Aug. 19 Clinical Quick Takes: Kalytera's cannabidiol shows promise for transplant, plus Abbisko and Brigham and Women's

Kalytera's CBD prevents graft-vs-host disease
Kalytera Therapeutics Inc. (TSX-V:KLY; OTCQB:KALTF) announced plans to start a Phase III registrational trial of cannabidiol after low and medium doses reduced the incidence of Grade 2-4 acute graft-versus-host disease in a Phase II trial in bone marrow transplant patients. The company will skip Phase II testing of high dose CBD. Compared with historic norms of 60-70% GvHD incidence, one of 12 patients (8%) receiving low dose CBD and no patients on the medium dose developed GvHD.

Abbisko to start U.S. Phase I cancer study
Abbisko Therapeutics Co. Ltd. (Shanghai, China) said FDA approved an IND for a Phase I trial of oral CSF1R inhibitor ABSK021 in patients with advanced malignancies and tenosynovial giant cell tumors, and plans to begin dosing soon. In July, it licensed mavorixafor from X4 Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XFOR) in part for the CXCR4 antagonist's potential to synergize with ABSK021 to decrease immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment (see "Abbisko Builds Combination Strategy with China Rights to X4's Mavorixafor")...