World Cancer Day: Innovation in the Cancer Treatment Pipeline

World Cancer Day is recognized annually on February 4th; a day to remember those lost, celebrate battles won, and shine a light on innovation and advancements that will change the future of cancer care.

Cancer continues to lead the way in terms of investment in biotech, helping fund and drive new innovation at the earliest stages of development. According to data from BioPharma Dive, total venture investment in 2024 directed at biotechs developing cancer-related drugs reached more than $4.78 billion. Cell and gene therapies, many of which are being targeted towards cancer treatment, saw more than $1.4 billion invested in 2024.

At BioPharm International, we'd like to recognize some of the novel technologies and therapies born out of them that are poised to have an impact in the future. Below you'll find some recent news-worthy headlines from the oncology space that we're following, including new and expanded regulatory approvals, industry collaborations, and novel drug developments.

1. Roche, Innovent Partner on Novel SCLC-Targeted Antibody Drug Conjugates

Recently, Innovent Biologics announced that it has entered into a collaboration and exclusive license agreement with Roche under which the companies will advance the development of IBI3009, Innovent’s novel delta-like ligand 3 (DLL3)-targeted antibody drug conjugate (ADC) candidate for the treatment of advanced small cell lung cancer (SCLC). DLL3 is an antigen with low expression in normal tissues but is significantly overexpressed in certain cancers, particularly SCLC and other neuroendocrine tumors, making it an attractive target for emerging therapy development. IBI3009 has already received investigational new drug approvals in the United States, China, and Australia and is currently in a Phase I study.

IBI3009 was developed using Innovent’s proprietary novel topoisomerase 1 inhibitor (TOPO1i) platform. It has shown positive anti-tumor activity in multiple tumor-bearing mouse models, particularly chemo-resistant tumor types.

2. New Research Collab Between Oxford, GSK Will Support Cancer Prevention

A new agreement between GSK and the University of Oxford will focus on the potential of cancer prevention through vaccination. Under the agreement, the entities have established the GSK-Oxford Cancer Immuno-Prevention Program, which will conduct translational research and explore precancer biology with the aim of generating key insights on how cancer develops in humans.

This is the second collaboration between the two entities, whose Institute of Molecular and Computational Medicine, which is based at the University of Oxford, has thus far demonstrated progress at improving the success and speed of research and development of new medicines, specifically in the field of neurodegeneration. This new partnership will leverage Oxford's substantial expertise in precancer biology, including the identification and sequencing of neoantigens—tumor-specific proteins that prompt the immune system to recognize cancer. The university’s unique focus may help target the vulnerabilities of precancerous cells with active intervention, such as a vaccine or targeted medicine, which can prevent the precancer from progressing to cancer.

3. FDA Approves ADC Enhertu for Treatment of HER2-low, HER2-ultralow Breast Cancer

The FDA recently approved an expanded indication for AstraZeneca's and Daiichi Sankyo's jointly developed antibody drug conjugate Enhertu for the treatment of unresectable or metastatic hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-low (immunohistochemistry [IHC] 1+ or IHC 2+/ISH-) or HER2-ultralow (IHC 0 with membrane staining) breast cancer—the first HER2-directed therapy for this cancer subtype. The FDA previously approved the drug to treat any HER2-positive solid tumor back in May 2024, making it a truly novel, tumor-agnostic therapy.

The combination drug includes trastuzumab, an monoclonal antibody that attaches itself to the HER2 receptor; and deruxtecan, an effective chemotherapy that is released inside the cancer cell.

4. Verismo Therapeutics Doses First Patient in SynKIR-310 CAR-T Trial

The first patient has been dosed in Verismo Therapeutics’ phase 1 CELESTIAL-301 clinical trial, which is evaluating SynKIR-310, a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy based on the company's killer immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR)-CAR platform, in patients with relapsed/refractory (r/r) B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL).

Verismo’s KIR-CAR platform, which was developed at the University of Pennsylvania, is intended to enable sustained antitumor activity of the CAR T-cells in difficult tumor microenvironments. KIR-CAR is a dual-chain CAR T-cell platform that uses a natural killer cell-derived KIR and DAP12, which acts as a novel costimulatory molecule for T-cells, to improve expression and persistence. In preclinical models resistant to traditional CAR-T approaches, it showed prolonged functional T-cell persistence and effected tumor regression.

5. Lantern Pharma Leverages AI to Identify New ADC Targets for Oncology

Lantern Pharma recently disclosed new details of its AI platform RADR AI, which taps data analytics, experimental biology, and machine learning to analyze biologic data across 22 tumor types, from which the AI platform extracts biomarkers and genomic features that could potentially serve as therapeutic targets. According to Lantern, the platform has already "identified 82 ADC targets and 290 target-indication combinations for effective tumor targeting...[and] also identified and validated 729 potential payload molecules from a pool of over 50,000 screened compounds."

"We believe that our data-driven and machine-learning-ready approach could reduce ADC development timelines by 30% to 50% and cut associated costs by up to 60% compared to traditional methods," said Lantern CEO Panna Sharma.