NEW YORK – Achilles Therapeutics, a London-based company developing T-cell therapies for solid tumors, said this week that it has joined the Northern Alliance for Advanced Therapies Treatment Center consortium. As part of the UK government-funded consortium addressing the challenges of delivering advanced therapies, Achilles will contribute its cell therapy expertise, including operational and supply chain knowledge it acquired through developing its precision clonal neoantigen-reactive T-cell therapy. Through its participation in NA-ATTC, the company hopes to assist the consortium in addressing operational gaps and barriers to patients accessing cell therapies.
The Jackson Laboratory this week said it has acquired Charles River Laboratories Japan's Research Models & Services business. The wholly owned subsidiary, which has about 250 employees and three production sites in Atsugi, Hino, and Tsukuba, as well as an administrative office in Yokohama, will be called The Jackson Laboratory Japan.
Yale New Haven Health said this week that breast cancer patients at its Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London, Connecticut, will now have access to a new imaging agent that will help doctors deliver precision breast cancer treatment to patients. The hospital will implement the PET nuclear medicine agent fluoroestradiol F18 injection (Zionexa's Cerianna) to identify patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. The radioactive diagnostic agent, which the US Food and Drug Administration approved last year, is injected during a PET scan and can detect ER-positive lesions in organs and tissue in around 80 minutes. The radiotracer is meant to be used as an adjunct to biopsy in patients with recurrent or metastatic breast cancer. "This is a totally different approach to medicine," Louis Mazzarelli, director of diagnostic radiology at L+M and Westerly hospitals, said in a statement. "Once in the body, the radiotracer seeks abnormalities specifically related to estrogen-positive breast cancer. If these are present within lymph nodes or within the body otherwise, the treating team can use that lesion roadmap to develop an optimal care plan."
GV20 Oncotherapy said this week that it has completed a Series B financing round, and that it will put the funds toward its antibody drug discovery platform for cancer immunotherapies. Specifically, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm will use the financing to advance its lead antibody program into the clinic this coming year as well as to expand its drug discovery portfolio directed at new cancer targets. The financing round was led by Coatue Management with participation from existing investors IDG Capital, 3W Investment, Watson Capital, and Linear Capital, among others. The firm did not disclose the amount it has raised.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared in Precision Oncology News.