is an immune stimulant that targets B7-H3 leading to more T cells.November 7, 2015
Did the epacadostat combo data disappoint at SITC?
Is Incyte's epacadostat (IDO1 inhibitor) ready for prime time?November 7, 2015
SITC 2015 – what did we learn from the cancer immunotherapy workshops?
Review of the highlights from the SITC 2015 pre-meeting workshopsNovember 5, 2015
What IS Hot at ASH 2015 in Orlando? #ASH15 abstracts – Preview 1
Most of the abstracts for the 2015 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) have just gone online. This is a quick initial preview of a few that caught my attention in the immunotherapy space.November 5, 2015
SITC 2015 International Cancer Immunotherapy Symposium
Commentary on the International Cancer Immunotherapy Symposium held at SITC 2015November 4, 2015
Preview of SITC 2015 Cancer Immunotherapy Meeting
Preview of what's hot at the 2015 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) annual meeting at National Harbor, MD.November 3, 2015
CD40 as a Cancer Immunotherapy Target
Companies in the ImmunoOncology space are looking at ways to improve responses with checkpoint inhibitors. Adding an immune agonist is one way to do this.November 3, 2015
How do we boost the effectiveness of checkpoint inhibitors?
A primer on immunocytokines in cancer immunotherapy with a focus on Roche's CEA-IL2v as a example.November 2, 2015
Immunosurveillance, Immunoscore & Personalized Cancer Immunotherapy – an interview with Jérôme Galon
Interview with Dr Jérôme Galon on Immunosurveillance, Immunoscore and Personalized Cancer Immunotherapy.October 30, 2015
What's Hot at AACR #Targets15 in Boston?
Preview of the key topics coming up at the AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets meeting in Boston, including Pasi Janne's interesting data on T790M negative NSCLC...October 27, 2015
Is there a biomarker for cetuximab in colon cancer?
Finding a biomarker for EGFR monoclonal antibodies in colon cancer has proven elusive but things may be a-changin'...October 22, 2015
Why combine radiation with cancer immunotherapy?
Radiation has the potential to generate an immune response that may lead to an abscopal effect when combined with a checkpoint inhibitor.October 21, 2015
Is Combining a Checkpoint plus an EGFR inhibitor a risky combination?
Will an increase in ILD cases scupper the AZD9291 plus durvalumab combination study in lung cancer? Will there be an advantage for Clovis or not?October 13, 2015
New oncology targets emerge from ECC 2015 – Part 1
Some promising new clinical targets emerged at ECC in Vienna, including DLL3 in SCLC, TRK gene rearrangements, Notch3 and PTK7. What did we think of the data and what issues should you look out for?October 19, 2015
Controversies in lung cancer immunotherapy
Should we be using the PDL1 antibody assay to screen patients for therapy with anti-PD1 and PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors or? How useful is the test? The debate is heating up!October 26, 2015
Where are the breakthroughs coming in Soft Tissue Sarcoma?
Interview at ECC 2015 with Dr George Demetri on new developments in Soft Tissue SarcomaOctober 6, 2015
Potential of Checkpoint Inhibitors in Ovarian Cancer
Interview with Dr Nora Disis about the phase 1b trial results for avelumab in ovarian cancer and the challenges of developing these agents in non-hypermutated tumour typesOctober 5, 2015
What's hot at Day 3 of European Cancer Congress?
Commentary on Day 3 of the European Cancer Congress in ViennaSeptember 28, 2015
ECC Day 2 Highlights – Checkpoints in Lung and Bladder Cancer
Commentary on Day 2 of the European Cancer Congress in ViennaSeptember 27, 2015
ECC Day 1 Highlights – the battle for Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma
Highlights from Day 1 of the ECC 2015 (ECCO) meeting in ViennaSeptember 25, 2015
Novel Targets Podcast 6 – Immune Agonists
What happens when we literally step on the gas with immune agonists?September 24, 2015
Checkpoint inhibition: targeting TIM-3
T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-containing molecule-3 (TIM-3) is widely expressed on immune cells. What's the potential for a TIM-3 checkpoint inhibitor?September 17, 2015
What's hot at the AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference?
Review of noteworthy abstracts at CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference in New YorkSeptember 16, 2015
Holbrook Kohrt leads the way in Targeting CD137
Holbrook Kohrt is a Stanford medical oncologist and clinical researcher who is leading the way in cancer immunotherapy combination strategies targeting CD137 (4-1BB).September 15, 2015
Immunocore ImmTAC TCR platform offers combination promise
Immunocore is an immuno-oncology company with an innovative approach to targeting T Cell Receptors (TCR) using their proprietary ImmTAC (Immune mobilising monoclonal TCRs against cancer) technology platform.September 14, 2015
ECC Vienna Preview 2 Oral Presentations
What's hot at ECCO 2015 in the oral sessions? An in-depth preview of what we can expect to hear about in Vienna...September 10, 2015
ECC Vienna Preview 1 Late Breaking Abstracts
What's hot in the 2015 ECCO late breaking abstracts in Vienna? Find out here...September 8, 2015
Atezolizumab PDL1 Checkpoint Inhibitor will change Bladder Cancer Treatment
Atezolizumab is expected to change the standard of care for the treatment of metastatic urothelial bladder cancerSeptember 3, 2015
The value of BRAF targeted cancer therapies in lung and colorectal cancer
The role of basket trials in small cancer subsets will be important to defining what targeted therapies work well...August 20, 2015
Adoptive Cell Therapies – an interview with Dr Carl June
Dr Carl June on progress of CAR T cell therapies in CLL, myeloma and solid tumoursAugust 14, 2015
Adoptive Cell Therapy: An Interview with Dr Steven Rosenberg
We know that TILs can be effective in advanced melanoma, but what about common epithelial solid tumours? Can it work in these cancers too? Find out from Dr Rosenberg's latest work what's happening...August 12, 2015
Oncolytic viruses – are they ready for prime time?
Oncolytic viruses are fast becoming a hot new area in cancer research but who are the players and where is this field going?August 6, 2015
Will targeting NY-ESO-1 prime the immune system in cancer?
Exploring NY-ESO-1 as a valid target in sarcoma, multiple myeloma and metastatic melanoma...August 3, 2015
Will venetoclax impact acute lymphocytic leukemia?
Some interesting potential new therapeutic approaches on the horizon in pediatric ALL - beyond CAR T cell therapies lie Bcl2 inhibitorsJuly 27, 2015
BMS and Exelixis announce new renal cell cancer data
Will checkpoint inhibitors make their mark in renal cell carcinoma and how will they be integrated into a treatment paradigm dominated by VEGF inhibitors?July 22, 2015
Novel Targets Podcast: Non-inflamed Tumours
Can we find new ways to target prostate cancer and other non-immunogenic tumours with immunotherapies? The answer may surprise...July 21, 2015
Biotech Strategy questions answered on BRAF, MEK, immunotherapy, mirvetuximab soravtansine and venetoclax
This month's Biotech Strategy Blog mail bag.July 17, 2015
AstraZeneca take a punt on immuno-oncology
Interview with Dr Rob Iannone of AstraZeneca on their IO pipelineJuly 15, 2015
Update on resistance and transformation in lung cancer
As we learn more about mechanisms of resistance in ALK+ and T790M mutated lung cancer, combination strategies are likely to evolve - but which ones?July 9, 2015
Has AZD9291 been filed for T790M+ lung cancer?
Clovis have started their rolling NDA for rociletinib in T790M-positive lung cancer - what about AstraZeneca's AZD9291?July 6, 2015
Do you need a CAR T Cell Therapy to be a Global Cancer Immunotherapy Company?
Interview with Dr William Pao on the Roche antibody based cancer immunotherapy strategy.July 1, 2015
Juno and Celgene's unexpected CAR-T cell and TCR collaboration
Editas presented some elegant work using their gene editing technology with CRISPR/Cas9 to modify T cells at ASGCT. Who would have guessed a short time afterwards Juno and Celgene would sign a 10 year collaboration?June 30, 2015
Future of Prostate Cancer Immunotherapy
ASCO 2015 interview with Dr James Gulley from NCI on Prostate Cancer Immunotherapy.June 29, 2015
ASCO 2015 Review of New Developments in Sarcoma
What's hot in soft tissue sarcomas at ASCO 2015? Find out more...June 22, 2015
Biotech Strategy questions answered on neratinib, bavituximab, enzalutamide and more!
Insights on targeted therapies from ASCO - questions from subs on neratinib, bavituximab, enzalutamide, Gilead's pipeline and MDSCs...June 17, 2015
Checkpoint inhibitors show early promise in Small Cell Lung Cancer
We've heard a lot about checkpoint immunotherapies in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but what about it's deadlier cousin, small cell lung cancer (SCLC)? Find out more...June 16, 2015
Beyond the Big Four in checkpoint blockade
Beyond the Big Four in checkpoint inhibitors, there is a raft of other companies anxious to get in the action. We take a look at Merck Serono and their progress with avelumab, an anti-PDL1 antibodyJune 11, 2015
Combined checkpoint inhibition and chemotherapy – useful or not?
How do we help patients who are non-responders or have stable disease respond to checkpoint inhibitors? Will chemotherapy combos help or not?June 8, 2015
Highlights of Day 4 at ASCO 2015 Annual Meeting
Highlights from Monday at the 2015 ASCO annual meeting in ChicagoJune 1, 2015
ASCO 2015 Highlights of Day 3
What's hot on Plenary Sunday at ASCO 2015? We'll be updating this blog post during the day.May 31, 2015
Highlights of ASCO 2015 Day 2 Live Blog
Highlights from Day 2 at ASCO 15 in ChicagoMay 30, 2015
ASCO 2015 Cancer Immunotherapy – Reflections on Day 1
Reflections on data presented in the first cancer immunotherapy press briefing at ASCO 2015May 30, 2015
Suicide Genes – what are they and are they really needed?
Do you need to incorporate a suicide suicide switch into CAR T cells that allows you to turn off the response, force the T cells to self-destruct?May 28, 2015
Targeting MYC – the undruggable protein – or is it?
Targeting MYC and bromodomains is an emerging area of research as we learn more about super enhancer transcription factor clusters around oncogenes that drive cancer.May 26, 2015
New therapies for multiple myeloma may make an impact
Data at ASGCT and ASCO highlight potential new treatments in development for multiple myelomaMay 18, 2015
Enzalutamide blows Bicalutamide out of the water in STRIVE trial at AUA15
At AUA 2015 in New Orleans, Dr Celestia Higano (Seattle) presented the results of the STRIVE clinical trial.May 17, 2015
AUA 2015 Update on bladder cancer
Update on checkpoint inhibitors in urothelial bladder cancer from AUA 2015 and what's in store for new developments with this disease.May 15, 2015
Highlights of ASCO15 Abstracts – Preview No 1
First in a series of previews of ASCO 2015 annual meeting abstracts.May 13, 2015
Tom Gajewski takes the STING out of Cancer
Dr Tom Gajewski is working on STING agonists that may have a major role to play in cancer immunotherapy.May 13, 2015
Promise of Cancer Immunotherapy highlighted at Immunology 2015
At the 2015 annual meeting of the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) in New Orleans, leading experts shared their insights on the "Promise of Cancer Immunotherapy."May 11, 2015
Top 10 immunotherapy studies with checkpoint blockade at ASCO 2015
What are the hot checkpoint studies to watch out for at ASCO 2015? We created a cheat sheet to follow and track the data as tsunami hits...May 8, 2015
What happens when you combine checkpoint blockade with an immune stimulant in cancer?
What happens when we combine a checkpoint with an immune stimulant in advanced melanoma?May 6, 2015
AACR Gems from the Poster Halls in ImmunoOncology
Beyond monotherapy with checkpoint inhibition, what combinations or sequences might be useful to explore next?April 28, 2015
Are targeted therapies now a thing of the past in the immunotherapy era?
New developments in T790M and ALK lung cancer plus a look at antibodies targeting ADAM17 in head & neck cancer.April 27, 2015
Where are checkpoint inhibitors going next?
Beyond lung cancer and melanoma, what other tumour types represent the low hanging fruit for checkpoint monotherapy?April 24, 2015
Is this the end of ipilimumab in melanoma?
As the anti-PD-1 blockers show superiority in front-line metastatic melanoma, is this the end for Yervoy?April 23, 2015
Top 10 Highlights of AACR 2015
The annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research ended today. Find out what were our top 10 highlights.April 22, 2015
Checkpoint Inhibitor Data Rocks AACR 2015
Checkpoint Inhibitor data is a hot topic at AACR 2015. Data showed they may work in TNBC and also two checkpoints are better than one.April 21, 2015
Reflections on AACR 2015 Cancer Immunotherapy Data
Cancer Immunotherapy is one of the hot topics at the 2015 AACR annual meeting in Philadelphia.April 20, 2015
AZD9291 EGFR T790M NSCLC data at European Lung shows longer PFS
Updated data for the AURA phase 1 trial of AZD9291 was presented at the European Lung Cancer Conference in Geneva.April 17, 2015
Anti-CTLA4 blockade with ipilimumab may be effective in hematologic malignancies
Does checkpoint blockade with CTLA4 have a role to play in hematologic malignancies?April 15, 2015
UCL Drives CD19 CAR T Cell Therapy Forward in Europe
University College London (UCL) is leading the way in European clinical trials of CAR T Cell therapies that target CD19.April 14, 2015
Novel Combination Approaches with Checkpoint Inhibitors
Emerging data on different combinations with checkpoint inhibitors suggests that this may increase response rates and outcomes for cancer patients. Find out more...March 31, 2015
What is STING and why does it matter in cancer immunotherapy?
Novartis have announced a deal with Aduro Biotech for access to their STING-targeted CDN platform technology.March 30, 2015
How do we improve responses to checkpoint inhibitors in lung cancer?
The mutational landscape determines sensitivity to PD-1 blockade in non–small cell lung cancerMarch 26, 2015
Will CAR-T cells make an impact in solid tumours?
Novel targets are emerging in urothelial bladder cancer which may offer new therapeutic options for antibody and CAR-T cell therapy development.March 25, 2015
EAU 2015 Update on enzalutamide PREVAIL trial in advanced prostate cancer
Update in the PREVAIL trial in chemotherapy naive castrate resistant prostate cancer based on 765 deaths from the 2015 EAU conference in Madrid.March 24, 2015
Impact of TERRAIN trial on European Prostate Cancer treatment landscape #EAU15
The results of the TERRAIN prostate cancer clinical trial data were presented at the 2015 European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress in Madrid today.March 24, 2015
What would Charles Darwin make of renal cell carcinoma?
Why is renal cell carcinoma so challenging from a clinical and sequencing perspective?March 23, 2015
Cellular therapy with EBV-CTL reduces death post stem cell transplant
What is the potential of a new cell therapy with cytotoxic T lymphocytes against Epstein Barr Virus (EBV-CTL)?March 20, 2015
Emerging new biomarker for predicting checkpoint inhibitor responders
Predictive biomarkers of response will be key to reimbursement of immunotherapies in Europe. One is potentially emerging for ipilimumab (Yervoy), which may be useful in speeding up access.March 19, 2015
AACR 2015 Cancer Immunotherapy Preview
What are the emerging new trends in cancer immunotherapy? Beyond monotherapy lies many combination opportunities yet to be explored. At AACR in April, we will see a raft of novel approaches being discussed.March 11, 2015
How to enhance checkpoint inhibitors in hematologic malignancies
Will checkpoint inhibitors make an impact in hematologic malignancies or will novel combinations be needed?March 4, 2015
How to make non-immunogenic cancers sensitive to checkpoint inhibitors
Not all cancers respond to checkpoint inhibitors - how can we change that situation? Here's one example, using prostate cancer as a model...March 2, 2015
ASCO GU 2015 Preview
What's hot at ASCU GU 2015? Focus on prostate and bladder cancers with checkpoint inhibitors and sequencing therapiesFebruary 26, 2015
CAR-T and Gene Therapy excite BMT Tandem Meeting
Dr Krishna Komanduri discusses some of the best abstracts at the 2015 BMT Tandem meeting in San Diego.February 25, 2015
Is AR-V7 a useful predictive biomarker in advanced prostate cancer
The ongoing story of the AR-V7 splice variant as a potential biomarker of response in mCRPCFebruary 23, 2015
Overcoming acquired resistance to EGFR therapies in colorectal cancer
Which new combinations could improve outcomes for colon cancer patients receiving EGFR therapies by overcoming acquired resistance?February 19, 2015
Molecular Characterisation of Colorectal Cancer
We've seen very little real progress in colorectal cancer beyond incremental improvements since Erbitux and Avastin were approved a decade ago. Are we on the threshold of a new paradigm shift?February 17, 2015
Overcoming acquired resistance to BRAF in colorectal cancer
Patients with BRAF driven colon cancer don't do as well as those with melanoma: how can we overcome acquired resistance to RAF treatment?February 13, 2015
CAR-T Cell Therapies from China are a Competitive Threat
Cellular Biomedicine Group (NASDAQ: CBMG) has acquired rights to the Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy of the PLA General Hospital in Beijing.February 11, 2015
The application of TILs, CARs and TCRs in cancer research
What does the evolving landscape for CAR, TIL and TCR cell therapies look like?February 10, 2015
Tumour infiltrating lymphocytes TILs: what are they and why do they matter?
The NCI have been at the forefront of developing novel cancer immunotherapies for several decades, but what is the current status of their groundbreaking work? Find out more in this primer on TILs.February 5, 2015
Will venetoclax impact in hematologic malignancies
ABT-199 is now known as venetoclax - has it overcome it's checkered history to get back on track?February 4, 2015
Potential of Rociletinib in T790M negative NSCLC
Clovis have observed responses in T790M positive AND negative lung cancer with rociletinib - implications for the commercial opportunity are discussed in this post.January 28, 2015
Enzalutamide beats bicalutamide in advanced prostate cancer
The Phase 2 TERRAIN trial met its primary endpoint (PFS) with enzalutamide beating out bicalutamide in castrate resistant prostate cancer. What next?January 22, 2015
Precision medicine in advanced colorectal cancer
If we truly want to see a more precision medicine approach evolve then we have to first find the oncogenic drivers. At ASCO GI one study in particular caught my eye and attention, but you won't find it written up in the medical lay press and it's not that obvious unless you know what you're looking for.January 20, 2015
Bellicum moves BPX-501 T Cell Therapy forward $BLCM
What's the vision for Bellicum Pharmaceuticals? In an in-depth interview CEO Tom Farrell and COO Annemarie Moseley discuss the benefits offered by their new products in development.January 13, 2015
Biomarin PARP inhibitor talazoparib shows promise in gBRCA Breast Cancer
Biomarin have a good shot on goal with their PARP inhibitor talazoparib in gBRCA breast cancerJanuary 9, 2015
Next generation approaches to immuno-oncology – where next?
What's next in immuno-oncology: what are potential ways to tackle the patients who do not respond to checkpoint immunotherapy?January 8, 2015
Cellectis ramps up CAR-T development in 2015
What makes the Cellectis Chimeric Antigen Receptor CAR-T cell therapy different and what are the milestones expected in 2015?January 6, 2015
SABCS Update on Triple Negative Breast Cancer
In the last post of 2014, it's time to address some pertinent questions on triple negative breast cancer (TNBC).December 19, 2014
Do Checkpoint Inhibitors work in Triple Negative Breast Cancer?
There is a lot of interest in checkpoint inhibitors, do they look they will be effective in Triple Negative Breast Cancer?December 10, 2014
ASH 2014 Day 3 Live blog #ASH14
"Manic Monday" at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology features multiple oral sessions run at the same time!December 8, 2014
ASH 2014 Day 2 Live Blog #ASH14
Coverage of Day 2 of the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology in San Francisco.December 7, 2014
ASH 2014 Day 1 Live Blog #ASH14
It's Day 1 of the 2014 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology meeting in San Francisco.December 6, 2014
Top 10 AML abstracts at ASH 2014
There are a lot of new products in development for AML. Here's my top 10 abstracts to watch out for at ASH 2014 in San Francisco.December 4, 2014
ASH 2014 Hodgkins Lymphoma and DLBCL Preview
Preview of ASH 2014 Key Abstracts in Lymphomas including HL and aggressive DLBCLDecember 3, 2014
ASH 2014 Annual Meeting Multiple Myeloma Preview
ASH 2014 Multiple Myeloma data looks like it offers much promise for new treatments as well as an increasingly competitive marketplaceDecember 2, 2014
The Science of PD1 PDL1 Cancer Immunotherapy
The science of targeting PD-1 and it's ligand PD-L1 in cancer immunotherapy is highlighted in five Letters published in Nature this week.November 26, 2014
EORTC Molecular Targets – new developments in Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer has lagged behind other solid tumours in terms of development, but this situation may soon change with promising new agents being developedNovember 19, 2014
Rociletinib versus AZD9291 race to market heats up in T790M lung cancer at EORTC
Clovis present their Phase 2 data with the new rociletinib formulation at EORTC-AACR-NCI in BarcelonaNovember 19, 2014
Agios IDH1 Inhibitor AG-120 shows promise in AML $AGIO
Agios AG-120 IDH1 Inhibitor shows promise in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) according to data to be presented at the EORTC-AACR-NCI Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics Symposium in BarcelonaNovember 18, 2014
Targeting CD40 in Cancer Immunotherapy
How can we jumpstart the immune system to enable more patients to respond? At SITC we learned more about targeting CD40 to achieve this.November 20, 2014
Can you reduce Graft versus Host Disease GvHD by regulating gut bacteria?
At the SITC 2014 annual meeting, Dr van den Brink presented data on how the bacteria in our gut (the intestinal microbiome) can impact GvHD.November 18, 2014
Challenge of Cytokine Release Syndrome in CD19 CAR-T Cell Therapy
At the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) meeting last week, one of the Hot Topic sessions that took place after the conference formally ended was in managing the toxicities associated with chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy.November 17, 2014
Will combining anti-OX40 with a checkpoint inhibitor matter in cancer?
OX40 could be an exciting new target in immune-oncology that could be combined with checkpoint inhibitors to improve the T cell response.November 11, 2014
SITC 2014 Cancer Immunotherapy Day 1
Reflections on Day 1 of the 2014 annual meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC).November 8, 2014
SITC 2014 Cancer Immunotherapy Workshop Review
Day 1 of the SITC annual meeting started with two workshops on immunotherapy and combination therapyNovember 7, 2014
SITC 2014 Cancer Immunotherapy Annual Meeting Preview
This week sees the start of the 2014 annual meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) at National Harbor, MD. We're excited to be attending this meeting for the first time.November 4, 2014
Immuno-Oncology Gems in the ESMO Poster Halls
There was a lot going on in lung, melanoma, renal and colorectal cancer in terms of immunotherapy in Madrid.November 3, 2014
Update on PD1 checkpoint inhibition in lung cancer
Merck announced their Breakthrough therapy designation for Keytruda in lung cancer this morning. What did we learn from the updated data for checkpoint inhibitors in NSCLC at ESMO that was different from ASCO?October 27, 2014
New therapies are emerging for the treatment of advanced stomach cancer
Checkpoint inhibitors are looking very promising in advanced gastric cancerOctober 23, 2014
Breathing New Life into Bladder Cancer Treatment
At ESMO 2014, phase 1 clinical trial data in bladder cancer was presented for Pembrolizumab (Merck) and MPDL3280A (Roche/Genentech).October 22, 2014
Potential of IDO as Immunotherapy Target
Genentech and NewLink announced a deal to license an IDO inhibitor. What's the impact of this on the IO pipeline?October 20, 2014
ESMO Posters Highlight New Cancer Drugs in Development
Posters on new cancer drugs in development with novel targets were presented at ESMO 2014 Congress in Madrid.October 15, 2014
New drug targets may change Colorectal Cancer Landscape
Advances in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer may come from new druggable targets according to ESMO 2014 CRC SymposiumOctober 13, 2014
ESMO 2014: Update on the ALK lung cancer market
How is the ALK+ lung cancer market developing now that there are multiple next generation competitors following on from Xalkori and Zykadia? Check out our analysis of the developing landscape...October 9, 2014
Did Galeterone ARMOR2 Prostate Cancer Data Impress at ESMO 2014?
At ESMO 2014 Mary-Ellen Taplin, MD (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) presented the results of the Tokai Pharmaceuticals ARMOR2 clinical trial of galeterone in men with advanced prostate cancer.October 3, 2014
ESMO 2014 Cancer Congress Day 3 Live Blog
Day 3 of the live blog from the ESMO 2014 Cancer Congress in Madrid.September 28, 2014
ESMO 2014 Live Blog Day 2 #ESMO14
Day 2 Live Blog with news and commentary on what's taking place at the ESMO Cancer Congress in MadridSeptember 28, 2014
ESMO 2014 Cancer Congress Day 1 Live Blog
ESMO 2014 Cancer Congress data starts to roll out today - throughout the day we'll be updating the blog with initial impressions of data as it's presented.September 27, 2014
ESMO 2014 Takes Off with Release of Oral Abstracts #ESMO14
Most of the abstracts for oral presentations at the forthcoming ESMO cancer congress in Madrid have just been released. This is a preview of some that caught my attention.September 24, 2014
ESMO 2014 Scientific Symposia Preview
There are some interesting science symposia at #ESMO14 in both immunotherapy and targeted therapies. We review what the hot topics are here.September 19, 2014
ESMO 2014 Poster Preview
A review of the key poster and poster discussion abstracts on immunotherapy and targeted therapies at ESMO 2014September 18, 2014
ESMO 2014 Preview: Immuno-oncology
Update on what to watch out for in immunotherapy at ESMO 2014.September 16, 2014
ESMO 2014 Preview on Breast Cancer
Preview of some important breast cancer trials being presented in Madrid at #ESMO14.September 10, 2014
What's hot in Melanoma at ESMO 2014 Cancer Congress? #ESMO14
With the recent FDA approval of Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) we can expect melanoma to be a hot topic at ESMO 2014.September 5, 2014
What's hot in prostate cancer at ESMO 2014? #ESMO14
Preview of Prostate Cancer oral presentations at ESMO 2014 Cancer Congress in Madrid.September 2, 2014
ESMO 2014 Congress Plenary Preview #ESMO14
Review of the preliminary programme and late breakers in the Presidential Symposia at ESMO 2014.August 28, 2014
ESMO 2014 Cancer Congress bans Press, Nurses and Patient Advocates from Exhibits and Symposia #ESMO14
Restricting the freedom of the press and creating a two-tier access to information at major medical meetings such as ESMO 2014 is both pernicious and toxic.August 25, 2014
ESMO 2014 Madrid Congress Preview #ESMO14
2014 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) is set to take place this year in Madrid from September 26 to 30th.August 22, 2014
Beyond Response and Progression in Cancer Clinical Trials
To get more cancer therapies to the right patients faster, we need to find better surrogate markers or biomarkers of response that are inextricably linked to survival.August 20, 2014
Carfilzomib fails in refractory myeloma FOCUS trial
Amgen's phase III FOCUS trial of carfilzomib (Kyprolis) in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma failed to meet its primary endpoint of overall survival.August 14, 2014
Update on potential of Galeterone in Prostate Cancer $TKAI
Tokai Pharmaceuticals ($TKAI) have filed plans for a $75M IPO, largely based on the potential of their phase 2 prostate cancer compound, galeterone. What is the prostate cancer market opportunity for $TKAI?August 13, 2014
Impact of Kyprolis ASPIRE Trial on Multiple Myeloma Market
Amgen announced the results of the phase III ASPIRE clinical trial for Kyprolis. What impact will this data have on the multiple myeloma landscape?August 6, 2014
Which therapies will stand out in the CLL market?
New CLL therapies that stand out in a rapidly changing CLL landscape include obinutuzumab (Gazyva), ibrutinib (Imbruvica) idelalisib (Zydelig), ABT-199/GDC-0199 and CTL019.July 30, 2014
What impact will nivolumab & pembrolizumab have on advanced melanoma?
How will we decide which therapies to give patients with metastatic melanoma once the new immunotherapies are available?July 23, 2014
ASCO 2014 Update on the AML landscape
There are a number of new targets, therapies and approaches in AML being investigated but which ones look most promising in this challenging landscape?July 17, 2014
ASCO 2014 Will ABT-199 change the CLL landscape?
After a few setbacks in clinical development, some solid data is emerging with AbbVie/Genentech's ABT-199/GDC-0199 in CLL. Some more mature data at ASCO was very encouraging...July 14, 2014
ASCO 2014 New horizons in DLBCL and aggressive lymphomas
Diffuse large B cell lymphomas (DLBCL) are an aggressive subset of non-Hodgkins lymphomas that generally have a poor prognosis and a high unmet medical need. There is a raft of promising new therapies being evaluated for treatment.July 9, 2014
Can Cellectis Revolutionize CAR-T cell immunotherapy?
Cellectis is a Paris based biotechnology company with a "blue ocean" strategy that, if successful, could revolutionize cancer immunotherapy.July 7, 2014
ASCO 2014 blinatumomab in B cell ALL
Initial phase 2 data for Amgen's blinatumomab in B cell ALL looked encouraging 2 years ago but has it held up over time?July 1, 2014
ASCO 2014 Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma DLBCL Progress
Several new agents in development emerged for the treatment of aggressive NHL (DLBCL and FL), including SGN-CD19A, polatuzumab vedotin and pinatuzumab vedotin.June 30, 2014
ASCO 2014 Gems from Poster Hall part 2
A review of poster data at ASCO 2014 for new drugs from new cancer drugs from $CLDX, $OMED & NuCana BioMed.June 27, 2014
Gems from the ASCO 2014 Poster Hall – Part 1
Selection of some of the many posters that caught our attention. Companies whose products are mentioned include: $EXEL, $RHHBY, $XLRN, $MRKJune 24, 2014
Kite Pharma Challenges and Opportunities Post-IPO $KITE
After it's successful IPO, what are some of the challenges and opportunities facing Kite Pharma and their CAR-T cell immunotherapy?June 23, 2014
AstraZeneca MEDI4736 shows Immuno-Oncology promise at ASCO 2014
AstraZeneca showed impressive data at ASCO 2014 for MEDI4736, a new anti PD-L1 immunotherapy.June 19, 2014
Making a difference in advanced bladder cancer
There have been no new therapies in urothelial bladder cancer for 30 years - until now...June 17, 2014
ASCO 2014 Nivolumab vs Pembrolizumab in Metastatic Melanoma
PD-1 antibodies nivolumab and pembrolizumab show considerable promise in metastatic melanoma. At ASCO 2014 we learnt more about how they compare against each other and their potential as a backbone for combinations.June 16, 2014
Combination strategies for nivolumab in Renal Cell Carcinoma
What does the ASCO 2014 data show when you combine checkpoint inhibitors nivolumab and ipilimumab?June 13, 2014
ASCO 2014 What do oncologists think of PARP inhibitors?
With the intense focus on immino-oncology, are targeted agents passe now?June 11, 2014
A potential new target for prostate cancer drug development
A predictive biomarker for resistance to treatment by enzalutamide and abiraterone may lead to new prostate cancer drug development opportunities.June 9, 2014
Why Clovis CO-1686 was not an ASCO 2014 loser
Clovis Oncology CO-1686 is in competition with AstraZeneca's AZD9291, but was it really a "loser" at ASCO 2014 as many think it was?June 6, 2014
ASCO 2014 Day 5 Live Blog #ASCO14
Final day at ASCO 2014 - what are the diehards listening to this morning?June 3, 2014
ASCO 2014 Annual Meeting Live Blog Day 4 #ASCO14
Live blog with commentary on Day 4 of the ASCO 2014 annual meeting in Chicago.June 2, 2014
ASCO 2014 Meeting Day 3 Live Blog #ASCO14
Live blog with updates from Day 3 at ASCO 2014June 1, 2014
ASCO 2014 Day 2 Live Blog #ASCO14
Live Blog from Day 2 of ASCO 2014 in Chicago.May 31, 2014
ASCO 2014 Chicago Day 1 Blog #ASCO14
Coverage of day 1 at ASCO 2014 with commentary on some of the poster highlights.May 30, 2014
ASCO 2014 CLL and iNHL Preview #ASCO14
Update on the top drugs in CLL including ibrutinib, obinutuzumab, idelalisib, ABT-199, GS-9973, ONO-4059, CTL019, TAK659, IPI-145, cerdulatinib and others.May 28, 2014
ASCO 2014 Multiple Myeloma Preview #ASCO14
Highlights in multiple myeloma at ASCO include drugs with a different mechanism of action eg panobinostat, daratumumab and elotuzumab, #ASCO14May 27, 2014
Insights on the enzalutamide PREVAIL data pre-chemotherapy in advanced prostate cancer
Medivation and Astellas provided an update at AUA 2014 on the Xtandi PREVAIL data with a breakdown for visceral and non-visceral disease.May 19, 2014
AUA 2014 – New targets in prostate cancer
New targets are emerging in advanced prostate cancer that may help improve outcomes and overcome adaptive resistanceMay 18, 2014
ASCO 2014 Preview #1: When triple combinations make sense
How we could overcome resistance to BRAF inhibitors in colon cancer with a triple combination approachMay 15, 2014
Bench to bedside and back again with BRAF and NRAS mutant cancers
Can we improve responses to Zelboraf in advanced melanoma? The answer is a startling yes.May 6, 2014
6 important things I learned from AACR 2014 on immuno-oncology
Insights on checkpoint inhibitors, co-stimulants, CAR T cell therapy and bispecific antibody TCRsMay 2, 2014
New directions in immuno-oncology in biomarkers and combinations
Update on emerging potential immuno-oncology biomarkers and combinations from AACRApril 30, 2014
AACR 2014: Review of novel targeted approaches in lung and prostate cancers
Overcoming acquired resistance to therapy is a major focus in lung and prostate cancers. Check out the new developments from AACR.April 22, 2014
Promising new targeted cancer agents emerge at AACR 2014
Exciting new data was seen at AACR this year, including a novel ADC with a new target in melanoma, a metabolic target and understanding adaptive resistance to PI3K in breast cancer.April 17, 2014
Next generation FGFR inhibitors are early but promising in selected cancers
After disappointing results from FGFR inhibitors brivanib and dovitinib, can the next generation compounds overcome scepticism and offer better efficacy?April 16, 2014
Insights from AACR on immunotherapy and checkpoint inhibitors
Immunotherapy is coming of age despite the chequered history in the past with vaccines. In part 1 we explore the state of play in lung cancer.April 15, 2014
Super Enhancers – what are they and why do they matter in cancer research?
Understanding the regulatory circuitry that controls cell state and differentiation may turn out to be groundbreaking research that changes the way we think about targeting and treating cancer.April 14, 2014
Pfizer's palbociclib data in ER+ breast cancer – hit or miss?
Pfizer's palbociclib showed promising survival data at the AACR annual meeting this weekend, but is it enough to garner approval on the basis of the phase II data?April 8, 2014
The real story behind Juno's CAR T cell therapy suspensions
This weekend at AACR a controversy emerged on the safety of Juno's CAR T cell therapy.April 6, 2014
Innate immunotherapy – is it ready for prime time in cancer research?
A review of innate immunotherapies including CD47, KIR, MICA and anti-glucan data at AACR in San Diego.April 2, 2014
Novel targets and approaches in triple negative breast cancer
What are the new targets and drug combinations that are emerging in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC)? find out more about the promising developments in this field.April 1, 2014
AACR 2014 Preview: Novel targets and approaches
Review of some interesting cancer pipeline drugs at AACR 2014 including TKIs and ADC therapies.March 27, 2014
What can we learn from exceptional responders in cancer trials?
Following on from yesterday's post on the potential for small basket trials in ER+ breast cancer with…March 26, 2014
Do ESR1 mutations drive endocrine resistance during the progression of ER+ breast cancer?
Today brings the launch of our series on the AACR annual meeting Previews. A variety of different…March 25, 2014
Update on overcoming resistance in metastatic melanoma
What new clinical approaches are being investigated to overcome resistance in melanoma?March 20, 2014
CDK inhibitors: will palbociclib and LEE011 make it to market in breast cancer?
Cell cycle inhibitors have been shown to have utility in cancer treatment. A new subclass is emerging to target CDK4/6 with more specificity and less toxicity.March 19, 2014
On neratinib in neoadjuvant breast cancer
Puma Biotech are expected to present the neoadjuvant data from ISPY2 for their pan HER inhibitor, neratinib, so what's the deal?March 14, 2014
MBCC: Will NGS change the way we treat metastatic breast cancer?
Dr Debu Tripathy presented one of the highlights of the MBCC conference - how we can use genomics to improve clinical trials in TNBC and MBC.March 13, 2014
MBCC: Changing the way we approach advanced breast cancer
Can therapy for advanced breast cancer be individualized using proteomics and genomics data?March 12, 2014
Luciana Berger MP supports ovarian cancer awareness in Liverpool
England lags behind other European countries in survival rates for ovarian cancer. In a recent interview at St John's Shopping Center in Liverpool, the Shadow Minister for Public Health, Luciana Berger MP talks about the importance of raising cancer awareness.March 10, 2014
Will CAR T cells give new therapies for NHL and CLL a run for their money?
Much has been written about CAR T cells in B cell leukemias, but what about B cell lymphomas? Kite and the NCI had the honour of being the first to present data from ASH on their therapy in refractory DLBCL lymphomasMarch 6, 2014
MetMab fails in phase III advanced lung cancer trial
Nearly 4 years on from the original phase 2 data at ESMO, and we learn that MetMab (onartuzumab) did not meet it's endpoint in the interim analysis of lung cancer patients with MET expression.March 3, 2014
ASH 2013: Is carfilzomib associated with increased cardiovascular events?
There has been much debate about the cardiovascular risks associated with proteasome inhibitors in multiple myeloma, but what does the data show? A synopsis of the ASH 2013 data and what we can learn in the future...February 14, 2014
ASCO GU 2014: Will there be a market for Medivation's enzalutamide in M0 prostate cancer?
The new race to market in advanced prostate cancer is in the M0 asymptomatic space. Several AR antagonists are competing to run trials here but will they lead to men living longer or not?February 10, 2014
Update on immuno-oncology and biomarkers of response
ASCO GU saw an update on the ipilimumab study in post chemotherapy CRPC. New biomarker data published this week in melanoma may be potentially useful in prostate and other tumour types.February 5, 2014
ASCO GU 2014 Optimal targeting of anti PD-1 and PD-L1 therapies in renal cancer
Update on progress with anti-PD1 and PD-L1 immunotherapies in renal cell cancer. Where is the field going in this space?February 4, 2014
ASCO GU 2014 Beyond Enzalutamide and Abiraterone – What's Next?
Cross resistance between enzalutamide and abiraterone means that new prostate cancer drugs and targets are needed.January 31, 2014
ASCO GU 2014: Will Galeterone make it to market in Prostate Cancer?
At ASCO GU 2014 Tokai Pharmaceuticals report data for the ARMOR2 trial with reformulated galeterone (TOK-001) in men with prostate cancer. Is this drug likely to make it to market?January 30, 2014
ASCO GU Interview with Dr Tom Beer on Medivation PREVAIL trial data
Enzalutamide significantly decreases the risk of death and delays progression in the PREVAIL trialJanuary 28, 2014
ASCO GU 2014: Why does the Medivation PREVAIL trial matter?
At ASCO GU this week, the clinical data will be presented for the Medivation/Astellas PREVAIL phase III clinical trial of enzalutamide (Xtandi) in men with advanced prostate cancer prior to chemotherapy. The results of this trial not only have important commercial implications for Medivation/Astellas but for competitors in the prostate cancer market.January 27, 2014
Update on anti-PD-L1 cancer immunotherapy
Roche Genentech are developing their anti-PD-L1 as both monotherapy and also in combination with targeted therapies in lung, melanoma, renal and colon cancers. How is the early development progressing?January 22, 2014
ASCO GI Keynote: The future of Immunotherapy is Combinations
"We are at beginning of a REVOLUTION in immunotherapy," said Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD at the start of American Society of Clinical Oncology GastroIntestinal (ASCO GI) symposium keynote lecture on Immunologic Treatments for GI Cancers.January 21, 2014
Update on CO-1686 and AZD9291 race to market in T790M NSCLC
Update from JP Morgan Healthcare 2014 on Clovis Oncology and AstraZeneca race to market with new drugs for treatment of T790M positive non-small cell lung cancer.January 15, 2014
Can Agios score a winner with their anti-cancer metabolism molecules?
Agios Pharmaceuticals is focused on developing new therapies that target mutations in cancer metabolism, including IDH 1 and 2 for AML and Glioblastoma. Will they be successful despite the huge complexity involved in the underlying processes?January 13, 2014
ASH 2013 Stunning ALL data with Novartis CTL019 CAR Therapy
UPenn and CHOP are using genetically modified chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells to treat patients with B cell cancers such as ALL, B cell NHL, CLL and other B cell malignancies. At ASH, the impressive data from adult and pediatric ALL was presented. This post includes insights on this approach and an interview with Dr Stephan Grupp on the pediatric data.January 9, 2014
Insights on Foundation Medicine and how molecular testing will transform cancer research
Increasingly, we are seeing the evolution of diagnostic tests in cancer research. Foundation Medicine are using their gene sequencing platform to identify actionable mutations and assist oncologists make better treatment decisions for their patients.January 8, 2014
New Immunotherapy data at IASLC Lung Cancer Meeting
Immunotherapy continues to be a hot topic in oncology with anti-PD-1 and other new approaches being discussed at the AACR-IASLC meeting in San DiegoJanuary 7, 2014
Will Exelixis Cabozantinib COMET-1 prostate cancer trial be positive?
The share price of Exelixis ($EXEL) is starting a run-up (after months in the doldrums) in advance of anticipated results from the COMET-1 phase 3 trial in metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) for cabozantinib (Cometriq, formerly XL184). Cabozantinib has been shown to significantly improve bone scans and decrease pain, but will it show an improvement in OS?January 6, 2014
ASCO GI 2014 Preview: Pancreatic and Gastric Cancer
Preview of some of the key data being presented at ASCO GI in San Francisco this month.January 3, 2014
ASCO GU 2014 Prostate Cancer Preview #GU14
ASCO GU symposium takes place at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis from Jan 20 – February 1, 2014. This preview discusses data to be presented on enzalutamide (Xtandi), abiraterone (Zytiga), ODM-201, ARN-509, ipilimumab (Yervoy).December 30, 2013
ASH 2013 – gems from the poster halls
There are some 5,000 abstarcts at ASH, many of them posters - what were the interesting nuggets this year?December 18, 2013
ASH 2013: New BTK Inhibitor ONO-4059 shows early promise in CLL – is it a future competitor to ibrutinib?
BTK inhibition in the B cell receptor (BCR) pathway has been an exciting area of development over the last couple of years. What do the new competitors entering this space look like?December 17, 2013
Winners and Losers in CLL at American Society of Hematology
There was a wealth of new data in CLL at ASH but which companies or drugs were the winners and losers in New Orleans? Find out...December 16, 2013
Juno Therapeutics takes on Novartis and seeks to revolutionize the treatment of blood cancers – an interview with Renier Brentjens
Juno Therapeutics is a start-up company with a mission to revolutionize the treatment of blood cancers through the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) modified T cell therapy. The company recently launched with $120 million of series A funding. One of the scientific founders is Renier Brentjens MD, PhD, the Director of Cell Therapeutics at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in NYC. He kindly gave an interview while at the ASH annual meeting in New Orleans.December 13, 2013
AbbVie's PARP inhibitor veliparib is highly active in triple negative breast cancer
The first readout from the I-SPY2 neoadjuvant breast cancer trial comes from the veliparib (PARP) arm.December 13, 2013
Will anti-KIR immunotherapy make an impact in hematologic malignancies?
Immuno-oncology is a hot topic at the moment and many new targets are emerging that may be useful in combination. This post discusses Innate Pharma's anti-KIR program in hematologic malignancies.December 12, 2013
What to watch for at San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
A preview of some of the landmark trial data emerging from the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer SymposiumDecember 11, 2013
ASH 2013 Novel Treatments for CLL – notes from the road
One of the most interesting oral sessions at ASH 2013 took place on the last day and featured data on novel treatments for CLL. Data was presented on ABT-199, dinaciclib and the CAR-modified T-cell therapies in development by Novartis & Juno Therapeutics.December 11, 2013
ASH 2013 Novel Agents in Lymphoma – notes from the road
At ASH 2013 data on novel agents for the treatment of lymphoma was presented. This post discusses data for idelalisib in iNHL, SAR245409 in R/R Follicular Lymphoma and BAY-BAY 80-6946 (copanlisib).December 9, 2013
ASH 2013 ABT-199 CLL TLS Death blamed on Failure to Follow Protocol
In the ASH 2013 media briefing on CLL, Prof John Seymour answered questions about ABT-199 CLL clinical trial deaths due to tumor lysis syndromeDecember 8, 2013
ASH 2013 BH3 profiling identifies new targets for Bcl-2 inhibitors
ABT-199 has activity in CLL, but what about other tumor types? Check out this post to find out about a new target with potential.December 8, 2013
Panobinostat may change Multiple Myeloma Competitive Landscape
Novartis announced this morning that their novel pan-HDAC inhibitor, panobinostat (LBH589) in combination with bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone significantly prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) of patients with Multiple Myeloma in the phase III PANORAMA-1 trial.December 6, 2013
ASH 2013 New Horizons in CLL – notes from the road
With many new therapies emerging for the treatment of CLL, what criteria can physicians use to decide which therapy to give a patient?December 7, 2013
ASH 2013 Preview: quick note on non-Hodgkin's and Hodgkin's lymphomas
Will the B cell signaling drugs work in NHL as well as CLL? What of Adcetris in front-line HL?December 6, 2013
ASH 2013 Preview: will new Seattle startup Juno Therapeutics push Novartis and U Penn in CART?
Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell technology (CART) is an exciting new area, especially in hematologic malignancies. With the formation of a new start-up in Seattle, Juno Therapeutics, things just got very interesting...December 4, 2013
ASH 2013 Preview – Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)
A review of the upcoming CLL data from the American Society of Hematology ASH meeting.December 2, 2013
ASH 2013 Multiple Myeloma Preview
Comprehensive preview of the new developments in multiple myeloma from ASH 2013.November 25, 2013
FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation Benefits – part 2 of an interview with John Jenkins
FDA Office of New Drugs Director John Jenkins discusses the benefits of the Breakthrough Therapy designation and some of the challenges the agency faces in administering it.November 26, 2013
Understanding the Breakthrough Therapy Designation – Part 1 of an interview with FDA New Drugs Director John Jenkins
John K. Jenkins, MD, Director of the Office of New Drugs, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA offers a senior management perspective on what is a breakthrough?November 15, 2013
ASH 2013 Myelofibrosis Preview
A lot of companies are presenting myelofibrosis data at this year's ASH annual meeting in New Orleans. This preview discusses abstracts for ruxolitinib, INCB039110, momelotinib, fedratinib, BMS-91143, pacritinib, LY2784544, pomalidomide, sonidegib.November 11, 2013
The future of cancer research – Part 2
The huge wealth of research at the AACR-NCI-EORTC Boston conference provided a great learning environment of where future research with TKIs is likely to be heading...November 6, 2013
The future of cancer research – what I learned from the AACR Targets meeting Part 1
The cancer landscape is rapidly changing, in more ways than people realise. Diagnostics are also of increasing importance in helping to decide which therapies patients should receive to optimize treatment.November 5, 2013
Gazyva and ABT-199 in CLL & NHL – an interview with Genentech's Deepak Sampath
An interview with Dr Deepak Sampath from Genentech on the rational for combining obinutuzumab (GA101) with GDC-0199 (ABT-199) for the treatment of B-cell hematological malignancies such as CLL & non Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).November 1, 2013
AstraZeneca leaps over Clovis with AZD9291 data at World Lung Conference
Data presented at the World Lung Cancer conference in Sydney suggests AstraZeneca AZD9291 is now ahead of Clovis Oncology CO-1686 in the race to bring a third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor to market that targets the T790M resistance mutation.October 30, 2013
New insights on checkpoint inhibitors and CART in CLL and solid tumors
An update on checkpoint inhibitors and CART from the AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets meeting - a lot of exciting possibilities are emerging!October 25, 2013
Abraxane kills potential of MLN0264 in pancreatic cancer
Following the FDA approval of Abraxane, MLN0264, a novel ADC targeting GCC, may no longer have potential as a therapeutic in pancreatic cancer.October 21, 2013
Cerulean CRLX101 Challenges and Opportunities
Cerulean are developing a novel nanopharmaceutical that targets HIF1-alpha and is synergistic with anti-angiogenic drugs for RCC and Ovarian cancers.October 21, 2013
AstraZeneca ramps up AZD9291 lung cancer clinical development
At the AACR-EORTC-NCI Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics conference, Susan Galbraith, M.D, Ph.D. Head of the Oncology Innovative Medicines Unit at AstraZeneca discussed the rapid development of AZD9291, a potent and selective third-generation EGFR inhibitor.October 20, 2013
Pfizer next gen ALK inhibitor PF-06463922 could replace Xalkori
Preclinical data for PF-06463922 (Pfizer), a next generation ALK inhibitor, with potency for all known Crizotinib ALK resistant mutants and ability to cross the blood brain barrier was presented today at the 2013 International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Boston.October 20, 2013
A quick preview of the AACR Molecular Targets Conference
Preview of some of the interesting non-embargoed abstracts from the ACCR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets conference in BostonOctober 15, 2013
Preview of 2013 AACR Molecular Targets Conference in Boston
Preview of 2013 AACR-EORTC-NCI Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics Conference in Boston. This is a "must attend" meeting for anyone interested in cancer drug development.October 11, 2013
ECCO Day 3: Update on alectinib, PD-L1, PI3K and MEK
Update on ALK (alectinib), PD-L1 (MEDI4736), PI3K (GDC-0980 and BKM120) and MEK (trametinib) inhibitors in solid tumoursSeptember 30, 2013
Dr Oliver Sartor shares his thoughts on Prostate Cancer data at ECCO 2013
Dr Oliver Sartor, one of the leading experts in Prostate Cancer shares his thoughts on the prostate cancer data presented at ECCO 2013.September 30, 2013
ECCO 2013: AZD9291 shows early promise in T790M NSCLC
Promising preliminary phase 1 data for AstraZeneca's AZD9291 in T790M+ NSCLC presented today at the European Cancer Congress (ECCO 2013) is good news for lung cancer patients.September 29, 2013
ECCO Highlights Day 2: Breast and Ovarian Cancer
The latest data on BioMarin's PARP inhibitor BMN 673 in breast and ovarian cancer from ECCO 2013September 29, 2013
ECCO 2013 Notes from the Road – Day 1
Update on ipilimumab, AP26113, T-DM1, everolimus and others from Day 1 at the 2013 ECCO meeting in Amsterdam.September 28, 2013
ECCO 2013: Is ODM-201 too late to the prostate cancer party?
At ECCO 2013 in Amsterdam, positive data was presented from the phase 1/2 clinical trial for ODM-201 (Orion) a second generation AR antagonist. In contrast the data for ASP9521 (Astellas), a novel androgen biosynthesis inhibitor was negative.September 29, 2013
Preview of key ALK lung cancer abstracts at ECCO 2013
Review of the key abstracts in EML4-ALK lung cancer abstracts being presented at ECCO 2013 in Amsterdam.September 23, 2013
A top line look at the PD-1 and PD-L1 abstracts at ECCO 2013
A quick review of the check point immunotherapy abstracts from #ECC2013 in Amsterdam.September 19, 2013
How new approaches in targeted immunotherapy with anti-PD-1 and PD-L1 may change cancer research
Overview of anti-PD-1 and PD-L1 immunotherapies plus ASCO 2013 data in melanoma and lung cancer.September 18, 2013
Preview of 2013 European Cancer Congress in Amsterdam
2013 European Cancer Congress organized by ECCO takes place in Amsterdam from September 27 to October 1st. This is a preview of some of the abstracts to watch out for at the meeting.September 16, 2013
Ibrutinib leads the race to CLL 17p deletion market
Earlier this month, Janssen/Pharmacyclics announced they had submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) for FDA approval of ibrutinib, an oral Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor (BTK) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) for the treatment of patients with a deletion of the short arm of chromosome 17 (del17p). Approval later this year or in early 2014 is highly likely given that ibrutinib has already been designated a Breakthrough Therapy by the FDA.July 29, 2013
Orteronel (TAK-700) fails in Advanced Prostate Cancer
Takeda's orteronel (formerly known as TAK-700) may be on its way to "dog drug heaven" after an interim analysis of the ECM-PC 5 phase 3 clinical trial showed that men with advanced prostate cancer taking the drug did not live significantly longer (HR 0.894, p=0.226) than those taking an inactive placebo.July 26, 2013
JNJ acquisition of Aragon ARN-509 deals a blow to Medivation
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) just announced the acquisition of privately-held Aragon Pharmaceuticals and the rights to ARN-509 a second-generation androgen receptor antagonist that will be a future competitor to Medivation's Xtandi.June 17, 2013
ASCO 2013 Video Interview with Dr Susan O'Brien on CLL new drugs in development
It's exciting times in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) with a lot of new data expected at the forthcoming 2013 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (#ASH13) in New Orleans. At ASCO 2013, Dr Susan O'Brien shared her thoughts on several new CLL drugs in development including ABT-199, ibrutinib, idelalisib, AV-292, obinutuzumab and IP-145.June 10, 2013
ASCO 2013 Abraxane in pancreatic cancer is a welcome new treatment option
At ASCO 2013 the phase III MPACT trial data for Abraxane in pancreatic cancer was presented. This data was first reported at ASCO GI earlier this year. Abraxane in pancreatic cancer is a welcome new treatment option but it is not a major breakthrough that offers a dramatic shift in outcome.June 7, 2013
AZD3514 Fails to Live up to Preclinical Promise in CRPC at ASCO 2013
The novel SARD inhibitor AZD3514 showed preclinical promise in advanced prostate cancer, but the phase 1 first-in-human clinical trial showed it had tolerability problems, and it's development in CRPC has been terminated by AstraZeneca.June 6, 2013
ASCO 2013 Pfizer joins race to develop a Herceptin biosimilar with PF-05280014
At ASCO 2013, there was a lot of interest in a poster on Pfizer's PF-05280014, a potential biosimilar to Herceptin.June 5, 2013
ASCO 2013: Cancer Drug Combinations are The Future
At ASCO 2013 Dr Charles Sawyers received the 2013 Science of Oncology Award, after which he gave an insightful lecture on Overcoming Resistance to Cancer Drug Therapy. His message was clear that combinations of cancer drugs are the future.June 3, 2013
ASCO 2013 CLL Runners and Riders in Race to Market #ASCO13
New clinical data on ibrutinib, obinutuzumab, idelalisib, IPI-145, ABT-199 for the treatment of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) will be presented at ASCO 2013.May 28, 2013
ASCO 2013 Preview Video
ASCO 2013 Preview Video of what's hot at the meeting for cancer new products in immunotherapy, CLL, breast cancer, lung cancer and breast cancer. Includes a MOA of PD-L1.May 28, 2013
AACR 2013 Posters offer Insights into Biotech Drug Development
The poster sessions at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) are not all about mice, and test tubes, but offer insights into biotech drug development, new targets and licensing opportunities.April 15, 2013
AACR 2013 posters show potential new Pfizer cancer drugs
My overriding impression of large cap Pharma R&D from the 2013 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) was that Novartis and Genentech remain the front-runners in cancer drug development, with Pfizer very much up and coming.April 12, 2013
AACR 2013 Cancer Scientists fail to embrace Social Media
Cancer scientists have not embraced social media in the way cancer doctors and patient advocates have. To support public funding of research, cancer scientists need to communicate the value of the scientific research they conduct. One way to do this is to embrace social media more, particularly at meetings such as AACR, where there is the opportunity to share information with a worldwide audience.April 11, 2013
AACR 2013 GDC-0032 a next generation PI3K Inhibitor shows early promise in breast cancer
GDC-0032 is a next generation PI3K inhibitor that spares the beta-isoform of PI3K. Genentech hypothesize this may reduce some of the undesired side effects such as effects on metabolism, previously seen with pan PI3K inhibitors such as GDC-0941. At AACR 2013 promising early clinical data was presented for GDC-0032 in PI3KCA mutant cancers, especially breast cancer.April 8, 2013
AACR 2013 DMUC5754A is a novel agent for Ovarian Cancer
AACR 2013: A late-breaking clinical trial presentation to watch is LB-290: Targeting MUC16 with the Antibody-Drug Conjugate DMUC5754A in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. This data will be presented by Joyce Liu, MD, MPH from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the Clinical Trials Symposium on Tuesday, Apr 9 at 4.00 pm.April 7, 2013
What is the potential for galeterone in advanced prostate cancer?
Tokai Pharmaceuticals have yet to show the new formulation of galeterone is safe and effective or that men with advanced prostate cancer live longer when taking the drug compared to taking abiraterone or enzalutamide either sequentially, or in combination. While galeterone may offer an innovative mechanism of action, it is too early to say what potential it may have in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.March 6, 2013
Inhibitors of Apoptosis Target one of the Hallmarks of Cancer
Inhibitors of apoptosis proteins IAP such as Novartis LCL161 and Curis CUDC-427 are new cancer drugs to watch. However recent research published in the AACR journal Cancer Discovery raises the question of whether IAP-antagonist-based therapy may require concomitant use of drugs that prevent bone resorption.February 28, 2013
ABT-199 clinical trials suspended after patient death $ABBV
Following a death due to tumor lysis syndrome, AbbVie ($ABBV) have suspended the ABT-199 clinical trial program. ABT-199 is a promising new drug in development for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) that was about to enter phase 3 drug development by the company.February 15, 2013
Dasatinib fails in Prostate Cancer #GU13
ASCO GU 2013: dasatinib phase 3 clinical trial fails to show any survival benefit in men with advanced prostate cancer when used in combination with docetaxel chemotherapy. However whether there are a subset of advanced prostate cancer patients who might respond to the bone-targeted effects of the drug remains open to question.February 12, 2013
ASCO GU 2013 Prostate Cancer Preview #GU13
At the ASCO GU 2013 meeting in Orlando, Bristol Myers Squibb will publish the results of the dasatinib (Sprycel) phase 3 prostate cancer trial. New data on abiraterone, alpharadin, ARN-509 and enzalutamide is also expected.February 1, 2013
ASH 2012: CTL019 chimeric antigen receptor technology emerging as a new leukemia treatment
For many attendees, the most exciting news at the 2012 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) held last December in Atlanta was the prospect of personalized T cell therapy for the treatment of patients with B cell cancers such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).January 15, 2013
ASH 2012: ABT-199 shows promise in CLL and MCL
ABT-199 is an exciting new agent in development with potential as a new treatment option for CLL & MCL. It is a potent and selective BCL-2 inhibitor that has been engineered not to cause the dose-dependent thrombocytopenia seen with navitoclax.January 7, 2013
Court rules Medivation has no IP rights to Aragon Pharmaceuticals ARN-509 $MDVN
Medivation investors hoping for a windfall will be disappointed to hear that on December 20, 2012 a California judge ruled the company had no rights to what is now known as Aragon Pharmaceuticals ARN-509, a next-generation androgen receptor (AR) antagonist for advanced prostate cancer, similar in chemical structure to enzalutamide (Xtandi)January 3, 2013
2012 was a Grand Cru year for the FDA with 39 NMEs approved
FDA approved 39 new molecular entities in 2012. This is the highest number in the last 10 years. However, approval rate is not a surrogate benchmark for the state of innovation given that it can take several years to bring a new drug or biologic to market.January 2, 2013
Who to follow at #SABCS San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
The overall survival data for the CLEOPATRA trial will be presented next week at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Here's my list of a few people to follow on Twitter for news and commentary from the meeting.November 29, 2012
Who to follow at #ASH12 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting in Atlanta
Without wishing to offend anyone, here's my list of people to follow on Twitter at #ASH12, the 2012 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta from December 8 – 11November 27, 2012
The Evolving Multiple Myeloma Landscape
Dr Sundar Jagannath from Mt. Sinai School of Medicine discussed new IMiD and Proteasome Inhibitors for the treatment of Multiple Myeloma at the 2012 Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium in New York.November 9, 2012
The Evolving CML Market – which drug to give when?
Dr Hagop Kantarjian from The MD Anderson Cancer in Houston discussed chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) treatment options at the 2012 Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium in New York.November 8, 2012
Improving Clinical Trials through the use of Biomarkers
Biomarkers can be used for diagnosis and for monitoring the safety and effectiveness of treatments. They are increasingly becoming important in the selection of patients for clinical trials, and as potential surrogates for clinical endpoints that may take a long time to occur e.g. measuring how long someone will live in a cancer trial (overall survival).August 29, 2012
Will dasatinib be effective in prostate cancer?
The results of the phase 3 prostate cancer trial for dasatinib in combination with docetaxel are expected soon.October 22, 2012
AB Science files for Pancreatic Cancer approval
AB Science has filed for European approval of mastinib in pancreatic cancer with the European Medicines Agency based on data that showed masitinib significantly increased survival in a subset of patients with a novel genetic biomarker. Data will be presented at 2013 ASCO GI symposium.October 18, 2012
ESMO 2012 Gefitinib in Esophageal Cancer – can we identify the responders?
At ESMO 2012 Professor David Ferry reported the results of the Cancer Oesophagus Gefinitib (COG) study that looked at whether gefitinib (Iressa) could improve overall survival in esophageal cancer patients who had progressed after chemotherapy.October 1, 2012
ESMO 2012 ODM-201 shows promise as a future competitor to enzalutamide
ODM-201 is a second generation androgen-receptor AR antagonist from Orion Pharma in early stages of clinical development.September 30, 2012
ESMO 2012: TH-302 Pancreatic Cancer Survival Data Fails to Impress
Results were presented at ESMO 2012 for the TH-CR-404 phase 2 clinical trial that compared the efficacy and safety of TH-302 (Threshold Pharmaceuticals) plus gemicitabine versus gemcitabine alone in patients with untreated advanced pancreatic cancer.September 30, 2012
ESMO 2012: ODM-201 a new generation antiandrogen for advanced prostate cancer
One of the late-breaking abstracts that I am looking forward at the forthcoming annual Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO 2012) in Vienna is on ODM-201, a new prostate cancer drug from Orion Pharma.September 18, 2012
ESMO 2012 Vienna Congress Plenary Preview #ESMO12
Preview of late breaking abstracts to be presented in Presidential Symposia at the European Society of Medical Oncology ESMO 2012 Congress in ViennaSeptember 5, 2012
Urologist Castrates Media over Reporting of PIVOT Prostate Cancer Trial
Dr Benjamin J. Davies from University of Pittsburgh criticizes the media reporting of the Prostate Cancer Intervention versus Observation Trial (PIVOT).August 7, 2012
NEJM reports trial of Veracyte thyroid cancer diagnostic test, is it worth $4,200?
Detecting thyroid cancer early and avoiding unnecessary surgery is the potential promise of a new diagnostic test.June 28, 2012
BAY 86-9766 shows early promise at AACR Pancreatic Cancer Conference
A diagnosis of stage IV pancreatic cancer is pretty much a death sentence. There is, therefore, an unmet need for effective new pancreatic cancer treatments.June 25, 2012
Problems with Alpharadin ASCO SRE data?
Algeta says there are "discrepancies" in the skeletal-related event (SRE) data presented at ASCO 2012June 15, 2012
ASCO 2012 What is the Optimal Sequencing of Advanced Prostate Cancer Drugs?
Oliver Sartor, Professor of Cancer Research and Medical Director of the Tulane Cancer Center in New Orleans says there is "no data" (yet) on the optimal sequence for new advanced prostate cancer drugs.June 7, 2012
ASCO 2012: Zytiga fails to show overall survival pre-chemo
For abiraterone acetate (Zytiga®) in the pre-chemotherapy setting i.e for asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic men, doctors will not be able to tell patients that they will live longer if they take it.June 4, 2012
AUA 2012 Twitter Conference Coverage #URO12
If you missed the tweets from the 2012 annual meeting of the American Urological Association in Atlanta, you can read them here.May 17, 2012
AACR 2012: Promising CML & PI3K compounds from Indian company Piramal Healthcare
Piramal Healthcare presented posters on early-stage drug development compounds, including: P7170, a Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase (PI3K)-mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) and Activin Receptor-Like Kinase 1 (ALK1) inhibitor & P2745, an orally bioavailable molecule effective in imatinib resistant chronic myeloid leukemia cell lines including those with the T315i mutation.April 24, 2012
AACR 2012: Future is combinations of novel cancer agents
The future of cancer drug therapy is likely to involve combinations of novel cancer agents. Jeffrey Engelman from MGH persuasively presented on why we need combination therapies to overcome resistance.April 23, 2012
AACR 2012: ABT-199 is a new Bcl-2 inhibitor with potential in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
ABT-199, a potent and selective inhibitor of Bcl-2. Steven Elmore from Abbott Laboratories presented impressive early data from an ongoing phase I trial in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).April 20, 2012
AACR 2012: the automation of preclinical drug discovery will be a driver of innovation
One enduring image I have from the plenary presentation on "The Genetic Basis for Cancer Therapy" by Bill Sellers, VP/Global Head Oncology at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research was the video he showed of the robots that are used for automated cell profiling.April 18, 2012
AACR 2012: AZD3514 a new prostate cancer drug to watch
One prostate cancer new product that caught my attention at AACR 2012 as one to watch is AZD3514.April 17, 2012
Cabozantinib Mechanism of Action – Part 3 of an interview with Dr Maha Hussain
Dr Hussain discusses the scientific rationale behind the mechanism of action for cabozantinib, a multi-kinase inhibitor of C-MET, VEGF and others.March 16, 2012
Cabozantinib Prostate Cancer Bone Scans – Part 2 of an interview with Dr Maha Hussain
At the 2011 ASCO annual meeting, Dr Hussain presented data from a non-randomized phase 2 trial with cabozantinib that showed dramatic improvements in bone scans before and after treatment.March 14, 2012
Cabozantinib & Pain in Prostate Cancer – an interview with Dr Maha Hussain
"My average patient is interested in living longer, not just in controlling their pain." Dr Maha HussainMarch 12, 2012
The Mannogram – how imaging may revolutionize prostate cancer diagnosis
Professor Barentsz described how advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and in particular multi-parametric MRI (Mp-MRI) offer the potential for the improved detection and characterization of prostate cancer.March 8, 2012
PIVOT data continues to show no survival benefit for prostatectomy over watchful waiting in men with low to medium risk early prostate cancer
Timothy J. Wilt MD, MPH presented an update on the VA, NCI, AHRQ Prostate cancer Intervention Versus Observation Trial (PIVOT) on the final day of the 2012 European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress in Paris.March 6, 2012
Why don't we have evidence based medicine for robot-assisted radical prostatectomy?
Professor Walter Artibani told the assembled media that urologists had failed as scientists in not generating robust clinical data to support the use of the da Vinci robotic system for the removal of the prostate gland (prostatectomy).March 5, 2012
Update on Orteronel TAK-700 from EAU 2012 Paris #EAU12
Orteronel (TAK-700) is a selective, non-steroidal inhibitor of 17, 20 lyase, a key enzyme involved in the production of androgens such as testosterone. This is a similar mode of action to abiraterone acetate (Zytiga).February 26, 2012
Alpharadin Expanded Access Program is Recruiting #EAU12
Bayer have opened an Expanded Access Program for Alpharadin, that allows eligble advanced prostate cancer patients access to this radiopharmaceutical pending regulatory approval.February 25, 2012
European Association of Urology 2012 #EAU12 Twitter Coverage
Aggregation of #EAU12 tweets for those interested in following twitter coverage of the meeting in Paris.February 24, 2012
ASCO GU: radium-233 Alpharadin significantly prolongs time to first Skeletal Related Event
radium-223 in bone-metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer patients (CRPC), not only significantly prolonged time to first skeletal related event (SRE), but significantly prolonged 3 out of the 4 SRE components.January 31, 2012
Challenges with Head and Neck Cancer Drug Development
Low-level expression of micro RNA-375 (miR-375) correlated with poor outcome in tumors of HNSCC patients.January 25, 2012
Preview of ASCO GU 2012 Prostate Cancer Data
My preview of prostate cancer abstracts that caught my attention.January 20, 2012
Targeting IDH1 in Glioma Patients
One of the challenges of the next decade in cancer research will be targeting cancer metabolism; imaging…January 17, 2012
Robotic Assisted Prostate Surgery does not lead to fewer complications
A survey of patients who had their prostate removed showed there was no significant difference in complication rates between open retropubic radical prostatectomy (ORRP) and robotic assisted laparoscopic surgery (RALRP).January 6, 2012
Radotinib approved in South Korea for CML
The South Korean equivalent of the FDA have approved radotinib (Il-Yang pharmaceuticals) or chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).January 5, 2012
Which posters were hot at ASH 2011?
This post highlights a few of the 4000+ posters that appeared to attract a lot of interest at the 2011 American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting.December 16, 2011
AML update from 2011 ASH annual meeting
FLT3 has been shown to be prognostic of poor survival, but is it an attractive molecular target in AML?December 15, 2011
CML update from 2011 ASH annual meeting
The most newsworthy CML data presented at the meeting was on Ponatinib. Jorge Cortes (MD Anderson Cancer Center) presented the phase II results from the PACE (Ponatinib Ph+ ALL and CML Evaluation) clinical trial.December 14, 2011
What role do macrophages play in breast cancer?
At the 2011 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Lisa Coussens (USCF) described how understanding the biology of macrophages and the importance they play in breast cancer may lead to new drug targets.December 9, 2011
Can you reduce your environmental risk of breast cancer?
At the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on "Breast Cancer and the Environment" was eagerly anticipated.December 7, 2011
Photoimmunotherapy may be a new way to deliver molecular-targeted cancer drugs
Photoimmunotherapy (PIT) that uses a near-infrared (NIR) dye conjugated to monoclonal antibodies (mABs) that target epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) is a new type of molecular-targeted cancer therapy that appears to offer considerable promise.December 1, 2011
Overcoming barriers to new cancer drug development
William N. Hait MD, PhD, global therapeutic area head of oncology, Johnson & Johnson presented a plenary session on "overcoming barriers to new drug development" at the AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics International Conference in San Francisco.November 21, 2011
Improving Cancer Clinical Trial Design #AACR Molecular Targets
Commentary on educational session on "Clinical Trial Paradigms in the Era of Novel Therapies" at the AACR-NCI-EORTC international conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in San FranciscoNovember 18, 2011
Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium Prostate Cancer Update
The 8am session at the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium (The Greenspan Meeting) in NYC featured a review of current developments in Prostate CanceNovember 11, 2011
A potential new Immunotherapy in Breast and Ovarian Cancer
Researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have published data from a small pilot trial showing a clinical response to a poxviral vaccine (PANVAC) in metastatic breast cancer and ovarian cancer patients.November 9, 2011
MDV3100 shows survival in Advanced Prostate Cancer
MDV3100 produced a 4.8-month advantage in median overall survival compared to placebo. The estimated median survival for men treated with MDV3100 was 18.4 months compared with 13.6 months for men treated with placebo.November 3, 2011
New Imaging Agents may improve Glioblastoma Surgery
Colin Watts from the University of Cambridge, will treat patients with 5-Amino-Levulinic Acid (5-ALA), a metabolic marker of malignant glioma cells. 5-ALA is preferentially taken up by brain tumor cells and then converted into a strongly fluorescing porphyrin.November 1, 2011
Vitamin E may improve gemcitabine effectiveness in pancreatic cancer
Tocotrienols (unsaturated form of Vitamin E) may have a potential role to play in anti-cancer therapyOctober 14, 2011
Vitamin E supplements lead to 17% increase in Prostate Cancer
Despite promising preclinical data suggesting that selenium and vitamin E may reduce prostate cancer risk, a randomized trial started in 2001 with over 35,000 men now suggests otherwise.October 11, 2011
Prostate Cancer Screening – the debate continues
Opinion remain divided over the use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screeningOctober 10, 2011
radium-223 Alpharadin in Advanced Prostate Cancer – an interview with Dr Chris Parker
A video interview with Dr Chris Parker at EMCC 2011 in Stockholm about radium-223 (Alpharadin).October 3, 2011
EMCC 2011 Patient advocacy session on Cancer & the Internet
The internet can help patients with rare diseases have a voice with policy makers. This session also showcased the new European cancer portal: ecancerHubSeptember 30, 2011
ECCO ESMO 2011 radium-223 Alpharadin media briefing video
Dr Chris Parker presented the phase 3 ALSYMPCA prostate cancer trial results for radium-223 chloride (Alpharadin) at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress in Stockholm.September 29, 2011
Alpharadin wlll be new treatment option for Prostate Cancer
Radium-223 (Alpharadin) shows an overall survival benefit in men with symptomatic bone metastases and castration-resistant prostate cancer.September 25, 2011
Alpharadin Prostate Cancer data will be "Practice Changing" #EMCC2011
Radium-223 (Alpharadin) will be "Practice Changing" is how Michael Baumann, President of the European CanCer Organisation (ECCO) and Jean-Charles Soria, Co-Scientific chair of the 2011 Stockholm Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress described the prostate cancer clinical trial data to be presented in the Presidential (plenary) session.September 23, 2011
Alpharadin on fast track to FDA prostate cancer approval in 2012
Bayer & Algeta have announced that Alpharadin™ (radium-223 chloride) has received Fast Track designation from the FDA for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC)August 25, 2011
Zytiga European Prostate Cancer approval may kill Jevtana sales
Jevtana simply came to the market too late in Europe, and Zytiga gained accelerated approval. It's a reminder that we live in a dynamic pharmaceutical market place.August 4, 2011
Patient advocacy session at European Hematology Association EHA 2011 Congress shows impact of drug adherence on outcome
Adherence to chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) therapy is the critical factor for achieving molecular responses.June 15, 2011
Prostate Cancer Market to expand from $1B to $5B by 2015
The market for prostate cancer therapies is set to expand from $1 billion currently to $5 billion by 2015, according to analysts.June 2, 2011
ASCO 2011 Cabozantinib (XL184) may be an exciting new prostate cancer drug
It will be interesting to see whether cabozantinib can impact overall survival (OS) in advanced prostate cancer, something that denosumab (Xgeva®) failed to show in the 147 trial that was just presented at AUA.May 19, 2011
AUA 2011 Results from PIVOT study show no benefit from radical prostatectomy in low risk early stage prostate patients
Data from the Prostate Cancer Intervention versus Observation Study (PIVOT) was presented in the plenary session of the 2011 annual meeting of American Urological Association (AUA)May 17, 2011
AUA 2011 European men with a biochemical recurrence have a lower prostate cancer survival compared to the United States
Presented by Alex Haese from Hamburg, Germany, this paper was a retrospective analysis of 1,574 patients who had a biochemical recurrence (PSA > 0.2 mg/dl) following RP.May 17, 2011
AUA 2011 New Prostate Cancer products in development beyond the androgen axis
Focusing on adrenal steroid inhibition or blocking the androgen receptor may not be sufficient to prevent disease progression. If we are looking for a Prostate Cancer cure, then will it may take multiple drugs, including those that target various stromal sites.May 16, 2011
Of Mice and Men
The March 17, 2011 edition of Nature, highlights how innovative preclinical animal models are having an impact on drug development.March 25, 2011
AB Science – realizing the potential of masitinib in cancer and inflammation
Masitinib is a multi-kinase inhibitor that inhibits wild type and mutant forms of stem cell factor receptor (c-KIT, SCFR), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGFR), fibroblast growth factor 3 (FGFR3) and to a lesser degree, focal adhesion kinase (FAK)February 23, 2011
Gilead acquires Calistoga and CAL-101 for $375M
In an acquisition that highlights the importance of cancer and inflammation, Gilead Sciences today announced the acquisition of Seattle based Calistoga Pharmaceuticals for $375M.February 22, 2011
Hypoxia and Inflammation: is HIF-1 a target for drug development?
HIF-1 overexpression is associated with tumor growth, vascularization and metastasis. This has led to HIF-1 being evaluated as a target for anti-cancer drugs.February 22, 2011
Insights of the Decade
The December 17, 2010 issue of "Science" has the catchy of title of "Insights of the Decade", one of which is the ubiquitous role of inflammation in multiple chronic illnesses including cancer.January 3, 2011
Targeting BAP1 – a future targeted therapy for Uveal Melanoma?
Results published in Science, "implicate loss of BAP1 in uveal melanoma metastasis and suggest that BAP1 pathway may be a valuable therapeutic target."December 21, 2010