On April 7, 2021 Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (CSE: CURA / OTCQX: CURLF) ("Curaleaf" or the "Company"), a leading international provider of consumer products in cannabis reported that it has successfully completed the acquisition of EMMAC Life Sciences Limited ("EMMAC"), the largest vertically integrated independent cannabis company in Europe, for base consideration of approximately US$50 million in cash and 17.5 million shares of Curaleaf, with additional consideration to be paid based upon the successful achievement of performance milestones (Press release, EMMAC Life Sciences, APR 7, 2021, View Source [SID1234577683]). Curaleaf has simultaneously established Curaleaf International Holdings Limited ("Curaleaf International") in Guernsey to hold the EMMAC investment and further its European expansion.

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To accelerate the expansion of Curaleaf International, Curaleaf has secured an investment of US$130 million from a single strategic institutional investor in exchange for 31.5% equity stake in Curaleaf International, implying a $413 million Post Money valuation, with US$80 million in cash available to spend. The subscription will fund the entire cash portion of the EMMAC acquisition consideration of US$50 million with the remaining US$80 million to be used to fund Curaleaf International’s current capital expenditures plan through 2022, as well as its pipeline of potential acquisitions. This infusion of outside capital into Curaleaf International significantly accelerates Curaleaf’s expansion plans in Europe by fully funding Curaleaf’s cash outlay for the EMMAC acquisition and providing the capital required to support Curaleaf International’s near-term European rollout. With its foreseeable expansion budget fully funded, Curaleaf’s new international business can focus on executing its further European expansion.

Curaleaf and the strategic investor have entered into a shareholders’ agreement regarding the governance of Curaleaf International pursuant to which Curaleaf will have control over operational issues as well as raising capital and the ability to exit the business. In addition, the strategic investor’s stake is subject to put/call rights which permits either party to cause the stake to be bought out by Curaleaf for Curaleaf equity starting in 2025.

Boris Jordan, Executive Chairman of Curaleaf, stated, "The successful completion of our acquisition of EMMAC, and the formation of our new Curaleaf International business, marks a transformational launching point for our entrance into the European cannabis market. Building on our market leading position in the U.S., this transaction establishes Curaleaf as the global, pure play, cannabis market leader by revenue and geographic reach. With our single strategic institutional investor, we have set a strong foundation for Curaleaf International’s future growth trajectory. On behalf of the Curaleaf Board of Directors and management team, we are thrilled to welcome Antonio Costanzo, co-founder and CEO of EMMAC, as the CEO of Curaleaf International, and the entire EMMAC team to Curaleaf."

The new Curaleaf International platform includes cultivation, EU GMP-certified processing, distribution, and R&D operations across several key European medical cannabis markets, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Terra Verde, Curaleaf International’s European market cultivation facility in Portugal, is one of the oldest licensed cannabis growing facilities in Europe with approximately 2 hectares of cultivation area and is an industry leader on the cannabis production cost efficiency front. The Portugal based cultivation facility provides Curaleaf International with the potential to serve customers across key European medical cannabis markets as well as supporting exports to countries such as Israel, among others. Curaleaf International plans to significantly increase its cultivation capacity in 2021, and to exceed 10 tons per year by 2022, in order to accommodate future growth related to the expansion of access to cannabis across the major European medical and adult-use, as well as export markets. Curaleaf International also has an operational presence and partnerships in European Union countries that are enacting new medical cannabis access programs. Curaleaf International will also serve as the platform for other possible acquisitions in Europe and adjacent areas, and for its participation in pilot adult use programs.

Joseph Bayern, CEO of Curaleaf, commented, "As the consumer and political liberalization trends around cannabis that are sweeping the U.S. are increasingly taking hold across Europe, our expansion into the international cannabis market presents tremendous new long-term growth opportunities for Curaleaf. With the European population of nearly 748 million[1], the potential European addressable market is more than twice the size of the U.S. addressable market[2]. With the ability to operate our new European business across country borders, with one or two cultivation sites and one manufacturing center to serve the entire region in most cases, combined with our ability to leverage the strength of our consumer packaged goods strategies and innovations from our U.S. operations, we see enormously positive implications for our ability to quickly and efficiently scale the business across Europe."

Following the successful completion of the transaction, Mr. Antonio Costanzo has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of Curaleaf International, with the former EMMAC management team continuing to lead Curaleaf’s new European presence as well as driving local European strategy and day-to-day operations.

Antonio Costanzo, CEO of Curaleaf International, commented, "This is an important day for the European cannabis market as EMMAC transitions to Curaleaf International. I look forward to working closely with the Curaleaf team to shape the future of cannabis for our patients and customers around the world. We will retain our science-led approach to continue to deliver best in class cannabis products for Europe’s growing medical cannabis market, and will work closely to leverage the consumer packaged goods experience and innovation from the U.S. to capitalize on the emerging adult-use market as legislation allows. We are now very well positioned to realize our aggressive growth ambitions."

On April 7, 2021 Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRNX), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for rare endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors, reported the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 4,562,044 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $16.44 per share (Press release, Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, APR 7, 2021, View Source [SID1234577682]). All of the shares to be sold in the offering are being sold by Crinetics. The gross proceeds to Crinetics from the offering, before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses, are expected to be approximately $75.0 million. The offering is expected to close on or about April 12, 2021, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

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Crinetics intends to use the net proceeds from the proposed offering to fund the development of paltusotine and its other research and development programs, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

SVB Leerink is acting as sole bookrunning manager for the offering.

The securities described above are being offered by Crinetics pursuant to a shelf registration statement previously filed and declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A final prospectus supplement relating to this offering will be filed with the SEC. The offering may be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus. When available, copies of the final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to this offering may be obtained from: SVB Leerink LLC, Attention: Syndicate Department, One Federal Street, 37th Floor, Boston, MA 02110, by telephone at 800-808-7525, ext. 6105 or by email at [email protected]. Electronic copies of the final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus will also be available on the website of the SEC at www.sec.gov.

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

On April 7, 2021 Cancer Advances, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutics for gastrointestinal cancers, reported that an abstract will be included in the upcoming 2021 American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting being held virtually from April 10-15, 2021 (Press release, Cancer Advances, APR 7, 2021, View Source [SID1234577681]).

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The abstract is entitled, "Vaccination with Polyclonal Antibody Stimulator (PAS) prevents pancreatic carcinogenesis in the KRAS mouse model" and is available at the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) meeting website at View Source!/9325/presentation/1168.

PAS is a cancer vaccine that induces antibodies to gastrin, a known stimulator of certain pancreatic cancers. Using a KRAS mouse model, the researchers measured the impact of PAS vaccine on pancreatic PanIN lesions, inflammation, and fibrosis. Compared to a control group, the PAS vaccine slowed progression of PanIN lesions and rendered the tumor microenvironment less carcinogenic.

Details of the abstract are below:

Abstract Title: Vaccination with Polyclonal Antibody Stimulator (PAS) prevents pancreatic carcinogenesis in the KRAS mouse model

Abstract Number: 109

Date: April 10-15, 2021

On April 7, 2021 BeiGene, Ltd. (NASDAQ: BGNE; HKEX: 06160), a commercial-stage biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing innovative medicines worldwide, reported approval from the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for BeiGene to begin manufacturing commercial supply of its approved anti-PD-1 antibody, tislelizumab, at its state-of-the-art biologics facility in Guangzhou, China (Press release, BeiGene, APR 7, 2021, https://ir.beigene.com/news-releases/news-release-details/beigene-announces-first-commercial-manufacturing-approval-its [SID1234577680]). At over one million square feet (100,000 square meters) and 8,000 liters of biologics capacity approved for commercial supply, this wholly owned facility will immediately begin production of commercial supply of tislelizumab for the China market. An additional phase of construction currently in progress to bring total capacity to 64,000 liters is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

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"We started building this large-scale, commercial biologics manufacturing facility in 2017 to meet our expected future demand. Since that time, tislelizumab has been approved in several indications in China, included in the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL), and licensed to Novartis in Europe, North America, and Japan," commented Xiaobin Wu, Ph.D., President, Chief Operating Officer, and General Manager of China at BeiGene. "With significantly expanded capacity for tislelizumab and for other biologics in our pipeline, we are continuing our strong commitment to the quality, safety, and compliance of our products."

BeiGene’s Guangzhou manufacturing facility has been designed to operate in compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) standards adopted by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The Guangzhou site is expected to be the first paperless biological manufacturing facility in China and integrates new technologies such as 3D modeling, digital twin, augmented interfaces, and artificial intelligence to improve quality and efficiency.

About Tislelizumab

Tislelizumab (BGB-A317) is a humanized IgG4 anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody specifically designed to minimize binding to FcγR on macrophages. In pre-clinical studies, binding to FcγR on macrophages has been shown to compromise the anti-tumor activity of PD-1 antibodies through activation of antibody-dependent macrophage-mediated killing of T effector cells. Tislelizumab is the first drug from BeiGene’s immuno-oncology biologics program and is being developed internationally as a monotherapy and in combination with other therapies for the treatment of a broad array of both solid tumor and hematologic cancers.

The China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has granted tislelizumab full approval for first-line treatment of patients with advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in combination with chemotherapy. Tislelizumab has also received conditional approval from the NMPA for the treatment of patients with classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cHL) who received at least two prior therapies, and for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) with PD-L1 high expression whose disease progressed during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy or within 12 months of neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatment with platinum-containing chemotherapy. Full approval for these indications is contingent upon results from ongoing randomized, controlled confirmatory clinical trials.

In addition, three supplemental Biologics License Applications for tislelizumab have been accepted by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the NMPA and are under review for first-line treatment of patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC in combination with chemotherapy, for the second- or third-line treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC who progressed on prior platinum-based chemotherapy, and for previously treated unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.

Currently, 16 potentially registration-enabling clinical trials are being conducted in China and globally, including 13 Phase 3 trials and three pivotal Phase 2 trials.

In January 2021, BeiGene and Novartis entered into a collaboration and license agreement granting Novartis rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize tislelizumab in North America, Europe, and Japan.

Tislelizumab is not approved for use outside of China.

On April 7, 2021 Arch Oncology, Inc., a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company focused on the discovery and development of anti-CD47 antibody therapies, reported the appointment of Laurence Blumberg, M.D. as President and Chief Executive Officer and Board Member (Press release, Arch Oncology, APR 7, 2021, View Source;utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=arch-oncology-appoints-laurence-blumberg-president-and-ceo [SID1234577679]). Dr. Blumberg has over thirty years of biotechnology industry experience leading companies as an executive, founder, analyst, and board member.

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"On behalf of the Board, I welcome Laur to Arch Oncology as he brings extensive industry experience to lead the Company’s plans for AO-176, a novel anti-CD47 therapy for patients with cancer," said John McKearn, Ph.D., Managing Director, RiverVest Venture Partners and Chairman of the Board of Arch Oncology. "AO-176 has a differentiated and potentially best-in-class profile among anti-CD47 biologic therapies and we look forward to Laur leading the team’s progress as they work to deliver this novel therapy to patients."

Dr. Blumberg, added, "I am excited to join this team to build on the important work underway. With the ongoing clinical trials for AO-176 in patients with solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, I look forward to reaching multiple upcoming milestones, including the first reported clinical data mid-year 2021. This is an exciting moment in our Company’s evolution as we continue our mission on behalf of patients with cancer who need better therapeutic options."

He received a B.A. from Brandeis University, an M.D. from Temple University School of Medicine, and an Executive MBA from Columbia University School of Business. He completed an Internship in Surgery at Abington Memorial Hospital and was an Otolaryngology resident at Geisinger Medical Center prior to his biotechnology career.