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Clinical Trial News

Cyclophosphamide Plus Cyclosporin Emerges as New Standard of Care for GVHD Prevention in Blood Cancer Transplants

  • The phase 3 BM12 CAST trial demonstrated that cyclophosphamide plus cyclosporin significantly improved graft-versus-host disease-free relapse-free survival compared to standard cyclosporin/methotrexate prophylaxis in blood cancer patients.
  • Median GVHD-free relapse-free survival reached 26.2 months with the new combination versus 6.4 months with standard therapy, representing a 58% reduction in risk.
  • At three years, 49.1% of patients receiving cyclophosphamide/cyclosporin remained free from GVHD compared to only 14.2% with standard treatment.
  • The study enrolled 134 patients with acute leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome across 10 transplant centers in Australia and New Zealand.

Innocan Pharma Advances Liposomal CBD Platform for Chronic Pain as Peer-Reviewed Study Highlights Non-Opioid Alternative

  • A peer-reviewed narrative review published in Cureus journal highlights the therapeutic potential of long-acting synthetic cannabidiol (CBD) for chronic pain management as a non-opioid alternative.
  • Innocan Pharma's proprietary LPT-CBD platform delivers sustained CBD release for up to four weeks through injectable liposomal formulation, supported by animal studies showing prolonged pain relief.
  • The company has initiated regulatory submissions to advance LPT-CBD into human clinical trials, addressing the urgent need for safer pain therapies amid a global opioid crisis causing over 100,000 deaths annually.
  • Leading pain specialists from Johns Hopkins University and NYU School of Medicine co-authored the review, emphasizing the potential paradigm shift away from addictive opioid medications.

EMA Recommends First EU Vaccine Against Swine Dysentery, Targeting Disease with 30-50% Mortality Rate

  • The European Medicines Agency has issued a positive opinion for Biobhyo, the first vaccine authorized in the EU to protect pigs against swine dysentery disease.
  • Swine dysentery affects up to 90% of pigs in infected herds with a mortality rate of 30-50%, caused by the bacterium Brachyspira hyodysenteriae.
  • Clinical studies demonstrated vaccine efficacy when administered at five and eight weeks of age, showing reduced incidence of dysenteric diarrhea in commercial farm settings.
  • The Committee for Medicinal Products for Veterinary Use opinion will now proceed to the European Commission for final EU-wide marketing authorization.

European Commission Launches COMBINE Pilot Program to Streamline Combined Medicine and Medical Device Studies

  • The European Commission and EU Member States have launched a pilot project under the COMBINE programme to test a more efficient approval process for combined studies involving both clinical trials of medicines and performance studies of medical devices.
  • The pilot allows sponsors to submit a single application for studies testing both a medicine and companion diagnostic simultaneously, reducing administrative burden and promoting harmonized interactions with Member States.
  • This coordinated assessment procedure aims to enhance transparency and consistency in the evaluation process while accepting a limited number of studies to evaluate the effectiveness of this new approach.

First-in-Class CBP/p300 Inhibitor TT125-802 Shows Promise in Treatment-Resistant NSCLC

  • TT125-802, a novel oral CBP/p300 bromodomain inhibitor, demonstrated early clinical activity in advanced solid tumors with a favorable safety profile in an ongoing phase 1 trial.
  • Five out of seven NSCLC patients experienced tumor shrinkage following progression on prior therapy, with deep and durable responses observed in KRAS G12C- and EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients.
  • The treatment showed a best-in-class safety profile with 98% of treatment-related adverse events being grade 1 or 2 and reversible, notably without thrombocytopenia.
  • Seven patients experienced clinical benefit lasting at least 6 months, including one NSCLC patient who achieved a deep and durable partial response per RECIST 1.1 criteria.

Ellipsis Health Raises $45M Series A to Launch Sage, AI Care Manager with Emotional Intelligence

  • Ellipsis Health secured $45 million in Series A funding led by Salesforce, Khosla Ventures, and CVS Health Ventures to advance AI-powered care management solutions.
  • The company unveiled Sage, an emotionally intelligent AI Care Manager that adjusts its tone and approach based on patient emotional states and mental health needs.
  • Sage leverages patented vocal biomarker technology trained on millions of clinical patient calls to support complex patients who drive majority of healthcare costs.
  • The AI platform integrates with Salesforce Health Cloud to address staffing shortages and reduce operating costs while maintaining high-quality patient engagement.

Serum Institute of India Partners with DNDi to Develop Affordable Dengue Monoclonal Antibody Treatment

  • Serum Institute of India and DNDi have signed an MoU to co-develop a monoclonal antibody treatment for dengue that targets all four virus serotypes, focusing on affordability for low- and middle-income countries.
  • The collaboration will advance the drug candidate through Phase III clinical trials in India, Brazil, and other dengue-endemic countries, with SII having already completed pre-clinical and Phase I/II trials demonstrating safety and efficacy.
  • Dengue affects 3.9 billion people globally with cases more than doubling since 2021, yet no specific treatment currently exists for the disease.
  • The partnership leverages SII's manufacturing capabilities and DNDi's clinical trial leadership to address the urgent need for dengue therapeutics in vulnerable populations worldwide.

FAPI-Based PET Imaging Shows Superior Performance Over FDG-PET for Gastrointestinal Cancer Detection

  • Meta-analysis of 16 studies involving 597 patients demonstrates that (68Ga)Ga-FAPI-04 PET achieves 98% sensitivity and 93% specificity for primary gastric cancer detection, significantly outperforming (18F)FDG PET's 74% sensitivity and 48% specificity.
  • For lymph node metastases in gastric cancer, (68Ga)Ga-FAPI-04 PET shows double the sensitivity of (18F)FDG PET at 90% versus 45%, with higher specificity at 93% versus 83%.
  • FAPI-based imaging demonstrates particular advantage in gastric signet-ring-cell carcinoma detection, achieving 99% sensitivity compared to 46% for FDG-PET, attributed to increased FAP expression in tumor stroma.
  • Comparative analysis reveals both [18F]FAPI-74 and [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 show excellent diagnostic accuracy for metastatic colorectal cancer, with [18F]FAPI-74 offering superior tumor uptake and image contrast.
NCT05160051CompletedPhase 2
University Hospital, Essen
Posted 12/1/2021

COVID-19 Vaccination Reduces Severe Kidney Damage Risk in Hospitalized Patients, UCLA Study Finds

  • UCLA Health researchers analyzed 3,500 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and found unvaccinated individuals were 16% more likely to require continuous renal replacement therapy during hospitalization.
  • Unvaccinated patients were more than 2.5 times as likely to need dialysis after discharge and faced higher mortality risk compared to vaccinated patients.
  • Experts suggest vaccination protects kidneys primarily by preventing severe COVID-19 illness that leads to multi-organ failure and systemic complications.
  • The study has limitations as researchers lacked baseline kidney function data, making it difficult to determine the full extent of vaccination benefits.

Johnson & Johnson's Dual-Targeting CAR-T Therapy Achieves 80% Complete Response Rate in Lymphoma Trial

  • Johnson & Johnson's investigational dual-targeting CAR-T therapy JNJ-4496 demonstrated 75-80% complete response rates in patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma at the recommended Phase 2 dose.
  • The therapy targets both CD19 and CD20 antigens on malignant B-cells, potentially addressing resistance mechanisms that limit current single-antigen CAR-T treatments to 40% long-term remission rates.
  • Safety data showed no Grade 3 or 4 cytokine release syndrome cases, with neutropenia being the most common severe adverse event affecting 72% of patients.
  • The Phase 1b study results were presented at the 2025 European Hematology Association Congress, marking a significant advancement in treating the most common aggressive lymphoma type.

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