• New research suggests mRNA COVID-19 vaccines may enhance the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy, improving survival for patients with advanced lung cancer and melanoma.
• The 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine recognized groundbreaking research on how regulatory T cells control immune responses, advancing understanding of cancer, autoimmune diseases and other conditions.
• The FDA approved a new drug to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, offering the first new treatment for the lung disease in more than ten years.

Recent News

• US FDA approves GSK’s blood cancer treatment
  Reuters – October 24, 2025
  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved British drugmaker GSK’s (GSK.L), opens new tab blood cancer drug, Blenrep, in one combination regimen, the company said, clearing the way for its return to the market nearly three years after it was withdrawn. The FDA approved Blenrep in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone for patients with multiple myeloma whose disease has returned or stopped responding to treatment after at least two prior lines of therapy. A second regimen pairing Blenrep with pomalidomide and dexamethasone, tested in a separate trial, was not included in the approval.
• ESMO: Novartis’ Pluvicto slows hormone-sensitive prostate cancer progression
  Fierce Pharma – October 19, 2025
  Novartis has shared detailed data showing its radioligand therapy Pluvicto could slow the progression of certain hormone-sensitive prostate cancers ahead of a planned application with the FDA. Pluvicto plus standard of care significantly reduced the risk of radiographic progression or death by 28% versus standard of care alone in patients with PSMA-positive metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC), according to Novartis. The standard of care includes androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and an androgen receptor pathway inhibitor (ARPI) such as Pfizer and Astellas’ Xtandi.
• mRNA Covid shots may boost the effects of certain cancer treatments, study suggests
  Stat News – October 19, 2025
  mRNA-based Covid vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna may have an unexpected benefit for cancer patients who undergo immunotherapy. A new study suggests that these vaccines might boost the effects of immunotherapy drugs, perhaps by alerting the immune system and helping direct immune cells to attack tumors. That’s in addition to helping protect against Covid, which can be particularly important for cancer patients who can sometimes have weakened immune systems.
• Roche pill delays tumor progression in closely watched breast cancer study
  Biopharma Dive – October 18, 2025
  A regimen combining a new experimental Roche medicine with an older drug lowered the risk of disease progression or death by nearly two thirds in people with a certain type of breast tumor, according to study data revealed. Roche disclosed last month that the closely watched Phase 3 study had succeeded, but presented details for the first time on Saturday at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting in Berlin. The data, should it lead to a regulatory approval, could help distinguish the company’s medicine from others like it.
• Governor Newsom Signs Nation-Leading Bill To Crack Down on Prescription Drug Price Gouging By Megacorporations
  Office of Senator Wiener – October 11, 2025
  Governor Newsom signed Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) Senate Bill 41 — reining in abusive behavior by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) that raise drug prices and kill neighborhood pharmacies. Prescription drugs are a major driver of high costs: three in ten adults ration or skip medications they are prescribed to take due to cost, and California previously had no regulation on PBM conduct despite their massive role in setting drug prices. SB 41 restores California’s leadership on prescription drug affordability by enacting the nation’s strongest safeguards against PBM abuse.
• Boehringer Ingelheim drug wins FDA OK in tough-to-treat lung disease
  BioPharma Dive – October 8, 2025
  Jascayd’s approval adds to Boehringer’s already prominent position in treating IPF. In 2014, the company won an FDA clearance for Ofev, which has become a pillar of care for IPF and one of Boehringer’s top-selling medicines. The drug, which is also approved for other lung-scarring diseases, generated $4 billion for the German pharmaceutical company last year. But Ofev isn’t a cure, and there are few additional therapeutic options, giving newer medications the chance to make a mark. Jascayd is one of them. Unlike Ofev, Jascayd blocks a type of enzyme, PDE4B, that’s involved in the lung scarring and inflammation associated with IPF. Data published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that treatment slowed the decline of lung function compared to a placebo over the course of a year, with a tolerability profile that may be superior to Boehringer’s older drug.

• The Nobel Prize in medicine goes to 3 scientists for key immune system discoveries
  AP News – October 7, 2025
  Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine for discoveries about how the immune system knows to attack germs and not our own bodies. The work by Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi uncovered a key pathway the body uses to keep the immune system in check, called peripheral immune tolerance. Experts called the findings critical to understanding autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. In separate projects over several years, the trio of scientists — two in the U.S. and one in Japan — identified the importance of what are now called regulatory T cells. Scientists are currently using those findings in a variety of ways: to discover better treatments for autoimmune diseases, to improve organ transplant success and to enhance the body’s own fight against cancer, among others.
• Precision NeuroMed Granted FDA Orphan Drug Designation by U.S. FDA for Treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM)
  Precision NeuroMed – October 7, 2025
  Precision NeuroMed (PNM), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering advanced drug delivery technologies for central nervous system (CNS) diseases, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation for its investigational therapy for glioblastoma (GBM). PNM is reintroducing cintredekin besudotox (IL13-PE38QQR), a potent cytotoxic protein designed to target and kill cells that express the IL-13 alpha-2 receptor (IL13aR), uniquely present on tumor cells such as glioblastoma. The protein’s selective expression allows it to precisely attack cancer cells while minimizing damage to normal brain tissue. Despite advancements in understanding the genetics of glioblastoma and identifying novel drug targets, the blood–brain barrier (BBB) remains a significant obstacle, severely limiting the effectiveness of many potential therapies delivered through the bloodstream.
• AstraZeneca, Daiichi drug extends survival in hard-to-treat breast cancer
  Biopharma Dive – October 6, 2025
  AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s cancer drug Datroway has succeeded in a late-stage trial in an aggressive, tough-to-treat type of breast tumor, the companies said. According to a statement, the therapy, a type of targeted medicine known as an antibody-drug conjugate, slowed tumor progression and extended survival when compared to standard chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancers. Patients in the Phase 3 trial were ineligible for a commonly used immunotherapy. Their tumors were either metastatic or locally recurrent and inoperable.