The UK antibody developer Kymab Ltd is to lead a consortium of public institutions with expertise in public health to discover a new treatment for infection from the Ebola virus which is spreading through west Africa. The goal is to produce an antibody-based medicine.
The Novartis cancer drug Afinitor (everolimus) has failed to show statistical significance in a group of patients with HER2 positive advanced breast cancer. The Phase 3 trial was investigating the drug as a first-line treatment in combination with trastuzumab and paclitaxel.
Novartis and the University of Pennsylvania have issued a clinical update of their cell therapy for paediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) showing that 36 out of 39 patients, or 92% of trial participants, experienced a complete remission of their disease.
Circassia Pharmaceuticals Plc, which has a portfolio of immunotherapy products for allergies, said that it is on track to complete recruitment by year end for a Phase 3 study of its lead product for cat allergy. Results of the trial are expected in the first half of 2016.
Bluebird bio Inc has treated the first patient in a Phase 1/2 trial designed to establish the safety and efficacy of a gene therapy procedure in patients with sickle cell disease. This is reportedly the first ever gene therapy study in patients with this disorder.
A newly formed German company, Rigontec GmbH, has found backers for a novel cancer treatment that makes a tumour seem like a viral infection, thereby prompting an attack by the immune system. The treatment involves neither live viruses, nor viral genes, nor particles common in oncolytic viruses, and therefore does not raise safety concerns common to the use of viruses, according to the developers.
Oxford BioTherapeutics Ltd has selected an antibody-drug conjugate for clinical development which targets a B-cell malignancy. The preclinical candidate will be investigated in non-Hodgkin’s B-cell lymphoma, in addition to solid tumours.
Eli Lilly and Company said it is discontinuing development of tabalumab, an anti-B-cell activating factor monoclonal antibody that was being tested in systemic lupus erythematosus. This follows a finding of insufficient efficacy in two pivotal Phase 3 trials.
A candidate treatment for patients with glaucoma, Vesneo, has reached its primary endpoint in a Phase 3 development programme, showing that it can effectively lower intraocular pressure, according to Nicox SA, the developer.
Antibiotic drug development has received a boost with the decision by a syndicate of Scottish investors to support MGB Biopharma Ltd, which has an agent to treat Gram-positive infections in development. The drug is set to enter the clinic in the first half of 2015.