Dec. 12 Preclinical Quick Takes: POC for Aptose blood cancer candidate, plus Penn-Acorn AI, Neurimmune-Biogen and Syndax

Efficacy for Btk, FLT3 inhibitor in blood cancers
In a pair of posters at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting in Orlando, Aptose Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:APTO; TSX:APS) and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers reported preclinical proof of concept for CG-806 in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). CG-806, an inhibitor of wild-type and mutant forms of Btk and FLT3, increased apoptosis and reduced proliferation, and was more potent than Btk inhibitor Imbruvica ibrutinib in human CLL and MCL cell lines. Aptose has CG-806 in Phase I testing for treatment-resistant and refractory CLL and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Aptose’s stock is up 73% to $4.41 on NASDAQ since announcing the news on Monday.

Biomarker could aid Castleman’s patients
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Acorn AI have identified an early biomarker predicting idiopathic multicentric Castleman’s disease (iMCD) patients’ responses to Sylvant siltuximab using computational tools including Acorn’s Rave Omics machine learning platform. In an ASH presentation, the team showed that serum levels of CXCL13, a cytokine upregulated in disease flares, were lower at day 8 in patients who responded to the anti-IL-6 mAb from EUSA Pharma Ltd. than in non-responders. ...