Seagen to Host Virtual R&D Day on November 16, 2020

On November 2, 2020 Seagen Inc. (Nasdaq: SGEN) reported that it will host a virtual R&D day for investors and analysts on Monday, November 16, 2020 beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time (Press release, Seagen, NOV 2, 2020, View Source [SID1234569657]). The program will include a presentation by members of Seagen leadership on the broad clinical development of the Company’s marketed products, ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin), PADCEV (enfortumab vedotin-ejfv) and TUKYSA (tucatinib), and its deep pipeline of innovative therapies for cancer.

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Access to the event will be available at the Company’s website www.seagen.com in the Investors section. A replay will be archived on the Company’s website following the live presentation.

Exact Sciences to participate in November investor conferences

On November 2, 2020 Exact Sciences Corp. (Nasdaq: EXAS) reported that company management will participate in the following conferences and invited investors to participate by webcast (Press release, Exact Sciences, NOV 2, 2020, View Source [SID1234569655]).

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Stifel Virtual Healthcare Conference
Fireside Chat on Monday, November 16, 2020, at 9:20 a.m. EST
Jefferies Virtual London Healthcare Conference
Fireside Chat on Wednesday, November 18, 2020, at 2:55 p.m. EST
The webcast can be accessed in the investor relations section of Exact Sciences’ website at www.exactsciences.com.

Sanofi offers to acquire Kiadis, a clinical-stage company developing cell-based immunotherapy products

On November 2, 2020 Sanofi and Kiadis, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative ‘off the shelf’ natural killer (NK) cell based medicines for the treatment of life-threatening diseases, reported that it entered into a definitive agreement under which Sanofi will make a public offer (subject to satisfaction of certain customary conditions) to acquire the entire share capital of Kiadis for EUR 5.45 per share, representing an aggregate adjusted equity value of €308m1 (Press release, Sanofi, NOV 2, 2020, View Source [SID1234569644]).

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"We believe the Kiadis ‘off the shelf’ K-NK cell technology platform will have broad application against liquid and solid tumors, and create synergies with Sanofi’s emerging immuno-oncology pipeline, providing opportunities for us to pursue potential best-in-disease approaches," said John Reed, M.D., Ph.D., Global Head of Research & Development at Sanofi.

"Kiadis’ vision is to bring novel cell-based medicines to people with life-threatening diseases, and this transaction will help achieve that vision," said Arthur Lahr, Chief Executive Officer of Kiadis. "After the discontinuation of our lead product candidate and subsequent reorganization in 2019, we restarted Kiadis in 2020 as an entirely new company focused solely on the proprietary and differentiated NK-cell platform that we obtained through the acquisition of Cytosen Therapeutics. Sanofi’s offer is a clear testimony to the uniqueness of our NK-cell platform and the rapid success of Kiadis’ transformation. The Kiadis Boards unanimously believe that Sanofi has the resources and financial strength to accelerate development of our NK-cell products, to the benefit of patients. We believe this transaction represents compelling value to shareholders and offers a fair reflection of the potential of our platform and pipeline, given the risk/reward profile typical to biotech and the capital required to execute our business plan. Finally, this transaction will provide excellent career opportunities for our employees, who will be viewed by Sanofi as their internal cell-therapy experts."

Innovative K-NK cell platform

Kiadis’ proprietary platform is based on allogeneic or ‘off-the-shelf’ NK cells from a healthy donor. NK cells seek and identify malignant cancer cells and have broad application across various tumor types. The platform has the potential to make products rapidly and economically available for a broad patient population across a wide range of indications.

Kiadis’ NK cell-based medicines will be developed alone and in combination with Sanofi’s existing platforms.

Complementary strong science to generate first-in-class medicines and strategic fit across core therapeutic areas

Sanofi’s research, development, and commercial expertise will be leveraged to advance Kiadis’ pipeline, which includes NK cell based medicines for the treatment of patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplant, liquid and solid tumors, as well as infectious disease.

In July 2020, Sanofi licensed Kiadis’ pre-clinical K-NK004 program for potential combination for multiple myeloma.

Kiadis’ pipeline of NK cell therapies includes:

K-NK002 is in a Phase 2 clinical study evaluating NK cells to prevent post-transplant relapse in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes. The Phase 2 trial will be conducted in collaboration with premier U.S. transplant centers.

K-NK003 is a Phase 1 study evaluating NK cells for patients with relapsed or refractory AML.

KNK-ID-101 is a program evaluating the properties of K-NK cells and their suitability to fight SARS-CoV-2 and the option to develop K-NK cells as a post-exposure pre-emptive therapy for COVID-19 in high risk patients. Kiadis plans to initiate a phase 1/2a clinical trial evaluating use of K-NK cells to treat COVID-19 patients with government grant funding.

Accelerates the clinical development and broadens patient reach of current Kiadis pipeline

Subject to the completion of the public offer, Sanofi will provide the resources and capabilities necessary to accelerate the development of current Kiadis programs for the treatment of blood tumors, solid cancers, and infectious diseases, maximizing their potential to the benefit of patients.

Mission Therapeutics Appoints Dr Suhail Nurbhai as Chief Medical Officer

On November 2, 2020 Mission Therapeutics, a drug discovery and development company focused on selectively inhibiting deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs), reported that it has appointed Dr Suhail Nurbhai as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) with immediate effect (Press release, Mission Therapeutics, NOV 2, 2020, View Source [SID1234569641]).

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Dr Nurbhai has more than 25 years of experience and a strong track record in the strategic and operational leadership of all phases of clinical research and development at companies across Europe and the US. He joins Mission from VHsquared, where he held the position of CMO since 2014.

Prior to VHsquared, Suhail was Senior Vice President and Head of Development and Medical Affairs for Shionogi in Europe. He joined Shionogi from Takeda where he was Vice President and Head of Clinical and Analytical Science in Europe, with responsibility for all Clinical Science activities in Neurosciences, Cardiovascular/Renal/Metabolic, Oncology, Gastrointestinal/Genitourinary and Respiratory Medicine, as well as Clinical Pharmacology, Medical Writing, Statistics and Data Management.

Suhail’s initial industry experience was at Pfizer, where he spent 12 years, initially in Sandwich, UK and then at Global R&D Headquarters in Connecticut, USA. During his time at Pfizer he held roles of increasing responsibility across multiple therapeutic areas including GI/GU, anti-bacterial, sexual medicine and anti-fungal, prior to completing his time at Pfizer as Head of Neuroscience Clinical R&D at the Groton site in Connecticut.

During his career he has led teams bringing multiple compounds from pre-clinical phase into clinical studies in both Europe and US, and achieved multiple successful NDA and MAA submissions and approvals.

Suhail qualified in Medicine at Dundee University in Scotland and completed his post-graduate medical training at Hope Hospital in the University of Manchester.

Commenting on the appointment, Dr Anker Lundemose, CEO of Mission Therapeutics said: "We are pleased to be welcoming Suhail to further strengthen Mission’s leadership team. His in-depth knowledge and proven track record in clinical research will be invaluable as we work to bring our first-in-class USP30 inhibitor compound into the clinic. Suhail’s appointment is the last of a series of organisational changes, including the promotions of Dr Paul Thompson and Dr Nick Edmunds, to ready the Company for this next phase."

Dr Suhail Nurbhai added: "It’s great to be joining Mission at such an exciting time for the Company. The ongoing collaboration with AbbVie and recently signed agreement with Pfizer represent solid industry validation of the Company’s approach and ground-breaking technology. I look forward to building on this success progressing its lead assets into the clinic."

AIVITA Biomedical Completes Treatment of Patients in Phase 2 Clinical Trial of Glioblastoma Immunotherapy

On November 2, 2020 AIVITA Biomedical, Inc., a private biotechnology company specializing in innovative stem cell applications, reported that treatment has been completed for all 57 patients in the Phase 2 clinical trial of AV-GBM-1 in patients with glioblastoma (Press release, AIVITA Biomedical, NOV 2, 2020, View Source [SID1234569640]). The company was able to manufacture final product at a notable 94% success rate, showing strong commercial and clinical viability.

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The eight-site, single-arm study investigates AV-GBM-1, AIVITA’s novel immunotherapy for the treatment of glioblastoma that targets the autologous tumor-initiating cells responsible for the rapid growth and proliferation of the disease. AIVITA achieved a 97% success rate in both growing tumor-initiating cells from each patient and in collecting sufficient monocytes from the peripheral blood from which to derive dendritic cells, resulting in a 94% overall success rate for manufacturing a final treatment given to patients. AV-GBM-1 was well-tolerated, and no patients experienced severe adverse events attributed to the treatment, and no patients discontinued treatment because of side-effects.

"This milestone brings us closer to having a better understanding of the potential for AV-GBM-1 to effectively treat patients with glioblastoma," said Bob Dillman, M.D., chief medical officer of AIVITA. "With such a high manufacturing success rate and no significant side effects, we are hoping this technology will chart a new path forward in immunotherapy."

Out of the 57 patients who participated in the study, the average number of doses injected was 6.9 out of a possible 8. The study’s primary endpoint is overall survival (OS) from enrollment date of patients treated with AV-GBM-1, with secondary endpoints including progression free survival from enrollment date and OS and PFS from date of surgical resection. AIVITA expects new interim findings to be presented at future medical meetings in November.

AIVITA is currently conducting three independent clinical studies investigating its platform immunotherapy in patients with glioblastoma, ovarian cancer and melanoma. AIVITA is also seeking conditional commercial approval of its melanoma treatment in Japan.

CLINICAL TRIAL DETAIL

OVARIAN CANCER

AIVITA’s ovarian Phase 2 double-blind study is active and enrolling approximately 99 patients who are being randomized in a 2:1 ratio to receive either the autologous tumor-initiating cell-targeting immunotherapy, AV-OVA-1, or autologous monocytes as a comparator.

Patients eligible for randomization and treatment will be those (1) who have undergone debulking surgery, (2) for whom a cell line has been established, (3) who have undergone leukapheresis from which sufficient monocytes were obtained, (4) have an ECOG performance grade of 0 or 1 (Karnofsky score of 70-100%), and (5) who have completed primary therapy. The trial is not open to patients with recurrent ovarian cancer.

For additional information about AIVITA’s AVOVA-1 trial patients can visit: www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02033616

GLIOBLASTOMA

AIVITA’s glioblastoma Phase 2 single-arm study is active and completed treating 57 with the tumor-initiating cell-targeting immunotherapy, AV-GBM-1.

The primary endpoint of the trial is overall survival (OS) and secondary endpoints include progression-free survival (PFS) and OS measured from date of enrollment, OS/PFS measured from date of diagnosis and OS/PFS from date of enrollment based on Karnofsky Performance Status, age, and extent of surgical resection. Tertiary endpoints will include OS/PFS from date of first injection and OS/PFS from date of first injection in patients who completed concurrent CT/RT and had not progressed.

For additional information about AIVITA’s AV-GBM-1 trial please visit: www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03400917

MELANOMA

AIVITA’s melanoma Phase 1B open-label, single-arm study will establish the safety of administering anti-PD1 monoclonal antibodies in combination with AIVITA’s tumor-initiating cell-targeting immunotherapy in patients with measurable metastatic melanoma. The study will also track efficacy of the treatment for the estimated 14 to 20 patients. This trial is not yet open for enrollment.

Patients eligible for treatment will be those (1) for whom a cell line has been established, (2) who have undergone leukapheresis from which sufficient monocytes were obtained, (3) have an ECOG performance grade of 0 or 1 (Karnofsky score of 70-100%), (4) who have either never received treatment for metastatic melanoma or were previously treated with enzymatic inhibitors of the BRAF/MEK pathway because of BRAF600E/K mutations and (5) are about to initiate anti-PD1 monotherapy.