Pfizer, Innovent Ink Up-to-$10.5B+ Cancer Treatment Collaboration
Pfizer and China’s Innovent Biologics have signed a global licensing and collaboration deal to co‑develop and co‑commercialize 12 early‑stage antibodies and antibody‑drug conjugates (ADCs) targeting cancer. Pfizer will pay Innovent $650 million upfront and up to $9.85 billion in milestone payments, plus double‑digit royalties on sales. The partnership gives Pfizer exclusive worldwide rights to four programs and non‑China rights to another four, while Innovent retains Greater China rights. The agreement, expected to close in Q3, is part of Pfizer’s push to replenish its pipeline ahead of a looming patent cliff.
AI-Powered Pan-Cancer Map Reveals Tertiary Lymphoid Structures
Researchers at UT MD Anderson built the first pan‑cancer spatial atlas of tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs), analyzing 340 samples from 12 tumor types. Using AI, they created a framework that detects and classifies TLSs on routine H&E whole‑slide images, evaluating over 25,000...
Illumina Announces MRD Kit Ahead of ASCO Meeting
Illumina announced a molecular residual disease (MRD) kit ahead of the ASCO meeting, offering solid‑tumor and blood‑cancer genomic profiling on NovaSeq systems. The kit delivers whole‑genome sequencing sensitivity down to 10 ppm and 99.5% analytical specificity, with an end‑to‑end workflow completed...
Neuronal Protein Tracing Reveals How the Brain Routes Its Waste
Researchers at the Gladstone Institutes introduced a fluorescent‑protein tracing technique that follows neuronal waste from production to exit in live mice. The method revealed that most brain‑derived proteins drain through the dura, skull and nasal cavity rather than the cervical...
Target for Aggressive Prostate Cancer Prevention Identified in Mice
Columbia University researchers identified SIRT1 as a driver of neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) in mice. Using a Sleeping Beauty forward genetic screen, they pinpointed SIRT1 among 75 candidate genes and showed that silencing or pharmacologically inhibiting it dramatically reduced tumor...
PRINCE: A Small-Molecule Switch for Safer Gene Editing
Researchers unveiled PRINCE, a CRISPR‑Cas system whose nuclease and guide RNA are each activated by separate FDA‑approved small‑molecule drugs, delivering precise temporal control. The platform stayed functional for up to two years after genomic integration in human cells, and a...
Enzymes Involved in Cholesterol Transport May Point to New Cancer Therapies
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys and the University of Illinois Chicago identified phosphatidylinositol 5‑phosphate 4‑kinases (PI5P4Ks) as critical for cholesterol trafficking in TP53‑mutant cancers. In mouse models, deleting PI5P4K α and β prevented tumor formation by causing lysosomal cholesterol mislocalization...
Skape Bio Unlocks Generalizable GPCR Drugs Using AI Protein Design
Skape Bio, founded by former UW protein‑design researcher Chris Norn, has unveiled an AI‑driven platform that creates miniprotein therapeutics for G‑protein‑coupled receptors (GPCRs). A recent Nature paper shows functional miniproteins targeting 11 diverse GPCRs, including agonists validated on three receptors....
Human Gut Organoids with Functional Nerves Developed that Can Be Mass Produced
Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Nantes Université have unveiled a 3D‑printed scaffold system that accelerates the growth of human gut organoids to transplantation maturity in 14 days—half the previous timeline. The confined culture system yields centimeter‑scale intestinal, colon and stomach...
AI Designs Miniprotein Switches for GPCR Targeting
A University of Washington and Skape Bio team used AI‑driven de novo protein design to create miniproteins under 100 amino acids that can precisely activate or inhibit G protein‑coupled receptors (GPCRs). The designs achieve nanomolar affinity, high potency, and state‑specific selectivity,...
Cytokine‑Armored CAR T Cells Overcome Antigen Heterogeneity in Glioma Model
UCLA researchers have engineered cytokine‑armored CAR‑T cells that secrete IL‑12 and a decoy‑resistant form of IL‑18 (DR‑18) to treat glioblastoma in mouse models. The IL‑12/DR‑18 combination enabled CAR‑T cells to eradicate tumors even when cancer cells lacked the targeted IL‑13Rα2...
Wacker Expands Service Offerings with Launch of Contract Research for Nucleic Acid-Based Therapies
Wacker Chemie has launched a contract research service (CRS) at its Munich biotech center, offering R&D‑grade plasmid DNA, RNA and lipid nanoparticle (LNP) production for preclinical studies. The offering adds construct design, lipid library screening, functional assays and analytical support,...
Collaborative Drug Discovery Inks Deal with Eli Lilly to Accelerate Biotech Innovation
Eli Lilly’s TuneLab AI platform will be embedded into Collaborative Drug Discovery’s (CDD) Vault system, giving biotech companies access to Lilly’s proprietary ADMET predictive models. The integration will appear in both the core and AI modules of CDD Vault, allowing researchers...
HELIX AI Model Accurately Predicts RNA Splicing, Unlocks Precision Medicine
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences unveiled HELIX, an AI framework that predicts RNA splicing and isoform usage with unprecedented accuracy. By combining DNA sequence data with expression profiles of 1,499 RNA‑binding proteins, the model outperforms existing tools across...
Mutating Antibodies for Easier Drug-Conjugate Manufacturing
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University have engineered a general‑purpose antibody by mutating its fragment crystallizable (Fc) region, creating up to four new attachment sites for molecules such as drugs, dyes, or nanoparticles. Six precise Fc mutations enable consistent, site‑specific conjugation,...