Prostatic cancer metastatic

AstraZeneca is following in the footsteps of some of its big pharmaceutical company peers, plunking down $2 billion to acquire its radiopharmaceuticals partner Fusion Pharmaceuticals. More than adding a pipeline of targeted radiation therapies, AstraZeneca gains the crucial supply chain and manufacturing infrastructure to support them. The sum is an upfront payment. According to the deal terms announced Tuesday, AstraZeneca will pay $21 cash for each Fusion share, representing a 97% premium to Fusion’s closing stock price on Monday. Shareholders of the Hamilton, Ontario-based radiopharmaceutical company could get even more. The deal includes a contingent value right that will pay an additional $3 per share upon achievement of a regulatory milestone. That payment would amount to about $400 million more. The targeted delivery of a radiopharmaceutical comes from its design: a radioactive isotope attached to a molecule that homes in on a cancer cell, maximizing the therapy’s tumor-killing capability while minimizing damage to healthy cells. Fusion’s therapies employ alpha particles that are attached to various molecules—antibodies, peptides, or small molecules. The company contends that more choices in targeting molecules gives it better ability to address a wider range of cancer targets and tumor types. AstraZeneca and Fusion have been collaborating since 2020. That deal covered the discovery and development of up to three radiopharmaceuticals using Fusion’s technology and AstraZeneca’s antibodies. The first program out of the partnership, FPI-2068, targets solid tumors expressing EGFR-cMET. This radiopharmaceutical has reached Phase 1 testing. The collaboration also covers the evaluation of up to five combination therapies that pair Fusion’s assets with AstraZeneca cancer drugs. So far, the Fusion radiopharmaceuticals FPI-1434 and FPI-1966 have been identified for this combination research, which is fully funded by AstraZeneca. Separately, Fusion has an agreement with Merck to test FPI-1434 in combination with that company’s blockbuster cancer immunotherapy Keytruda. This research is still preclinical. Fusion’s most advanced program is the wholly owned asset FPI-2265, a radiopharmaceutical that targets prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), a protein abundant on prostate cancer cells. FPI-2265 is currently in Phase 2 testing in metastatic and castration-resistant prostate cancer. “Between 30 and 50% per cent of patients with cancer today receive radiotherapy at some point during treatment, and the acquisition of Fusion furthers our ambition to transform this aspect of care with next-generation radioconjugates,” Susan Galbraith, AstraZeneca’s executive vice president, oncology R&D, said in a prepared statement. “Together with Fusion, we have an opportunity to accelerate the development of FPI-2265 as a potential new treatment for prostate cancer, and to harness their innovative actinium-based platform to develop radioconjugates as foundational regimens.” The regulatory milestone tied to the contingent value right payment was not disclosed, but Leerink Partners analyst Faisal Khurshid said it’s likely the regulatory approval of FPI-2265. More than this lead radiopharmaceutical, Fusion brings to AstraZeneca in-house manufacturing capability, he said in a research note. Fusion “has long emphasized the importance of vertical integration as a key success factor in radiopharma,” Khurshid said. “We believe the acquisition recognizes the value of [Fusion’s] lead program as well as strategic control over isotope supply and manufacturing.” Isotope supply and manufacturing were key components of other recent M&A deals in the radiopharmaceuticals space. Eli Lilly’s $1.4 billion acquisition of Point Biopharma Global brought that company’s in-house manufacturing. Late last year, Bristol Myers Squibb announced a $4 billion deal to buy RayzeBio, a radiopharmaceuticals developer that also has its own manufacturing capabilities. That acquisition closed last month. In addition to the upfront payment and contingent value right, AstraZenca’s agreement with Fusion brings that company’s cash, cash equivalents, and short term investments, which totaled $234 million as of the end of 2023. The two companies expect to complete the transaction in the second quarter of this year, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals. After that, Fusion will become a wholly owned AstraZeneca subsidiary, maintaining its operations in Canada and the US. Image: istocksdaily, via Getty Images

SAN DIEGO, March 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONCT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel oncology therapies, today announced it will participate in a virtual fireside chat on the Treatment Landscape & New Treatment Options for Prostate Cancer. Oncternal’s President and CEO, James Breitmeyer, M.D., Ph.D. will join Oppenheimer Senior Research Biotech Analyst, Hartaj Singh and a prostate cancer Key Opinion Leader on Tuesday, March 19th, 2024 at 11:00 AM ET. Dr. Breitmeyer will discuss the development of Oncternal’s novel dual-acting androgen receptor inhibitor, ONCT-534, the ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial ONCT-534-101, and the potential positioning of ONCT-534 within the treatment paradigm of advanced prostate cancer. To join this call, please contact your Oppenheimer institutional salesperson. A replay of the event will be available online at investor.oncternal.com and it will be archived there for at least 30 days. About Oncternal TherapeuticsOncternal Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel oncology therapies for the treatment of patients with cancers that have critical unmet medical need. Oncternal pursues drug development targeting promising, yet untapped biological pathways implicated in cancer generation or progression, focusing on hematological malignancies and prostate cancer. ONCT-534 is an investigational dual-action androgen receptor inhibitor (DAARI) with demonstrated preclinical activity in prostate cancer models against both unmutated androgen receptor (AR), and against multiple forms of AR aberration. It is a potential treatment for patients with mCRPC with unmet medical need because of resistance to androgen receptor pathway inhibitors, including those with AR amplification, mutations in the AR ligand binding domain (LBD), or splice variants with loss of the AR LBD. Study ONCT-534-101 (NCT05917470) has dosed patients and continues to enroll patients for treatment with mCRPC. ONCT-808 is an investigational autologous chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cell therapy that targets Receptor Tyrosine Kinase-Like Orphan Receptor 1 (ROR1) using the binding domain from zilovertamab. ONCT-808 has demonstrated activity in preclinical models against multiple hematological malignancies and solid tumors and has been shown to be specific for cancer cells expressing ROR1. Oncternal has developed a robust and reproducible manufacturing process that has the potential to reduce the time patients must wait for their individual CAR T therapy to be produced, compared with currently approved CAR T products. Oncternal has dosed patients under Study ONCT-808-101 (NCT05588440) with relapsed or refractory aggressive B-cell lymphoma, including patients who have failed previous CD19 CAR T treatment. Zilovertamab is an investigational monoclonal antibody designed to inhibit the function of ROR1. Zilovertamab has been evaluated in a Phase 1/2 Study CIRM-0001 (NCT03088878) in combination with ibrutinib for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and marginal zone lymphoma (MZL), which resulted in 100% progression free survival (PFS) at 42 months in CLL patients expressing a p53 mutation/del(17p), a population underserved by current treatment options. Zilovertamab is also being evaluated in an investigator-initiated Phase 1b study of zilovertamab in combination with docetaxel in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (NCT05156905). More information on our company and programs is available at https://oncternal.com/. Contact Information: InvestorsRichard Vincent 858-434-1113rvincent@oncternal.com MediaCorey Davis, Ph.D. LifeSci Advisors 212-915-2577 cdavis@lifesciadvisors.com

LOS ANGELES, March 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) today announced the 2023 Class of PCF Team Challenge Award recipients and a total of more than $21 million in funding for innovative prostate cancer research. PCF Challenge Awards fund international, multi-institutional, cross-disciplinary teams of investigators conducting highly innovative research with the greatest potential for accelerating new and improved treatments for advanced prostate cancer. Following a rigorous peer review process that assessed each project's scientific merit and potential patient impact, 20 highly coveted PCF Challenge Awards totaling $21.3 million were granted to teams at some of the world's leading cancer research institutions. For full project descriptions visit . 2023 James Cox Foundation, GTSN-PCF Challenge Award Project Title: Targeting Neuroendocrine Cells in Prostate Cancer with Small Molecule and Targeted Radionuclide Therapies Principal Investigators: Andrew Armstrong, MD, and Jiaoti Huang, MD, both of Duke University (Studying the efficacy of and developing biomarkers for two new treatment approaches for neuroendocrine prostate cancer to address an unmet need encompassing precision immunotherapy for the treatment of highly aggressive forms of castration-resistant prostate cancer.) 2023 Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC)-PCF Challenge Award Project Title: Development of a CBP/p300 Degrader for the Treatment of Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Principal Investigators: Arul Chinnaiyan, MD, PhD; Shaomeng Wang, PhD; Ulka Vaishampayan, MBBS; Abhijit Parolia, PhD, all of University of Michigan (Developing a new therapy that targets the prostate cancer oncogenes CBP and p300, this project will provide preclinical efficacy data and analyze biomarkers of response from a phase 1/2 clinical trials in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.) 2023 Bayer-PCF Health Equity Research Award Project Title: Incorporating Patient Education into Germline Testing in Black Patients with Prostate Cancer Principal Investigator: Burcu Darst, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (With the aim of reducing prostate cancer health disparities, this project will examine whether a tailored education program increases the likelihood of Black patients to undergo genetic testing and further the understanding of how this information impacts disease management decisions.) 2023 PCF Challenge Award Project Title: Personalizing Treatment Decisions Through Composite Next Generation Imaging and Liquid Biomarker Development Within a Phase II Randomized Trial of Enzalutamide (+/- 177Lu-PSMA-617) (ENZAp) Principal Investigator: Louise Emmett, MD, MBBS, St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Australia (Studying molecular imaging and liquid biopsies from patients on a clinical trial testing LuPSMA plus enzalutamide versus enzalutamide alone as first-line therapy in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer to better understand the mechanisms of synergy and resistance and develop biomarkers to guide individualized treatment decisions for patients.) 2023 Sun Pharma-PCF VAlor Special Challenge Award Project Title: A Phase 2 Randomized Study of YONSA® (Abiraterone Acetate), Enzalutamide or Apalutamide as First Line Therapy in Veterans with Castrate-Sensitive Prostate Cancer Principal Investigators: Antonio Tito Fojo, MD, and Susan Bates, MD, both of James J. Peters Veterans Affair Medical Center (Studying the effectiveness of an abiraterone-first strategy in the management of patients with castration-sensitive prostate cancer at the time when cancer recurrence is first documented.) 2023 PCF Challenge Award Project Title: Identifying Drivers of Aggressive Prostate Cancer and Racial Disparities in Patients Presenting with Low-Grade Disease Principal Investigators: Vanessa Hayes, PhD, The University of Sydney; Gail Prins, PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago; Riana Bornman, MD, University of Pretoria (Identifying genetic and genomic risk factors of lethal prostate cancer in African ancestry patients and translating this information into new criteria for classifying, managing and treating prostate cancer in these patients in order to reduce racial health disparities.) 2023 Bayer-PCF Health Equity Research Award Project Title: Impact of Genetic Ancestry and DNA Methylation on Prostate Cancer in African and African-American Patients Principal Investigator: Brian Joyce, PhD, Northwestern University (Investigating the usefulness of DNA methylation profiling of patient samples for the early detection and risk stratification of prostate cancer in Black men.) 2023 John Black Charitable Foundation-PCF Challenge Award Project Title: Metabolic Imaging and Targeted Radionuclide Combination Treatment of Prostate Cancer Bone Metastases Principal Investigators: Edward O'Neill, PhD, Claire Edwards, PhD, both of University of Oxford (Studying the role of tumor metabolism in treatment responses to 177Lu-PSMA-617 radioligand therapy to identify potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets in advanced prostate cancer.) 2023 Bayer-PCF Health Equity Research Award Project Title: Molecular Evaluation of Prostate Saturation and Progression Biopsies for Risk Assessment and Early Intervention Principal Investigator: Nallasivam Palanisamy, PhD, MSc, Henry Ford Health System (Analyzing at the molecular level prostate tumor samples from Black and white patients to understand racial differences in prostate cancer biology and disease progression, potentially leading to improved biomarker-based risk assessment tools for Black patients to improve health outcomes and reduce disparities.) 2023 Digital Science Press-PCF Challenge Award Project Title: Intercepting the Cancer Endocycle to Cure Lethal Prostate Cancer Principal Investigators: Kenneth Pienta, MD, Johns Hopkins University; Sarah Amend, PhD, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine; Emma Hammarlund, PhD, Lund University (Investigating whether a dormant "endocycling" state underlies cancer cells' ability to survive and resist therapy and testing new therapies to target cancer cells in this state.) 2023 Bayer-PCF Darolutamide Challenge Award Project Title: Darolutamide to Augment Radiotheranostic Therapy in Biochemically Recurrent Prostate Cancer (DART-BCR) Principal Investigators: Praful Ravi, MD, Harvard: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; David Einstein, MD, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Examining the efficacy of darolutamide alone or in combination with PSMA-targeted radioligand therapy to identify biomarkers for patients most likely to benefit from this combination therapy, and determining how PSMA, the target of prostate cancer treatments and PET imaging, is regulated.) 2023 Durden Foundation-PCF Challenge Award Project Title: Characterizing Imaging, Genomic and Immune Predictors of 177Lu-PSMA (Lu-PSMA) and Olaparib Response in Patients with Metastatic Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer (mCRPC) Principal Investigators: Shaneen Sandhu, MBBS, and Belinda Parker, PhD, both of the University of Melbourne (Testing the efficacy of a combination of Lu-PSMA and Olaparib for certain patients with mCRPC and defining the biological impacts of this combined therapy to maximize its effectiveness.) 2023 John and Daria Barry Foundation-PCF VAlor Challenge Award Project Title: Germline Influence on Prostate Cancer Metastasis and Response to Androgen Deprivation Therapy Principal Investigators: Tyler Seibert, MD, PhD, and Rana McKay, MD, of University of California San Diego; and Paul Boutros, PhD, MBA, of University of California Los Angeles (Using previously identified genetic variants that increase prostate cancer aggressiveness to develop a new genetic test that can predict individuals at high risk for developing lethal prostate cancer and their response to treatment.) 2023 Hamptons Coalition-PCF Challenge Award Project Title: Targeting Gut Bacterial Androgen Production to Reverse Therapeutic Resistance in Metastatic Prostate Cancer Principal Investigators: Karen Sfanos, PhD, Johns Hopkins University; Cathy Marshall, MD, MPH, Mark Markowski, MD, PhD, both of Johns Hopkins Medicine; Jason Ridlon, PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Developing and testing therapeutic strategies to prevent androgen production by gut bacteria in order to prolong the clinical response to anti-androgen therapies.) 2023 Regeneron-PCF Special Challenge Award Project Title: A Pilot Presurgical Trial of REGN5678 (Anti-PSMAxCD28) in Patients with High-Risk, Localized Prostate Cancer Followed by Radical Prostatectomy Principal Investigators: Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD, Sumit Subudhi, MD, PhD, Brian Chapin, MD, Bilal Siddiqui, MD, all of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Investigating the efficacy of a new immunotherapy treatment, anti-PSMAxCD28 (REGN5678), that enables T cells to directly bind with and kill prostate cancer cells.) 2023 PCF Challenge Award Project Title: Modulation of Anti-Androgen Response by NSD2 in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Principal Investigators: Michael Shen, PhD, Andrea Califano, PhD, of Columbia University Medical Center; Johann de Bono, MD, PhD, The Institute of Cancer Research; Charles L. Sawyers, MD, Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center (Elucidating the mechanisms of NSD2 action, a critical driver and promising therapeutic target against highly aggressive neuroendocrine prostate cancer, to provide a foundation for early-phase trials of NSD2 inhibitors.) 2023 Bayer-PCF Darolutamide Challenge Award Project Title: Darostep: Evaluating Step Counts as a Biomarker and its Relationship on Treatment Outcomes in Vulnerable Patients with Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer on Darolutamide and Androgen Deprivation Therapy Principal Investigators: Russell Szmulewitz, MD, Nabiel Mir, MBBS, Megan Huisingh-Scheetz, all of The University of Chicago (Evaluating the impact of treatment with darolutamide on age-related outcomes in vulnerable, older patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.) 2023 Movember, Todd Boehly, Shmuel Meitar, Richard Merkin, MD, Marcel Claure-PCF Challenge Award Project Title: Identification of Patients at High-Risk of Metastatic Disease After Neoadjuvant Intensive Androgen Signaling Inhibition Principal Investigators: Mary-Ellen Taplin, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Steven Balk, MD, PhD, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Developing biomarkers for identifying patients with high-risk localized prostate cancer who are likely to benefit from neoadjuvant androgen receptor signaling inhibitors (ARSI) which could lead to a new treatment paradigm that will cure more patients at the localized disease stage.) 2023 Igor Tulchinsky-PCF Challenge Award Project Title: ctDNA Determinants of Resistance to 177Lu-PSMA-617 versus Taxane-Based Chemotherapy Principal Investigators: Alexander Wyatt, PhD, Vancouver Prostate Centre; Arun Azad, MD, Michael Hofman, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre; Kim Chi, MD, BC Cancer (Developing new blood-based biomarker tests to predict how well patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer will respond to 177Lu-PSMA-617 versus taxane chemotherapy while identifying new molecular mechanisms that drive treatment resistance.) 2023 Richard Solomon, Igor Tulchinsky, Darius Bikoff, John Paulson, Richard Sandler, Bill Mack, Jason Safriet-PCF Challenge Award Project Title: New Targeted Epigenetic Therapy for Androgen Receptor-Negative Prostate Cancer Principal Investigators: Ming-Ming Zhou, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Kunhong Xiao, PhD, Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute (Establishing the mechanisms of action and preclinical efficacy of a novel BRD4- targeted therapy for diverse subtypes of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.) About the Prostate Cancer Foundation The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) is the world's leading philanthropic organization dedicated to funding life-saving prostate cancer research. Founded in 1993 by Mike Milken, PCF has been responsible for raising more than $1 billion in support of cutting-edge research through more than 2,250 research projects at 245 leading cancer centers, with a global footprint spanning 28 countries. Since PCF's inception, and through its efforts, patients around the world are living longer, suffering fewer complications, and enjoying better quality of all life. PCF is committed to creating a global public square for prostate cancer, in service to our mission of ending death and suffering from the disease. Learn more at pcf.org. MEDIA CONTACT: Staci L. Vernick Prostate Cancer Foundation [email protected] [email protected] 610-812-6092 SOURCE Prostate Cancer Foundation