On June 18, 2020 Sermonix Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of female-focused oncology products in the precision medicine metastatic breast cancer arena, reported that it will share a poster and audio presentation on its lead investigational drug, lasofoxifene, for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Virtual Annual Meeting II (Press release, Sermonix Pharmaceuticals, JUN 18, 2020, View Source [SID1234561218]).

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The abstract compares the efficacy of lasofoxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), and CDK 4/6 inhibitor palbociclib combinations to that of fulvestrant, a selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD), and palbociclib combinations in NSG mice with breast tumors carrying Y537S ESR1 mutations.

Presentation Details:
Title: "Lasofoxifene Alone or in Combination With Palbociclib as an Effective Treatment for Therapy-Resistant ER+ Metastatic Breast Cancer"
Session: PO.EN02.01 – Molecular, Preclinical, and Clinical Endocrinology 2
Abstract ID: 4370/ 13
Date + Time: June 22 from 9 a.m. EDT to 6 p.m.

Following the virtual presentation, the poster will be available in the Medical Meetings section of the Sermonix Pharmaceuticals website.

"The results demonstrate a positive, synergistic efficacy of lasofoxifene with a CDK 4/6 inhibitor, supporting this type of combination therapy approach in clinical studies," said David Portman, Sermonix founder and chief executive officer. "We look forward to detailing these new results during this important AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) online gathering of the oncology community and initiating a Phase 2 combination study in the near future."

The study was conducted by the University of Chicago’s Ben May Department for Cancer Research.

"This work marks an important step in continuing to build the foundation of our ongoing, robust ELAINE clinical development program," said Beth Attias, Sermonix chief strategy and development officer. "We are grateful for the collaboration with the University of Chicago and this groundbreaking work of Dr. Geoffrey Greene."

About Lasofoxifene
Lasofoxifene is an investigational, nonsteroidal selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), which Sermonix licensed from Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: LGND) and has been studied in previous comprehensive Phase 1-3 non-oncology clinical trials in more than 15,000 postmenopausal women worldwide. Lasofoxifene’s bioavailability and activity in mutations of the estrogen receptor could potentially hold promise for patients who have acquired endocrine resistance due to ESR1 mutations, a common finding in the metastatic setting and an area of high unmet medical need. Lasofoxifene’s novel activity in ESR1 mutations was discovered at Duke University and Sermonix has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the product in this area. Lasofoxifene, a potent, oral SERM could, if approved, play a critical role in the targeted precision medicine treatment of advanced ER+ breast cancer.

On June 18, 2020 Lyell Immunopharma ("Lyell") and PACT Pharma ("PACT") reported a strategic partnership to jointly develop and test a next generation personalized anti-cancer T cell therapy against solid tumors (Press release, PACT Pharma, JUN 18, 2020, View Source [SID1234561217]).

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The partnership combines technologies to develop a personalized T cell therapy using patients’ own T cells through non-viral precision genome engineering for tumor neoantigen specificity while overcoming potential tumor resistance and T cell exhaustion in treating patients with solid cancers.

"Current T cell therapies for patients with solid tumors face hurdles of target specificity and cell functionality that this partnership is committed to overcome," said Alex Franzusoff, Ph.D., CEO of PACT. "Our goal is to engineer and develop transformational and curative product candidates for patients with solid tumors by addressing these hurdles together, for each patient. We believe this multi-faceted approach has the potential to deliver the greatest patient benefit."

"By combining efforts in this way, PACT and Lyell are leveraging the best technologies on both sides of the T cell specificity-functionality equation," said Rick Klausner, M.D., CEO of Lyell. "More than a technological partnership, this is an opportunity to leverage decades of expertise from some of the field’s best minds, which is very exciting to all of us."

"To efficiently fight solid tumors, neoantigen-targeted T cells will encounter adverse tumor environments and must not be turned off by the cancer," said Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder at PACT. "The world-leading scientists at Lyell have designed original strategies to enhance T cell persistence and tumor-killing activity. With PACT’s ability to specifically redirect T cells to mutations in cancer, I believe this partnership will significantly advance the pursuit of highly targeted and effective personalized T cell therapies."

"PACT has sophisticated technologies enabling the first evaluations of personalized adoptive T cell therapy in clinical trials for common solid tumors targeting conserved mutations in the patient’s cancer," said Stanley Riddell, M.D., Head of Research and Development at Lyell. "We are excited by the opportunity to work together to accelerate clinical evaluation of a next generation cellular therapy that is designed to sustain the function of T cells at tumor sites."

The Program resulting from the partnership, which includes upfront and milestone payments to PACT, will be jointly owned and each party will share profits equally if successful. PACT and Lyell will each continue to pursue programs independently and through their other partnerships.

On June 18, 2020 Cambrex, the leading small molecule company providing drug substance, drug product and analytical services across the entire drug lifecycle, reported that Tom Loewald has been named Chief Executive Officer and a member of the company’s Board of Directors, effective September 7th (Press release, Cambrex, JUN 18, 2020, View Source [SID1234561213]). As previously announced, in the interim, the company will be led by an Office of the CEO comprised of Wayne Hewett, Chairman of the Board, Robert Green, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Samantha Hanley, Senior Vice President and General Counsel.

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Mr. Loewald is a 15-year veteran of Thermo Fisher Scientific, where he served in several senior executive roles during his tenure, including Chief Commercial Officer, President of the Analytical Instruments Group, President of the Laboratory Products Group and President of the Laboratory Equipment Division. He currently serves as President of the Flexibles Division of ProAmpac, a leading flexible packaging manufacturer. Earlier in his career he held leadership positions at Tyco International and General Electric. Mr. Loewald currently serves on the Board of Directors of Harvard BioScience, a global developer, manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of solutions to advance life science.

"Cambrex has a phenomenal reputation for providing unmatched expertise, innovation and customer service across the entire drug lifecycle, and I am thrilled to be joining the company at a time when bringing therapeutics to patients across the globe is more important than ever," said Mr. Loewald. "I am eager to get to work, alongside the talented leadership team, to further solidify the company’s position as a leader in the CDMO market."

Wayne Hewett, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said, "Tom’s deep knowledge of life sciences and manufacturing, and strong commercial, operating and financial focus, make him the ideal leader for Cambrex as we approach this phase of accelerated growth. We are confident that he will be an excellent fit for the company’s customer-centric culture and look forward to supporting him and the entire team on the exciting road ahead."

On June 18, 2020 Nimbus Therapeutics, a biotechnology company designing breakthrough medicines through structure-based drug discovery and development, reported that it will host a webcast seminar to discuss the latest data from its HPK1 program on Thursday, June 25, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET (Press release, Nimbus Therapeutics, JUN 18, 2020, View Source [SID1234561212]).

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The seminar will feature presentations by Nimbus’ scientific leadership that give a brief overview of the company’s discovery pipeline and a deeper dive on data contained in the company’s poster presentation at the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) Virtual Annual Meeting II, June 22-24. The included data detail Nimbus’ identification of an HPK1 inhibitor with highly potent and selective anti-tumor activity in preclinical models.

If you wish to attend the live webcast, please pre-register at https://bit.ly/NimbusHPK1Seminar. A replay of the webcast will be available at this link after the event.

On June 18, 2020 Bristol Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) reported that it will announce results for the second quarter of 2020 on Thursday, August 6, 2020 (Press release, Bristol-Myers Squibb, JUN 18, 2020, View Source [SID1234561211]). During a conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET on August 6, 2020, company executives will review financial results and will address inquiries from investors and analysts.

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Investors and the general public are invited to listen to a live webcast of the call at View Source or by dialing in the U.S. toll free 800-458-4121 or international 786-789-4772, confirmation code: 8970168. Materials related to the call will be available at the same website prior to the conference call. A replay of the call will be available beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET on August 6 through 12:00 p.m. ET on August 20, 2020. The replay will also be available through View Source or by dialing in the U.S. toll free 888-203-1112 or international 719-457-0820, confirmation code: 8970168.