Clinical Trial News
Juvenescence Secures $76M in Series B-1 Funding Led by Abu Dhabi's M42 for Age-Related Disease Therapeutics
• Juvenescence has raised $76 million in the first tranche of its Series B-1 financing round, led by Abu Dhabi's M42, to advance its clinical pipeline targeting age-related diseases.
• The funding is part of a strategic partnership with M42 to establish a drug development hub in Abu Dhabi, combining M42's healthcare data expertise with Juvenescence's AI-enabled discovery technology.
• Juvenescence aims to complete the full financing in Q3 2025, supporting its transition to a clinical-stage biotech company developing novel medicines that target core aging mechanisms.
Delhi High Court Overturns Patent Rejection for Taiho Pharmaceutical's Anticancer Compound
• The Delhi High Court has set aside a Patent Office order that rejected Taiho Pharmaceutical's application for an anticancer compound, citing procedural fairness issues in the original decision.
• The court ruled that the Patent Office failed to identify a specific 'known substance' when rejecting the application under Section 3(d) of the Patents Act, denying the company a fair opportunity to demonstrate enhanced therapeutic efficacy.
• The matter has been remanded back to the Patent Office for fresh consideration, with instructions to provide Taiho Pharmaceutical a new hearing opportunity and properly evaluate any comparative research data submitted.
AstraZeneca Showcases Groundbreaking Cancer Research at ASCO 2025 with Two Plenary Presentations
• AstraZeneca will present over 80 abstracts at ASCO 2025, including two plenary presentations featuring camizestrant for HR-positive breast cancer and IMFINZI for early gastric cancer, marking their seventh consecutive year with plenary data.
• The SERENA-6 trial is the first positive Phase III study for a next-generation oral SERD in first-line HR-positive breast cancer, pioneering the use of circulating tumor DNA to guide treatment decisions.
• DESTINY-Breast09 data shows ENHERTU plus pertuzumab is the first treatment in over a decade to demonstrate superiority over standard care in first-line HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.
Highlighted Clinical Trials:
Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd.
Posted 9/1/2015
AstraZeneca
Posted 11/19/2021
MSD Expands Opevesostat Clinical Program to Include Breast, Endometrial, and Ovarian Cancers
• MSD has initiated a new Phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate opevesostat (MK-5684) in women's cancers, expanding beyond its current prostate cancer program.
• Opevesostat, an oral, non-steroidal and selective CYP11A1 inhibitor discovered by Orion, will be tested for safety and efficacy in breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers.
• The expansion represents a significant broadening of potential therapeutic applications for opevesostat, which is already in Phase 3 trials for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Highlighted Clinical Trials:
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC
Posted 7/17/2025
Applied StemCell Launches Hypoimmunogenic hiPSC Products to Advance Allogeneic Cell Therapy Development
• Applied StemCell has introduced two new hypoimmunogenic human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) products designed to overcome immune rejection challenges in allogeneic cell therapy development.
• The products feature B2M/CIITA double knock-out modifications that eliminate HLA class I and II expression, significantly reducing the risk of T cell-mediated immune rejection in transplanted cells.
• Derived from CD34+ umbilical cord blood cells with low mutational burden, these research-use-only tools are isogenic matches to forthcoming GMP-grade versions, offering researchers a seamless transition from early research to clinical development.
Closed Loop Medicine Appoints Kate Woolland as CEO to Drive Precision Dosing Commercialization
• Closed Loop Medicine has appointed Kate Woolland as CEO to lead the company's transition from product development to commercial deployment of its pharmaceutical precision dosing platform.
• The company has built an extensive IP portfolio with over 60 filings across 16 patent families, covering precision dosing technologies for GLP-1 therapies, hypertension, and other therapeutic areas.
• CLM's proprietary approach has demonstrated improved patient medication adherence rates exceeding 90% through personalized titration, positioning the company to pursue strategic partnerships and licensing opportunities.
Mirai Bio Partners with Thermo Fisher Scientific to Accelerate Genetic Medicine Development
• Mirai Bio and Thermo Fisher Scientific have formed a strategic collaboration combining Mirai's machine intelligence platform with Thermo Fisher's manufacturing capabilities to optimize genetic medicine development.
• The partnership will leverage Thermo Fisher's cGMP services and commercial manufacturing expertise alongside Mirai's technology for designing tissue-targeted delivery vehicles for nucleic acid therapeutics.
• This collaboration includes a direct investment into Mirai Bio as part of Flagship Pioneering's existing partnership with Thermo Fisher, aiming to jointly develop transformative capabilities for the genetic medicine industry.
New Genetic Findings Challenge Traditional Understanding of Coats' Disease
• Research led by Dr. David Abramson reveals that Coats' disease, traditionally considered unilateral, shows bilateral involvement when examined with fluorescein angiography, challenging long-held clinical beliefs.
• Genetic testing identified a variation in the LTBP2 gene associated with Coats' disease, providing new insights into the condition's genetic underpinnings and supporting the concept that single genes can influence multiple diseases.
• Treatment approaches combining laser photocoagulation and anti-VEGF therapy showed promising results in advanced cases, though researchers speculate effectiveness may be linked to specific telomere biology disorders.
SK Bioscience Wins Patent Dispute Against Pfizer Over Pneumococcal Vaccine Components
• South Korea's Supreme Court ruled that SK bioscience's PCV13 components do not infringe on Pfizer's patent claims, allowing the company to export vaccine components to high-demand markets.
• Despite the victory, SK bioscience remains restricted from selling its domestically developed SKYPneumo vaccine in South Korea until 2027 due to a separate patent dispute with Pfizer.
• SK bioscience is simultaneously developing a more advanced 21-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in collaboration with Sanofi, which entered global Phase 3 clinical trials in late 2024.
Tubulis and Bristol Myers Squibb Advance First Collaborative Tubutecan ADC into Clinical Trials
• Tubulis announced that the first antibody-drug conjugate from its strategic partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb has entered clinical development, marking a significant milestone in their 2023 collaboration agreement.
• The ADC candidate leverages Tubulis' proprietary Tubutecan technology, which combines their P5 conjugation system with an exatecan payload to create stable, targeted cancer therapeutics with minimized systemic toxicity.
• This represents the third Tubutecan-based ADC to reach clinical trials within 12 months, following Tubulis' wholly owned programs TUB-030 and TUB-040, demonstrating the platform's versatility for treating solid tumors.