News round-up for 1-5 May by DDW Digital Content Editor Diana Spencer.
My five stand-out news headlines this week all relate to immunotherapy or immunomodulatory therapies for cancer, particularly advances in our understanding of how other factors in the body, i.e., vitamin D levels and the gut microbiome, can impact the patient’s response to treatment.
To learn more about where the future opportunities in immunotherapy will be found, register for DDW’s free webinar on May 10 – details below.
The top stories:
Vitamin D levels impact response to immunotherapy in melanoma
New research indicates that for patients with advanced skin cancer, it may be important to maintain normal vitamin D levels when receiving treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
iOnctura expands pipeline and receives development grant
iOnctura, a clinical-stage biotech developing selective cancer therapies against targets that play critical roles in multiple tumour survival pathways, has exercised an exclusive option with Clavius Pharmaceuticals, adding the novel oral TGF-β pathway inhibitor, IOA-359, to its pipeline.
Gut microbes alter the body’s response to immunotherapy
New research in mice has identified how gut bacteria alter the body’s response to PD-1 checkpoint blockade immunotherapy, currently used for the treatment of 25 forms of cancer.
Eterna acquires Exacis’ allogeneic immuno-oncology platform
Eterna Therapeutics, a life science company focused on mRNA cell engineering, has acquired Exacis Biotherapeutics’ immuno-oncology platform.
The future of cancer immunotherapy: exclusive webinar
Hosted by DDW and supported by BPS BioScience and AcroBiosystems, ‘Cancer immunotherapy – where will the future opportunities be?’ will be free to attend on May 10. Join this free webinar to learn about the biggest opportunities for the future of cancer immunotherapy.
