Bionest

Real World Evidence Replacing Some Clinical Trials?

Pharmaceutical companies have long used real-world data on drug performance to help justify their pricing decisions to payers. But now such real-world evidence (RWE), gathered from electronic medical records (EMRs), national patient registries and other patient databases, is increasingly being looked at as a way to make the case for new supplemental approvals and label...

Bionest

News from ASCO: Part 2

In this post, we continue our report on some of the precision medicine approaches and initiatives we noted at ASCO.   Neoantigens Revitalizing Cancer Vaccine Efforts   Early efforts to create cancer vaccines aimed at increasing the immune system’s exposure to tumors, but the effectiveness of first-generation vaccines created by Dendreon and others was limited....

Bionest

News from ASCO: Part 1 

As we previously wrote, ASCO’s focus this year was on driving the benefits of precision medicine approaches in oncology to more patients. This was reflected in several ways in the news coming out of the conference, including:   Progress Against Important, Difficult-to-Target Biomarkers   The ASCO news was particularly good this year for patients with...

Bionest

Liquid Biopsy Methods Showing Their Worth

The ability to detect and monitor mutational changes in tumors through a simple blood test has spurred considerable development within the field of liquid biopsy. While questions remain about the accuracy of such tests and the most relevant analyte to measure (i.e., circulating tumor DNA, cell free DNA, circulating tumor cells), liquid biopsy could offer...

Bionest

Meet You at ASCO!

ASCO, the world’s largest meeting focused on cancer, is always one of the highlights of our calendar here at Bionest. This year is no exception and several of us are headed to Chicago for this year’s event, which is being held from May 31 to June 4. If you are going to ASCO, we’d love...

Bionest

Bifunctional Antibodies: The Next Generation of Immuno-oncology Agents

Immuno-oncology agents, particularly checkpoint inhibitors, have moved to the forefront of cancer research and treatment in recent years. Indeed, the discovery that cancer could be treated by activating the immune system was honored with a Nobel Prize in 2018. But, as revolutionary as immuno-oncology drugs have been for the cancer field, many patients still do...

Bionest

Targeting Brain Cancer with New Vaccine Approaches

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common form of brain cancer affecting adults. It is also one of the deadliest and hardest to treat cancers. About half of all people with GBM survive longer than 18 months, but only 15% are still alive five years post diagnosis. Of the approximately two dozen experimental treatments tested...

Bionest

Artificial Intelligence and Image-Based Diagnostic Tools

We have recently been hearing much about “machine learning” and “artificial intelligence” (A.I.). While many tend to use the two terms almost interchangeably, there is a distinct difference between the two.   Machine learning, also known as “deep learning,” is a field of applied mathematics that uses algorithms and statistical models to build predictive systems...

Bionest

Big Oncology Mergers Kick Off 2019

Each January, a large portion of the international healthcare industry descends on San Francisco for the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference and a variety of other concurrent industry events. The sentiment of the nearly 10,000 attendees — largely influenced by partnering news and big merger/acquisition deals announced around these events — typically sets the tone for...

Bionest

Multiple Myeloma: The View from ASH 2018

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a deadly bone marrow cancer. In recent years, the treatment landscape for this disease has improved considerably. However, most patients still relapse and the need for new and better therapeutic options endures.   Encouraging news about several approaches were reported at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in December. Results from...