High-dose chemo + autologous stem cell therapy demonstrates no benefit in MRD-negative mantle-cell lymphoma, phase III study shows

Investigational Orca-T treatment for hematologic malignancies meets primary endpoint in phase III trial

Orca Bio, a late-stage biotechnology company, on March 17 announced results from the pivotal phase III Precision-T study of Orca-T, its lead investigational allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy, in patients with acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome and mixed-phenotype acute leukemia. Orca-T is manufactured using highly purified regulatory T-cells, hematopoietic stem cells and conventional T-cells derived from peripheral blood from either related or unrelated matched donors.

March 28, 2025

Vol.51 No.12

News Analysis

Trump’s tariffs will likely affect cancer drugs and devices—and may deepen drug shortages

For over a month since President Trump announced his intent to impose aggressive new tariffs on America’s friends and foes alike, lobbyists for hospitals, medical societies, and makers of branded and generic drugs have been trying to convince him to rethink.

By Claire Marie Porter and Jacquelyn Cobb

Elahere shows survival benefit in long-term analysis for ovarian cancer patients in phase III study

AbbVie announced the final analysis of the confirmatory phase III MIRASOL trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of Elahere in women with folate receptor alpha-positive platinum-resistant ovarian cancer compared to chemotherapy.

Genmab’s Rina-S shows promise in treating advanced ovarian cancer

Genmab A/S announced on March 17 updated data from cohort B1 of the phase I/II RAINFOL-01 study of rinatabart sesutecan, an investigational folate receptor-alpha-targeted, TOPO1 antibody-drug conjugate that showed Rina-S 120 mg/m2 every three weeks resulted in a confirmed objective response rate of 55.6% (95% CI: 30.8-78.5) in heavily pre-treated ovarian cancer patients regardless of FRα expression levels.

Immunovia completes second clinical validation of next-gen pancreatic cancer test

Immunovia announced results from the VERIFI study, the second clinical validation study of its next-generation pancreatic cancer test.