Malaria: Clues to vaccine design
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 316 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.57
Author: Sarah Crunkhorn
Vaccination with attenuated Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites (PfSPZs) can induce robust immune responses. However, the specific mediators of this protective immune response remain undefined. To investigate this, Seder and colleagues first isolated monoclonal antibodies directed against the Pf circumsporozoite protein (PfCSP) — which covers the (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 27, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Sarah Crunkhorn Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Type 2 diabetes: Targeting glutamine metabolism
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 316 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.56
Author: Sarah Crunkhorn
Reducing elevated glucagon signalling in diabetic patients is an attractive strategy for the treatment of hyperglycaemia. Using mouse primary hepatocytes, Miller and colleagues demonstrate a key contribution of glutamine to newly synthesized glucose in response to glucagon stimulation. Short hairpin RNA-mediated knockdown of hepatic glutaminase (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 27, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Sarah Crunkhorn Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Neurodegeneration: New strategy for SBMA therapy
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 316 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.55
Author: Sarah Crunkhorn
Spinal bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) results from a polyglutamine expansion in the androgen receptor (AR). Recently, co-regulator binding through the activation function 2 (AF2) domain of the AR has been indicated as essential for pathogenesis. Here, Badders and colleagues screened a panel of small molecules (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 27, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Sarah Crunkhorn Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Anticancer drugs: Flipping the switch for selective GSK3 inhibition
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 314 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.63
Author: Katie Kingwell
Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) is a potential therapeutic target in many diseases, including cancer and neurological disorders. But clinical trials of dual GSK3α/β inhibitors have not proved successful, and there is concern about on-target liabilities related to β-catenin signalling. Now, Wagner, Stegmaier and colleagues (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 27, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Katie Kingwell Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Anja K รถ nig
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 310 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.60
When Anja König started her PhD in mathematical physics at Cornell University, she hoped that a pencil and a brain was all she'd need to tackle hard science questions. Over two decades on, she has now swapped the pencil for a chequebook and moved into the much more empirical world of life sciences. As Global Head of the Novartis Venture Fund (NVF), she oversees one of the most deep-pocketed and active corporate venture capital (CVC) funds in biopharma. NVF — a financially rather than strategically driven CVC group — has around US...
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 27, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
Regulatory watch: FDA new drug approvals in Q1 2018
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 309 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.61
Author: Lisa Urquhart
The first quarter of the year saw two notable FDA approvals for HIV therapies. In early February, Gilead Sciences gained approval for its triple combination product Biktarvy, which brings together the novel HIV-1 integrase inhibitor bictegravir with the established dual nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 27, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Lisa Urquhart Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
Cashing in with off-the-shelf CAR Ts
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 307 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.69
Author: Asher Mullard
Allogene Therapeutics is taking over rights to Pfizer's off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell pipeline, backed by US$300 million from one of the largest series A funding rounds in the history of biotech.Last year the FDA approved the first ever CAR Ts, (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 27, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Asher Mullard Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
Novartis grows its gene therapy ambitions
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 307 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.68
Author: Asher Mullard
Novartis is buying gene therapy company AveXis for US$8.7 billion, expanding its gene therapy capabilities.AveXis's lead candidate is AVXS-101, a recombinant AAV9-based gene therapy for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). SMA is a neuromuscular disease that is caused by genetic defects in (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 27, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Asher Mullard Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
IDO takes a blow
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 307 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.67
Author: Asher Mullard
Incyte's epacadostat and Merck & Co's pembrolizumab failed in a phase III combination study in unresectable and metastatic melanoma, the companies reported in April, dealing a major blow to hopes for the would-be first-in-class IDO inhibitor.Whereas most of the immuno-oncology research to date (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 27, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Asher Mullard Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
Industry embraces virtual trial platforms
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 305 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.66
Author: Elie Dolgin
Site-less trials promise to speed up drug development — but obstacles to in-home data collection abound. (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 27, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Elie Dolgin Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
Microglia-targeted candidates push the Alzheimer drug envelope
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 303 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.65
Author: Asher Mullard
Denali Therapeutics is taking a swing at neuroinflammation with a first-in-man trial of a RIPK1 inhibitor, while the company and others search for ways to target microglial biology more precisely. (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 27, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Asher Mullard Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
Accelerating the development of therapeutic strategies for drug-resistant tuberculosis
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 377 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.64
Author: Michael J. Vjecha, Simon Tiberi & Alimuddin Zumla
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery (2018); doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.28The affiliations for Michael J. Vjecha have been modified. (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 20, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Michael J. Vjecha Simon Tiberi Alimuddin Zumla Tags: Corrigendum Source Type: research
Cancer: Mopping up a molecule for breast cancer survival
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 316 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.58
Author: Megan Cully
Many cancers suppress immune surveillance to avoid an antitumour response. However, scientists have reported in Nature Immunology that breast cancer cells promote immune cell infiltration, and that infiltrating myeloid cells can be usurped to promote breast cancer cell survival. Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) produced (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 20, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Megan Cully Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Metabolic disease: Liver enzyme inflames fat
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 315 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.59
Author: Sarah Crunkhorn
Obesity-induced activation of adipose tissue inflammation is closely correlated with insulin resistance, but the mechanisms mediating such pathological inflammation are poorly understood. Writing in Nature, Tabas, Ozcan and colleagues report that in mice, obesity stimulates hepatocytes to secrete the enzyme dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4), (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 20, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Sarah Crunkhorn Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Cancer immunotherapy: The perfect match
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17, 313 (2018).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.62
Author: M. Teresa Villanueva
Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a cytokine required in both mounting and dampening immune responses. IL-2 is involved in the expansion, survival and activation of effector T cells and has been used in combination with adoptive transfer of T cells in cancer to overcome some of the (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 20, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: M. Teresa Villanueva Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
