Biomedicine Daily · Wednesday, 14 October 2026

Epcoritamab plus R-CHOP cuts progression or death risk by half in untreated high-risk DLBCL

Adding epcoritamab to R-CHOP cut the risk of disease progression or death by 51% in previously untreated DLBCL patients with IPI scores of 3 to 5 (HR 0.49; 95% CI, 0.35-0.69; P<0.0001), meeting the primary endpoint of the phase 3 EPCORE DLBCL-2 trial. The benefit was matched in the overall IPI 2 to 5 population (HR 0.49; 95% CI, 0.36-0.67; P<0.0001). This is the first positive phase 3 study of a bispecific antibody combination in first-line DLBCL.

BioNTech BNT113 Plus Pembrolizumab Misses PFS Endpoint in AHEAD-MERIT HPV16-Positive HNSCC Trial

BNT113 plus pembrolizumab failed to significantly improve progression-free survival versus pembrolizumab alone in first-line HPV16-positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, according to first topline results from the phase 2/3 AHEAD-MERIT trial (NCT04534205). PFS was a dual primary endpoint. BNT113 is an mRNA tumor immunotherapy encoding the HPV16 E6 and E7 proteins.

Intravenous hyaluronidase-expressing oncolytic adenovirus with chemotherapy in metastatic pancreatic cancer: a randomized phase 2b trial.

Adding intravenous VCN-01, a hyaluronidase-expressing oncolytic adenovirus, to gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel improved outcomes as first-line therapy in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. In the full analysis set, median overall survival was 10.8 versus 8.6 months (HR 0.57) and progression-free survival was 7.0 versus 4.6 months (HR 0.55, P = 0.011); response duration was 11.2 versus 5.4 months. The phase 3 evaluation is warranted.

STAT+: Concerns grow on safety issues tied to Neurocrine Biosciences rare disease drug

Patient advocates and experts are raising alarm over Vykat XR, Neurocrine Biosciences' drug for Prader-Willi syndrome, which has been linked to seven deaths and nearly 100 hospitalizations since approval 18 months ago. Case reports obtained by STAT through the Freedom of Information Act do not prove causality, and many cases involved complex medical issues and multiple medications, but some experts say the evidence shows unacceptable harm.

Syndax ends fibrosis program for Niktimvo after mid-stage disappointment

Niktimvo (axatilimab) failed its primary endpoint in the Phase 2 MAXPIRe study, missing on slowing the annualized rate of decline in forced vital capacity at 26 weeks among 145 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and Syndax has discontinued the drug's development in IPF. The monoclonal antibody remains approved for chronic graft-versus-host disease after at least two prior lines of treatment, and two ongoing combination studies in that indication read out later this year and in early 2028.

FDA Approves 2 New Alzheimer Disease Blood Tests

Updated Stroke Guideline Emphasizes Early, Holistic Intervention

The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association issued an updated 2026 stroke rehabilitation guideline. It recommends starting rehabilitation as early as possible after stroke and tailoring it to patients' individual physical, cognitive, language, and emotional needs. Clinicians can use it to shape early, holistic rehabilitation programmes.

STAT+: BlackRock to buy majority stake in Humana’s CenterWell clinics for $2.8 billion

BlackRock is buying Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe's majority stake in Humana's CenterWell Senior Primary Care, a network of 150 Medicare Advantage-focused clinics, in a $2.8 billion transaction announced Tuesday. Welsh Carson, which has invested at least $1.8 billion since 2020, is exiting after more than six years. Humana said the deal will over the next two years fund clinic operations, new clinics and other strategic acquisitions.

Another Paragon spinout goes public through reverse merger

Alaunos Therapeutics acquired Velaris Therapeutics, Paragon Labs' ninth spinout, in a reverse merger that takes the cardiopulmonary disease drug developer public. Fairmount Funds, which founded Paragon in 2021, led a concurrent private placement of about $350 million, with investors including Venrock, Wellington Management and T. Rowe Price accounts, funding operations into 2029. Four of the combined company's five board directors will come from or be picked by Fairmount, and the business will advance Velaris' programs plus an obesity and metabolic disorder drug from Alaunos.

Mechanisms of transcription control by distal enhancers from single-gene nanoscopy

Real-time single-gene nanoscopy shows that distal enhancers are physically brought to promoters by cohesin-mediated loop extrusion, and that these enhancer-promoter contacts are temporally coordinated with transcriptional bursts. RNA Pol II general machinery components form nanoscale clusters at enhancers, and promoter embedding in these clusters boosts general transcription factor activity and triggers burst initiation. This shifts enhancer control from passive looping models to an active clustering mechanism that gates burst initiation.

A high-dimensional population code in the bat motor cortex during natural dexterous flight

The bat wing motor cortex does not mainly track the wingbeat cycle during natural dexterous flight. Instead it generates sparse, distinct population states with little shared variance across wingbeats, supporting natural flight with wingbeat-level precision. The resulting high-dimensional population code differs from the low-dimensional coding typically seen in constrained tasks.

Human Tau Strains Keep Their Structure and Spread Prion-Like in the Brain

Human Tau strains can retain their structural identity and propagate in a prion-like manner through templated seeding, according to structural evidence published in Nature. The work shows pathogenic Tau is taken up by cells and induces misfolding of normal Tau, forming new aggregates that spread to other brain regions. The findings support the idea that distinct Tau diseases may be driven by Tau strains with unique three-dimensional conformations.

Follicle-associated epithelial tuft cells amplify type 2 mucosal immunity and IgA production.

Tuft cells form a second, evolutionarily conserved cell population in the follicle-associated epithelium of Peyer's patches, alongside M cells, according to analysis of Gfi1b-eGFP reporter mice and human PP biopsies. Both lineages arise from Pou2f3+ progenitors, with RANKL driving M cells and IL-13 driving tuft cells. Tuft cell-derived IL-25 activates ILC2s in Peyer's patches, and ILC2-derived IL-13 enhances IgA class switching and antigen-specific immunity.

medicalxpress.com

Early gut microbes help the newborn immune system fight deadly infections, mouse experiments suggest

Early gut colonization by Lactobacillus species protects newborn mice from lethal infection by a mechanism now traced in Science Translational Medicine: the bacterial metabolite indole-3-lactic acid activates the aryl hydrocarbon receptor on gut lining cells, driving them to produce the antimicrobial complex calprotectin. Antibiotics that wiped out Lactobacillus lowered calprotectin and left pups susceptible to fatal sepsis after Citrobacter rodentium exposure, while oral ILA or purified calprotectin restored the barrier and boosted survival. Human intestinal organoids from patient biopsies showed the same pathway, suggesting microbe-based strategies to prevent neonatal sepsis.

Structural basis of directionality control in large serine integrases

Cryo-EM structures of the SPβ integrase captured along the integration and excision pathways reveal how large serine integrases enforce highly directional DNA recombination and how the cognate recombination directionality factor produces a complete reversal of directionality. The structures resolve a long-standing mechanistic question about directionality control in this recombinase family.

medicalxpress.com

Drug combination that reduces oxygen levels in tissues improves Parkinson's symptoms in mice

A two-drug 'hypoxia pill' pairing the hemoglobin modifier GBT601 with the HIF-2α inhibitor PT2399 reduced tissue oxygen delivery and improved neurodegeneration symptoms in mice. In advanced Leigh syndrome mice treated at 50 days old, it extended expected life span from about 62 days to 158 days. It reversed movement-related symptoms in a Parkinson's disease mouse model, performing comparably to breathing 11% oxygen, and halted disease progression in a Friedreich's ataxia model.

Discovery and engineering of retrons for precise genome editing.

Engineered retron reverse transcriptases identified from metagenomic data produce single-stranded DNA donors in mammalian cells at efficiencies comparable to conventional oligodeoxynucleotide donors, but from a genetically encoded cassette. The editors work with Cas12a nuclease and Cas9 nickase, broadening targetable sites and avoiding double-stranded breaks. An all-RNA delivery strategy enables DNA-free editing in cells and vertebrate embryos, demonstrated by inserting a split GFP epitope tag for live-cell imaging.

A high-resolution protein-RNA binding atlas for structure-aware interaction prediction and post-transcriptional regulatory modeling

A high-throughput CLIP-seq platform, eclair CLIP, maps binding sites for 67 endogenously tagged RNA-binding proteins in HEK293T cells, yielding a transcriptome-scale atlas of post-transcriptional regulons linked to RNA half-life. Adding ecCLIP data to the Borzuki sequence-to-function model improved RNA half-life prediction and assessment of 3' UTR variant effects on RNA stability. A structure-aware neural network, Pythia, predicted RBP binding from sequence and structural context, with mutation libraries in reporter CLIP assays confirming predicted structure-dependent binding for five RBPs and allele-specific variant effects.

Benchmarked sequencing methods reveal hidden mosaic variation in the human brain

Benchmarking four duplex sequencing methods against bulk and single-neuron genome sequencing in matched human brain tissue showed that mosaic variant recovery is strongly method-dependent, with limited caller-level concordance. The new RIVER tool integrates read-level evidence, expanding cross-method-supported candidates by roughly two orders of magnitude; orthogonal sequencing at ~10,000x validated about half of tested RIVER-rescued candidates. Recovered variants resolved broadly distributed and regionally restricted clones and traced lineage among individual neurons.

From Biological Insight to a New Class of Medicines for Hemophilia A

The 2026 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award recognizes researchers who developed a bispecific antibody mimicking blood coagulation factor VIII. The antibody offers a new class of medicines for hemophilia A, a life-threatening bleeding disorder caused by lack of factor VIII. The winners describe how biological insight drove the drug's development.