HER2 Drug Meets Phase 1b; Neurons ward off Alzheimer’s; Bristol-Myers, H3 Biomedicine discover RNA splicing

HER2 Vaccine Candidate Meet Phase 1b Study

An Australian biotech company stated its Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2) vaccine candidate, HER-Vaxx, successfully finished its phase 1b clinical trial and head to a phase 2 study. The first tranche of data from the 14-patient trial comes from the first 10evaluable subjects who were given the HER-Vaxx vaccine at three doses on top of standard chemotherapy with cisplatin and fluorouracil or capecitabine. Of these, 5 individuals had a partial response, with a 30 per cent decrease or more in tumor size from baseline scans. While 4 individuals showed disease stabilization.

Neurons ward off Alzheimer’s disease

When the protein tau builds up inside the neurons of the brain, the cells become impaired and eventually die in a process that has been involved in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Neurons undergo a cellular “cleaning system” that is based on several proteins, including one called BAG3. The system clears tau from neurons and protects against Alzheimer’s. Working with mouse neurons, the levels of BAG3 were changed inside the cells. When they increased BAG3, the neurons cleared extra tau. However, when BAG3 levels lowered, the toxic protein crippled the cells.

Bristol-Myers, H3 Biomedicine discover RNA splicing drugs for cancer

Bristol-Myers Squibb is collaborating with Eisai spinoff H3 Biomedicine and its RNA-splicing technology. The duo will examine if new treatments based on H3’s platform can elicit a stronger response against cancer or not. Under the agreement, Bristol-Myers and H3 will work on research focused on developing immune therapies for cancer using the latter’sRNA-splicing platform. After that BMS will take care of the development and commercialization of selected compounds. H3 will pick up unrevealed amounts in an upfront payment, development, regulatory and sales milestones, and certain royalties, the pair said in a statement. Eisai will hold onto the option to co-develop and co-commercialize “certain compounds” that come out of the partnership.