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We’ve got some big news on Revolution Medicines’ pancreatic cancer treatment. But don’t miss GSK’s move to push an ovarian cancer ADC into five Phase 3 trials after striking early data. And Spyre Therapeutics released some competitive ulcerative colitis results.
Allogene Therapeutics said Monday that its off-the-shelf CAR-T treatment eliminated residual cancer cells in patients with B-cell lymphoma three times better than standard care — achieving the interim goal of an ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial.
While still preliminary, the new data bolster Allogene’s efforts to develop an easily administered cell therapy that, for the first time, could delay or prevent the recurrence of cancer in patients with a high risk of lymphoma relapse at the end of first-line treatment.
In the interim analysis, 58% of patients treated with the Allogene CAR-T, called cema-cel, achieved minimal residual disease, or MRD, negativity compared to 16% of patients who were observed but not treated.
An inflammatory bowel disease treatment developed by Spyre Therapeutics succeeded in its first major test, setting the company up to compete with several large drugmakers developing new medicines for the chronic digestive condition.
Spyre is currently running a Phase 2 trial testing three experimental ulcerative colitis drugs as standalone treatments and, eventually, as combination therapies. The company released the first batch of results Monday on one of the treatments, showing it was safe and met the primary goal of the study.
The therapy, SPY001, targets the alpha 4 beta 7 inflammation pathway, one of the emerging avenues drugmakers are probing to reduce inflammation in the gut. In Spyre’s SKYLINE study, subjects taking SPY001 saw a 9.2 point decrease in a disease activity index. Approximately 40% of the trial subjects went into remission after 12 weeks of use.
Life Biosciences has announced an $80 million Series D round, which will fund the completion of a recently started Phase I clinical trial of a gene therapy designed to restore old, damaged cells to a younger, healthier state.
The Boston-based biotechnology company was co-founded in 2017 by David A. Sinclair, PhD, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and founding director of the Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging. Sinclair is known internationally as a leading researcher on human aging and longevity, especially for his work on epigenetic changes as drivers of aging and using reprogramming factors to reset the age of cells and tissues.
The oversubscribed round will support company operations into the second half of 2027, including the conclusion of a Phase I trial launched earlier this year to assess the safety and tolerability of Life Biosciences’ lead program, ER-100. The funds will also go towards exploring new candidates and advancing the company’s broader pipeline of therapeutics for age-related diseases.
Aging is the main driver and risk factor for most chronic diseases, with over 75% of people over 65 being estimated to suffer from at least one chronic condition. As the world population continues to age, Life Biosciences aims to delay aging processes by rejuvenating cells and restoring their function across many age-related diseases.
The company’s Partial Epigenetic Reprogramming (PER) platform is designed to partially reprogram the epigenome of old and injured cells through the expression of three Yamanaka factors: OCT4, SOX2, and KLF4 (together known as OSK). These transcription factors have been shown to reset organ-specific epigenetic code without creating induced-pluripotent stem cells, addressing the effects of aging without the risk of fully differentiating cells or inducing the formation of tumors.
This strategy has the potential to address a wide range of age-related diseases across multiple organs and systems within the human body. Life Biosciences’ Phase I clinical trial, which is currently actively recruiting, will assess the safety and tolerability of ER-100 in patients with open-angle glaucoma (OAG) and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION). The trial will also assess early efficacy endpoints, including multiple measurements of visual function.
Optic neuropathies like OAG and NAION are driven by damage to retinal ganglion cells, neurons that send sensory signals from the eye to the brain. These cells cannot naturally regenerate, meaning patients suffer permanent vision impairment. Unlike current treatments, which are unable to address the underlying mechanisms of neuronal degeneration, ER-100 aims to directly protect and promote the regeneration of RGC to preserve and restore sight in these patients.
Jerry McLaughlin, chief executive officer of Life Biosciences, stated that the financing “reflects the growing interest in our platform and the opportunity we have to reverse multiple diseases of aging.”
He added: “This support enables us to advance our lead program, ER-100, through key clinical milestones while continuing the expansion of our pipeline, positioning Life Biosciences to deliver disease-modifying solutions for patients.”
The post Life Biosciences Raises $80M to Fund First Trial of Anti-Aging Gene Therapy appeared first on Inside Precision Medicine.
Background: The universal adoption of mobile technologies by households has created an opportunity to provide families with young children with access to high-quality oral health information at convenient times and locations. Using community agencies (eg, Head Start and public health programs) that offer parenting education is an effective approach to reaching families in low-income households. Objective: This study aimed to explore the extent to which a coordinated, in-person oral health prevention intervention, together with an accompanying smartphone app, BeReadyToSmile, is feasible to implement among caregivers of young children. Methods: The BeReadyToSmile program targeted parents of children aged 0 to 6 years attending parenting education classes. This study was designed as a single-group pre-post feasibility study that included quantitative surveys and open-ended feedback. A total of 30 parents attended an in-person session on child oral health and were invited to use the BeReadyToSmile smartphone app. Preintervention and postintervention surveys were administered to assess pediatric oral health knowledge, attitudes toward child toothbrushing, brushing intention, brushing efficacy, program satisfaction, and ease of use. Results: Significant effects were observed on parent-reported pediatric oral health knowledge, attitudes toward brushing, brushing intention, and toothbrushing efficacy. Out of the 30 parents invited to use the BeReadyToSmile app, 1 (3%) completed no sessions and 20 (67%) completed all sessions. Participants rated the app highly on measures of satisfaction and use. We found significant increases in pediatric oral health knowledge (.004), child brushing attitudes and intention (=.01), and parental efficacy regarding child toothbrushing (=.03). Conclusions: Caregivers reported positive experiences with the implementation of BeReadyToSmile, indicating the overall feasibility of delivering oral health prevention to households with young children both in person and through a facilitated smartphone app. Further studies should include a larger and more diverse sample, randomized comparison conditions, and a longer follow-up period to assess outcomes. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03637309;
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