UCB bets $2 billion on Candid's T cell engager ambitions
Kyle LaHucik / endpoints - Ken Song has done it again. The biopharma veteran's all-out effort to prove T cell engagers' potential in autoimmune diseases is getting picked up by one of Europe’s oldest pharma companies. UCB is paying $2 ...
AI Summary: UCB has struck a roughly $2 billion deal to acquire Candid, betting heavily on Candid’s T‑cell engager platform to reset immune‑based oncology programs. The acquisition boosts UCB’s immuno‑oncology pipeline and signals intensified competition in T‑cell engager development, with investors and researchers watching closely to see how science translates into clinical wins.
The peptide problem: Hype is outrunning the evidence
medicalxpress - Health Canada recently warned Canadians not to buy or inject unauthorized peptide drugs sold online, naming products that include BPC-157, CJC-1295, ipamorelin, TB-500 and retatrutide.
AI Summary: The booming market for peptide therapies and supplements is racing past the science. Researchers report limited clinical evidence, unclear long-term safety, and weak regulatory oversight, while consumer demand and marketing hype surge. Clinicians urge caution: biological plausibility isn’t the same as proven benefit, and enthusiasm should not substitute for rigorous trials.
Atara, Pierre Fabre's cell therapy to get another shot at FDA approval
Max Gelman / endpoints - There's new life for a twice-rejected T cell therapy from Atara Biotherapeutics and Pierre Fabre Pharmaceuticals. US regulators are willing to reconsider using a Phase 3 study as the basis for an approval, Atara said ...
AI Summary: Regulators have agreed to re-examine a previously rejected cell‑therapy application for a rare lymphoma, giving the Atara‑Pierre Fabre program another opportunity at approval. The decision follows additional data and stakeholder engagement, offering the developer a second bite at the apple and patients a renewed, if cautious, hope for a novel treatment pathway.
FDA approves blood test to guide breast cancer therapy
Ella Jeffries / beckershospitalreview - The FDA has approved a companion diagnostic from Guardant Health to identify patients eligible for treatment with a targeted therapy developed by Pfizer and Arvinas. The blood-based test detects ESR1 mutations in patients with estrogen receptor-positive, …
AI Summary: The FDA approved a blood‑based test to help guide breast cancer treatment selection, authorizing a diagnostic that identifies patients more likely to benefit from specific therapies. The move could reduce unnecessary treatments and sharpen precision oncology, though broad clinical adoption will depend on further validation, payer coverage and clinician trust.
- ESMO Breast highlights and expert commentary (4)
- FDA clearances reshape diagnostics and therapies (3)
- Liquid biopsy, mutations and treatment resistance (4)
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ESMO Breast highlights and expert commentary
FDA clearances reshape diagnostics and therapies
Liquid biopsy, mutations and treatment resistance
All Other Stories
National study examines genetic testing to inform follow-up care for cancer survivors
medicalxpress - Hundreds of thousands of people diagnosed with cancer are still alive today but were never genetically tested, either because testing was not available or was not routinely offered at the time of their diagnosis. These patients are just as likely as those…
AI Summary: A national study has been launched to assess whether genetic testing can refine follow-up care for cancer survivors, tailoring surveillance to individual risk and potentially reducing unnecessary tests. The large-scale effort seeks to integrate genomic data into survivorship plans to better predict late effects and allocate resources to those most likely to benefit.
- Building survivorship standards, care and advocacy (4)
- Conferences, research and personalized cancer survivorship insights (4)
- National genetic-testing study and genomic implications for survivors (4)
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