On October 14, 2021 OnKure, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing the next generation of oncology precision medicines, reported the appointment of Jennifer R. Diamond, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer (Press release, OnKure, OCT 14, 2021, View Source;utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=onkure-therapeutics-appoints-jennifer-r-diamond-m-d-as-chief-medical-officer [SID1234591235]). Dr. Diamond, a trained oncologist, brings over 10 years of extensive clinical expertise in early phase trials and translational oncology research.

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"We are very pleased to welcome Jennifer to our growing leadership team," said Tony Piscopio, Ph.D., Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of OnKure. "Her vast knowledge of conducting early-stage trials for novel oncology therapeutics, as well as her experience exploring novel combination strategies, will be vital as we continue to build and advance our broad pipeline of best-in-class precision medicines."

In addition to serving in her role at OnKure, Dr. Diamond works in the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus as a breast cancer medical oncologist and Associate Professor of Medicine. She is also the Clinical Research Director of the Phase 1 and Expansion/Molecular Studies Program (POEMs) and the founding Co-Director of the Women’s Cancer Developmental Therapeutics Program at the CU Cancer Center. Dr. Diamond has been involved in clinical and translational research in the Phase 1 and Breast Cancer research programs at CU since 2007 and currently runs a research laboratory focused on the development of targeted agents in TNBC, including strategies to overcome treatment resistance. She received her B.A. from the University of Arizona and her M.D. from the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Dr. Diamond completed her fellowship in Medical Oncology at CU under Dr. Gail Eckhart.

"I am thrilled to be joining OnKure at such an important time in the Company’s growth," said Dr. Diamond. "OnKure’s proven structure-based drug design approach has the potential to create optimal, tumor-agnostic treatments for cancer patients with high unmet need. I look forward to leveraging my experiences to lead the Company’s clinical development efforts and advance its promising lead candidate, OKI-179, as well as future oncology programs in the clinic."

On October 14, 2021 HOOKIPA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOK, ‘HOOKIPA’), a company developing a new class of immunotherapeutics based on its proprietary arenavirus platform, reported the publication of a comprehensive review article on arenaviral immunotherapies in the peer-reviewed online journal, Frontiers in Oncology (Link) (Press release, Hookipa Biotech, OCT 14, 2021, View Source [SID1234591234]). The article reinforces the potential of HOOKIPA’s versatile arenavirus platform as a promising strategy to elicit potent, tumor-specific T cell responses and help address critical unmet needs in the treatment of cancer.

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"We believe there is broad potential for our foundational arenavirus platform to deliver novel immunotherapies for a range of cancers. The publication in Frontiers in Oncology validates the strength of our science as an emerging strategy in cancer treatment and offers hope to patients and clinicians who need more tools in their fight," said Joern Aldag, Chief Executive Officer at HOOKIPA. "We remain focused on advancing our promising HB-200 program, including progressing to Phase 2 in the coming months, as well as exploring other cancer targets, like prostate cancer, based on our selection of tumor antigens."

Taken together, the publication highlights several key advantages of HOOKIPA’s arenavirus platform, including the ability to:

Directly target and activate antigen-presenting cells (APCs) to induce robust, polyfunctional CD8+ T cell responses;
Target APCs without killing them (non-lytic), unlike other viral approaches which must infect tumor cells directly to be efficacious;
Administer intravenously, which is accessible for all patients and less invasive than some intratumoral approaches required by other viral therapies;
Further augment CD8+ T cell responses with administration of alternating vector therapy to levels previously not observed with other technologies;
Induce sustained cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTLs) responses and durable anti-tumor activity, indicating immunologic memory;
Potentially work synergistically with PD-1 inhibitors, helping expand the number of people who may benefit from therapy and improve long-term outcomes.
The article also reviews clinical data from the ongoing HB-201/HB-202 trial in people with advanced HPV16+ cancers. The clinical data, as presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) 2021 Annual Meeting, showed that HB-200 is highly immunogenic, inducing unprecedented levels of activated, tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T cells (up to 40 percent of the T cell pool). In addition, HB-201 monotherapy showed an 18 percent overall response rate and median progression-free survival of 3.45 months in heavily pre-treated head and neck cancer patients who progressed on standard of care, including checkpoint inhibitors. While the trial is ongoing, these initial data show results with monotherapy that are better than the current second-line standard of care in these advanced patients. The data offer clinical proof-of-concept for the arenavirus platform, which has the potential to target a range of cancers based on antigen selection.

About HB-201/HB-202
HB-201 and HB-202 are HOOKIPA’s lead oncology candidates engineered with the company’s proprietary replicating arenaviral vector platform. Each single-vector compound uses a different arenavirus backbone (Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus for HB-201 and Pichinde Virus for HB-202), while expressing the same antigen, an E7E6 fusion protein derived from HPV16. In pre-clinical studies, alternating administration of HB-201 and HB-202 showed a ten-fold increase in immune response and better disease control than either compound alone. Both compounds are being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 1/2 study (NCT04180215) in individuals with treatment-refractory HPV16+ cancers who have progressed on standard of care, including checkpoint inhibitors.

On October 14, 2021 ImmunoGen Inc. (Nasdaq: IMGN), a leader in the expanding field of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for the treatment of cancer, reported that the Company will host a conference call at 8:00 a.m. ET on Friday, October 29, 2021 to discuss its third quarter operating results (Press release, ImmunoGen, OCT 14, 2021, View Source [SID1234591232]). Management will also provide a brief update on the business.

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CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION
To access the live call by phone, dial (877) 621-5803; the conference ID is 1587202. The call may also be accessed through the Investors and Media section of the Company’s website, www.immunogen.com. Following the call, a replay will be available at the same location.

On October 14, 2021 Vect-Horus reported that Emmanuelle BETTENDORF will participate in BioEurope from October 25 to 27, 2021 and will be available to meet with you on partnership opportunities (Press release, Vect-Horus, OCT 14, 2021, View Source [SID1234591231]).

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On October 14, 2021 Fresenius Kabi reported that it has agreed to collaborate with Phlow Corporation, a public benefit company, to expand access to affordable sterile injectables formulated for U.S. children’s hospitals and to help strengthen the supply chain for U.S.-sourced API and essential medicines (Press release, Fresenius, OCT 14, 2021, View Source [SID1234591230]). The companies will work together to supply private-labelled products, co-develop and manufacture novel products and make essential medicines rapidly available in the event of a public health emergency.

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Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

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