On September 23, 2020 Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) ("Centene" or the "Company") reported that it has commenced an underwritten public offering to sell $2,200,000,000 of senior notes due 2030 (the "Notes"), subject to market and other conditions (Press release, Centene , SEP 23, 2020, View Source [SID1234565539]).

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Centene intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of the Notes, together with cash on hand, to redeem of all of its outstanding 4.75% Senior Notes due 2022 (the "2022 Notes Redemption"), all of its outstanding 5.25% Senior Notes due 2025 and all of WellCare Health Plans, Inc.’s, a Delaware corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, outstanding 5.25% Senior Notes due 2025 (together, the "2025 Notes Redemptions"), including all premiums, accrued interest and costs and expenses related to the 2022 Notes Redemption and the 2025 Notes Redemptions. Pending the application of the net proceeds of the offering for the foregoing purposes, net proceeds may be temporarily used for general corporate purposes. The foregoing does not constitute a notice of redemption or an obligation to issue a notice of redemption for the outstanding notes of any series.

BofA Securities, Barclays, J.P. Morgan, Truist Securities and Wells Fargo Securities are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering of the Notes.

This offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement and prospectus and a related preliminary prospectus supplement filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Before you invest, you should read the prospectus and the related preliminary prospectus supplement, the registration statement and other documents that Centene has filed with the SEC for more complete information about Centene and this offering.

Copies of the prospectus supplement and related prospectuses for this offering can be obtained from BofA Securities, NC1-004-03-43, 200 North College Street, 3rd floor, Charlotte, NC 28255-0001, Attn: Prospectus Department or by email at [email protected]; from Barclays Capital Inc., c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, by email at [email protected], or by calling (888) 603-5847; from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717 or by calling +1 (866) 803-9204; from Truist Securities by email at [email protected]; and from Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, 550 S. Tryon Street, 5th Floor, Charlotte, North Carolina 28202, Attention: Leveraged Syndicate.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of the securities described herein in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.

On September 23, 2020 The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) reported the publication of the organization’s first patient and caregiver resource focused on a childhood cancer type (Press release, NCCN, SEP 23, 2020, View Source [SID1234565538]). The brand new NCCN Guidelines for Patients: Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) shares the latest expert advice for treating infants, children, and adolescents with the most common pediatric malignancy. This guidance is intended to enable patients, their parents or guardians, and other caregivers to advocate for the best evidence-based care available. This new source of information is available for free at NCCN.org/patients thanks to support from the NCCN Foundation. The book is endorsed by Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)/Be The Match, CancerFree Kids, The Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley, and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).

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NCCN Guidelines for Patients: Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
"My heart aches for every child, parent, and guardian who experiences an earth-shattering event like a cancer diagnosis," said Patrick Brown, MD, Associate Professor of Oncology and Pediatrics, Director, Pediatric Leukemia Program, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Chair, NCCN Guidelines Panels for Adult and Pediatric ALL. "Thankfully, advances in treating pediatric ALL represent one of the most profound successes in medical history. Nearly 90% of the kids who are diagnosed with this type of leukemia can be cured with inexpensive and widely-available therapies, as explained in these guidelines. Our aim in sharing this information is to prepare people for what they’re facing while also giving them reason to feel hopeful."

NCCN Guidelines for Patients are directly based on the clinical practice versions that inform doctors all over the world of the best way to manage cancer patients. NCCN Guidelines are considered the gold standard for clinical direction and policy in cancer management and are the most thorough and frequently-updated clinical practice guidelines available in any area of medicine. The evidence-based recommendations are formulated by top experts from across the 30 leading cancer centers that are part of NCCN.

The patient guidelines contain the same treatment information, but are written with easy-to-understand wording. They include charts and images, a glossary of medical terms, and suggested questions to ask during appointments. An independent study found them to be among the most trustworthy resources for people seeking online information about cancer.

"We know firsthand how important it is for families to have accurate and trusted information about their child’s treatment plan," said Liz Scott, Executive Director, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. "We are honored to endorse the NCCN Guidelines for Patients: Pediatric ALL. There is so much power and hope in information!"

"We want every child around the world to receive the best-possible cancer care," said Marcie Reeder, MPH, Executive Director, NCCN Foundation. "That’s why it’s important for patients and caregivers to know what their doctors know. Nearly 1 million people visited our patient information website in 2019. I hope they came away with the knowledge and comfort to feel empowered against whatever they might be facing."

The library of NCCN Guidelines for Patients currently contains nearly 50 different books, including recommendations for breast, colon, lung, and prostate cancers. There are also books on supportive care topics like managing cancer-related distress, nausea and vomiting, side-effects from immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, and special considerations for adolescents and young adults across all cancer types. The books are available for free digital download online or via the NCCN Patient Guides for Cancer App. Printed versions are available for a nominal fee at Amazon.com.

On September 23, 2020 Metabolon, Inc., the global leader in metabolomics solutions advancing drug development and precision medicine, reported the close on $72 million in combined debt and equity financing (Press release, Metabolon, SEP 23, 2020, View Source [SID1234565537]). This round of financing included Perceptive Advisors as a new participant. EW Healthcare Partners and other existing investors also participated in the financing.

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"We are thrilled by this strong show of support from Perceptive Advisors and our current investors," said Rohan (Ro) Hastie, President and CEO, Metabolon. "I am also extremely excited that some of the company’s earliest investors participated in this round of investment as well. The incremental funding will help accelerate our growth and expand our client base, in addition to helping further our R&D programs in machine learning to enable novel biomarker discovery and expand our precision medicine platform."

Metabolomics, the large-scale study of all small molecules in a biological system, is the only ‘omics technology that provides a current-state functional readout of a biological system. By leveraging the world’s largest proprietary metabolite database, Metabolon can decipher thousands of discrete chemical signals from genetic and non-genetic factors to reveal biological pathways. Metabolon’s technology makes connections where other ‘omics cannot and provides the definitive representation of the phenotype.

The company today also announced the appointment of Robert A. Cascella, Chief Business Leader, Precision Diagnostics, and Executive Vice President of Phillips, as one of three independent members of the Metabolon Board of Directors.

"Rob’s 30-year career in the healthcare industry comprises an impressive track record of value creation and delivering integrated solutions," said Hastie, "We are honored to have his expertise on the board to help lead Metabolon to our next stage of growth."

Cascella joins Todd Schermerhorn, retired senior vice president and chief financial officer of C. R. Bard, Inc, and Jan Lundberg, formerly President of Lilly Labs and head of R&D, as independent board members.

On September 23, 2020 InSysBio, one of the world’s pioneers of Quantitative Systems Pharmacology (QSP) modeling, reported its collaboration with Genmab, an international biotechnology company specializing in the creation and development of differentiated antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer (Press release, InSysBio, SEP 23, 2020, View Source [SID1234565536]).

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Genmab, in partnership with BioNTech, has begun clinical development of an investigational therapy, GEN1042 (DuoBody-CD40x4-1BB), for solid tumors. GEN1042 is a first-in-class bispecific agonistic antibody targeting CD40 and 4-1BB for priming and activation of a tumor-specific immune response. The key aim of InSysBio in this collaboration is to develop a quantitative system pharmacology (QSP) model that allows exploration of the relationships between dose, schedule, and tumor response in patients treated with this novel agent. These advantages of QSP modeling are enabled by the fact that such models are virtual representations of the disease based on experimental data and biological knowledge.

InSysBio’s great expertise in QSP modeling in oncology and immuno-oncology settings, allows to increase the efficiency of new drug development. Moreover, to perform such projects more efficiently InSysBio has developed internal tools and software facilitating the process of model development, several of which will be applied during this project. The Immune Response Template (IRT) is a tool for development of QSP models/platforms of different diseases associated with the immune response in humans. Application of the IRT allows simplification of the model development process by using pre-defined sub-models as building blocks. Another InSysBio tool, the CYTOCON DB, will assist in the estimation of remaining unknown factors and translation of in vitro data to in vivo situations.

Oleg Demin, CEO of InSysBio, highlights: "The project with Genmab represents ideal case for application of QSP modeling approach. The choice of the technique is supported by complexity of biological system, needs in mechanistic understanding of the data available and importance of the project deliverables for the drug development program. Genmab and BioNTech are jointly developing GEN1042 using the DuoBody technology, which is a revolutionary new approach in the oncology treatment. We are proud to be part of this process."

It should be outlined that the project absolutely coincides with InSysBio mission which is to take part in drug development thus bringing hope to patients.

On September 23, 2020 ImmVira Group Company, a biotechnology company focused on the development of new generation oncolytic viruses as potential cancer therapeutics reported signing of US$10 million Series B Plus strategic financing (Press release, Immvira, SEP 23, 2020, View Source [SID1234565535]). This round of financing will be exclusively funded by Shanghai Healthcare Capital ("SHC"), managed by SIIC Capital, where Shanghai Pharma is one of the founding strategic cornerstone LPs.

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In August 2020, ImmVira and Shanghai Pharma announced a clinical collaboration and exclusive license agreement for ImmVira’s MVR-T3011 intratumoral oncolytic virus program for the commercialization of novel immunotherapies to treat solid malignant tumors.

"We warmly welcome SHC to be our strategic investor," said Grace Zhou, Chairman and CEO of ImmVira. "This investment further deepens our collaboration in the MVR-T3011 intratumoral program and highlights the commitment from the parties to the program’s commercial success. An investment from one of the country’s leading integrated pharma and healthcare fund is also a promising validation to the approach of using genetically modified oncolytic virus as an effective remedy to treat cancer."

"ImmVira is a leader in providing best-in-class oncolytic virotherapy treatments for patients in need. We are pleased with the progress on the MVR-T3011 intratumoral program and now also take an important stake as a shareholder," said David Liu, CEO of SHC. "In-line with our dedication to promote the bio-pharmaceutical industry in China, we look forward to making strategic investment with best-in-class innovators like ImmVira and would like to expand our portfolio to include more rising life science companies like ImmVira."