On May 21, 2019 Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NYSE American:PLX) (TASE:PLX) reported that Dror Bashan has been appointed to serve as the Company’s new President and Chief Executive Officer, and a director, effective June 30, 2019, replacing Moshe Manor, who is stepping down from those roles for personal reasons (Press release, Protalix, MAY 21, 2019, View Source;p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2399232 [SID1234536497]). Mr. Manor will assist with the transition and continue to work with the Company on a consultant basis.

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"Dror brings valuable experience and knowledge in the pharmaceutical industry to our Company, and I am happy to welcome him to Protalix," said Shlomo Yanai, Chairman of Protalix’s Board of Directors. "Moshe has made a great contribution to our organization over the last four years, and has played a critical role in our development and success in advancing our pipeline. On behalf of Protalix and the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Moshe for his significant contributions and outstanding leadership and wish him great success in his future endeavors."

"I have the deepest gratitude to Protalix’s employees and its Board of Directors. I have decided that, for personal reasons unrelated to the Company, the time has come to hand over leadership to a new chief executive officer," said Mr. Manor. "I am very honored to have led this great organization and will continue to watch with excitement and anticipation as Protalix progresses in the development and commercialization of its promising pipeline."

"I am very proud to become Protalix’s President and Chief Executive Officer, and am looking forward to working with such a talented management team to continue the progress of Protalix’s future development," said Mr. Bashan. "I believe that my broad experience in the pharmaceutical industry, which covers a range of disciplines in the field, will be a valuable resource for the company. I am very excited about the potential path forward and glad to be part of Protalix’s future."

Mr. Bashan has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry with roles ranging from business development, marketing, sales and finance providing him with both cross regional and cross discipline experience and a deep knowledge of the global pharmaceutical and health industries. From 1998 through 2018, he served in a number of senior positions at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Most recently, he served as Teva’s Senior Vice President, Global Business Development, and was involved in strategic alliances, cross-company strategic projects and the acquisition and divestiture of assets. Mr. Bashan holds a BA in Economics and Business Management from the Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel, and an MBA from the Tel-Aviv University.

On May 20, 2019 STORM Therapeutics ("STORM"), the drug discovery company tackling disease through modulating RNA modifying enzymes, reported that it has raised an additional £14 million bringing the total Series A financing to £30 million (Press release, STORM Therapeutics, MAY 20, 2019, View Source [SID1234561042]).

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The financing includes funding from new investor, Seroba Life Sciences ("Seroba"). STORM’s existing investors, Cambridge Innovation Capital, M Ventures, Pfizer Ventures, Taiho Ventures and IP Group also participated in the fundraise.

This extension follows the company’s rapid progress to date. It will enable STORM to advance its broad pipeline further in preclinical development and accelerate its programmes towards the clinic, supporting STORM’s growth as the leading drug discovery company working on RNA modulating enzymes.

STORM has strengthened its team with the appointment of Dr Mark Albertella as VP Translational Oncology. Mark was previously Director of Biology at Medivir AB and has a successful track record in oncology drug discovery and development at Argenta, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Kudos and AstraZeneca, with over 20 years’ experience in biotech and pharma industry in the UK, US and Europe.

Commenting on the fundraising, Dr Keith Blundy, CEO of STORM Therapeutics, said: "I am pleased to welcome Seroba to our investor syndicate and I would like to thank our existing investors for their continued support. This investment strengthens our Series A and provides further validation and support for STORM’s strategy to continue building a world-leading company harnessing the power of RNA epigenetics – an emerging, innovative area of drug discovery. It comes at an exciting stage as STORM starts translating its unique platform into effective treatments in oncology and beyond. Mark’s expertise in cancer drug discovery and development, encompassing in vitro and in vivo biology, translational and clinical research, will be invaluable to STORM as it progresses its pipeline towards the clinical stage."

Bruno Montanari, Partner at Seroba, added: "We have been closely following the RNA space for some time tracking a number of key players. We believe STORM is maintaining its first-mover advantage in RNA epigenetic modulation and is progressing rapidly in its development, making this an exciting time for us to partner with management and co-investors. We continue to be impressed by the quality and depth of STORM’s science and the significant progress made by the team to advance its platform and pipeline in this fast-moving area of emerging biology."

STORM Therapeutics CEO Keith Blundy will be presenting at the BioEquity Europe 2019 meeting in Barcelona. STORM will present at 9am CEST on Tuesday 21st May as part of the Next Wave sessions.

On May 20, 2019 Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (NYSE American: CANF) (TASE:CFBI), a biotechnology company advancing a pipeline of proprietary small molecule drugs that address cancer, liver and inflammatory diseases, reported that it has entered into a definitive agreement with certain institutional investors to receive gross proceeds of $6 million (Press release, Can-Fite BioPharma, MAY 20, 2019, View Source [SID1234536504]).

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In connection with the offering, the Company will issue 1,500,000 registered American Depository Shares (ADSs) of Can-Fite at a purchase price of $4.00 per ADS in a registered direct offering. Additionally, for each ADS purchased by investors, the investors will receive an unregistered warrant to purchase one ADS. The warrants will have an exercise price of $4.00 per ADS, will be immediately exercisable and will expire five and one-half years from the issuance date. The closing of the offering is expected to take place on or about May 22, 2019, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

H.C. Wainwright & Co. is acting as the exclusive placement agent in connection with this offering.

The ADSs described above (but not the warrants or the ADSs underlying the warrants) are being offered pursuant to a shelf registration statement (File No. 333-220644) which became effective on October 11, 2017. Such ADSs may be offered only by means of a prospectus, including a prospectus supplement, forming a part of the effective registration statement.

The Company will file a prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus with the SEC relating to such ADSs. When available, copies of the prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus may be obtained at the SEC’s website at View Source, or by contacting H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC, 430 Park Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York, New York 10022, by telephone: (646) 975-6996 or by email at [email protected].

The warrants described above were offered in a private placement under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Act"), and Regulation D promulgated thereunder and, along with the ADSs issuable upon their exercise, have not been registered under the Act, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration with the SEC or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein. There shall not be any offer, solicitation of an offer to buy, or sale of securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offering, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

On May 20, 2019 Cellectar Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLRB), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of cancer, reported that it closed its previously announced financing for gross proceeds of $10 million (Press release, Cellectar Biosciences, MAY 20, 2019, View Source [SID1234536494]). In a registered direct offering, Cellectar issued 1,982,000 shares of common stock at an offering price of $2.50 per share.

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In a concurrent private placement, Cellectar issued to the purchasers of our common stock in the registered direct offering, Series F warrants to purchase an aggregate of 1,982,000 shares of common stock. The Series F warrants will be exercisable immediately, expire five years after the date of issuance, and have an exercise price of $2.40.

In a separate concurrent private placement transaction, Cellectar sold 2,018,000 shares of common stock together with Series G warrants to purchase an aggregate of up to 2,018,000 shares of common stock. The shares of common stock and Series G warrants were priced at $2.50 per fixed combination. The warrants sold in the private placement will be exercisable immediately, expire five years after the date of issuance, and have an exercise price of $2.40.

Roth Capital Partners served as sole placement agent for the transaction. After placement agent fees and estimated offering expenses payable by the company, the company expects to receive net proceeds of approximately $9.0 million.

The company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for research and development, funding clinical studies, working capital and general corporate purposes.

The registered offering described above is being made pursuant to a Registration Statement previously filed with and subsequently declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Copies of the prospectus supplement and accompanying base prospectus relating to the registered offering may be obtained from Roth Capital Partners, 888 San Clemente Drive, Suite 400, Newport Beach, CA 92660, (800) 678-9147 or by accessing the SEC’s website, www.sec.gov.

The unregistered common shares and warrants were offered pursuant to the exemption from registration afforded by Section 4(a)(2) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Act"), and Regulation D promulgated thereunder. Such common shares, warrants and common shares issuable upon exercise of such warrants have not been registered under the Act, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration with the SEC or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

On May 20, 2019 Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN), a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company and leader in predictive target discovery, reported that it has dosed the first patient in the combination arm of its Phase 1 study, combining escalating doses of COM701 with a fixed dose of Opdivo (nivolumab) in patients with advanced solid tumors (Press release, Compugen, MAY 20, 2019, View Source [SID1234536492]). The combination dose escalation arm was initiated following the determination of well-tolerated doses with no dose-limiting toxicities reported of COM701 from the monotherapy dose escalation arm of the trial. Bristol-Myers Squibb will supply Opdivo, a PD-1 inhibitor, for the combination arms of the Phase 1 study under the clinical trial collaboration announced in October 2018.

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"Our successful progression through the COM701 monotherapy dose escalation arm, enabled us to initiate the combination study with COM701 and Opdivo," stated Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D., President and CEO of Compugen. "Enrollment in the monotherapy dose escalation arm is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter, while the combination dose escalation arm is expected to finish enrolling patients later this year. As a first-in-class drug candidate against a novel drug target backed by a solid biological rationale and biomarker strategy, COM701 has generated interest in our Phase 1 study. We look forward to exploring the clinical potential of the therapy to improve response rates in patients with refractory or relapsed disease across multiple indications with the study’s investigators and our strategic partner, Bristol-Myers Squibb."

The Phase 1 study now has ten participating sites, having recently added Columbia University, MD Anderson Cancer Center, UCLA, the Cleveland Clinic and START Midwest. The primary endpoints for the study are safety and tolerability; secondary endpoints include preliminary anti-tumor activity, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.

About the COM701 Phase 1 Study

The Phase 1 open-label clinical trial is designed to assess the safety and tolerability of administering escalating doses of COM701 monotherapy as well as combination administration with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo in patients with advanced solid tumors. Additionally, the trial will evaluate evidence of preliminary antitumor activity of COM701 as monotherapy as well as in combination with Opdivo in patients with selected tumor types, including non-small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer and endometrial cancer. The Phase 1 study, which is expected to enroll approximately 140 patients, is currently recruiting patients in the United States. Additional information is available at www.clinicaltrials.gov (NTC03667716).

About the Compugen-Bristol-Myers Squibb Clinical Collaboration

In October 2018, Compugen entered into a clinical trial collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb to evaluate the safety and tolerability of Compugen’s COM701 in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s PD-1 inhibitor Opdivo (nivolumab), in patients with advanced solid tumors. Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, Compugen will sponsor the ongoing two-part Phase 1 trial, which includes the evaluation of the combination of COM701 and Opdivo in four tumor types, including non-small cell lung, ovarian, breast and endometrial cancer. The collaboration is also designed to address potential future combinations, including trials sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb to investigate combined inhibition of checkpoint mechanisms, such as PVRIG and TIGIT. The clinical combination of multiple immune checkpoint inhibition is designed to test the biological rationale of the PVRIG pathway and its synergistic activity with other checkpoint inhibitors demonstrated in preclinical models. In conjunction with this collaboration, Bristol-Myers Squibb made a strategic $12 million investment in Compugen.