Privately-held Probiodrug AG of Germany has put forward a strategy for treating Alzheimer’s disease that involves inhibiting an enzyme called glutaminyl cyclase, which is thought to play a role in the deposition of toxic amyloid plaques in the brain.
The Roche group has announced the start of a Phase 1 clinical study of a new molecule designed to address the cognitive and behavioural deficits associated with Down syndrome. The drug targets the GABAergic system.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc has stopped one arm of a four-arm study in which its tyrosine kinase inhibitor, lapatinib (Tykerb/Tyverb), is being investigated as an adjuvant therapy for women with HER2 positive early-stage breast cancer.
4SC AG of Germany has reported that its lead cancer drug, resminostat, has met its primary endpoint in a Phase 2 trial of patients with refractory Hodgkin’s Lymphoma who had been heavily treated with other therapies prior to the trial.
Noxxon Pharma AG has started a Phase 1 study of an oligonucleotide-based drug to treat patients who suffer anaemia from chronic disease. The drug targets the peptide hormone, hepcidin, a regulator of iron metabolism.
Scientists from Cancer Research UK have discovered that they could kill bowel cancer cells in the laboratory by targeting a protein complex that regulates energy generation in the cell.
A team of European scientists has described how a member of the Janus kinase (JAK) family of proteins generates contractions in tumours thereby allowing cancer cells to migrate from their site of origin. The findings were published in the journal, Cancer Cell, on 16 August.
A team of international researchers has isolated 17 new broadly neutralising antibodies that may be effective against many variants of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The finding appeared online in Nature on 17 August.
An RNA-based therapeutic developed by AVI BioPharma Inc of the US has shown promise as a disease-modifying treatment for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal genetic disorder, according to an article in The Lancet.
Transgene SA said that its in-licensed oncolytic virus therapy, JX-594, has shown a “mechanistic proof-of-concept” in an early clinical trial of patients with metastatic melanoma. The results of the trial have been reported in Molecular Therapy.