Ispace loses contact with Resilience vehicle during lunar landing attempt
Resilience, a lander built by Japanese-based company Ispace, lost contact with mission control during its attempt to land on the moon.
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Marc Garneau left lasting legacy on Earth and in space, former colleagues say
MONTREAL — Canadian scientists working on asteroid missions, exploring the universe through the James Webb Space Telescope or helping to put rovers on Mars say they can in some way thank Marc Garneau, who left an enduring legacy both as an astronaut and head of the country's space agency. While best-known in later years as a federal cabinet minister, Garneau, who died this week at 76, was also a Navy officer, a systems engineer, and an astronaut with a lifelong passion for science, according to his friends and colleagues. In 1984, he made history as the first Canadian in space when he served as a payload specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. He returned to space twice more, in 1996 and 2000, before serving as the president of the Canadian Space Agency from 2001 to 2005. "All his life was devoted to public service," said Gilles Leclerc, an ex-CSA official who worked with him. "And he was really a role model to all the Canadian astronauts who came after him." As CSA president, Garneau laid the building blocks for the space exploration program that would bring together other initiatives previously developed separately, Leclerc said. He was also "ahead of his time" when it came to being conscious of the environment and understanding the importance of applying space technology for practical uses such as satellite communications. "During his tenure, he really wanted us to focus more on science: astronomy, planetary science, lunar exploration," Leclerc said in a phone interview. "So all these things that now we see, all these missions that Canada participated in, like a mission to the asteroids, two missions to Mars, the James Webb Space had a real strong influence in shaping the future of the space program for a long time." On Friday, CSA President Lisa Campbell paid tribute to Garneau, who she called a "cherished member of the space agency family." "We remain deeply grateful for his extraordinary public service and enduring contributions to Canada and the world, from making history as the first Canadian in space to guiding the Canadian Space Agency as its president," she said at an event at the agency's Montreal-area headquarters. "his integrity, his generosity of spirit touches everyone who had the privilege of working with him." Flags at government buildings in Montreal have been lowered to half-mast in tribute. Garneau would carry his love of science — as well as his significant technical knowledge — into his next role as a politician, according to his former chief of staff and close personal friend. Marc Roy said Garneau decided to run for office out of a desire to give back after his successful space career. Garneau often spoke about how seeing the Earth from above "changed his perspective on many things," including conflicts and environmental protections, Roy said. "So many things that unfortunately divide us as humans that become so irrelevant when you look at our world from abroad," Roy said in a phone interview. "And that desire to want to contribute at an even higher level, at a different, at a policy level, at a governance level is what inspired him to run for federal politics." Garneau was elected as MP in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Westmount in 2008 after failing to win another Montreal-area seat in 2006. Roy said Garneau's scientific background shone through most clearly as Transport minister, when he was able to instantly grasp technical briefings on ships, planes and trains. Above all, his history as a naval officer and astronaut gave him a laser focus on safety, Roy said, in a role that would see Garneau introduce measures including the safer skies initiative, and the oceans protection plan to monitor ship traffic, oil spills and wildlife. Roy said Garneau often spoke about the weight of the portfolio, "wanting to ensure that he did it to the best of his ability, that he truly understood every decision that he was taking and every decision that was possible for him to make in order to ensure the safety of the traveling public and the safety overall of our trade and transportation corridors." Roy said Garneau brought a scientist's analytic, "Spock-like" demeanor to his roles. But he said some of the issues Garneau championed most passionately were social causes, including serving as a joint chair of the special joint committee on medical assistance in dying. And, despite his considerable intelligence, Roy said Garneau remained humble. "He had a very rare quality in a politician, from his very debut until the very last day before he retired as member of Parliament, which was: he listened more than he talked," Roy said. He said his friend was diagnosed only months ago with two cancers: leukemia and lymphoma, and died after a battle that was "brave but short." Roy said his friend's time since retirement was spent enjoying time with his wife, Pam, and his children, and completing work on his autobiography, "A Most Extraordinary Ride: Space, Politics and the Pursuit of a Canadian Dream." Roy said the book gave Garneau closure. "He wanted to tell the story that, 'I'm just like everybody else and I failed and I've screwed up and I pulled up my socks and I learned from my mistakes and I moved on,'" Roy said. "And that was very important for him to tell that story, and I'm just so fortunate that he had the time to do that." This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2025. Morgan Lowrie and Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
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The British Medical Journal Publishes Study Results on Sacituzumab Tirumotecan for Previously Treated EGFR-Mutant Advanced NSCLC
CHENGDU, China, June 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. ("Kelun-Biotech", today announced that results from its registrational study (OptiTROP-Lung03) evaluating sacituzumab tirumotecan (sac-TMT) versus docetaxel in patients with previously treated advanced EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been published in The British Medical Journal (impact factor: 93.6). These data were also presented as an oral presentation in the Lung Cancer—Non–Small Cell Metastatic session (Abstract #8507) at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. Based on the encouraging data from this study, sac-TMT was approved for marketing by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for the treatment of adult patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutant-positive locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous NSCLC following progression on EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy and platinum-based chemotherapy in March 2025. This marks the first global approval of a TROP2 ADC for a lung cancer indication. The published results are based on OptiTROP-Lung03, an open-label, randomized, multicenter registrational study evaluating the efficacy and safety profile of sac-TMT monotherapy versus docetaxel for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic EGFR-mutant NSCLC who have failed after treatment with an EGFR-TKI and platinum-based chemotherapy. A total of 137 patients with advanced EGFR-mutant NSCLC who had progressed after EGFR-TKI and platinum-based chemotherapy were randomized (2:1) to receive sac-TMT (5 mg/kg once every 2 weeks) or docetaxel (75 mg/m2 once every 3 weeks) until disease progression, intolerable toxicity or other reason for discontinuation, with a median follow-up time of 12.2 months (Data cutoff date: December 31, 2024). Sac-TMT achieved statistically significant and clinically meaningful outcomes compared to docetaxel: Confirmed objective response rate (ORR) (As assessed by blinded independent review committee (BIRC): 45% (95% CI, 35-56) vs 16% (95% CI, 7-30). Median progression-free survival (PFS) (As assessed by BIRC: 6.9 months [sac-TMT; 95% CI, 5.4-8.2] vs 2.8 months [docetaxel; 95% CI, 1.6-4.1], hazard ratio (HR)= 0.30 [range, 0.20 -0.46], one-sided p<0.0001; as assessed by investigator (INV): 7.9 months [sac-TMT; 95% CI, 6.2-9.5] vs 2.8 months [docetaxel; 95% CI, 1.5-3.8], HR=0.23 [95% CI, 0.15-0.36], one-sided p<0.0001). With 36.4% of patients in docetaxel group crossing over to receive sac-TMT, median overall survival (OS) was not reached (NR) for both groups (HR=0.49; 95% CI, 0.27-0.88; one-sided p=0.007). The median OS analysed by pre-specified rank-preserving structural failure time (RPSFT) model adjusted for crossover was 9.3 months for docetaxel and NR for sac-TMT (HR=0.36; 95% CI, 0.20-0.66). Efficacy benefit favored patients with sac-TMT over docetaxel across all pre-specified subgroups, including prior EGFR-TKI therapy, brain metastases, EGFR mutation type, etc. Grade ≥ 3 treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) occurred in 56.0% of patients in sac-TMT group vs 71.7% in docetaxel group. The results demonstrated that sac-TMT monotherapy achieved statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) compared to docetaxel, with a manageable safety profile. Sac-TMT is being extensively studied in the NSCLC field. Covering treatment settings from later-line therapy to early-stage postoperative adjuvant therapy, including both monotherapy and combination regimens. Currently, five company-led registrational clinical studies for sac-TMT in NSCLC are underway in China. Meanwhile, Merck Sharp & Dohme（the tradename of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA）is also conducting five global Phase III clinical trials of sac-TMT for NSCLC in regions where it has exclusive rights. Professor Li Zhang, National Lead Principal Investigator, Medical Oncologist and Deputy Director of the Lung Cancer Research Centre at Sun Yat-Sen University, stated: "EGFR mutation is the most common driver alteration in NSCLC. The prevalence of EGFR mutations reaches 28.2% among NSCLC patients in China. Although third-generation EGFR-TKIs have become the standard of care for advanced EGFR-mutant NSCLC and may significantly improve PFS, acquired resistance remains inevitable. Combining EGFR-TKIs with chemotherapy can offer additional survival benefits to some patients, but this approach is limited by safety concerns and may compromise future treatment options, posing significant clinical challenges. The publication of the OptiTROP-Lung03 study in the British Medical Journal marks a major milestone—not only highlighting international recognition of this study outcomes in lung cancer, but also demonstrating the global competitiveness of sac-TMT as a novel TROP2 ADC." Dr. Michael Ge, CEO of Kelun-Biotech, commented: "We are thrilled to see the OptiTROP-Lung03 study published in a top-tier journal. Currently, EGFR-TKIs and chemotherapy remain the standard of care for patients with EGFR-mutant advanced NSCLC, but the challenge of increasing efficacy with manageable tolerability. The results from OptiTROP-Lung03 highlight significant survival benefits with manageable safety profile and suggest that sac-TMT could emerge as a new standard of care for this population. We remain committed to working with our partners to establish sac-TMT as a new standard of care for this patient population and improve outcomes for lung cancer patients worldwide." Registrational Study Led by Kelun-Biotech OptiTROP-Lung03: Sac-TMT monotherapy versus docetaxel for locally advanced or metastatic EGFR-mutant NSCLC after treatment failure with EGFR-TKI and platinum-containing chemotherapy； OptiTROP-Lung04: Sac-TMT monotherapy versus pemetrexed in combination with platinum for locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous NSCLC with EGFR mutations that have failed EGFR-TKI therapy； OptiTROP-Lung05: Sac-TMT combined with pembrolizumab versus chemotherapy combined with pembrolizumab for first-line treatment of PD-L1-positive locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC; OptiTROP-Lung06: Sac-TMT combined with pembrolizumab versus chemotherapy combined with pembrolizumab for the first-line treatment of PD-L1-negative locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous NSCLC; OptiTROP-Lung07: First-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC with EGFR mutations by sac-TMT in combination with ositinib. Registrational Study Led by MSD NSCLC not achieving a pCR after neoadjuvant therapy followed by surgery. NSCLC expressing PD-L1 >50% pre-treated NSCLC with EGFR mutations or other genomic alterations EGFR-mutated, advanced non-squ NSCLC progressed on prior EGFR-TK metastatic sg NSCLC About sac-TMT Sac-TMT, a core product of the Company, is a novel human TROP2 ADC in which the Company has proprietary intellectual property rights, targeting advanced solid tumors such as NSCLC, BC, gastric cancer (GC), gynecological tumors, among others. Sac-TMT is developed with a novel linker to conjugate the payload, a belotecan-derivative topoisomerase I inhibitor with a drug-to-antibody-ratio (DAR) of 7.4. Sac-TMT specifically recognizes TROP2 on the surface of tumor cells by recombinant anti-TROP2 humanized monoclonal antibodies, which is then endocytosed by tumor cells and releases KL610023 intracellularly. KL610023, as a topoisomerase I inhibitor, induces DNA damage to tumor cells, which in turn leads to cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. In addition, it also releases KL610023 in the tumor microenvironment. Given that KL610023 is membrane permeable, it can enable a bystander effect, or in other words kill adjacent tumor cells. In May 2022, the Company licensed the exclusive rights to MSD (the tradename of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA) to develop, use, manufacture and commercialize sac-TMT in all territories outside of Greater China (includes Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan). To date, two indications for sac-TMT have been approved and marketed in China for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic TNBC who have received at least two prior systemic therapies (at least one of them for advanced or metastatic setting) based on the OptiTROP-Breast01 study and EGFR mutation-positive locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous NSCLC following progression on EGFR-TKI therapy and platinum-based chemotherapy based on the OptiTROP-Lung03 study. Sac-TMT became the first domestic ADC with global intellectual property rights to be fully approved for marketing. It is also the world's first TROP2 ADC to be approved for marketing in a lung cancer indication. In addition, two new indication applications for sac-TMT for the treatment of adult patients with EGFR-mutant locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC who progressed after treatment with EGFR-TKI therapy and with unresectable locally advanced, metastatic hormone receptor-positive (HR+) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2-) BC who have received prior endocrine therapy and other systemic treatments in the advanced or metastatic setting were accepted by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), and were reviewed via the priority review and approval process. As of today, the Company has initiated 8 registrational clinical studies in China. MSD has initiated 14 ongoing Phase 3 global clinical studies of sac-TMT as a monotherapy or with pembrolizumab or other agents for several types of cancer. These studies are sponsored and led by MSD. About Kelun-Biotech Kelun-Biotech（ a holding subsidiary of Kelun Pharmaceutical ( which focuses on the R&D, manufacturing, commercialization and global collaboration of innovative biological drugs and small molecule drugs. The company focuses on major disease areas such as solid tumors, autoimmune, inflammatory, and metabolic diseases, and in establishing a globalized drug development and industrialization platform to address the unmet medical needs in China and the rest of world. The Company is committed to becoming a leading global enterprise in the field of innovative drugs. At present, the Company has more than 30 ongoing key innovative drug projects, of which 3 projects have been approved for marketing, 1 project is in the NDA stage, and more than 10 projects are in the clinical stage. The company has established one of the world's leading proprietary ADC platforms, OptiDC™, and has 1 ADC project approved for marketing, 1 ADC project in NDA stage, and multiple ADC and novel coupled drug products in clinical or preclinical research stage. For more information, please visit Media: klbio_pr@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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Insects turned into chemical reactors, help make high-tech materials from nanocarbons
Researchers at Japan's RIKEN Pioneering Research Institute (PRI) and Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) have transformed insects into living chemical reactors. Led by Kenichiro Itami, the team developed a technique called 'in-insect synthesis' that uses insects to build and modify complex molecules—something that's incredibly difficult with current laboratory methods. This technique could revolutionize how scientists produce nanocarbons—molecules made entirely of carbon atoms. These nanostructures are strong, conductive, and can glow under certain conditions, making them ideal for aerospace, battery technology, and advanced electronics. But they're notoriously hard to manufacture and modify with precision. "Our team has been conducting research on molecular nanocarbons, but along with that, we've also developed molecules that act on mammals and plants,' says Itami. 'Through those experiences, we suddenly wondered — what would happen if we fed nanocarbons to insects?' To test their hypothesis, the researchers turned to a common pest: the tobacco cutworm caterpillar. These insects, often considered a menace in agriculture, have a powerful digestive system built to handle toxic plant compounds and pesticides. Their guts contain enzymes capable of performing complex chemical reactions, which made them ideal candidates for this experiment. The team fed the caterpillars a molecular nanocarbon known as [6]MCPP—a belt-shaped molecule. Just two days later, the caterpillars had digested the compound and produced a new version of it, now called [6]MCPP-oxylene. This new molecule included an oxygen atom, which made it fluorescent. That transformation was no accident. The team ran the caterpillar droppings through a full suite of tests: mass spectrometry, NMR, and X-ray crystallography. These revealed the exact structure of the altered molecule and confirmed that it was a successful chemical conversion. The breakthrough came when molecular biology techniques identified two specific enzymes—CYP X2 and CYP X3—as the catalysts for this transformation. Genetic analysis confirmed their critical role in the reaction. 'It is extremely difficult to reproduce the chemical reactions occurring inside insects in a laboratory setting,' Itami explains. 'Lab-based attempts at this oxidation reaction failed or had very low yields.' Further computer simulations showed how these enzymes manage the reaction. They could bind two [6]MCPP-oxylene molecules and directly insert an oxygen atom into a carbon–carbon bond. This is not just rare—it's never been seen before in this context. It's a type of precision that modern chemistry still struggles to achieve. This novel approach is more than just a quirky lab experiment. It opens a whole new direction in how we create useful materials. 'True to the philosophy of the PRI, this work pioneers a new direction in materials science: making functional molecules using insects,' stated Itami. By using enzymes, microbes, or even entire insects instead of traditional glassware and chemicals, researchers can build complex structures that would otherwise be too expensive or too inefficient to make in the lab. Tools like CRISPR and directed evolution could allow scientists to further optimize this process—essentially programming insects to manufacture new types of molecules for everything from glowing sensors to drug components. And while these caterpillars are typically viewed as villains in agriculture due to their ability to destroy crops and resist pesticides, the study casts them in a completely different light. 'The tobacco cutworm is a notorious agricultural pest because of its rapid life cycle and exceptional ability to metabolize pesticides, earning them a reputation as global villains in the crop protection industry,' says Itami. 'And yet, what we find truly fascinating, is that in our project, these very moths took on an unexpected role—not as adversaries, but as unlikely heroes.' The study was published in the journal Science.
