PI3Kα

A roundup of the most newsworthy healthcare announcements from PR Newswire this week, including the FDA's nicotine reduction proposal, a collaboration between Illumina and NVIDIA, and prescription drug education from Kroger Health. NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help healthcare journalists and consumers stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a recap of some major stories from the week that shouldn't be missed. The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download. Continue Reading PR Newswire Weekly Health Press Release Roundup, Jan. 13-17, 2025. FDA Proposes Significant Step Toward Reducing Nicotine to Minimally or Nonaddictive Level in Cigarettes and Certain Other Combusted Tobacco Products Based on the FDA's population health model, by the year 2100, this nicotine product standard could prevent approximately 48 million U.S. youth and young adults from starting smoking. The model also projects that more than 12.9 million people who smoke cigarettes would stop doing so one year after the rule becomes effective. CVS Health supporting customers, patients, members and colleagues amid California wildfires CVS Pharmacy stores are reopening as it is safe to do so. Stores are also receiving additional supplies of essential and emergency items. Illumina and NVIDIA collaborate to decode biology and propel precision health Leveraging Illumina's leading sequencing technology and informatics tools alongside NVIDIA's leading AI technology, the partnership aims to accelerate drug discovery and clinical development, delivering powerful tools to help pharmaceutical companies identify new and better drug targets. Cigna Healthcare Expands Access to Fertility and Family-Building Benefits and Services This new and comprehensive benefit will enable employers to offer expanded coverage throughout the entire fertility journey, from pre-conception planning to postpartum care, along with coverage options for family-building services such as surrogacy and adoption. Bio-Techne Expands R&D Systems AI-Engineered Designer Protein Portfolio to Advance Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine These innovative recombinant proteins are designed and engineered to address critical needs in cellular therapy workflows and research applications, including improved cell culture performance and optimized cell expansion. Lilly to acquire Scorpion Therapeutics' mutant-selective PI3Kα inhibitor program STX-478 could potentially address 30-40% of people with hormone-positive breast cancer, building on Lilly's advancements against this disease. Kroger Health Expands Prescription Drug Safety Education Program to Reach More Than 470 Schools Across the United States This initiative is part of Kroger Health's ongoing commitment to helping people live healthier lives by raising awareness about the safe use, storage and disposal of prescription medications. Imagenet Acquires CODY to Create A Comprehensive Suite of SaaS and Services Solutions for Health Plans The acquisition will provide health plans serving the Medicare, Medicaid, and Commercial markets with a comprehensive suite of claims- and compliance-oriented solutions previously unavailable under a single vendor partner. Ginkgo Bioworks Partners with Universal Cells, an Astellas Company, to Advance Next-Generation iPSC-Derived Cell Therapies for Solid Tumors The companies aim to accelerate the development of more potent and durable cell therapies while maintaining manufacturability at scale. The New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute Enters Agreement to Accelerate Precision Drug Discovery for Neurodegenerative Disease This initiative brings together NYSCF's advanced robotic systems for stem cell research and J&J's expertise in drug discovery and data science to unlock novel disease insights and accelerate the development of more effective and tailored treatments. all® free clear detergent Becomes the First-Ever Laundry Brand in the US to Introduce NaviLens Technology on its Packaging Dedicated to creating more accessible environments, NaviLens is a navigation and scanning app for those with low vision and blindness. Once individuals download the NaviLens app, the device detects NaviLens codes, audibly notifying the user of the product name, type, dosing instructions and precise in-store location. Historic Year for Organ Donation as CORE Reports Record-Breaking Numbers in the Region The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) has broken records for the sixth consecutive year, saving and healing more lives through organ, tissue, and cornea donation than ever before. NCCN Joins International Meeting to Improve Cancer Care in the Middle East and North Africa Region The two-day symposium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, brings together leading oncology professionals from across the MENA region to review updated treatment recommendations. Sciwind Biosciences Announces Global Licensing and Collaboration Agreement for Metabolic Disease Portfolio Sciwind has granted Verdiva the exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize the partnered programs outside of greater China and South Korea. American Greetings Joins the American Cancer Society in Encouraging Loved Ones to Get Cancer Screenings "Having conversations with your loved ones about serious topics like cancer can be difficult, but discussions like this can save lives," said Rob Matousek, Executive Director, Direct to Consumer Business at American Greetings. For more news like this, check out all of the latest health-related releases from PR Newswire. Do you have a health press release to distribute? Sign up with PR Newswire to share your story with the audiences who matter most. Helping Journalists Stay Up to Date on Industry News These are just a few of the recent press releases that consumers and the media should know about. To be notified of releases relevant to their coverage area, journalists can set up a custom newsfeed with PR Newswire for Journalists. 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Eli Lilly has said it will be expanding its oncology pipeline by acquiring Scorpion Therapeutics’ PI3Kα inhibitor programme in a deal worth up to $2.5bn. STX-478 is currently being evaluated in a phase 1/2 trial as a monotherapy and as part of a combination treatment for breast cancer and other advanced solid tumours. PI3Kα mutations occur in more than 166,000 patients with breast, gynaecological and other solid tumours in the US every year. STX-478, which is taken orally once daily, is designed to selectively target the PI3Kα pathway in cancerous but not healthy cells. According to Lilly, this approach could potentially offer better disease control through deeper pathway inhibition, as well as improved tolerability. Jacob Van Naarden, executive vice president and president of Lilly oncology, said: “PI3Kα mutations occur in a meaningful proportion of hormone-positive breast cancers, and there is significant unmet need for new treatment options that effectively and safely target this pathway. “The selectivity profile of STX-478 has led to a differentiated clinical profile, enabling use in combinations with standard-of-care therapies to potentially deliver meaningful impact in earlier treatment settings when there is the best opportunity to improve outcomes for patients.” Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly will acquire Scorpion and a new entity will be spun out to house Scorpion’s employees and non-PI3Kα pipeline assets. The independent company will be owned by Scorpion’s current shareholders, with Lilly holding a minority equity interest. Scorpion’s shareholders could receive up to $2.5bn, including an undisclosed upfront payment as well as regulatory and sales milestones. Adam Friedman, Scorpion’s president and chief executive officer, said: “We believe Lilly’s global capabilities and strategic commitment to patients with breast cancer will accelerate our goal of developing STX-478 to improve outcomes for the many patients with solid tumours driven by PI3Kα mutations.” The announcement comes just days after Lilly partnered with Alchemab Therapeutics to develop new therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The collaboration agreement centres around Alchemab’s antibody discovery platform, which uses patient samples from those with unusually slow rates of disease progression to identify antibodies associated with resilience.

Eli Lilly has announced plans to acquire Scorpion Therapeutics’ PI3Kα inhibitor program. Credit: Michael Vi via Shutterstock. Eli Lilly will buy Boston biotech Scorpion Therapeutics’ PI3Kα inhibitor for upto $2.5bn in cash, with the latter splitting away to form a new entity with its remaining assets. Lilly’s bid to acquire Scorpion was driven by the Scorpion’s PI3Kα inhibitor program that is centered on the drug STX-478. The drug is in clinical studies evaluating its potential in solid tumours and breast cancer in particular. As per the company, STX-478 could avoid affecting healthy human cells and selectively target cancer cells, paving the way for better tolerability. As per the deal terms outlined in a 13 January announcement, the new spinout company with its non-PI3Kα assets will be owned by Scorpion’s existing shareholders and Lilly will hold a minority equity stake in it. The news was announced amid a steady trickle of deals announced in the last few days, including one involving another oncology biotech—that of the Johnson and Johnson acquiring Intracellular Therapies . Pharma and biotech investors are expected to engage in rapid deal making in the next few days at the JP Morgan Healthcare conference 2025, which started today [13 January]. Eli Lilly already has market share in the breast cancer space with the approved drug Verzenio (abemaciclib) , and is advancing investigational drugs like the oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) imlunestrant. With its latest acquisition, Lilly will carve out a spot in the PI3K inhibitors space in breast cancer, which for long was dominated by Novartis’ Piqray (alpelisib). In October 2024, Roche had a significant win with the approval of its PI3K inhibitor Itovebi (inavolisib) in combination with Pfizer’s Ibrance (palbociclib) and AstraZeneca’s Faslodex (fulvestrant) as the first-line treatment for certain breast cancer patients. The drug is expected to yield 1.3bn in revenues as early as 2030, as per a consensus forecast by GlobalData, the parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology . PI3K inhibitors are directed toward the subset of breast cancer that are hormone receptor (HR)+. Oncology is expected to be a key area of development in 2025 having been the top therapy area with an estimated CAGR of $232,271 bn in 2024, as per GlobalData’s State of the Biopharmaceutical Industry report . Oncology trials will outnumber CNS and cardiovascular trials, with the most planned clinical trials for 2025 are for solid tumours, followed by pain, as per the report.