On October 15, 2020 F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. (hereafter "Roche") [Head Office: Basel, Switzerland. CEO: Severin Schwan] reported its third quarter sales 2020 (January 1 – September 30, 2020) (Press release, Chugai, OCT 15, 2020, View Source [SID1234568500]).

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Roche owns 59.89% of Chugai’s outstanding shares (61.17% of the total number of shares issued excluding treasury stock) as of the end of September 2020.

Its press release and presentation materials can be found on its website (View Source).
Chugai’s performance for the period of January 1 to September 30, 2020 is included in the announced Roche Group’s results.

On October 15, 2020 Cancer Research Center of Toulouse reported that Coordinated by the European Biomedical Imaging Research Institute (EIBIR, Austria), the H2020 MEDIRAD project (View Source) is based on a consortium of 33 partners representing 14 European countries (Press release, Cancer Research Center of Toulouse, OCT 15, 2020, View Source [SID1234568499]). This project aims to explore the effects of low-dose exposure in medicine.

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More generally, the MEDIRAD project will improve the scientific basis and practice of radiation protection in medicine, with the aim of preventing the risks associated with repeated exposure to low doses of radiation (e.g.: cardiovascular risks following radiotherapy treatment of breast cancer/ long-term risks of tomography treatments in children and adolescents, etc.).

Among the applications concerned is the use of iodine-131 for the treatment of thyroid cancers (WP3 – coordinator: Glenn Flux). Team 15 of the CRCT (responsible: Pr M. Bardiès) is involved in this project (dosimetry axis), and the IUCT-Oncopole is the only French institution to participate in clinical research (coordinator: Pr F. Courbon).

As a reminder, iodine-131 has been used to treat thyroid cancers for over 80 years, with excellent results. However, this practice raises the question of the potential risks to healthy organs away from the treated area. A network of expert centres capable of producing standardised scintigraphic imaging data has been set up within MEDIRAD to enable the precise determination of the doses absorbed by healthy organs during these treatments, first step in assessing the risks associated with treatment.

In this perspective, four European centres (including the IUCT-Oncopole) initially compared their scintigraphic image acquisition systems (five in total), according to three main criteria: detector sensitivity, contrast recovery coefficients and dead time. The objective was to provide elements of camera parameterization methodology for each of the models analyzed and to ensure the standardization of acquisitions and associated processing. These results, preliminary but essential for the continuation of the project, were published this month in The European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.

On October 15, 2020 BioInvent International AB ("BioInvent") (OMXS: BINV), a biotech company focused on the discovery and development of novel and first-in-class immune-modulatory antibodies for cancer immunotherapy, reported that they will be presenting a poster on BI-1808, an antibody to tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 (TNFR2), at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper) 35th Anniversary Annual Meeting (Press release, BioInvent, OCT 15, 2020, View Source [SID1234568495]). The congress will be held virtually from November 9 to 14, 2020 .

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Title of abstract: Pre-clinical development of TNFR2 ligand-blocking BI-1808 for cancer immunotherapy
Authors: Linda Mårtensson, Mathilda Kovacek, Petra Holmkvist, Monika Semmrich, Carolin Svensson, Therese Blidberg, Carl Roos, Andres McAllister, Mimoza Demiri, Marie Borggren, Ingrid Karlsson, Björn Frendéus, Ingrid Teige
Abstract number: 725

The poster will be available in the Virtual Poster Hall November 11-14, 2020, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. EST (3:00 – 11:00 p.m. CET). The presenting authors will answer questions on Wednesday, November 11 from 5:15 to 5:45 p.m. EST (11:15 – 11: 45 p.m. CET) and Friday, November 13 from 4:40 to 5:10 p.m. EST (10:40 – 11: 10 p.m. CET).

On October 15, 2020 BioInvent International AB ("BioInvent") (OMXS: BINV), a biotech company focused on the discovery and development of novel and first-in-class immune-modulatory antibodies for cancer immunotherapy, and Transgene (Euronext Paris: TNG), a biotech company that designs and develops virus-based immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, reported that they will be presenting a poster on BT-001 at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper) 35th Anniversary Annual Meeting (Press release, BioInvent, OCT 15, 2020, View Source [SID1234568494]). The congress will be held virtually from November 9 to14, 2020.

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BT-001 is an optimized oncolytic virus (OV) being co-developed by BioInvent and Transgene.

Title of abstract: BT-001, an oncolytic vaccinia virus armed with a Treg-depleting human recombinant anti-CTLA4 antibody and GM-CSF to target the tumor microenvironment

Authors: Monika Semmrich, Jean-Baptiste Marchand, Laetitia Fend, Matilda Rehn, Nathalie Silvestre, Linda Mårtensson, Johann Foloppe, Ingrid Teige, Eric Quéméneur and Björn Frendeus

Abstract number: 594

The poster will be available in the Virtual Poster Hall November 11-14, 2020, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. EST (3:00 – 11:00 p.m. CET). The presenting authors will answer questions on Thursday, November 12 from 4:50 to 5:20 p.m. EST (10:50 – 11:20 p.m. CET) and Saturday, November 14 from 1 to 1:30 p.m. EST (7:00 – 7:30 p.m. CET).

On October 15, 2020 OncoPep, Inc. reported a licensing agreement with MANA Therapeutics for use of its EDIFY platform for the development of an autologous multi-tumor antigen adoptive T cell therapy for the treatment of multiple myeloma and solid tumors, as an additional T cell focused immunotherapeutic for its product pipeline (Press release, OncoPep, OCT 15, 2020, View Source [SID1234568493]).

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"The addition of a multi-antigen adoptive T cell therapy to our pipeline expands the breadth of our immuno-oncology programs in multiple myeloma in addition to solid tumors, and provides patients with another potential treatment option for a disease for which there is no cure," said Doris Peterkin, Chief Executive Officer of OncoPep. "Our initial focus will be developing this unique adoptive T cell therapy for the potential treatment of patients with multiple myeloma."

OncoPep is developing the adoptive T cell therapy as part of a licensing agreement with MANA Therapeutics. MANA’s EDIFY platform is specifically designed to train T cells to target multiple tumor associated antigens, harnessing the patient’s immune system for an approach that targets a broader set of antigens expressed by the tumor. In this collaboration, a patient’s T cells will be trained ex vivo with EDIFY to target the antigens, XBP1, CD138 and CS1, which are highly over-expressed in multiple myeloma and other solid tumors. OncoPep’s lead therapeutic cancer vaccine candidate, PVX-410, is also designed to train T cells to target XBP1, CD138 and CS1 and could potentially be used in combination with the adoptive T cell therapy. This new adoptive T cell therapy approach has the potential to provide more persistent and durable control over tumor cell growth and could prevent the progression of cancer and improve quality of life for patients with multiple myeloma.

"The OncoPep team has developed a deep scientific understanding of multiple myeloma and the complexities of the disease," said Martin Silverstein, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of MANA Therapeutics. "MANA’s EDIFY platform has already been studied in two clinical trials using ManaMix antigens, and is being deployed in additional clinical trials under MANA’s INDs. We are pleased to enter into a licensing agreement with OncoPep that will expand the application of our EDIFY platform to a new set of tumor antigens that are over-expressed in multiple myeloma and specified solid tumors."

About Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a debilitating type of hematologic cancer that affects plasma cells. It is the second most common blood cancer, accounting for 13% of all hematologic cancers and 1% of all cancer deaths. MM is characterized by a proliferation of malignant plasma cells, which may in turn interfere with the normal production of blood cells. MM causes significant side effects, such as debilitating bone pain and fractures, anemia, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, renal insufficiency and failure, hypercalcemia and increased chance of infection.