The Bio Report

Pancreatic cancer remains one of oncology’s deadliest diagnoses, with standard treatments often offering only transient tumor shrinkage at the cost of grueling side effects and rapid resistance. Immuneering is using transcriptomic and informatics tools to design a MEK inhibitor dosed in intense daily pulses rather than continuously. This approach aims to restore a more normal signaling rhythm in healthy cells while repeatedly ambushing tumors. Ben Zeskind, CEO of Immuneering, discusses how the company is using its informatics-driven dosing regimen to re-engineer targeted cancer therapy so it extends survival, delays resistance, and is better tolerated.

Human leukocyte antigen, or HLA, genes, help the immune system tell the difference between the body’s own tissues and outside threats. In some people, certain versions of HLA genes mistakenly flag normal proteins as dangerous, which can push immune cells to attack joints, nerves, the gut, or other organs. Many autoimmune diseases are driven by changes in HLA genes. RheumaGen is developing a new kind of gene-editing treatment that aims to cure autoimmune diseases by going after one of their root genetic triggers. Instead of broadly weakening the immune system, the company’s goal is to switch off a single “bad” version of an immune gene while leaving the rest of the body’s defenses intact. We spoke to Richard Freed, CEO of RheumaGen, about the role of HLA genes in autoimmune diseases, how the company’s gene-editing therapies work, and its lead program in rheumatoid arthritis.

Asia is quickly becoming a powerhouse for biopharma innovation, changing ideas about where breakthrough science and fast, cost-efficient drug development happen. A new McKinsey & Company report shows how countries like China, Japan, and India are each building their own strengths across the drug development continuum. We spoke to Fangning Zhang, a partner in McKinsey’s Shanghai office, about what’s driving this shift, how it could make innovation more affordable, and why treating Asia as optional may mean missing the next wave of global R&D.

Leukemia once threatened Aaron Viny’s life, but now it defines his mission. Diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia as a college student, he survived chemotherapy, central nervous system relapse, and an allogeneic stem cell transplant from his younger brother—an experience that made him aware of both the power and toxicity of conventional cancer care. Today, as a hematologist-oncologist and laboratory researcher at Columbia University, Viny is helping reimagine how we treat blood cancers by shifting from blunt, cell-killing approaches to precision strategies that rewire malignant cells and their ecosystems. We spoke to Viny, assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physician and Surgeons, about the case for thinking of hematological cancers as regulatory problem rather than focusing on genetic mutations, the potential for looking at epigenetic activators and deactivators of genes to treat them, and how he is harnessing new technology to look at cell-surface proteins to distinguish regenerating marrow from refractory leukemia.

When Amy Burroughs stepped in as CEO of Terns Pharmaceuticals, she not only had to fill a void created by the death of her predecessor, but also lead a strategic shift from an increasingly crowded area of metabolic disease to focus on its experimental therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia. The company’s allosteric BCR-ABL inhibitor binds to a different site on the fusion protein than most first- and second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors. The data have the company and its investors believing the drug can reset the bar for both efficacy and tolerability in a multibillion-dollar market. We spoke with Burroughs about reinventing the company, the decision to seek partners for non-core assets, and how she is charting a clear path toward a broader oncology future.