On July 1, 2019 Varian (NYSE: VAR) reported it has signed an asset purchase agreement to acquire the Boston Scientific portfolio of drug-loadable microsphere and bland embolic bead products for treating arteriovenous malformations and hypervascular tumors (Press release, Varian Medical Systems, JUL 1, 2019, View Source [SID1234537374]). When completed, this acquisition, in combination with the recent acquisitions of Endocare and Alicon, will expand Varian’s portfolio of multidisciplinary integrated cancer care solutions.

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Varian’s planned acquisition of the Boston Scientific portfolio of drug-loadable microsphere (Oncozene/Embozene Tandem) and bland embolic (Embozene) bead products will enable Varian to extend its new interventional oncology platform, and the Company will benefit from the products’ regulatory clearances in more than 35 countries worldwide.

"This acquisition from Boston Scientific will strengthen Varian’s growing position in the high-value interventional oncology segment and is consistent with our long-term strategy to become a global leader in multidisciplinary, integrated cancer solutions," said Dow Wilson, president and chief executive officer of Varian. "We look forward to completing this acquisition and are excited to add these drug-loadable microsphere and bland embolic bead products to our portfolio to provide our clinical partners with expanded advanced treatment options."

Varian will not acquire any of the Boston Scientific operations. While Varian implements a plan to manufacture and distribute these products, it will work with Boston Scientific under transition services agreements to ensure uninterrupted delivery to customers.

Transaction and Financial Details

Varian is financing the purchase price of $90 million using cash and proceeds from borrowings. The transaction, which is expected to close around August 2019, is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions, including approval of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the closing of the proposed acquisition of BTG PLC by Boston Scientific Corporation.

The combined assets generated revenue of $21.2 million in calendar 2018. Varian expects this transaction to have an immaterial impact on fiscal year 2019 financial results, and the assets to be accretive to GAAP and Non-GAAP earnings per share in fiscal 2020.

Varian has provided more information regarding this asset purchase on its investor relations website by updating the presentation regarding its recent acquisitions in interventional oncology. To view the presentation, visit www.varian.com/investors.

On July 2, 2019, Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (the "Company") presented its corporate presentation (Presentation, Iovance Biotherapeutics, JUL 2, 2019, View Source [SID1234537373]).

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On July 2, 2019 Immunicom, Inc., a biotechnology company awarded FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for its non-pharmaceutical solution for treating late-stage metastatic cancer, reported that raised $11 million in a Series B investment round (Press release, Immunicom, JUL 2, 2019, View Source [SID1234537372]). Several private equity family offices participated in the Series B financing which now increases Immunicom’s overall capital raised to $20 million.

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"Proceeds from this financing will help fund the 170-patient, randomized, multi-center, triple-negative breast cancer clinical trial we began May 31, while also fueling continued expansion of Immunicom’s global strategic partnerships," said Amir Jafri, the company’s Founder and CEO. "We are making great strides towards our vision of introducing a cancer immunotherapy that has the potential to be safer than most presently available treatments and very cost-effective. We truly appreciate the ongoing support of our investment partners for enabling us to achieve a rapid growth trajectory."

The revolutionary new immunotherapy treatment Immunicom has developed is called Immunopheresis and offers the potential to revitalize a cancer patient’s immune system to naturally fight tumor cells without introducing any new chemicals, proteins or antibodies into the body. Performed utilizing out-patient procedures analogous to standard dialysis treatments for removing unwanted waste products from a patient’s bloodstream through external filtration, Immunopheresis uses Immunicom’s proprietary blood filtering device technology to extract tumor-produced proteins in the bloodstream that inhibit the body’s natural immune system from attacking and eradicating tumors. This approach provides for a potentially robust immune response against the tumor cells and is intended to function also as an ideal adjunct therapy to existing treatments.

"Immunicom is uniquely positioned to have a fundamental impact on improving the lives of cancer patients worldwide," added David Schlotterbeck, Chairman of Immunicom and the former Co-Chairman of Cardinal Health. "Successfully bringing to market a medical device that not only has strong potential to treat a wide variety of cancer types, but with relatively straightforward design modifications may be reconfigured to treat other major illnesses as well, would be an industry game-changer. And that is precisely the objective our organization strives to achieve."

On July 2, 2019 GNS Healthcare (GNS), a leading precision medicine company, together with the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (Alliance), is reported discoveries of predictive biomarkers for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patient response to receiving different treatments of cetuximab, bevacizumab, and panitumumab this week at the ESMO (Free ESMO Whitepaper) World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer 2019 conference held in Barcelona, Spain (Press release, GNS Healthcare, JUL 2, 2019, View Source [SID1234537371]). Patient subpopulation-specific prognostic factors of overall survival (OS) were also discovered. The in silico patient models identified AST level, primary side of tumor, intra-abdominal metastasis status as ubiquitous predictors of OS. KRAS status and hemoglobin levels were found to be predictors specific to the side of tumor location.

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The study titled "Bayesian machine learning on CALGB/SWOG 80405 (Alliance) and PEAK data identifies heterogeneous landscape of clinical predictors of overall survival (OS) in different populations of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC)" was selected to be presented in a poster discussion session, Friday July 5 from 10 am–5:15 pm local time.

Identification of prognostic factors of OS for subpopulations of patients with colorectal cancer is the key to better risk stratification at treatment initiation and identifying predictive factors for treatment response is crucial for making personalized treatment decisions.

In this study, one of several conducted by GNS and the Alliance, Bayesian machine learning approach was applied to the CALGB/SWOG 80405 (Alliance) and PEAK clinical trials datasets to discover gender and primary side specific predictors of OS in mCRC and patient subpopulations with better response to a given treatment.

Using clinical data from more than 2,000 patients with mCRC and GNS’ powerful causal AI platform, Reverse Engineering & Forward Simulation (REFS), nine independent predictive model ensembles were built to understand predictive biomarkers for patient response to receiving different treatments (cetuximab, bevacizumab, or panitumumab) and to identify patient subpopulation-specific prognostic factors of OS.

The study also identified gender-specific predictors, specifically creatinine level, intra-abdominal metastasis status, and the interaction of albumin and neutrophil levels. Urine protein levels were shown to be predictive of better efficacy from cetuximab treatment in patients with mCRC and left-sided tumors.

"We have never been in a better position to unravel drivers of disease and patient response to specific drugs. We built an in silico patient model of colorectal cancer and were able to uncover biomarkers that tell us which patients will respond to which treatment, and most importantly, why. This is what will get us to the point of delivering personalized medicine and eradicating disease," said Colin Hill, GNS Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder.

"There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach," said Alan P. Venook, MD, Study Chair for the CALGB/SWOG 80405 (Alliance) study, Madden Family Distinguished Professor of Medical Oncology and Translational Research at the University of California-San Francisco, and Shorenstein Associate Director for Program Development at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. "The better we understand how this disease progresses and which biomarkers predict treatment response, the closer we will get to curing it. We are committed to leveraging the best tools at hand – GNS’ powerful AI, comprehensive data, and the best minds in research – to cure cancer."

Previous results from these collaborations were presented in June 2018 at the ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois and at ESMO (Free ESMO Whitepaper) 2018 in Munich, Germany.

As one of the most common cancers in the U.S., there are an estimated 140,000 new cases of colorectal cancer diagnosed each year. There is still much to learn about the factors that drive progression and for patients with mCRC, the optimal treatment is still unknown.

About the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology
The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology develops and conducts clinical trials with promising new cancer therapies, and utilizes the best science to develop optimal treatment and prevention strategies for cancer, as well as research methods to alleviate side effects of cancer and cancer treatments. The Alliance is part of the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and serves as a research base for the NCI Community Research Oncology Program (NCORP).
To learn more about the Alliance, visit www.AllianceforClinicalTrialsinOncology.org.

On July 2, 2019 Apexan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is reported that The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health has awarded a $2.3 million grant to Dr. Reuben Kapur and Dr. Mark R. Kelley, investigators in the Wells Center for Pediatric Research at the IU School of Medicine, to conduct studies that focus on preleukemic stem cells bearing specific mutations and their progression to full-blown cancer in the context of diabetes (Press release, Apexian Pharmaceuticals, JUL 2, 2019, View Source [SID1234537370]). The funds will also be used to examine and assess cancer progression in animal models under conditions of hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar, over the next four years. In these studies, they will build on their recently published work in Cell Stem Cell, demonstrating that APX3330 blocks this progression under conditions of inflammation.

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APX3330 is a lead compound of Apexian Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage drug development company focused on advancing APX3330 for the treatment of diseases mediated by the APE1/Ref-1 protein. Dr. Kelley is the Chief Scientific Officer of Apexian.

Results of Apexian’s recently completed Phase I clinical trial of APX3330 in patients with advanced, end-stage solid tumors were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper). The study confirmed the safety profile of APX3330 when given chronically as an orally-administered pill and identified a recommended phase II dose for further clinical development of APX3330 in a variety of possible indications.

Tumor biopsy data from the study confirmed the mechanism of action of APX3330 interacting with its molecular target, the APE1/Ref-1 protein, a gatekeeper for transcription factor activity. According to Dr. Kelley, "Given the importance of the APE1/Ref-1 protein in a variety of disease processes, including cancer, diabetic macular edema (DME) and inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis) and others, the phase I results confirm APX3330’s ability to control the drug target in humans. The NHLBI grant will be used to increase our understanding of the links between diabetes and cancer, allowing us to explore the potential of APX3330 in these areas of high unmet medical need."