On October 18, the FDA announced the approval of the Claudin18.2 monoclonal antibody Vyloy (zolbetuximab) for marketing, and will use it as the first-line treatment for adult patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric cancer with Claudin18.2-positive tumors, and HER2-negative gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. With the announcement of this good news, zolbetuximab officially became the first anti-Claudin18.2 drug approved by the United States. This means that Astellas has taken the lead in this hot target. In the past few years, Claudin18.2 has been a hot target in the field of oncology, attracting the interest of giants such as AstraZeneca, Merck, and Moderna. Of course, the entrants also include many domestic pharmaceutical companies. However, in the face of many entrants, Astellas’s “defending” ability has also been extremely demanding. At present, it may not be easy for it to maintain its leading position. Zolbetuximab has always attracted much attention, and the core ...
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved Astellas Pharma’s Vyloy (zolbetuximab) as part of a first-line combination treatment for a subset of gastric cancer patients. The monoclonal antibody has been authorised for use alongside chemotherapy to treat adults with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma whose tumours are claudin 18.2 positive. In the UK, adenocarcinomas, which develop from cells in the innermost lining of the stomach, account for most cases of gastric cancer, with around 6,600 people diagnosed every year. Most cases go undetected until an advanced stage, as the disease rarely causes early symptoms and tends to develop slowly over a number of years. Vyloy is now the only licensed treatment to target the claudin 18.2 protein, which is expressed in gastric, oesophageal, lung and ovarian tissues, and is administered intravenously every two to three ...
Mike Hollan The drug had previously been submitted, but required resubmission due to production issues. FDA acknowledged that Astellas has resubmitted zolbetuximab for a Biologics License Application (BLA).1 The drug is a first-in-class claudin 18.2-targets monoclonal antibody and is designed to treat various forms of gastric cancer. According to a press release issued by Astellas, FDA has set November 9, 2024, as its new target action date. The drug had been previously submitted, but had to be resubmitted after Astellas received a complete response letter from FDA in January, 2024. While the agency did not state any issues with the clinical data, efficacy, or safety of the drug, it required resubmission due to third-party manufacturing deficiencies. Astellas resubmitted the drug on May 9, 2024, but only just announced confirmation from FDA. In a press release, Astellas’ senior vice president and head of immuno-oncology development Moitreyee Chatterjee-Kishore, PhD, MBA, said, “Astellas ...
Two Japanese pharmaceutical companies and a bank are teaming up to form a joint venture to advance therapeutic discoveries from academia. The focus will be innovation from universities in Japan. By Frank Vinluan Academic labs are starting points for many biopharmaceutical industry innovations, and Japan’s universities are no exception. But academic scientists often struggle to find the financing and support to turn their discoveries into new companies, leaving the research to languish in what is sometimes referred to as “the valley of death.” Now Takeda Pharmaceutical, Astellas Pharma, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation are teaming up to form a joint venture intended to advance academic discoveries, primarily innovation from Japan. All three are sharing ownership in the joint venture, whose name has not yet been determined. The joint venture’s founders say the valley of death has become more pronounced in recent years. In response to this challenge, the companies said they engaged ...
Don Tracy, Associate Editor Joint venture aims to implement Invenra’s B-Body bispecific antibody platform to enhance Astellas’ research and development efforts. Invenra Inc. and Astellas Pharma announced that they have agreed to terms on a collaboration that seeks to utilize Invenra’s B-Body bispecific antibody platform to bolster Astellas’ research and development efforts in bispecific therapeutic research. Per the agreement, Astellas will acquire full access to the B-Body platform, with the opportunity for further license negations upon the completion of this initiative. Both teams stated that they remain dedicated to pushing the boundaries of healthcare through innovative research, with the ultimate goal of providing new, effective treatments to patients worldwide.1 “We are honored to partner with the Astellas team, one of the world’s foremost developers of therapeutics,” said Roland Green, PhD, CEO, Invenra, in a press release. “We are excited by the potential of this partnership to yield profound benefits to ...
Astellas Pharma is working with Kelonia Therapeutics, a startup that develops in vivo CAR T-therapies with technology that precisely delivers genetic cargo to cells. The collaboration combines this tech with a platform from Xyphos Biosciences, a cell therapy developer that Astellas acquired in 2019. By FRANK VINLUAN Cell therapy’s next breakthrough could be the engineering of these cells inside the patient. Two deals more than four years apart put Astellas Pharma in position to ramp up its work developing these in vivo treatments. Under the more recent agreement announced late Thursday, Astellas is collaborating with Kelonia Therapeutics, a startup that has developed technology for precisely delivering genetic cargo to target cells in the body in order to make those cells into in vivo CAR T-therapies. Kelonia calls its technology in vivo gene placement system, or iGPS. The genetic payload delivered to a cell gets it to express a receptor that ...
Pfizer is still hungry for ADC opportunities, including in the Far East. Astellas’ impressive phase 3 data for its gastric cancer candidate couldn’t garner an approval because of manufacturing issues. Takeda’s 2022 TYK2 buy from Nimbus was highly competitive, an exec said. And more. 1. JPM24: Even after Seagen buyout, Pfizer oncology chief still eyes ADC deals As Pfizer continues its prowl for antibody-drug conjugate (ADCs) deals, the company is keeping an eye on opportunities around the globe. In an interview, Pfizer’s new oncology chief Chris Boshoff, Ph.D., said the company is looking for opportunities in China, which he said “is important in this whole area, especially ADC development.” The company is “not currently looking for big acquisitions,” Boshoff added. 2. Astellas’ gastric cancer candidate rejected by FDA because of manufacturing issues After running two phase 3 trials, Astellas’ near-term approval ambitions for its zolbetuximab have been dashed because of ...
Astellas Pharma’s zolbetuximab was on track to become the first gastric cancer drug that targets claudin 18.1, a protein found on cancerous stomach cells. Others with clinical-stage programs addressing this this target include AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb. By FRANK VINLUAN Astellas Pharma’s path to winning the first drug approval for a particular promising gastrointestinal cancer target has hit a detour. The FDA turned down the drugmaker’s application, citing manufacturing issues for the therapy, zolbetuximab. Astellas announced the FDA action earlier this week. The company did not go into detail about the problems spotted by the regulator, but described them as “unresolved deficiencies following its pre-license inspection of a third-party manufacturing facility for zolbetuximab.” Astellas added that the agency did not raise any concerns about the safety or efficacy of the drug, nor is it asking for additional clinical data. Zolbetuximab was developed as a treatment for patients with locally ...
Shanghai and Suzhou, TOKYO, December 28, 2023 – Elpiscience Biopharma, Ltd. (Chairman and CEO: Darren Ji, MD, Ph.D., “Elpiscience”) and Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503, President and CEO: Naoki Okamura, “Astellas”) today announced a research collaboration and license agreement for novel bi-specific macrophage engagers, ES019 and another program. The two companies will collaboratively conduct early-stage research for these two programs. Elpiscience will also grant Astellas the right to add up to two additional programs to be included in the collaboration. If Astellas exercises its option, Elpiscience will grant Astellas the exclusive right to further research, develop, manufacture and commercialize the products for each program. Elpiscience is a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing next-generation immuno-oncology therapies for cancer patients worldwide. Their Bispecific Macrophage Engager Platform (BiME®) is anti-tumor associated antigen (TAA) and anti-signal-regulatory protein α (SIRPα) bispecific antibody-based platform to activate Tumor Associated Macrophage (TAM) phagocytosis killing towards ...
Canada-based Phenomic AI has landed two strategic collaborations this week with Boehringer Ingelheim and Astellas-owned cell therapy biotech Xyphos Biosciences to develop cancer therapies. Phenomic and Boehringer have teamed up on a target identification collaboration, announced on 29 November. Under the deal, Phenomic will receive an upfront payment of $9m and may be entitled to up to $500m in research funding and milestones. The Canadian company hasn’t disclosed the financial terms of the deal with Astellas, but the companies aim to develop cell therapies with an antibody directed at a novel target of the tumour stroma, utilising Phenomic’s scTx platform. The company singled out colorectal and pancreatic cancers as being stroma-rich, which would be amenable to being targeted by Phenomic’s platform. These developments mark the first deals announced by Phenomic in three years since the company launched in 2020 with $6m in seed funding. Phenomic’s scTx is a single-cell RNA ...
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