Pathos AI Raises $365 Million to Advance AI-Driven Oncology Drug Development
• Pathos AI secured $365 million in Series D financing, reaching a post-money valuation of $1.6 billion to expand its AI-enabled platform for oncology drug development.
• The company is developing the largest multimodal foundation model in oncology, leveraging clinical, molecular, and imaging data to improve asset selection and clinical trial design.
• Under CEO Iker Huerga's leadership, Pathos aims to transform drug development by combining advanced AI with deep clinical insights to accelerate the path from molecule to medicine.
Leap Therapeutics Halves Workforce and Refocuses Cancer Drug Development Amid Market Challenges
• Leap Therapeutics has announced a significant restructuring, reducing its workforce by approximately 50% and narrowing the development focus of its lead cancer drug candidate in response to challenging market conditions.
• The strategic pivot aims to extend the company's cash runway while concentrating resources on the most promising clinical applications of its lead oncology asset, potentially improving its chances for regulatory success.
• This move follows similar restructuring trends across the biotech sector, with companies like Arcturus, NGM Bio, and Erasca all recently announcing staff reductions and pipeline reprioritizations to navigate the difficult funding environment.
4DMT Prioritizes 4D-150 and 4D-710, Extends Cash Runway into 2028
• 4DMT is focusing its pipeline on 4D-150 for wet AMD and DME and 4D-710 for cystic fibrosis, leveraging their strong clinical proof of concept.
• Phase 3 trials (4FRONT-1 and 4FRONT-2) for 4D-150 in wet AMD are set to begin in Q1 and Q3 2025, respectively, with topline data expected in H2 2027.
• The company's cash runway has been extended to 2028, supported by $506M in cash reserves and strategic resource allocation.
• 4DMT will discontinue development of early-stage programs like 4D-110 for choroideremia and 4D-125 for X-linked retinitis pigmentosa.
Prelude Therapeutics' PRT3789 Shows Promise in SMARCA4-Mutated Cancers
• Prelude Therapeutics' PRT3789 demonstrated anti-tumor activity in SMARCA4-mutated NSCLC and esophageal cancer patients during Phase 1 dose escalation.
• The Phase 1 trial of PRT3789 showed the drug was generally well-tolerated, with no dose-limiting toxicities or study drug-related serious adverse events.
• The company aims to confirm the biologically active dose of PRT3789 by year-end and advance monotherapy and docetaxel combination studies.
• Preclinical data suggests that dual SMARCA2/4 degraders attached to antibodies could expand treatment possibilities beyond SMARCA4 mutations.
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