On November 21, 2019 Dragonfly Therapeutics ("Dragonfly"), a biotech company developing novel immunotherapies that use the natural immune system to treat disease, and AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV ), a research-driven, global biopharmaceutical company, reported their collaboration to explore multiple targets with a focus on advancing a range of novel Dragonfly-based immunotherapies based on autoimmune and oncological antibodies to natural killer cells Indications were developed (Press release, Dragonfly Therapeutics, NOV 21, 2019, View Source [SID1234551543]).

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The collaboration gives AbbVie the option to license exclusive intellectual property rights worldwide to develop and market products targeted to specific targets. These targets were developed using Dragonfly’s TriNKET technology platform.

"AbbVie is committed to providing patients with better treatment options by investing in breakthrough technologies and platforms," ​​said Tom Hudson , MD, senior vice president of research and development and chief scientific officer at AbbVie. "The Dragonfly team has made impressive progress in advancing their platform, and they’ve demonstrated the potential in their technology to treat a whole range of diseases."

"AbbVie is a global leader in the treatment of chronic, immune-mediated diseases and is setting new standards in caring for people living with cancer," said Dragonfly Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Bill Haney , "We look forward to working with the AbbVie team to develop new treatments for patients. "

AbbVie will make an upfront payment to Dragonfly and, if successful, interim payments on major landmarks and royalties.

On November 20, 2019 Thyas reported that it has raised JPY 240 million in Series A2 financing on November 20, with participation from Kyoto University Innovation Capital Co., Ltd., Chushin Venture Capital Co., Ltd., and Future Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (Press release, Thyas , NOV 20, 2019, View Source [SID1234629210]).

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The funds will be used for accelerating the research and development including preclinical studies of iPS cell-derived T cell therapy for the treatment of solid cancers.

On November 20, 2019 Oncoceutics, Inc. reported that new data will be presented on the efficacy and mechanism of action of imipridones ONC201 and ONC206 at the 24nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Neuro-Oncology, to be held November 20th-24th in Phoenix, Arizona (Press release, Oncoceutics, NOV 20, 2019, View Source [SID1234558320]).

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These data will highlight exciting findings that have emerged over the past year, including:

Updated clinical results for ONC201 in pediatric and adult H3 K27M-mutant gliomas
Extension of ONC201 activity to other brain tumors
Synergy antitumor activity of ONC201 in combination with other treatments
Activity of ONC206 in medulloblastoma
IND-enabling studies with ONC206
Distinctions in the activity of ONC201 and ONC206
Inhibition of mitochondrial function by ONC201
The capability of the imipridone family to bind to distinct molecular targets
Oncoceutics and academic investigators will present a range of results with imipridones that will include mechanistic and efficacy findings from preclinical models that detail their unique therapeutic potential in neuro-oncology. In addition, updated safety, pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and efficacy results from clinical trials with ONC201 in high-grade glioma patients will be reported. These results are largely derived from the ongoing clinical program that is dedicated to exploring ONC201 a molecularly-defined patient population (H3 K27M-mutant glioma). The rationale for the upcoming first-in-human clinical trial of ONC206 in adult recurrent CNS tumors will also be highlighted.

Summaries and presentation information are provided below:

Date/Time Location Abstract Title Presenter

Wednesday 11/20
9:40 – 9:50 PM JW Marriott Selective targeting of dopamine receptor dysregulation in high grade gliomas with ONC201 Varun Prabhu, PhD, Oncoceutics

Thursday 11/21
5:00 – 7:00 PM Investigator Meeting

Friday 11/22
7:30 – 9:30 PM Ballroom Lawn Imipridone Structure Activity Relationship Uncovers ONC206 as the Next Bitopic DRD2 Antagonist for Oncology with Differentiated Receptor Pharmacology Varun Prabhu, PhD, Oncoceutics
7:30 – 9:30 PM Ballroom Lawn Single agent ONC201 in previously treated, progressive adult H3 K27M-mutant glioma Isabel Arrillaga-Romany, MD, PhD, MGH
7:30 – 9:30 PM Ballroom Lawn Role of ONC206 in regulating medulloblastoma tumor progression Anshu Malhotra, PhD, Emory University
7:38 – 7:42 PM Wildflower B Receptor pharmacology of ONC201: The first bitopic DRD2 antagonist for clinical neuro-oncology Josh Allen, PhD, Oncoceutics

Saturday 11/23
7:15 – 8:30 AM Grand Canyon 8-13 H3K27M glioma and ONC201 (SNO-EANO Joint session) Isabel Arrillaga-Romany, MD, PhD, MGH
3:45 – 3:55 PM Grand Canyon 1-6 Clinical efficacy of ONC201 in thalamic H3 K27M-mutant glioma Carl Koschmann, MD, Michigan Medicine
4:40 – 4:45 PM Grand Canyon 1-6 Phase I clinical trial of ONC201 in pediatric H3 K27M-mutant glioma or newly diagnosed DIPG Sharon Gardner, MD, NYU Langone Health
5:00 – 7:00 PM Ballroom Lawn Preclinical combination of ONC201 with radiotherapy or Temozolomide in GBM, DIPG and ATRT cell lines results in dopamine receptor antagonism, ATF4 induction and cell death Lanlan Zhou, MD, PhD, Brown University
5:00 – 7:00 PM Ballroom Lawn Metabolic rewiring by ONC201/TIC10 and 2-Deoxyglucose has synergistic anti-glioblastoma activity Josh Allen, PhD, Oncoceutics
5:00 – 7:00 PM Ballroom Lawn PDTM-25 Study of ONC201 in pre-clinical models of DIPG Wafik Zaky, MD, MD Anderson
5:00 – 7:00 PM Ballroom Lawn IND-enabling Characterization of ONC206 as the Next Bitopic DRD2 antagonist for Neuro-oncology Varun Prabhu, PhD, Oncoceutics

On November 20, 2019, Bicycle Therapeutics plc (the "Company") presented the corporate presentation (Filing, 8-K, Bicycle Therapeutics, NOV 20, 2019, View Source [SID1234553767]).

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On November 20, 2019 PharmAbcine, a biotech company specialized for developing novel human antibody therapeutics, reported that the company successfully recruited the first patient for Phase II clinical trials of olinvacimab (TTAC-0001) in US/Australia as of November 13, 2019 (Press release, PharmAbcine, NOV 20, 2019, View Source;mode=VIEW&num=6&category=&findType=&findWord=&sort1=&sort2=&it_id=&shop_flag=&mobile_flag=&page=1 [SID1234553401]).

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In the phase II, 36 patients with rGBM (recurrent glioblastoma multiforme), whose tumour is reported to be progressed post the bevacizumab treatment, will be treated with a gradual successive increased dosage of olinvacimab from 16mg/kg, 20mg/kg to 24mg/kg. In this study, safety is the primary endpoint, followed by the assessment of efficacy. The study will also substantiate its effectiveness on patients with respect to Quality of Life through the assessment of tumour and of their reliance on steroid usage.

Gliobloastoma multiforme (GBM) is a type of brain tumour and it represents 15% of brain tumours. Even though there appears to be rigorous attempts to remove the tumour through surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy as a means of primary treatments, there is a high proclivity that GBM will likely relapse within a year. Regardless of prudent attentive post-treatment that has been performed for the patients, it is reported that 5 year survival rates are found to be less than 3%

Recently, Roche’s Avastin (bevacizumab) has been able to gain its top-notch clinical value through the manifestation of remarkable effectiveness in mitigating cerebral edema and consequently it has been approved for medical use in rGBM as a standard treatment. Nevertheless, an issue that starts to arise is that there are non-responding patients to bevacizumab and patients who start to develop non-responsiveness as a consequence of repeated use of bevacizumab. For these individuals, unmet medical needs for the rGBM indication are quite high owing to the deficient availability of alternative treatments for them.

One of representatives from PharmAbcine said, "There is no current suitable treatment for rGBM patients who are progressed after the bevacizumab treatment and it is unfortunate that it will cause cerebral edema in patients and cause severe damage," and continued, "We are looking to subjugate other rare diseases that are currently medically unmet and expecting to substantiate prominent asset of olinvacimab. From there we will extend our hands to a bigger spectrum of different indications of cancers."

Even though they both can mitigate angiogenesis in the TME (tumour microenvironment), onlinvacimb is significantly thought to be a more powerful strategic treatment to impede the process of metastasis and growth of tumour. Notably, while bevacizumab particularly binds to VEGF-A and inhibits the signaling caused by the binding of VEGF-A to VEGFR2, olinvacimab specifically targets VEGFR2 and consequently interferes with the activation of VEGFR2 caused by VEGF-A, C and D.