Novo Nordisk A/S – Share repurchase programme

On June 28, 2021 Novo Nordisk reported that initiated a share repurchase programme in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and Council of 16 April 2014 (MAR) and the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 of 8 March 2016 (the "Safe Harbour Rules") (Press release, Novo Nordisk, JUN 28, 2021, View Source [SID1234584464]). This programme is part of the overall share repurchase programme of up to DKK 18 billion to be executed during a 12-month period beginning 3 February 2021.

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Under the programme initiated 7 May 2021, Novo Nordisk will repurchase B shares for an amount up to DKK 3.3 billion in the period from 10 May 2021 to 3 August 2021.

Since the announcement as of 21 June 2021, the following transactions have been made:

The details for each transaction made under the share repurchase programme are published on novonordisk.com.

With the transactions stated above, Novo Nordisk owns a total of 14,707,509 B shares of DKK 0.20 as treasury shares, corresponding to 0.6% of the share capital. The total amount of A and B shares in the company is 2,310,000,000 including treasury shares.

Novo Nordisk expects to repurchase B shares for an amount up to DKK 18 billion during a 12- month period beginning 3 February 2021. As of 25 June 2021, Novo Nordisk has since 3 February 2021 repurchased a total of 15,869,011 B shares at an average share price of DKK 461.50 per B share equal to a transaction value of DKK 7,323,503,112.

BioVaxys Announces Non-Brokered Private Placement

On June 28, 2021 BioVaxys Technology Corp. (CSE: BIOV, FRA:5LB, OTCQB:BVAXF) ("BioVaxys" or the "Company") reported a non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") consisting of up to 9,090,909 units ("Units") at a price of $0.22 per Unit for total gross proceeds of up to approximately $2,000,000 (Press release, BioVaxys Technology, JUN 28, 2021, View Source [SID1234584456]). Each Unit consists of one common share (a "Common Share") and one whole Common Share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant is exercisable for one additional Common Share at an exercise price of $0.50 for a period of 30 months.

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All securities issued pursuant to the Private Placement are subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day from the date of issuance. The Company may pay cash finder’s fees on all or a portion of the Private Placement.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Private Placement to advance its research and development programs and for working capital. Closing of the Private Placement is subject customary conditions of closing, including the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange, and is expected to complete within the next week.

Innovent Announces License Agreement with Synaffix in an ADC Technology Deal

On June 28, 2021 Innovent Biologics, Inc. (Innovent) (HKEX: 01801), a world-class biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and commercializes high-quality medicines for the treatment of cancer, metabolic, autoimmune and other major diseases, reported the signing of a non-exclusive, target-specific license agreement with Synaffix B.V., a biotechnology company focused on commercializing its clinical-stage platform technology that enables antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with best-in-class therapeutic index (Press release, Innovent Biologics, JUN 28, 2021, View Source [SID1234584432]).

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Under the terms of the agreement, Synaffix will provide all the necessary proprietary ADC technologies including GlycoConnect , HydraSpace and one of its toxSYN linker-payloads, to enable Innovent to rapidly progress one of its antibodies as a best-in-class ADC candidate. The deal is the culmination of a successful initial proof-of-concept research period between the companies.

Upon signature, Innovent is granted the rights to deploy the above ADC technologies for one therapeutic molecule. Innovent will be responsible for the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of the ADC product. Synaffix will closely support Innovent’s research activities and will be responsible for the manufacturing of components that are specifically related to its proprietary technologies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Synaffix is eligible to receive upfront payment, potential milestone payments related to certain development and sales performance achievements as well as royalties based on potential future commercial sales of the ADC product.

Dr. Yongjun Liu, President of Innovent said, "We are excited to collaborate with Synaffix as Innovent is expanding its pipeline into the ADC space. Our collaboration with Synaffix adds a promising new ADC candidate to our preclinical pipeline through leveraging Synaffix’s validated, differentiated and innovative ADC technology platform and Innovent’s strong antibody capabilities. Based on Synaffix’s seamless partnering model, we could rapidly combine Synaffix’s ADC technologies with Innovent’s antibody, generate compelling research data and keep moving the project ahead swiftly."

Peter van de Sande, CEO of Synaffix said, "This collaboration is yet another example that illustrates the potential of the Synaffix platform to increase the competitive position of our partners within the ADC space. Innovent is an ideal partner for Synaffix due to its strategic focus on innovative medicines and strong R&D capability for high quality biologic drugs. We look forward to working closely together on this exciting development program."

InnoCare Announces Breakthrough Therapy Designation of Orelabrutinib by US FDA for Treatment of R/R MCL

On June 28, 2021 InnoCare Pharma (HKEX: 09969), a leading biopharmaceutical company, reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) to its Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor orelabrutinib for the treatment of relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (R/R MCL) (Press release, InnoCare Pharma, JUN 28, 2021, View Source [SID1234584431]).

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Orelabrutinib is a highly selective BTK inhibitor targeting both B-cell malignancy and autoimmune diseases. On Dec. 25, 2020, orelabrutinib was approved by the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in two indications: the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (R/R CLL) /small lymphocytic lymphoma (R/R SLL), and the treatment of patients with R/R MCL.

Dr. Jasmine Cui, the co-founder, chairwoman and CEO of InnoCare said, "We are very proud that orelabrutinib was granted BTD after obtaining Orphan Drug Designation. We will continue to uphold the concept of ‘Science drives innovation for the benefit of patients’ and accelerate clinical trials for multiple indications of orelabrutinib in China and the rest of the world to benefit patients worldwide."

Breakthrough Therapy Designation is an FDA program designed to expedite the development and review of drugs that are intended to treat serious or life-threatening conditions and have demonstrated preliminary clinical evidence of substantial improvement over existing therapies.

IDEAYA Announces IDE397 Phase 1 Clinical Pharmacodynamic Data and Phase 2 Initiation of Darovasertib and Crizotinib Combination

On June 28, 2021 IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:IDYA), a synthetic lethality focused precision medicine oncology company committed to the discovery and development of targeted therapeutics, reported that updates for its Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating IDE397 in patients having solid tumors with MTAP deletion and Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating darovasertib combination therapies in metastatic uveal melanoma (MUM) (Press release, Ideaya Biosciences, JUN 28, 2021, View Source [SID1234584430]).

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"The observation of a clinical pharmacodynamic signal in the initial cohorts of the IDE397 dose escalation study is significant. Modulation of plasma SAM is evidence of target engagement and supports our preclinical observations that IDE397 is a highly potent and active MAT2A inhibitor," said Mark Lackner, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Head of Biology and Translational Sciences of IDEAYA Biosciences.

"We continue to be encouraged by the early clinical responses observed in the daraovasertib combination treatments in heavily pretreated patients and are excited to initiate our Phase 2 clinical trial to further evaluate the darovasertib and crizotinib combination in MUM patients," said Matthew Maurer, M.D., Vice President, Head of Clinical Oncology and Medical Affairs, IDEAYA Biosciences.

IDE397 in MTAP Deletion Solid Tumors

IDEAYA is evaluating IDE397, a potent and selective small molecule inhibitor targeting methionine adenosyltransferase 2a (MAT2A), as monotherapy in the dose escalation portion of a Phase 1 clinical trial in patients having solid tumors with methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) deletion, a patient population estimated to represent approximately 15% of solid tumors.

The company is currently enrolling patients in the third cohort of the dose escalation portion of the IDE397 clinical trial. Four clinical trial sites are currently open for enrollment with an additional five sites targeted in the second half 2021. IDEAYA has entered into a collaboration with Tempus Labs to identify additional patients for the open clinical sites. The enrolled patients have tumors with MTAP deletion in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), pancreatic cancer and thymic cancer. As of June 25, 2021, IDE397 has been generally well tolerated with only grade 1 drug-related adverse events, including constipation, nausea and fatigue. There were no reported drug-related serious adverse events, and no reported myelosuppression, or changes to bilirubin or to aminotransaminase (AST) or alanine aminotransferase (ALT) enzymes.

IDEAYA has met the criteria to initiate a IDE397 tumor biopsy cohort arm in each of the first two cohorts of the dose escalation study, with observed clinical pharmacodynamic (PD) modulation of plasma S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) satisfying the clinical protocol threshold of approximately 60% or greater. The PD data showed a maximal plasma SAM reduction from baseline of 68.9% and 88.0% for the first (n=2) and second (n=3) cohorts, respectively. The clinical protocol threshold was established based on IDE397 preclinical in vivo efficacy data in MTAP-deletion xenograft models. The company plans to obtain pre-treatment and post-treatment tumor biopsies from patients enrolled into this tumor biopsy cohort to evaluate tumor PD response, including measurement of tumor SAM and tumor symmetric dimethyl arginine (SDMA) biomarkers.

The PD data to be obtained from the IDE397 tumor biopsy cohort is expected to support an option data package for review by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in consideration of whether to exercise its exclusive option to develop and commercialize IDE397. The GSK option is exercisable within a certain period after IDEAYA delivers a data package comprising preclinical data and clinical data from the IDE397 monotherapy dose escalation portion of the Phase 1 clinical trial, including safety and tolerability data, pharmacokinetic data, and pharmacodynamic modulation of SAM and tumor SDMA. IDEAYA is leading early clinical development of IDE397. If GSK exercises its option and pays an option exercise fee of fifty million dollars ($50,000,000), GSK will lead later stage global clinical development and costs will be shared with GSK responsible for 80% and IDEAYA responsible for 20%. If GSK exercises the option, IDEAYA will be eligible to receive future development and regulatory milestones of up to $465 million, 50% of U.S. net profits, tiered royalties on global ex-U.S. net sales ranging from high single digit to sub-teen double digit percentages and certain commercial milestones of up to $475 million.

Darovasertib Combinations in Metastatic Uveal Melanoma (MUM)

IDEAYA is executing on its strategy to evaluate darovasertib combinations in MUM, including combinations of darovasertib and crizotinib, and independently, darovasertib and binimetinib, in each case under a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with Pfizer Inc.

The company initiated Phase 2 of the clinical trial evaluating darovasertib and crizotinib combination in MUM based on observed early clinical activity of this combination. In the first cohort of the dose escalation portion of the Phase 1 clinical trial, an earlier-reported unconfirmed partial response of 54.3% tumor reduction has subsequently confirmed with a 56.5% tumor reduction in a subsequent scan, which represents the deepest response observed to date in the Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating darovasertib as monotherapy or in combinations.

Drug-related adverse events observed in the darovasertib and crizotinib combination arm in MUM as of June 22, 2021 based on preliminary data from an unlocked database, primarily include: serious adverse events of syncope and hypotension, each of which resolved with patients continuing dosing; and adverse events that occurred in at least two treated patients of nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, edema, decreased appetite, rash, hypotension and syncope. The observed syncope and hypotension were transient, often occurring in the first week of dosing, and are being managed / mitigated through a one week run-in dosing regimen and by limiting use of certain concurrent medications such as diuretics.

In the darovasertib and binimetinib combination arm of the Phase 1 clinical trial, an earlier-reported unconfirmed partial response of 40.5% tumor reduction has been confirmed with a 51.7% tumor reduction in a subsequent scan.

Drug-related adverse events observed in the darovasertib and binimetinib combination arm in MUM, as of June 22, 2021 data cutoff based on preliminary data and analysis from an unlocked database, primarily include: serious adverse events of liver toxicity, nausea and vomiting, syncope and fall; and adverse events that occurred in greater than 10% of patients of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, edema, fatigue, hypotension and creatine phosphokinase increase.

As of June 22, 2021, IDEAYA has enrolled 30 MUM patients in the darovasertib and binimetinib combination arm, and 15 MUM patients in the darovasertib and crizotinib combination arm. IDEAYA is targeting a further clinical data update for darovasertib combination(s) in the second half of 2021. The company is planning to obtain FDA regulatory guidance on potential registration-enabling trial design for darovasertib monotherapy and/or darovasertib combination(s) in MUM in the second half of 2021 or the first half of 2022, respectively.