Anticancer therapy: Re-educating macrophages
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 313 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.82
Author: M. Teresa Villanueva
Despite being the main effectors of the innate immune response and programmed to detect and eliminate mutated cells, macrophages can change their phenotype and become pro-tumorigenic in response to cues from the tumour. Given their position within the tumour mass, tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs) are an (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 28, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: M. Teresa Villanueva Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Thomas Lynch
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 308 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.69
Bristol-Myers Squibb has one of the deepest immuno-oncology drug pipelines, with checkpoint inhibitors, T cell and natural killer cell agonists, and metabolic modulators of the tumour microenvironment. Despite a setback with its marketed checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab in a first-line lung cancer setting last year, there are still high hopes for these emerging therapies. In March, the company hired Thomas Lynch — former CEO of Massachusetts General Physicians Organization and Director of the Yale Cancer Center — as its new Chief Scient...
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 28, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
FDA approves dupilumab for severe eczema
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 305 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.90
Author: Asher Mullard
The FDA approved Regeneron and Sanofi's first-in-class candidate dupilumab for the treatment of moderate-to-severe eczema.T helper 2 type responses have emerged as a unifying feature of various inflammatory and allergic diseases, such as eczema and asthma. As a result, type 2 cytokines — (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 28, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Asher Mullard Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
FDA approves first deuterated drug
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 305 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.89
Author: Asher Mullard
The FDA approved Teva Pharmaceuticals' deutetrabenazine for chorea associated with Huntington disease, providing the first approval of a drug that contains the heavy hydrogen isotope deuterium.Early adopters first started tinkering with the use of deuterium in drug candidates more than 50 years ago. (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 28, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Asher Mullard Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
FDA approves first drug for primary progressive multiple sclerosis
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 305 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.88
Author: Asher Mullard
The FDA approved Roche's ocrelizumab for the treatment of relapsing and primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS), wrapping up a 40-year development history for the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody (mAb). This is the first drug approval for PPMS, a form of the neurodegenerative disease that (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 28, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Asher Mullard Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
CAR T therapies drive into new terrain
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 301 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.84
Author: Katie Kingwell
The FDA could soon approve the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T therapies for blood cancers, but this young field is still working on how to address solid tumours, safety concerns and manufacturing issues. (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 28, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Katie Kingwell Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
Nine paths to PCSK9 inhibition
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 299 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.83
Author: Asher Mullard
A lipid-modulating protein that exemplifies the value of human genetics for target validation has provided a fertile testing ground for new drug modalities including long-acting RNA interference drugs, vaccines against self-antigens, CRISPR therapeutics and small molecules that control ribosomal activity. (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 28, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Asher Mullard Tags: News and Analysis Source Type: research
Cancer: Belt and braces for BCR – ABL
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 312 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.79
Author: Megan Cully
The breakpoint cluster region–Abelson tyrosine kinase (BCR–ABL) fusion oncoprotein drives chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). Although therapies targeting BCR–ABL — such as the pioneering compound imatinib — have dramatically improved patient outcomes, many patients need to remain on treatment, and drug resistance can emerge. Writing in (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 21, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Megan Cully Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Metabolic Disease: Protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor reverses diabetes
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 312 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.73
Author: Sarah Crunkhorn
The development of oral insulin-sensitizing agents to minimize the need for injectable insulin remains a major unmet need in the treatment of diabetes. Now, writing in Nature Chemical Biology, Bottini and colleagues report the identification of the first orally available small-molecule inhibitor of the (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 21, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Sarah Crunkhorn Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Cancer: Belt and braces for BCR –ABL
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 312 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.79
Author: Megan Cully
The breakpoint cluster region–Abelson tyrosine kinase (BCR–ABL) fusion oncoprotein drives chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). Although therapies targeting BCR–ABL — such as the pioneering compound imatinib — have dramatically improved patient outcomes, many patients need to remain on treatment, and drug resistance can emerge. Writing in (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 21, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Megan Cully Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Metabolic Disease: Protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor reverses diabetes
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 312 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.73
Author: Sarah Crunkhorn
The development of oral insulin-sensitizing agents to minimize the need for injectable insulin remains a major unmet need in the treatment of diabetes. Now, writing in Nature Chemical Biology, Bottini and colleagues report the identification of the first orally available small-molecule inhibitor of the (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 21, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Sarah Crunkhorn Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
An audience with Jay Bradner
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 367 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.71
Author: Asher Mullard
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery16, 232–233 (2017)Two typographical errors that may have affected the meaning of the answers related to the creation of the Chemical Biology & Therapeutics unit within NIBR and the focus of the NIBR leadership (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 18, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Asher Mullard Tags: Erratum Source Type: research
G protein-coupled receptors: Novel probe for MRGPRX2
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 314 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.77
Author: Crunkhorn Sarah
The orphan MAS-related G protein-coupled receptor member X2 (MRGPRX2) is expressed primarily in human dorsal root ganglia and mast cells, and has been suggested to modulate pain and itch. Using a high-throughput screen of 5,695 unique compounds, Lansu et al. discovered that many exogenous (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 18, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: CrunkhornSarah Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Cancer: Identifying synergistic drug combinations
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 314 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.76
Author: Crunkhorn Sarah
Drug combinations are commonly used to counter drug resistance in cancer therapy. To identify synergistic drug target combinations, Han et al. have developed a scalable CRISPR-based double-knockout system that enables parallel pairwise gene knockout. Application of this system in a chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 18, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: CrunkhornSarah Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Viral infections: Targeting host kinases
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 16, 314 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrd.2017.75
Author: Crunkhorn Sarah
Targeting host pathways that are exploited by viruses represents a promising antiviral strategy. Bekerman et al. show that the host cell kinases AP2-associated protein kinase 1 (AAK1) and cyclin G-associated kinase (GAK), which activate the host adapter proteins AP1 and AP2, are required by (Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)
Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - April 18, 2017 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: CrunkhornSarah Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
