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.
A Phase 3 study of a new drug regime for tuberculosis, which involved replacing the antibiotic moxifloxacin for one of two other drugs, failed to shorten the treatment time for the disease from six to four months. But the new regime was safe, according to the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development.
Real world data from an experimental vaccine for birch pollen allergy, AllerT, have shown statistically significant reductions in seasonal allergy symptoms, as well as an effect into a second pollen season, according to the developer, Anergis SA.
Merck KGaA of Germany has decided to discontinue the clinical development of the immunotherapy tecemotide in non-small cell lung cancer following the failure of a Japanese study to show effectiveness on any trial endpoint.
Eli Lilly and Company said the results of a Phase 3 study of its antibody treatment Cyramza (ramucirumab), which has already been approved for advanced gastric cancer, met its primary endpoint of overall survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.
Data from two Phase 3 studies of the antibody mepolizumab in severe asthma have shown statistically significant reductions in asthma exacerbations and a reduction in the need for daily oral corticosteroid use, according to the developer, GlaxoSmithKline Plc.