Topas Therapeutics has hailed a win for its immune-tolerance platform, reporting positive phase 2a data on its celiac disease candidate without sharing numbers to validate its upbeat outlook.

Jasper Therapeutics has reported complete responses in 10 of the 12 chronic hives patients who received the high dose of its c-Kit antibody. But, with some patients relapsing within weeks, the biotech has begun trialing a higher dose in pursuit of deeper, more durable responses.

Novartis has terminated a phase 2 trial of its SMURF1 inhibitor LTP001 in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) but will continue to advance the candidate in another indication.

Capricor Therapeutics is taking a victory lap for their phase 2 Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) trial. At three years, the San Diego-based company’s cell therapy deramiocel improved patients’ left ventricular ejection fraction and ability to use their upper limbs.

Alaunos Therapeutics is axing an agreement with Precigen, giving up licensing rights to a personalized T-cell platform.

The world is absolutely teeming with viruses. The infectious agents are widely considered the most abundant biological entity on Earth. But a full understanding of viruses and the roles they play in our world is limited by our paltry knowledge of their incredible diversity.

Booster Therapeutics has launched with $15 million in seed financing and a mission to take on the current crop of targeted protein degraders.

Finnish biotech Orion has spied potential in Aitia’s “digital twin” tech to develop new cancer drugs.

While Windtree Therapeutics has struggled to grow the financial roots needed to survive, a phase 2 win for the biotech’s lead asset will at least give the company encouragement to persevere.

An attempt by Merck & Co. to unlock the microsatellite stable (MSS) metastatic colorectal cancer market has ended in failure. The drugmaker found a fixed-dose combination of Keytruda and an anti-LAG-3 antibody failed to improve overall survival, extending the wait for a checkpoint inhibitor that moves the needle in the indication.