March 3, 2026
Barry Bunin, PhD
Founder & CEO
Collaborative Drug Discovery
“Researchers Praise ‘Stunning’ Results of New Prostate Cancer Treatment.” That’s the headline for an article in The Guardian about scientists reporting results from an early stage trial of an immunotherapy drug called VIR-5500, suggesting it could offer hope to men with advanced prostate cancer. Prof Johann de Bono of the UK’s Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, who led the work, described VIR-5500 as an engineered antibody that brought together the body’s killer T- cells with tumor cells trying to evade them. This type of drug, called a T-cell engager, allowed the killer cells to destroy tumor cells, with minimal side effects reported. When the team looked at data for 17 men given the highest dose, they found that for 14 (82%) their PSA level fell by at least half after treatment, nine (53%) saw their PSA level fall by at least 90%, and five (29%) experienced a fall of at least 99%. The results, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco. Dr. De Bono said further clinical trials are now being planned, adding: “We do need more data but the results are stunning.”
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“First Multi-Coronavirus Vaccine Enters Human Testing, Built on UW Medicine Technology.” GeekWire carries that headline about research at the University of Washington Institute for Protein Design, which is on the cutting edge of AI-assisted protein innovation and perhaps best known as the home of Dr. David Baker, a 2024 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry. South Korean pharmaceutical company SK Bioscience is leading a trial in Australia for the new coronavirus vaccine, called GBP511. Neil King, Associate Professor of Biochemistry at UW Medicine, and Deputy Director of the Institute for Protein Design, co-invented the self-assembling nanoparticle technology that was used to generate the vaccine. In a statement he said: “GBP511 is the first vaccine to reach human testing that is intended to protect against multiple strains of the virus that causes COVID-19 as well as related coronaviruses with the potential to spark dangerous outbreaks.” The vaccine features pieces of four different coronaviruses attached to a computer-designed nanoparticle, triggering an immune response to a variety of invaders. Dr. David Veesler, Professor of Biochemistry at UW Medicine who led the preclinical studies, said “The beauty of this approach is that by presenting the immune system with multiple related antigens at once, we can train it to recognize features that are conserved across the entire sarbecovirus family.”
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"What size is right for those on GLP-1 drugs for weight loss?” A recent New York Times article about a trial of Eli Lilly’s retatrutide, called it “a game changer inn obesity pharmacotherapy.” When looking at study drop-out rates higher than expected, Lilly found that at least some of those people dropped out because they thought they might be losing too much weight. Always it is a balance between losing fat while retaining muscle ideally as we age, whether on GLP-1 drugs or not. The article notes it’s hard to know what, exactly, counts as too much weight loss. Some people on GLP-1s worry that they just don’t look right. Other patients and doctors are concerned that eating so little is unhealthy. In other cases, there’s a risk that these medications could fuel disordered eating, experts said. Dr. David Hyman, Chief Medical Officer at Eli Lilly said retatrutide will be aimed at patients who need to lose more weight than they could on other medications. “We’re not trying to force a specific magnitude of weight loss in every patient,” Dr. Hyman said. “We’re not of the belief that the most potent weight loss medicine is required for everybody, or that that’s even the goal.”
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The Wall Street Journal carries a story about scientists developing a new underwear-attached sensor that they hope will do for gastroenterology what the Apple Watch did for cardiology. The article notes the data the device collects could help the 40% of U.S. adults whose lives are regularly interrupted by digestive troubles. Despite the prevalence of digestive-health issues, flatulence researchers have been limited to either invasive laboratory studies or self-reporting, which has proven unreliable. The article’s author wrote: - “One day, millions of Americans might wear sensors like this one, which I found surprisingly unobtrusive. It’s the core of a University of Maryland’s Human Flatus Atlas recent study. Developed using some of the same components found in smart rings and wireless earbuds, devices like this could eventually share a stage with blood-glucose monitors and heart- monitoring Apple Watches.” The study includes participants photographing every meal they eat, with time stamps matching against flatulence events. A record of events is transmitted back to the Human Flatus Atlas whenever the device charges. Researchers note that the flatulence results are kept confidential. “We desperately need to understand what the baseline of human flatulence patterns are,” says Dr. Brantley Hall, the study’s principal researcher at UMD."
Barry A. Bunin, PhD, is the Founder & CEO of Collaborative Drug Discovery, which provides a modern approach to drug discovery research informatics trusted globally by thousands of leading researchers. The CDD Vault is a hosted biological and chemical database that securely manages your private and external data.