On March 17, 2021 Carmot Therapeutics, Inc. (Berkeley, CA), a clinical stage biotechnology company advancing transformative therapies for patients with metabolic diseases, reported the appointment of Manu Chakravarthy, MD, PhD as Chief Medical Officer and EVP of R&D, and member of the executive leadership team (Press release, Carmot, MAR 17, 2021, View Source [SID1234576819]). Dr. Chakravarthy will be based in Boston and lead the expansion of Carmot with an east-coast presence.

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"Dr. Chakravarthy joins Carmot at a very exciting time, as we initiate phase 1 and 2 clinical studies in metabolic diseases and advance our rapidly growing portfolio of pre-clinical programs" commented Stig K. Hansen, PhD, Carmot’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. "Treatment of type 2 diabetes and associated metabolic diseases is currently undergoing a paradigm shift with the advent of dual modulators of the GLP-1 and GIP incretin pathways. Carmot is at the forefront of this transformation with novel therapeutics built on unique insights into GLP-1 and GIP biology supported by Chemotype Evolution, our proprietary drug discovery platform. Manu is a highly respected medical expert and a scientific leader with a strong research background and will guide the success of our growing pipeline."

"I am thrilled to join Carmot at this stage of the Company’s evolution", said Dr. Chakravarthy. "Carmot’s ability to dissect biological pathways and discover novel chemical matter has enabled new treatment modalities including CT-868 and CT-388, Carmot’s dual incretin receptor modulators, entering phase 2 and 1 studies in 1H21. I am excited to apply my experience to complement Carmot’s science-driven culture and transform the treatment of diabetes and its many co-morbidities."

Dr. Chakravarthy joins Carmot Therapeutics from Axcella Health, where he has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer and a member of the executive team with direct oversight of all phases of clinical development, regulatory affairs, quality, and scientific communications.

Prior to Axcella, Dr. Chakravarthy served as the Vice President and Global Head of External R&D and Innovation Strategy in Diabetes and Cardiovascular Research at Eli Lilly. Before his global leadership role at Lilly, Dr. Chakravarthy worked across the R&D spectrum at Merck from discovery, clinical pharmacology, biomarker development and late-stage drug development covering diverse disease areas. His work in clinical pharmacology supported regulatory filings for successful drug approvals in endocrine, neuroscience, and infectious diseases. He assumed positions of increasing responsibility and leadership within Merck, and as a Distinguished Scientist, led Discovery Medicine for the Diabetes and Cardiometabolic therapeutic area. Dr. Chakravarthy earned his M.D. from the University of Texas Houston Medical School and a Ph.D. in Cell Biology & Physiology from the MD Anderson Cancer Center and University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences combined MD-PhD program. He trained in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Dr. Chakravarthy continues to serve patients as an Adjunct Clinical Asst. Professor of Medicine at the Rutgers School of Medicine in New Jersey. He is internationally recognized as a thought leader in metabolic diseases, reflected by his published work in numerous high-impact peer-reviewed scientific journals and invited speakerships.

On March 17, 2021 T-Cure Bioscience, Inc., a privately held company focused on developing T cell receptor (TCR) therapy products for the treatment of solid tumors, reported that the Company has entered into a clinical research agreement with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, to fund a Phase I clinical study testing a TCR-based product candidate for the treatment of tumors expressing Kita-Kyushu lung cancer antigen 1 (KK-LC-1), such as gastric, cervical, lung, and triple negative breast cancers (Press release, T-Cure Bioscience, MAR 17, 2021, View Source [SID1234576818]). T-Cure acquired the KK-LC-1 TCR therapy under an exclusive, worldwide license with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 2020. The Principal Investigator who will conduct the clinical research is Christian S. Hinrichs, M.D., Chief of the Section of Cancer Immunotherapy and Co-Director of the Cancer Immunology and Metabolism Center of Excellence at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Dr. Hinrichs is an expert in cancer immunology and immunotherapy and was recruited from the NCI where he served as Senior Investigator at the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch. T-Cure anticipates the KK-LC-1 TCR therapy will enter a multi-site Phase 1 clinical study in the second quarter of 2021 at the NCI, with the clinical study responsibilities to be transferred to Rutgers in the second half of 2021.

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"I joined the Cancer Immunology and Metabolism Center of Excellence because I believe that Rutgers Cancer Institute can be a global leader in cancer and tumor immunology research and development. In support of that mission, I am excited to partner with T-Cure to launch the first cell therapy clinical trial targeting the KK-LC-1 antigen," stated Dr. Hinrichs. "I began collaborating with the T-Cure team on this T cell receptor therapy while at the NCI, and I am pleased to continue working with them to advance this therapy at Rutgers."

"We look forward to our partnership with Dr. Hinrichs at Rutgers as a continuation of the work we undertook with him and his team at the NCI to advance this novel TCR product candidate through preclinical and clinical development," stated Gang Zeng, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of T-Cure. "The TCR was isolated from the tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes of a patient who had a complete response to a safely administered immunotherapy. Accordingly, we believe it holds great promise for engineering patients’ immune cells to effectively target and destroy cancer cells without being harmful to healthy tissue."

On March 17, 2021 Future Planet Capital has invested in a $168m Series B financing reported by Vaccitech Ltd. Future Planet joins other leading investors including M&G Investment Management, Tencent, Gilead Sciences, Monaco Constitutional Reserve Fund and fellow existing investor, Oxford Sciences Innovation (Press release, Vaccitech, MAR 17, 2021, View Source [SID1234576817]). As part of the Series B financing, $43 million in convertible loan notes previously issued by Vaccitech will convert into Series B shares, resulting in total gross proceeds to Vaccitech of $168 million before expenses.

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Douglas Hansen-Luke, Executive Chairman of Future Planet Capital, explained: "Our decision to support Vaccitech last year, before the results of the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca trials were known, has been vindicated by the vaccine’s approval for emergency use by national and international regulators. The success of the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca has increased our confidence in Vaccitech’s immunotherapy platform and our continuing support is signalled by our investment today."

Bill Enright, CEO of Vaccitech, said: "We expect this financing to enable us to reach key value inflection points for our lead programs. We now look forward to advancing key programs towards generating proof-of-concept data in indications with significant need of effective new treatments."

Ed Phillips, Head of Origination at Future Planet, concluded: "This is a concrete example of our vision in action – financing the best minds to address global challenges. We look forward to working with other entrepreneurs and businesses dedicated to solving global challenges in the future."

Vaccitech is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of novel immunotherapeutics and vaccines for the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases and cancer; in 2020 it co-invented a COVID-19 vaccine candidate with the University of Oxford, AZD1222, which is known as the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca.

On March 17, 2021 Kintara Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTRA) ("Kintara" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of new solid tumor cancer therapies, reported that its Chief Executive Officer Saiid Zarrabian will participate in the Benzinga Biotech Small Cap Conference to be held March 24-25, 2021 (Press release, Kintara Therapeutics, MAR 17, 2021, View Source [SID1234576816]). Mr. Zarrabian will present on March 24, 2021 at 9:45 am ET.

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Investors can view Mr. Zarrabian’s general corporate presentation once they register for the conference here and can also request a 1×1 meeting with Mr. Zarrabian.

On March 17, 2021 Amplia Therapeutics Ltd (ASX: ATX), ("Amplia" or the "Company"), a company developing new approaches for the treatment for cancer and fibrosis, reported that it has successfully completed the dosing of subjects in the Single Ascending Dose (SAD) component of the Phase 1 clinical trial of its proprietary focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitor AMP945 (Press release, Amplia Therapeutics, MAR 17, 2021, View Source;[email protected] [SID1234576815]).

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The Single Ascending Dose study involved four cohorts of healthy volunteers. The last cohort of volunteers received the highest single dose of AMP945 administered to date and achieved drug exposures corresponding to the maximum allowable level specified in the trial design. As noted for prior cohorts, the highest single dose AMP945 was found to be well tolerated and no safety concerns were identified.

Last month, Amplia announced that it had started dosing subjects for the Multiple Ascending Dose (MAD) component of its Phase 1 trial. The Company remains on track to complete dosing and report top-line data from this trial in the June quarter. Dr John Lambert, CEO of Amplia commented: "We are very encouraged by the data that is coming in from this Phase 1 clinical study. Our focus is now on completing the trial in a timely manner, fully analysing the data and preparing for future clinical studies in patients with cancer and fibrosis."

This ASX announcement was approved and authorised for release by the Board of Amplia Therapeutics.