InLight Bio

In vivo BCMA CAR-T in myeloma at 15 months of follow-up: no new important ESO-T01-related adverse events, one ongoing sCR, median PFS 4.0 months

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Four patients with relapsed/refractory myeloma received a single infusion of in vivo BCMA CAR-T; with up to 15 months of follow-up there were no new important ESO-T01-related adverse events, one patient had an ongoing sCR and median PFS was 4.0 months, while the other three died after relapse or progression.

A pIgR bispecific raises exposure in cynomolgus monkey BAL 5.5-fold

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

After comparing the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (pIgR) across human, cynomolgus monkey and mouse tissues, Marks et al. fused an anti-pIgR VHH onto an anti-haemagglutinin IgG; after a single intravenous dose of 5 mg/kg in cynomolgus monkeys, the bispecific had a serum half-life of about 1.6 days and total exposure in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid 5.5 times that of the control IgG.

Large-scale validation of a synthetic TCR library shows that, on average, only 56% of the VDJdb TCRs tested reproduce their annotated reactivity

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Using the T-RAP synthetic TCR library and pooled screening to test VDJdb annotations, only 56% on average (n=2,667) reproduced the original reactivity; on the validated set, tcrdist3 and AlphaFold3 achieved mean AUROCs of 0.80 and 0.74, respectively.

Novartis takes global rights to Abogen's in vivo mRNA T-cell engager ABO2203

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

$575M upfront; up to ~$7.8B total. ABO2203 is not an in vivo CAR-T. It uses lipid nanoparticles to deliver mRNA encoding a CD19×CD3 T-cell engager, so that the patient's own cells “manufacture” the bispecific to clear B cells. It is in a Phase 1 study in refractory autoimmune disease; the first data made public cover 3 patients with refractory secondary immune thrombocytopenia. Novartis also receives an exclusive option on next-generation assets from Abogen's mRNA/LNP platform. Notably, a $575 million upfront is high for an early Phase 1 asset, suggesting big pharma is willing to bet early on “biologics generated in vivo”, and that mRNA companies have found a new outlet beyond vaccines in autoimmunity.

Targeting ZMYND8 reshapes exhausted T cells in mice and enhances responses to immunotherapy

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

In LCMV and melanoma models, targeting ZMYND8 biased P14 cells toward an effector-like exhausted state and enhanced killing and responses to immunotherapy.

TSC2 loss produces astrocyte reactivity in organoids at all 3 time points

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

In human brain organoids, Cre-induced biallelic TSC2 loss significantly raised reactive astrocyte module scores in GLCs at 50, 120 and 220 days.

Human cortical organoids transplanted into apallial mice: grafts make up 91.9% of cortical volume and grow about 4.7-fold between 2 and 3 months

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Four human cortical organoids were transplanted neonatally into immunodeficient apallial mice lacking Esco2, and by 3 months the grafts made up 91.9% of cortical tissue volume, growing about 4.7-fold between 2 and 3 months.

Knocking out DPP9 in humanized mice causes CARD8-driven pyroptosis, haematopoietic stem cell depletion and pancytopenia

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

CRISPR knockout of DPP9 in human CD34+ HSPCs in MISTRG6 mice reproduced peripheral and bone marrow cytopenias; the loss is driven by CARD8-mediated pyroptosis, rescued by knocking out CARD8 or CASP1 but not NLRP1.

Inhaled ARO-RAGE was tolerable in healthy volunteers and patients with asthma, with a single 184 mg dose lowering BALF sRAGE by 90.2%

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

In a randomized double-blind trial, an inhaled siRNA targeting RAGE in the lung epithelium achieved tolerable safety; in healthy volunteers, soluble RAGE in bronchoalveolar lavage fell by a mean of up to 90.2% after a single 184 mg dose.

Charge-switchable lipid nanoparticles did not raise IL-6, IL-1β or MIP-2 in LPS-pretreated mice

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

In LPS-pretreated mice, E20 switchable lipid nanoparticles (SNPs) did not raise IL-6, IL-1β or MIP-2, while LNPs made with MC3-DLin, cKK-E12 or SM-102 raised them sharply.

In an exploratory proteomic substudy, rentosertib produced significant changes in 21 aging-clock comparisons

Mon, 07 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

In an exploratory proteomic substudy of 42 patients with IPF, rentosertib produced Q<0.10 in 21 of 54 ΔBioAge comparisons, suggesting a reduction in predicted biological age.

GSK buys Chimagen's trispecific T-cell engager for up to $750M

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Up to $750M total. GSK acquired global rights from Chimagen to a trispecific T-cell engager for multiple myeloma: one arm binds T cells and the other two bind two undisclosed tumor-associated antigens. It is still preclinical; GSK expects it to enter Phase 1 in 2027. The dual-antigen design targets the antigen loss and relapse commonly seen after single-target T-cell engagers (such as BCMA) and CAR-T. This is the second time GSK has bought an asset from Chimagen; the earlier CMG1A46 is a different molecule. Together with Roche's September in-licensing of Simcere Zaiming's CD79a×CD19×CD3, trispecifics are becoming a new deal hotspot in antibody engineering.

Ivonescimab monotherapy beats pembrolizumab on overall survival in HARMONi-2

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

No deal value. HARMONi-2 (AK112-303) is a Phase 3 study conducted in China in first-line PD-L1-positive locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, directly comparing ivonescimab (a PD-1×VEGF bispecific) monotherapy with pembrolizumab monotherapy. The primary endpoint, PFS, had already been met (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.38–0.69); this pre-specified analysis shows a statistically significant improvement in overall survival as well, but the press release did not give the OS hazard ratio. A PFS win with OS unknown had been the key question over whether PD-1×VEGF bispecifics can displace Keytruda. Note that these are single-region data; the US and European markets covered by Summit still need support from global studies.

Simcere Zaiming licenses CD79a×CD19×CD3 trispecific SIM0660 to Roche

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Up to $1.53B total. SIM0660 is a trispecific T-cell engager: one arm binds CD3 to recruit T cells, while the other two simultaneously bind the B-cell antigens CD79a and CD19. The design aims for potent B-cell depletion while keeping cytokine release low; dual-antigen coverage is also intended to serve patients previously treated with CD20 or CD19 therapies who may have antigen loss. Roche obtains exclusive global rights. The asset is still preclinical or early stage with no specific indication disclosed; the company describes it as aimed at both B-cell malignancies and autoimmune disease. It is another molecular design, after CD19×CD3, in the “T-cell engagers that deplete B cells to treat autoimmunity” theme.

Four humanized DMD mouse models carrying deletions of exon 44, 45, 51 or 53, with flanking exon skipping restoring dystrophin

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Four mouse models with deletions of human DMD exon 44, 45, 51 or 53 were generated on the mdx background; gastrocnemius muscle in 8-week-old males lacked dystrophin or had only trace amounts, and intramuscular injection of vivo-morpholinos to skip flanking exons restored the protein.

Long-term follow-up of anti-CD19 CAR-T cases in refractory myasthenia gravis: all 3 patients maintained treatment-free clinical remission for at least 19 months

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Three patients with AChR-positive refractory generalized myasthenia gravis received KYV-101 (1×10^8 cells) and maintained clinical remission off MG-specific immunotherapy at 24, 19 and 19 months of follow-up; anti-AChR antibodies did not fully disappear, and adverse events were transient and manageable.

Human cortical organoids cultured in vitro for 5 years; methylation-clock predicted age correlates with time in culture (r = 0.88–0.90)

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Human cortical organoids were cultured for up to 5 years, and ages predicted by the Horvath and cortical methylation clocks correlated with time in culture (r = 0.88–0.90, median absolute errors of 7.25 and 20.04 months).

AIntibody blinded benchmark: 511 AI antibodies reach a best of 95 pM in affinity maturation, with uneven performance across tasks

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

511 AI-designed or AI-predicted antibodies from 29 institutions were experimentally validated in a blinded benchmark: the best in Challenge 1 reached 95 pM (a 2,000-fold improvement over the parent), while in Challenge 2 only 9.8–13.8% of submissions had higher affinity than the cluster control.

After triple therapy started at 72 hours, 8 infant macaques remained aviraemic for 6 months off treatment

Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

In orally SHIV-infected infant macaques given LRM, bNAbs and 27 weeks of ART starting at 72 hours, all 8 animals were aviraemic 6 months after ATI with no CAVL detected in PBMCs or tissues.

A biobank of 256 tumour organoids is established, with 162 completing genome-wide CRISPR screens to map gene dependencies

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

A UK multicentre team established 256 tumour organoids from 907 samples (28% efficiency), and 162 completed genome-wide CRISPR–Cas9 screens that passed quality control (85% success rate).

HCMI resource: 97.8% of 421 matched tumour–model pairs retain at least two classes of DNA features

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Across 665 patient-derived models spanning 25 cancers, analysis of 421 matched pairs showed that 97.8% retained at least two classes of DNA features, with 95% concordance for methylation.

A screen of 156 macrophage-activating bispecifics selects WTa2d1xCD38, with IC50 values as low as 18.0 pM

Sat, 01 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Using function-first surfaceome screening plus 156 heterodimeric scFv-Fc bispecifics, Pagès-Geli et al. selected the low-affinity SIRPα decoy × CD38 molecule WTa2d1xCD38; IC50 values across 10 lymphoma cell lines ranged from 18.0 pM to 3.08 nM, and in vivo it prolonged survival and produced complete cures when combined with rituximab.

Lilly to acquire Merida Biosciences for up to $2.9B, entering Graves' disease

Sat, 01 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Up to ~$2.88B total. Merida's approach is to bind pathogenic autoantibodies directly and tag them for clearance, rather than broadly suppressing the immune system. Lead molecule MER511 targets Graves' disease and entered Phase 1 in late 2025, in combination with antithyroid drugs; Lilly also named thyroid eye disease. Merida was founded only in April 2025 with a $121 million Series A and was acquired a little over a year later. According to BioPharma Dive, this is Lilly's 12th company acquisition of 2026 and its 3rd in immunology (after Ventyx and Orna). If the precise “clear only the pathogenic antibodies” strategy holds up, it could avoid the side effects of FcRn inhibitors, which lower all IgG.

Haisco immunology asset goes into ARCH-founded NewCo Sentivera

Sat, 01 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Over $1.5B total. ARCH Venture Partners and Population Health Partners co-founded the US company Sentivera, which takes exclusive rights outside Greater China to a Haisco immunology asset; Haisco keeps Greater China rights and holds equity in Sentivera. Neither the target nor the modality has been disclosed — only that it addresses type 2 inflammatory diseases, has just received a Chinese IND, and showed anti-inflammatory activity and good safety preclinically. This is the classic NewCo playbook: the Chinese side trades the asset for cash plus equity, while a top US VC builds the team to run overseas clinical development. Upfront and equity together are less than 5% of the headline total; most of the value depends on later milestones.

Intrathecal RAG-17 reached acceptable safety in 6 patients with SOD1-ALS, with cerebrospinal fluid SOD1 down 69% at day 240 in cohort 1

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000

In an open-label trial in 6 patients with SOD1-ALS, intrathecal RAG-17 achieved acceptable safety and tolerability; cerebrospinal fluid SOD1 fell 69% from baseline at day 240 in cohort 1 and 56% at day 210 in cohort 2.

The trispecific IL-2R antibody αβγVHH-48 reaches an EC50 of 0.015 nM

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Lykhopiy et al. assembled VHHs against CD25/CD122/CD132 into trispecific agonist antibodies; the lead αβγVHH-48 had a pSTAT5 EC50 of 0.015 nM in HEKαβγ cells, close to the 0.010 nM of human IL-2, and after making CD25 bivalent and altering the geometry it could activate Tregs selectively at picomolar and even femtomolar concentrations.

Across 12 diet models, 4/6 obesogenic diets are associated with anti-PD-1 response

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Across 12 mouse diet models, 4/6 obesogenic diets were associated with anti-PD-1 response, suggesting that what matters is not metabolic score but the diet–gut microbiome axis.

J&J locks up Sail Biomedicines' in vivo CAR-T with an equity stake and an acquisition option