Biopharma is constantly on the hunt for the next generation of targeted oncology drugs to effectively wipe out cancer cells. But to keep those tumors gone, biotechs like Artios, now the recipient of a fundraising megaround, are using the cells’ own damage repair mechanisms against them.

Artios Pharma has snagged a $153 million C round to help drive the UK-based biotech’s lead candidates targeting DNA damage repair factors — proteins that help knit together damaged DNA — through the clinic, the biotech said Tuesday.

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Reading about John Carroll’s pick of biotech’s most promising startups has become a treasured tradition. If you ever get curious about previous classes of the Endpoints 11, you can find all of them (plus a number of our other regular specials) here.

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Just one day after blockbuster Lynparza got access to another indication in China, its Big Pharma owners have decided to withdraw it in certain patients after reviewing Phase III data.

The two companies that work together on Lynparza decided to recall one of the indications several weeks ago in a specific type of ovarian cancer, Lynparza’s first indication when it was first FDA-approved in 2014. Initial data showed that rates of overall survival in patients with at least three rounds of chemo before getting on the PARP inhibitor were lower than in patients with less previous chemo treatment.

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A Cipla drug manufacturing site in India has once again landed in the crosshairs of FDA inspectors.

The facility in question is Cipla’s drug manufacturing facility in the village of Verna, in the state of Goa in India’s southwest. In a sign that foreign inspections might ramp up again, the FDA’s visit from Aug. 16 to Aug. 22 uncovered six observations.

The 11-page report noted that environmental monitoring at the site did not properly ensure that microbial contaminants were not making any impact in the aseptic filling areas. It also found that procedures meant to stop microbial contamination were not adequately conducted in aseptic areas of the facility.

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The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee on Friday voted 8-4 against the benefit-risk profile of Secura Bio’s PI3K inhibitor Copiktra (duvelisib), which won approval in September 2018 as a third-line treatment for relapsed or refractory CLL or SLL, but updated pivotal trial results raised safety questions.

In addition to the serious and fatal toxicities of duvelisib, FDA speakers at the ODAC meeting pointed to an evolved treatment landscape for CLL and SLL, with targeted BTK or BCL2 inhibitors (front-line or second-line), and data pointing to a “potential detriment” in overall survival for duvelisib. But some ODAC members noted that the detriment was likely small and that there is some efficacy even as the data are difficult to interpret.

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