This week in drug discovery (30 June – 4 July)
News round-up for 30 June – 4 July by DDW Senior Digital Content Editor Diana Turner.
In significant news this week, the FDA in the US has removed red tape that limits which centres could give CAR-T therapy, in a move to improve access to the therapies. The round-up this time focuses on other developments in cell and gene therapies (CGT) including two high profile acquisitions.
The top stories:
Lilly to acquire gene editing specialists Verve Therapeutics
Verve is developing a pipeline of gene editing medicines designed to address the drivers of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) through treatments that may only need to be given once in a lifetime.
FDA removes barriers to CAR-T access in the US
The Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) for currently approved BCMA- and CD19-directed autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapies have been removed.
AbbVie acquires in vivo CAR-T technology with Capstan purchase
AbbVie has revealed it will acquire Capstan Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to advancing in vivo engineering of cells through RNA delivery using tLNPs.
Coalition aims to double CAR-T therapy access by 2030
CAR T Vision has launched to unite stakeholders around the shared ambition that every eligible patient should have the opportunity for cure with CAR-T therapy.
Regenerative cell therapy for rare heart disease enters PhII trials
Longeveron has completed enrolment for its Phase IIb clinical trial (ELPIS II) evaluating cellular therapy laromestrocel as a potential adjunct treatment for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS).