News

A destructive cellular process long dismissed as the end of the biological road may in fact be central to the onset of human ageing and chronic disease, according to a new paper published in Nature Oncogene. The paper - co-authored by a global consortium of clinicians and scientists, including teams from LinkGevity, Mayo Clinic, Mass General Brigham, the European Space Agency, and University College London - argues that necrosis, a chaotic form of cell death, plays an active and targetable role in age-related degeneration. 

Thermosome GmbH, a clinical-stage German drug developer, reported positive early data on 24 June from a thermosensitive, liposomal version of a commonly used chemotherapy drug that produced meaningful clinical activity in pre-treated patients with soft tissue sarcomas. The median progression-free survival for patients after treatment reached 4.5 months across two dose levels, a result that exceeded typical survival figures for patients receiving first-line chemotherapy. 

A new clinical-stage company with plans to develop therapies for neuropsychiatric disorders was launched in the UK on 18 June on the back of $140 million in Series A financing led by Access Biotechnology, the investment arm of Access Industries. The company, Draig Therapeutics Ltd, is an academic spin-out which capitalises on scientific discoveries made by two professors at Cardiff University in Wales.

Oncorena AB of Sweden has raised $13.9 million from a share issue to complete a Phase 1/2 study of a new treatment for renal cell carcinoma. The candidate treatment, ONC175, is a small molecule drug containing synthetically produced orellanine, which is a compound found in certain mushrooms. According to the company, the drug has demonstrated a highly organ-specific mode of action in preclinical studies and appears to be capable of killing human metastatic renal cancer cells. Separately, it is understood that orellanine does not affect organs other than the kidneys.

UK-based OutSee Ltd has secured seed funding of £1.8 million to expand its work in the field of predictive genomics. The company was founded by the scientist and entrepreneur Julian Gough who has an established career in bioinformatics and computational biology. OutSee’s proprietary technology is an AI-based predictive modelling tool that interrogates the molecular and cellular biology of the genome for drug targets. This is different from the more common method of pattern-matching which is based on genetic associations.

UK-based Quell Therapeutics Ltd is to out-licence a candidate cell therapy for inflammatory bowel disease to AstraZeneca Plc following the achievement of a research milestone. Further details of the research goal were not disclosed. The two companies have been collaborating since 2023 in the development of engineered T-regulatory (Treg) cell therapies for two immune-mediated disease indications. Inflammatory bowel disease is one indication and Type 1 diabetes is the other. The achievement of the milestone will trigger a payment to Quell of $10 million.

The US Food and Drug Administration has relaxed some rules for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies in order to minimise the tasks that healthcare providers are required to perform. From 26 June, rules known as Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) will be eliminated for six autologous CAR T cell therapies which are on the market for cancer indications. The therapies are directed against the CD19 and B-cell maturation antigens.

UK-based Compass Pathways Plc has reported positive Phase 3 data for a synthetic psilocybin, and the first classic psychedelic for potential use in treatment-resistant depression. The small molecule drug, COMP360, achieved a clinically meaningful reduction in symptom severity compared with a placebo as measured on the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, according to the company.

A new stem cell therapy has been recommended for conditional approval by the European Medicines Agency for patients with a blood cancer who need a transplant following chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy but have no suitable donors. The allogeneic product, Zemcelpro, is derived from umbilical cord blood and contains two components. These are expanded CD34+ cells and unexpanded CD34- cells, each derived from the same cord blood unit.

A small molecule drug that has shown benefits for patients with a type of non-alcoholic liver disease is being recommended for a conditional approval in Europe following a similar decision in 2024 by the US Food and Drug Administration. The drug, resmetirom, works by activating the thyroid hormone receptor-beta which is expressed in the liver, kidneys and pituitary gland and regulates metabolic activity. Reduced levels of thyroid hormones, particularly associated with a reduced activity of the receptor, can lead to a build-up of fat in the liver.