Russian Academy of Sciences

Kestrel today announced that the first patient has been dosed in its phase 1 trial of KST-6051, an oral small molecule meant to inhibit multiple different kinds of KRAS mutations. \n After debunking earlier rumors that it was acquiring RAS superstar Revolution Medicines, AbbVie is now taking a more definitive step into the red-hot cancer field. The Chicago pharma has agreed to help finance a KRAS inhibitor from Kestrel Therapeutics in a deal that could hit up to $1.45 billion in value and end potentially with AbbVie buying the company outright.This comes as Kestrel today announced that the first patient has been dosed in its phase 1 trial of KST-6051, an oral small molecule meant to inhibit multiple different kinds of KRAS mutations. KRAS is a member of the rat sarcoma virus (RAS) protein family, which is often vital for the survival of certain cancers.The world\'s first approved KRAS inhibitor was Amgen\'s Lumakras, nabbing an FDA green light in 2021 for non-small cell lung cancer. It followed this up last year with an approval for the drug, in combination with Vectibix, for patients with KRAS G12C-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer, and made $363 million. Kestrel is testing KST-6051 in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors that have KRAS mutations, the company said in an April 28 release. AbbVie will help fund clinical development, and if certain milestones are met, the pharma will have the option to acquire Kestrel. The deal includes an upfront payment, future exercise payments and downstream development and regulatory milestones, the value of which \"could reach up to $1.45 billion,\" though the pharma did not break down the details of the financing. “This strategic agreement represents a major validation of our lead pan-KRAS program,” Kestrel CEO Frank Haluska, M.D., Ph.D., said in the release. “AbbVie’s commitment underscores the potential of our approach to address one of the most important targets in oncology.” Long considered undruggable, a wave of next-gen RAS inhibitors has been surging, with Revolution Medicines in the lead. RevMed recently soared on strong phase 3 data for its lead RAS inhibitor, daraxonrasib, and followed up with further data to strengthen its position at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting earlier this month. Reports swirled in January that AbbVie was eyeing a takeover of RevMed, with a potential payout north of $20 billion. AbbVie publicly denied the rumors. With Kestrel, the pharma is now at least dipping a toe into the RAS waters.AbbVie has not taken part in the recent pharma M&A flurry, led by Eli Lilly and Gilead Sciences, but did ink a few deals several months ago. The drugmaker ended 2025 with a $100 million upfront payment for the ex-China rights to a DLL3-targeting trispecific T-cell binder from Zejing Biopharmaceutical.Then, just a few weeks later, AbbVie entered the fiercely contested PD-1xVEGF bispecific arena with a candidate licensed from RemeGen for $650 million, with a potential value of $4.95 billion.

Researchers have proposed novel evidence-based standardized clinical guidelines for recurrent wheezing management in infants and toddlers BEIJING, CHINA, April 28, 2026 / EINPresswire.com / -- Researchers have proposed novel evidence-based standardized clinical guidelines for recurrent wheezing management in infants and toddlers Although recurrent wheezing is a major respiratory disorder among infants and toddlers, standardized protocols have not been established for its diagnosis and management, owing to its diverse etiology. To address this gap, a panel of experts, convened by the Committee of Pediatrics, China Medical Education Association, has proposed novel evidence-based standardized guidelines for the clinical management of recurrent wheezing, which can serve as a benchmark for improving diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic efficacy worldwide. Recurrent wheezing, a respiratory disorder, is caused by the narrowing of the airways, mainly affecting children aged less than 5 years. The multifactorial causes of recurrent wheezing have posed a challenge for its diagnosis and treatment. As a result, standardized evidence-based clinical guidelines are not available for pediatricians to manage recurrent wheezing in infants and toddlers. To fill this knowledge gap, the Committee of Pediatrics, China Medical Education Association, convened a group of experts, including those from pediatric respiratory medicine and allergology, to recommend standardized guidelines for the management of recurrent wheezing in infants and toddlers. These guidelines have been published in the journal Pediatric Investigation on March 5, 2026. Led by Professor Kunling Shen, a leading pediatric respiratory medicine expert from the National Center for Children’s Health, Beijing, and Professor Yunxiao Shang from the Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, China, the guidelines aim to provide clinicians with standardized protocols to enhance diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic efficacy in managing pediatric patients with recurrent wheezing. Explaining the rationale for developing these guidelines, Prof. Shen remarked, “Evidence-based guidelines are critical to effectively manage diseases, especially those with multifactorial etiologies, such as recurrent wheezing. The establishment of guidelines can aid pediatricians in uniformly implementing therapeutic and preventive strategies and consequently improving the clinical outcomes of patients.” As a first step toward developing guidelines, two important definitions were established. Recurrent wheezing was defined as three or more wheezing episodes, with each episode separated by a 7-day asymptomatic interval. Meanwhile, infants and toddlers were defined as those aged between 29 days to 3 years. Next, definitions were provided for classifying recurrent wheezing, which were based on the manifestation of symptoms (episodic viral wheezing, multiple trigger wheezing, and unclassified wheezing) and immunological responses (allergic wheezing and non-allergic wheezing), age of onset (transient early wheezing, early-onset persistent wheezing, and late-onset wheezing), and severity (mild wheezing and severe wheezing). The expert panel recommended various guidelines for diagnosing recurrent wheezing. Clinical history recording and physical examination are the key initial processes for the diagnosis. Laboratory tests (such as eosinophil count and allergen testing), chest imaging, pulmonary function tests, and fractional exhaled nitric oxide analysis were strongly recommended diagnostic investigations. Viral infections are the most common reasons of recurrent wheezing in infants and toddlers. The guidelines also recommend testing for common respiratory pathogens, such as respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus, and human metapneumovirus. In addition to viral pathogens, the guidelines emphasize the need for testing for infections due to bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae. Other recommended ancillary tests to diagnose recurrent wheezing include esophageal pH testing, bronchoscopy, swallow function assessment, and genetic testing. The management of recurrent wheezing can also be improved through type 2 inflammatory disease testing, environmental assessment, nutritional assessment, and long-term follow-up plan establishment. According to the proposed guidelines, managing recurrent wheezing is based on the principle of “Evaluation-Diagnosis-Treatment-Re-evaluation-Re-diagnosis.” The recommendations for the usage of immunomodulators, vitamin D, probiotics, LTRAs, and antihistamines as prophylactic agents are weak in the guidelines. To predict the prognosis of recurrent asthma, asthma prediction tools and long-term pulmonary function assessments are strongly recommended. Prof. Shang explains the application of these guidelines, “The lack of standard guidelines for managing recurrent wheezing in infants and toddlers has resulted in inconsistent implementation of therapeutic and preventive strategies, leading to poor quality of life. The guidelines developed by us can provide a framework for improving the management of recurrent wheezing in infants and toddlers worldwide.” Reference Titles of original paper: Evidence-based guideline for clinical practice in the diagnosis, treatment, management, and prevention of recurrent wheezing in infants and toddlers in China Journal: Pediatric Investigation DOI: https://doi-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.1002/ped4.70046 About Professor Kunling Shen Prof. Kunling Shen is a Professor at the Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children’s Health, China. Dr. Shen is Foreign Academician of Russian Academy of Sciences, Foreign Academician of Royal Irish Medical Association and Founding President of Global Pediatric Pulmonology Alliance (GPPA), President of Asian Society for Pediatric Research (ASPR), the former President of the Pediatric Society of the Chinese Medical Association. She has several books and publications to her credit. About Professor Yunxiao Shang Dr. Yunxiao Shang is a Professor at the Department of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, China. He has authored around 80 articles published in reputed journals. Lu Lu Pediatric Investigation + +86 10 6601 9629 email us here Visit us on social media: X Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.

A team of researchers at ETH Zurich found evidence that neuroprosthetics work better when they use signals that are inspired by nature. The team, working under Professor Stanisa Raspopovic at the ETH Zurich Neuroengineering Lab, garnered attention years ago with prosthetic legs that enabled amputees to feel sensations from the artificial body part for the first time, according to ETH. This device connected to the sciatic nerve in the thigh through implanted electrodes. The electrical connection enabled the neuroprosthesis to communicate with the patient’s brain. With this connection, the neuroprosthetics could relay information on the constant changes in pressure detected on the prosthetic foot’s sole when walking. That gave the test subjects more confidence in their prosthesis and enabled them to walk faster on challenging terrains. In a recently published paper, Raspopovic and his team used the example of their leg prostheses to highlight the benefits of using naturally inspired, biomimetic stimulation to develop the next generation of neuroprosthetics. Using neuroprosthetics to simulate the activation of nerves in the sole To generate biomimetic signals, Natalija Katic – a doctoral student in Raspopovic’s research group – developed a computer model called FootSim. Katic used data collected by collaborators in Canada to develop this model. They recorded the activity of natural receptors — mechanoreceptors — in the sole of the foot while touching different points on the feet of volunteers with a vibrating rod. The model simulates the behavior of those receptors on the sole of the foot. It then generates neural signals that shoot up the nerves in the leg toward the brain. This occurs from the moment the heel hits the ground and the body’s weight begins to shift toward the outside of the foot before the toes push off the ground, ready for the next step. “Thanks to this model, we can see how semsory receptors from the sole, and the connected nerves, behave during walking or running, which is experimentally impossible to measure” Katic said. Giacomo Valle – a postdoc in Raspopovic’s research group – worked with colleagues in Germany, Serbia and Russia on experiments with cats, whose nervous system processes movement in a similar way to that of humans, in an effort to understand how biomimetic signals correspond to the ones emitted by real neurons. The experiments took place in 2019 at the Pavlov Institute of Physiology in St. Petersburg and were carried out in accordance with the relevant European Union guidelines. Researchers implanted electrodes, connecting some to the nerve in the leg and some to the spinal cord. When applying pressure to the bottom of the cat’s paw, they evoked the natural neural response that occurs when a cat takes a step. They saw the peculiar pattern of activity in the spinal cord that resembled patterns elicited when the researchers stimulated the leg nerve with biomimetic signals. However, they saw stimulation of the sciatic nerve in the cat elicit a much different pattern compared to the spine. “This clearly shows that the commonly used stimulation methods cause the neural networks in the spine to be flooded with information,” Valle said. “This information overload could be the reason for the unpleasant sensations or paraesthesia reported by some users of neuroprosthetics,” Raspopovic adds. Learning how the nervous system works here In a clinical trial with leg amputees, the researchers showed the superiority of biomimetic stimulation compared to time-constant stimulation. Their work showed how the signals that mimicked nature produced better results. Not only could test subjects climb steps faster, but they made fewer mistakes in a task requiring them to climb the same steps while spelling words backward. “Biomimetic neurostimulation allows subjects to concentrate on other things while walking,” Raspopovic said, “so we concluded that this type of stimulation is more naturally processed and less taxing on the brain.” Raspopovic believes the new findings highlight the need to move away from unnatural, time-constant stimulation and toward biomimetic signals. This applies to a number of other aids and devices, he says, including spinal implants and electrodes for brain stimulation. “We need to learn the language of the nervous system,” he said. “Then we’ll be able to communicate with the brain in ways it really understands.”