Dizhe Pharmaceutical granted AstraZeneca exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize its drug Shuwozhe under a license agreement signed on July 13, 2026. Dizhe receives a one-time, non-refundable $600 million upfront payment, up to $400 million in clinical development milestone payments, up to $500 million in sales milestone payments, plus tiered royalties on global sales at rates rising to the low double digits.
A urine RNA test called uRARE-seq identified 95% of people with localized bladder cancer and correctly classified 90% of those without it, outperforming standard urine cytology and a DNA-based urine test in a study of 683 urine samples. The test detects cell-free RNA fragments rather than DNA mutations, tracks tumor biology including low- versus high-grade disease, and identified residual disease after surgery and BCG immunotherapy. A derived biomarker predicted whether tumors were more likely to respond to immunotherapy or chemotherapy.
Why it matters: A noninvasive RNA urine test improves bladder cancer diagnosis over standard methods and may guide immunotherapy versus chemotherapy choices.
Inflammation in the gut can wake dormant metastatic breast cancer cells in bone, according to work in Cell Reports using a new extramedullary bone model grown from skeletal stem cells in mice. Distant colitis drove immune cell production in the bone, and the growth-stimulating molecule HMGB2 rose and promoted reactivation of the sleeping cells; HMGB2 alone sufficed, and appeared alongside dividing cancer cells in human bone samples from people with breast or prostate cancer. The finding points to monitoring infections, inflammation or injury after remission as a marker of relapse risk.
MYC gene copy-number amplification is a biologically regulated process, not a random mutation event, controlled by chromatin proteins KDM4C and SETD2. When SETD2 is lost, KDM4C accesses the MYC region and recruits DNA-copying machinery to produce extra MYC copies, which progress to extrachromosomal DNA and tumors when TP53-dependent cell death fails. Blocking KDM4C, including with a clinically used KDM4 inhibitor, reduced MYC amplification in cells and animal models.
A KAIST and IBS team determined the cryo-EM structure of the VEGF-C-VEGFR-3 complex and found that complexes, each containing two VEGFR-3 receptors, assemble side by side into higher-order clusters that amplify lymphangiogenic signaling. Mutations disrupting this cis-cluster formation markedly reduced activation of VEGFR-3 and ERK despite VEGF-C stimulation. The clustering step identifies a new point at which lymphangiogenic signaling could be enhanced in lymphedema or suppressed in cancer metastasis.
Circle Pharma raised a $92.5 million series E, announced Sept. 16, to advance preclinical cyclin D1 inhibitor CID-165 toward a planned clinical start in early 2027, making it the company's top priority over cyclin A/B inhibitor CID-078, which continues in Phase I. CEO David Earp said preclinical combination data drove the decision, with the aim of producing deeper responses in ER-positive breast cancer.
The FDA has approved Eli Lilly's BTK inhibitor Jaypirca for first-line treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The current feed provides only the headline and no further details on trials, dosing, or the basis for approval.
Merck has licensed SPR2015, a KRAS G12D(ON) inhibitor developed by Sipurei, paying $400 million upfront in a deal worth up to $2.13 billion; the transaction has closed. SPR2015 showed nanomolar-level, highly selective inhibitory activity and antitumor effects as a monotherapy in multiple CDX/PDX models, with preclinical data presented at the 2026 AACR meeting. An IND application for SPR2015 has now been filed.
Gut microbial metabolites, not just microbiota composition, may determine CAR-T therapy outcomes. Analysis of 129 CAR-T patients across three German centers, plus single-cell transcriptomic and animal experiments, identified immunomodulatory metabolites with opposing effects on CAR-T efficacy. The work argues prediction of CAR-T response should shift toward microbial metabolic function.
China's NMPA granted conditional approval on September 30, 2026 to Bristol Myers Squibb's iberdomide hydrochloride capsules (brand name Zanfu), a class 1 innovative drug, in combination with daratumumab and dexamethasone for adults with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior line of therapy including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulator. It is the first approved Cereblon E3 ubiquitin ligase modulator (CELMoD) drug worldwide; the US FDA granted accelerated approval to the same regimen in August 2026.
Liang Chen and colleagues from Huashan Neurosurgery report in Nature that osteoclast-mediated destruction of meningeal lymphatic vessels is a previously unreported mechanism of tumor dural metastasis. The study also identifies skull erosion on clinical imaging as a feature distinguishing this type of metastasis from others, and establishes a new mouse model of dural metastasis for mechanistic research.
Why it matters: The paper proposes an osteoclast mechanism involving meningeal lymphatic vessels in dural metastasis and provides a new mouse model that later researchers can compare against or reuse.
On September 28, Sipurui and Merck (MSD) announced a global exclusive license for SPR2015, an investigational oral KRAS G12D (ON) inhibitor. Merck gains worldwide development, manufacturing and commercialization rights, while Sipurui receives a $400 million upfront payment and is eligible for development and commercialization milestone payments, with the potential total deal value reaching $2.13 billion. The $400 million upfront is a record for a Chinese preclinical-stage business development deal on an asset that has no human data yet.
Adding the oral SERD giredestrant to everolimus improved progression-free survival in ER-positive, HER-2-negative advanced breast cancer after prior CDK 4/6 inhibitor treatment. In the phase 3 evERA study of 373 patients, median PFS rose from 5.5 to 8.8 months overall (44% risk reduction) and from 5.5 to 10 months in the roughly 55% with ESR1-mutant tumors (63% risk reduction). It offers an all-oral option where post-CDK 4/6 choices are limited.
Loss of p53 lets mutant clones expand through normal tissue by reorganizing Wnt signaling into a persistent radial gradient, low at the clone edge and high at its center, rather than by simply raising overall Wnt activity. In mouse skin, clones with this gradient expanded efficiently while clones with uniformly higher Wnt activity expanded less. The work maps how p53, acting through Sfrp1, Lrp1 and Usp22, shifts epidermal progenitor cells toward self-renewal and away from differentiation, enabling clonal expansion long before tumors form.
Why it matters: It explains a spatial signaling mechanism by which the most frequently altered tumor suppressor in cancer lets mutant cells colonize normal tissue.
A new image-reconstruction algorithm, TOF-CGI (time-of-flight cascade gamma-ray imaging), lets standard PET scanners image the alpha-emitting therapy isotope actinium-225 by exploiting its gamma-ray pairs, a task PET was long assumed unable to perform. In a first-in-human pilot with one prostate cancer patient, TOF-CGI PET identified the same tumors seen on diagnostic PET and detected more actinium-225 decays than SPECT. The method could open a third imaging route for targeted alpha therapy.
VJOncology has released a podcast for Liver Cancer Awareness Month in which several experts discuss advances in the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatobiliary tumors. Ghassan Abou-Alfa presents the phase 3 EMERALD-3 trial.
Why it matters: The podcast gives PFS and OS figures for STRIDE plus TACE versus TACE in the phase 3 EMERALD-3 trial, offering a concrete comparison for the intermediate-stage HCC setting.
A nutrient-independent lysosomal pathway activates TFEB by recruiting TBK1/ULK1 to lysosomes through the v-ATPase and the TAX1BP1 adaptor, which phosphorylate FNIP1 at S296 and inhibit the FLCN-FNIP complex. Recurrent ATP6V1B2 v-ATPase mutations found in follicular lymphoma patients constitutively activate this pathway, driving TFEB hyperactivation and lymphoma proliferation. The work defines how lysosomal stress is coupled to TFEB-dependent transcription and links it to tumorigenesis.
Tumor-secreted ADAMTSL4 emerges as a circulating driver of cancer cachexia, linked to body weight loss in preclinical models and patients with colorectal and lung cancers. In mice, Adamtsl4 overexpression made tumors cachexia-inducing, while its deletion spared fat and muscle and reduced cachexia severity. ADAMTSL4 activates latent TGFβ1 by engaging its latency-associated peptide, and blocking this axis reduced wasting and muscle fibrosis.
The FDA has approved iberdomide for multiple myeloma on the basis of minimal residual disease negativity, the first approval for the disease to use that endpoint. Iberdomide also represents a new generation of targeted protein degraders, with several more potent cereblon E3 ligase modulators already in clinical development.
