Why four companies are chasing the same immune chokepoint No VAV1 drug has reached approval, and four are now in development. Insilico’s AI-designed degrader makes its case on where the molecule does not go. Written byAndrea Corona

Why four companies are chasing the same immune chokepoint No VAV1 drug has reached approval, and four are now in development. Insilico’s AI-designed degrader makes its case on where the molecule does not go. Written byAndrea Corona https://www.drugdiscoverynews.com/why-four-companies-are-chasing-the-same-immune-chokepoint-17645 The protein at the center of one of immunology’s most crowded new races was considered undruggable until a few years ago. VAV1, a guanine nucleotide exchange factor expressed almost exclusively in immune cells, relays signals from the T-cell and B-cell receptors into activation, proliferation, cytoskeletal remodeling, and cytokine release. “VAV1 sits at a choke point of adaptive immunity,” said Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and co-CEO of Insilico Medicine, the generative AI drug discovery company that nominated an oral VAV1 degrader as a preclinical candidate on October 13th. Because expression is restricted to immune cells, removing the protein could dampen pathogenic lymphocyte activity across several autoimmune diseases while sparing most other tissues.

Personalizing Antithrombotic Care: A Case-Based Look at Factor XIa Inhibition After Stroke Authors: Mike Sharma, MD, MSc, FRCPC; Diana Aguiar de Sousa, MD, PhD, FESO; Melinda Roaldsen, MD, PhD; Georgios Tsivgoulis, MD, PhD, MSc, FAAN

https://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/personalizing-antithrombotic-care-case-based-look-factor-xia-2026a1000j4a?page=1&src=mkmcmr_driv_stan_mscpedu_261110-OUS-HONC-personalizing-antithrombotic-care-case-based-look-factor-xia-2026a1000j4a-cta&uac=148436CN

FDA approves pimicotinib for symptomatic tenosynovial giant cell tumor

https://www.fda.gov/drugs/cancer-approvals/fda-approves-pimicotinib-symptomatic-tenosynovial-giant-cell-tumor?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery On November 10, 2026, the Food and Drug Administration approved pimicotinib (Pimjetmi, EMD Serono, Inc.), a kinase inhibitor, for adults with symptomatic tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT) for which surgical resection may cause worsening functional limitation or severe morbidity.

Unifying Expertise in IDH-Mutant Glioma Care: A Multidisciplinary Dialogue in the Oncology Team Authors: Shawn Hervey-Jumper, MD; Markus Bredel, MD, PhD; Matthias Preusser, MD

https://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/unifying-expertise-idh-mutant-glioma-care-multidisciplinary-2026a1000myk?page=1&src=mkmcmr_driv_stan_mscpedu_261110-OUS-HONC-unifying-expertise-idh-mutant-glioma-care-multidisciplinary-2026a1000myk-cta&uac=148436CN

Late night eating and sleep habits damage gut health, increase metabolic disease risk

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20261109/Late-night-eating-and-sleep-habits-damage-gut-health-increase-metabolic-disease-risk.aspx A new study led by UTHealth Houston identified a link between late-night eating and sleeping habits, gut health, and metabolic disease, offering new insights into why some individuals with obesity may face risk of inflammation and related health problems. The findings were published in iScience and led by Faraz Bishehsari, MD, PhD, professor and director of the Gastroenterology Research Center in the Department of Internal Medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston

Most eligible teens miss out on advanced obesity treatments

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20261109/Most-eligible-teens-miss-out-on-advanced-obesity-treatments.aspx Despite the arrival of powerful new anti-obesity medications and growing evidence supporting weight-loss surgery for adolescents, the vast majority of eligible teens are receiving neither treatment, according to a new study from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago published in JAMA Pediatrics.

A child's sex may change how early sugar intake relates to body fat

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20261109/A-childs-sex-may-change-how-early-sugar-intake-relates-to-body-fat.aspx Could the timing of sugar exposure matter as much as the amount consumed? Researchers examined diets from pregnancy through toddlerhood to investigate how early nutrition relates to children's developing body composition. In a recent longitudinal study published on the medRxiv preprint* server, researchers evaluated whether a child's sex modified associations between early dietary sugar exposure and body composition. The investigators analyzed dietary and body-composition data from 130 mother-child dyads across the first 1,000 days (from conception to approximately 24 months) to examine how added sugars and fructose intake during pregnancy and early childhood related to body fat at two years.