Oncology

Lilly paid $140m up front for an option to acquire Radionetics for $1bn within an undisclosed timeframe. The private firm is developing small molecule GPCR-targeted radiopharmaceuticals.

BMS may have ditched an antibody-drug conjugate partnership with Eisai, but the Phase II pipeline for ADCs remains strong across the industry.

The Japanese pharma said it plans to accelerate development of the antibody-drug conjugate farletuzumab ecteribulin for solid tumors and will develop it independently.

Deal Snapshot: Merck said it would pay potentially more than $1.6bn for an exclusive global license for opevesostat for metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer.

In this week's podcast edition of Five Must-Know Things: global CEO remuneration; another late-stage loss for Merch KgaA; deals shift to smaller M&A, partnering; Bayer’s Parkinson’s bets bear fruit; and India looks to innovate CAR-T models.

An analysis of new ADCs in Phase III studies shows the difficulties, and possible rewards, of developing these drugs.

While there were no issues of efficacy or safety behind a new US CRL for Daiichi Sankyo/Merck & Co's anti-HER3 antibody-drug conjugate patritumab, the FDA decision marks a hit to the companies' first ADC collaboration and the latest in a string of regulatory blows to Japanese firms in the US.

The success in the NIAGRA bladder cancer study is welcome, but another failure in NSCLC means AstraZeneca has more riding on the AEGEAN study, with an FDA advisory board to review the lung cancer data due shortly.

After the Phase III failure of xevinapant, the German group will need to cut deals and do better in a rare cancer if it is to turn its fortunes around.

Bristol Myers Squibb won US FDA approval in colorectal cancer for the KRAS G12C inhibitor from its $4.8bn Mirati buy, but Amgen’s first-to-market product still has a big commercial lead.

China's Dizal has won the first approval worldwide, in its home market, for a JAK1 inhibitor in relapsed/refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), based on a pivotal Phase II trial. The biotech is also planning a Phase III study with the molecule for second-line PTCL.

Iovance’s Amtagvi won FDA accelerated approval in February, and Adaptimmune’s afami-cel may not be far behind, but cell therapies for solid tumors come with some extra challenges.

The discussant at ASCO’s NSCLC session said the field would need to “manage expectations” as the drugs do not appear to beat chemotherapy in all-comers. 

The proceeds from the impressive series B financing will help progress roginolisib through Phase II trials.

Takeda has signed an option deal for Ascentage's olverembatinib, being investigated in two global Phase III trials in the same leukemia indications as those for the Japanese firm's existing drug Iclusig. Olverembatinib has also shown potential to overcome resistance to Iclusig and global competitor Novartis's Scemblix.

The company’s attempt to move the ALT inhibitor into first-line triple-negative breast cancer proves a dud with the failure of the CAPItello-290 Phase III trial.