Chi-Med Highlights Oral Presentations at 2019 CSCO Annual Meeting

On September 18, 2019 Hutchison China MediTech Limited ("Chi-Med") (AIM/Nasdaq: HCM) reported additional analyses from three completed and ongoing clinical studies of fruquintinib and savolitinib at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology ("CSCO") on September 18 to 22, 2019 in Xiamen, China (Press release, Hutchison China MediTech, SEP 18, 2019, View Source [SID1234539605]).

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Fruquintinib (Elunate): Two subgroup analyses will be presented from the FRESCO study, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center, Phase III study of fruquintinib efficacy and safety in third-line or above colorectal cancer ("CRC") patients.

Presentation Title 1:

Subgroup Analysis of Patients With Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Treated With Fruquintinib in the FRESCO Trial Who Had Liver Metastasis

Presenting Author:

Shukui Qin, Nanjing Chinese Medicine University Affiliated Bayi Hospital

Other Authors:

Jin Li, Rui-Hua Xu, Lin Shen, Jianming Xu, Yuxian Bai, Yanhong Deng, Lei Yang, Zhen-dong Chen, Haijun Zhong, Hongming Pan, Weijian Guo, Yongqian Shu, Ying Yuan, Jianfeng Zhou, Nong Xu, Tianshu Liu, Dong Ma, Changping Wu, Ying Cheng, Donghui Chen, Wei Li, Sanyuan Sun, Zhuang Yu, Peiguo Cao, Haihui Chen, Jiejun Wang, Shubin Wang, Hongbing Wang, Xia Qin, Ning Wang, Bin Zhang, Songhua Fan, Xiaojun Guo, Mengye Peng

Abstract #:

5278

Session:

Plenary session

Date:

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Time:

10:45 AM

The development of metastases is the main cause of death in patients with CRC, and about 70% of patients with CRC develop liver metastases during the course of their disease1,2. Abstract 5278 is a subgroup analysis to determine the benefit of fruquintinib to patients with liver metastases on study entry. Liver metastases were present in 69% of the patients recruited into the study.

Fruquintinib demonstrated a statistically significant increase in overall survival ("OS"; 8.61 vs. 5.98 months; hazard ratio = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.45-0.77, p<0.001) and progression-free survival ("PFS"; 3.71 vs 1.84 months; hazard ratio = 0.22, 95% CI: 0.17-0.30, p<0.001) as compared with placebo in CRC patients with liver metastasis, while the hepatotoxicity of fruquintinib was comparable with placebo in CRC patients with liver metastasis.

1 van de Velde CJH. Treatment of liver metastases of colorectal cancer. Annals of Oncology, Volume 16 (Supplement 2): ii144 – ii149, June 2005. doi:10.1093/annonc/mdi702.

2 Welch JP & Donaldson GA. The clinical correlation of an autopsy study of recurrent colorectal cancer. Annals of Surgery, 189(4), 496–502, 1979. doi:10.1097/00000658-197904000-00027.

Presentation Title 2:

Association Between Hand-Foot Skin Reaction and Survival Benefit of Fruquintinib in FRESCO Trial

Presenting Author:

Yuxian Bai, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital

Other Authors:

Jin Li, Shukui Qin, Yanhong Deng, Lei Yang, Rui-hua Xu, Zhendong Chen, Haijun Zhong, Hongming Pan, Weijian Guo, Yongqian Shu, Ying Yuan, Jianming Xu, Lin Shen, Ning Wang, Chao Zhu, Songhua Fan, Wei Gong, Wei Wang

Abstract #:

5517

Session:

CSCO CRC Expert Committee, CRC standardized treatment and MDT

Date:

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Time:

11:17 AM

Abstract 5517 is a subgroup analysis of the FRESCO results to explore whether patients in the fruquintinib group of the study experiencing hand-foot skin reaction ("HFSR") saw a greater survival benefit. These reactions of any grade developed in 52% of patients who completed at least one cycle of fruquintinib treatment.

The analysis indicated that patients who reported HFSR had a greater survival benefit from fruquintinib, showing statistically significant benefit in both median OS (11.24 vs. 7.54 months; hazard ratio = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.42-0.78; p<0.001) and median PFS (5.49 vs 3.48 months; hazard ratio = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.54-0.91; p=0.008) compared to those that did not report HFSR.

Results of the FRESCO study were initially presented in an oral presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting on June 5, 2017 and published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA, in June 2018 (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT02314819).

Fruquintinib is a highly selective and potent oral inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor ("VEGFR") 1/2/3. VEGFR inhibitors play a pivotal role in blocking tumor-related angiogenesis, cutting off the blood supply that a tumor needs to grow rapidly. Fruquintinib has been designed to be a global best-in-class VEGFR inhibitor for many types of solid tumors. It was designed to improve kinase selectivity in comparison to other approved small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors, to minimize off-target toxicities, improve tolerability and provide more consistent target coverage. Chi-Med retains all rights to fruquintinib outside of China and is partnered with Eli Lilly and Company in China.

Savolitinib:

Presentation Title:

Phase II Study of Savolitinib in Patients with NSCLC Harboring MET Exon 14 Skipping Mutations: Preliminary Efficacy and Safety Results

Presenting Author:

Shun Lu, Shanghai Chest Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Other Authors:

Jian Fang, Xingya Li, Jianying Zhou, Lejie Cao, Ying Cheng, Liyan Jiang, Qisen Guo, Zongan Liang, Yuan Chen, Helong Zhang, Nong Yang, Hua Xu, Xin Zhang, Biao Wu, Jianhua Shi, Zhigang Han, Jianjin Huang, Zhixiong Yang, Xiaodong Zhang, Gongyan Chen, Yanping Hu, Jingxun Wu, Shan Zeng, Sanyuan Sun, Longzhen Zhang, Rui Ma, Xiaorong Dong, Di Zhang, Jing Li, Linfang Wang, Yongxin Ren, Weiguo Su

Abstract #:

5707

Session:

CSCO NSCLC Expert Committee, SCLC Expert Committee, MDT for liver cancer with ALK and other rare mutations

Date:

Friday, September 20, 2019

Time:

4:40 PM

Abstract 5707 highlights updated preliminary efficacy and safety results from the ongoing China Phase II study of savolitinib monotherapy in NSCLC patients with mesenchymal epithelial transition receptor ("MET") Exon 14 skipping mutations who have failed prior systemic therapy or are unable to receive chemotherapy.

Savolitinib showed promising antitumor activity in this population with rapid and durable tumor response and disease control, anti-tumor activity in brain metastasis, and a generally tolerable safety profile with mostly grade 1 or 2 related treatment emergent adverse events. The study continues to enroll patients. Earlier results of this study were first presented on March 31, 2019 at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2019 (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT02897479).

Savolitinib is a potent and selective inhibitor of MET, an enzyme which has been shown to function abnormally in many types of solid tumors. In clinical studies to date in over 1,000 patients globally, savolitinib has shown promising signs of clinical efficacy in patients with MET gene alterations in lung cancer, kidney cancer, and gastric cancer with an acceptable safety profile. Chi-Med is currently testing savolitinib in global partnership with AstraZeneca, both as a monotherapy and in combinations.

EORTC abstracts selected at ESMO 2019

On September 18, 2019 EORTC reported will be presenting 3 abstracts (2 oral presentations and 1 poster) at the ESMO (Free ESMO Whitepaper) Congress 2019 from 27 September until 1 October in Barcelona, Spain (Press release, EORTC, SEP 18, 2019, View Source [SID1234539604]).

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Andrew Bottomley, Head of the Quality of Life at EORTC, will chair a session about "Surviving a cancer diagnosis with a good QoL" on 30 September from 8:30 to 10:00 and give a lecture on "Can value frameworks (such as ESMO (Free ESMO Whitepaper)-MCBS) contribute to a higher QoL?"

During the same session, Madeline Pe, EORTC Specialist in QoL, will talk about EORTC’s work on survivorship.

Meet us at our booth located in the society village n°20.

Oral presentations

A phase II study of Monalizumab in patients with recurrent/metastatic (RM) squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN): results of the I1 cohort of the EORTC-HNCG-1559 trial (UPSTREAM)

R Galot, C Le Tourneau, E Saada-Bouzid, A Daste, C Even, P Debruyne, S Henry, S Zanetta, A Rutten, L Licitra, JL Canon, MC Kaminsky, P Specenier, S Rottey, L Dirix, T Raveloarivahy, C Fortpied, M Vanlancker, A Govaerts, JP Machiels

Presentation number: 1109O

Speaker: Rachel Galot

Date: 30.09.2019 – Lecture time: 10:15 – 11:45 – Location: Cordoba Auditorium (Hall 7)

Redefining the IGCCCG Classification in advanced Non-Seminoma

Gillessen S, Collette L, Daugaard G, De Wit R, Tryakin A, Albany C, Stahl O, Fizazi K, Gietema J, De Giorgi U, Hansen AR, Feldman D, Cafferty FH, Tandstad T, Garcia del Muro X, Huddart R, Sweeney C, Heng DY, Sauvé N and Beyer J for the IGCCCG Update Consortium

Presentation number: 903O

Speaker: Silke Gillessen

Date: 28.09.2019 – Lecture time: 15:30 – 15:45 – Location: Sevilla Auditorium (Hall 2)

Poster

There is a lack of clinical research for patients with cancer in palliative care

M. Vinches, A. Neven, L. Fenwarth, M. Terada, G. Rossi, S. Kelly, J. Peron, M. Thomaso, M. Groenvold, T. De Rojas

Poster number: 1610P

Poster presenter: Marie Vinches

Date: 28.09.2019 – Lecture time: 12:20 – Location: Poster Area (Hall 4)

The children’s cancer therapy development institute announces creation of Artisan Biopharma

On September 17, 2019 The Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute (cc-TDI) reported the creation of Artisan Biopharma (artisanbio.com), a Public Benefit Corporation pediatric cancer biopharmaceutical company, wholly owned by the 501c3 nonprofit, cc-TDI (Press release, Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute, SEP 17, 2019, View Source [SID1234631990]).

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Artisan Biopharma (EIN 84-3079359) is a newly formed, angel-funded for-profit benefit corporation wholly-owned by the 501(c)3 nonprofit, cc-TDI. Our mission is to create a quiet cultural revolution in the way new drugs are brought to market for pediatric cancers. We incorporated September 17, 2019, and we are currently engaged with tax and security counsel to finalize our operational structure with respect to the nonprofit. Our stated mission as a public benefit corporation is to provide research and interventions related to the prevention and treatment of cancer in children.

Target market: Orphan drug indications in pediatric cancers
Few rare cancer patient populations with unmet clinical need are as vulnerable and in need of advocacy as children with cancer. Pharmaceutical companies have historically faced significant financial disincentives to pursue pediatric oncology therapeutics, including low incidence, high costs of conducting pediatric trials, and a lack of funding for early-stage research. We are leveraging the deep preclinical domain expertise of cc-TDI to more efficiently identify and in-license compounds. Our goal is to reverse the 40+ year drought represented by only 8 drug approvals for pediatric cancer. To achieve this goal, we aim to have 5 new compounds reach the clinic annually for children with high risk cancers.

Artisan advantage
The rapid advancement of new oncology drugs has created a massive, de-risked discovery tool for translational science, many of which remain novel molecular entities ready to match to rare disease indications. The founding equity investor of Artisan Biopharma, the Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute (cc-TDI.org), is an established partner to industry (NVS, PFE, LLY) for preclinical sciences. Artisan was formed as a natural opportunity to develop and market cancer drugs for childhood cancer, generating sustainable funding for cc-TDI’s drug discovery engine. Artisan launched with 15 pipeline candidates and a network of over 1200 families directly touched by pediatric cancer.

Nordic Nanovector R&D Day unveils updates on several programs

On September 17, 2019 Nordic Nanovector ASA (OSE: NANO) reported that it will today host an R&D day in Oslo (Press release, Nordic Nanovector, SEP 17, 2019, View Source [SID1234553445]). The programme will include presentations from three external experts and by Nordic Nanovector’s senior management team. The full programme of the event is available at www.nordicnanovector.com under press releases.

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The R&D day presentations will cover

the progress of the company’s research and pre-clinical projects
the clear medical need in the patient populations suffering from the diseases targeted by Nordic Nanovector products in development and
the latest data on some of the clinical trials currently being conducted.
In addition, the company will provide an update on its work and progress on the CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control) area, which will be a key part of the planned regulatory filing for Betalutin in the first half of 2021.

The pivotal Phase 2b PARADIGME trial of Betalutin in advanced recurrent follicular lymphoma (FL) is progressing with 83 sites in 24 countries open for enrolment as of September 16th, 2019.

"The clinical results obtained so far with Betalutin demonstrate that the rationale behind its design for the treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was right", commented Dr Jostein Dahle, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-founder of Nordic Nanovector. "Over the last ten years we have continued to advance our knowledge of the biology of the disease and the peculiarities of our treatment modality in general and Betalutin in particular. We are very excited with the data we continue to generate and the opportunities that this information will provide to keep the company at the forefront of this race towards finding new and improved therapies or combinations that will benefit the thousands of patients still at need".

Dr J.P. Pouget, PhD, Radiobiology and targeted radiotherapy group Montpellier Cancer Research Institute (IRCM), French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) will present interesting new pre-clinical results with Betalutin, including its increased therapeutic activity when combined with cell cycle inhibitors.

Dr Jostein Dahle will summarize the focus and most recent advances of Nordic Nanovector’s research. During his presentation, he will preview data that will be presented at the EANM (European Association of Nuclear Medicine) Congress in Barcelona in October that shows the synergistic effect of Humalutin with the PARP inhibitor Olaparib in DLBCL (Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma) cell lines.

Dr Jostein Dahle will also explain in detail some of the data that the company has generated with Alpha37 (an anti-CD37 mAb linked to alpha-particle generating lead 212). This will include demonstration of the superiority of Alpha37 to ibrutinib in an ibrutinib-resistant mouse model of CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukaemia). Ibrutinib is today the most widely used product in this indication, both first line and second line. These data have been selected for the highlights session of the already mentioned EANM Congress in Barcelona. Alpha37, which is partnered with OranoMed, has recently been awarded a grant of NOK 6 million by the Eurostar programme.

Prof Pier Luigi Zinzani, Professor of Hematology at Bologna University, will analyse the therapeutic landscape in recurrent FL and marginal zone lymphoma (MZL), reviewing the efficacy and safety profile of approved agents and products in development. Despite the availability of new therapies, the unmet medical need in recurrent FL and MZL is still high.

Dr Arne Kolstad from the Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, and the Principal Investigator of the LYMRIT-37-01 trial, will hold a presentation which provides the latest update from this trial of Betalutin in patients with relapsed indolent NHL.

With a median follow-up time for responders of 30 months, this latest update confirms a median duration of response (mDoR) of 13.6 months for all 45 responders and an even more durable response of 32.0 months for the 22 patients showing a complete response (compared with 9.0 and 20.7 respectively last December at ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper)).

Dr Arne Kolstad will also present data from the first safety cohort of three patients of the Phase 1b Archer-1 study of Betalutin + rituximab (RTX) in relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma. This open label, single-arm dose escalation study in 2L FL expects to recruit a total of 20-25 patients to evaluate the safety and tolerability of Betalutin in combination with RTX and to evaluate the preliminary anti-tumour activity of combination treatment.

In the first safety cohort an overall response rate of 100% was observed with three complete responders and importantly no dose limiting toxicities. Full data read out from this study is expected in the second half of 2020.

With Nordic Nanovector’s strategic priorities focused on efforts to maximize the value of Betalutin across the major types of NHL (FL and DLBCL) and in earlier treatment lines in combination with standard treatments, we decided together with our partner Heidelberg Pharma to discontinue development of NNV014 (anti-CD37 ADC), an early stage discovery project in leukaemia.

"The data presented during this R&D day highlights our potential to become a leader in radiopharmaceuticals and our commitment to deliver innovative products for the patients suffering from these devastating diseases", commented Eduardo Bravo, CEO of Nordic Nanovector. "We are very pleased with the latest results from the LYMRIT-37-01 study and with the early indications from the first safety cohort in Archer-1. These encouraging data support our decision to broaden the clinical development of Betalutin in NHL and to develop the regulatory and commercial strategy for a commercial launch in the US. We are entering an exciting phase in the company’s development with key data due to be reported next year and the prospect of our first regulatory filing for Betalutin in third line FL in the first half of 2021."

IGM Biosciences Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering

On September 17, 2019 IGM Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: IGMS) reported the pricing of its initial public offering of 10,937,500 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $16.00 per share (Press release, IGM Biosciences, SEP 17, 2019, View Source [SID1234539635]). The shares are expected to begin trading on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on September 18, 2019 under the symbol "IGMS." The offering is expected to close on September 20, 2019, subject to customary closing conditions. The gross proceeds from the offering, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by IGM, are expected to be approximately $175.0 million. In addition, the underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to 1,640,625 additional shares of common stock at the initial public offering price less underwriting discounts and commissions.

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Jefferies, Piper Jaffray, Stifel and Guggenheim Securities are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.

A registration statement relating to the offering has been filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and was declared effective on September 17, 2019. The offering is made only by means of a prospectus. When available, a copy of the prospectus relating to this offering may be obtained from: Jefferies LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Prospectus Department, 520 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, by telephone at (877) 821-7388 or by email at [email protected]; Piper Jaffray & Co, Attention: Prospectus Department, 800 Nicollet Mall, J12S03, Minneapolis, MN 55402, by telephone at (800) 747-3924 or by email at [email protected]; Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Attention: Syndicate, One Montgomery Street, Suite 3700, San Francisco, CA 94104, by telephone at (415) 364-2720 or by email at [email protected]; or Guggenheim Securities, LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Department, 330 Madison, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10017, by telephone at (212) 518-9658 or by email at [email protected].

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor will there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful before registration or qualification under the securities laws of that state or jurisdiction.