On November 2, 2021 Dunad Therapeutics ("Dunad"), a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development of next-generation targeted protein degradation therapies, reported that it has entered a strategic collaboration and license agreement with Novartis to generate orally bioavailable covalent and protein degrading small molecule drugs (Press release, Novartis, NOV 2, 2021, View Source [SID1234594197]).

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Under the terms of the agreement, Dunad will apply its tunable and highly selective platform to generate novel covalent and targeted protein degrading small molecule drugs focusing on up to four drug targets agreed with Novartis. Dunad will also be responsible for program execution up to lead optimization. Novartis will contribute target and ligand knowledge as well as access to unique assays and models and will fully fund the research collaboration.

Novartis has an exclusive option to develop and commercialize products resulting from the research programs directed against up to four drug targets. Upon exercise of this option, Novartis will assume responsibility for future development, manufacturing and global commercialization of the small molecule therapeutic products generated against the agreed targets.

Dunad’s unique platform uses mono-valent small molecules to induce selective degradation of disease-causing and often undruggable proteins via direct modification of the target. The Company’s novel molecular approach is fully tunable to be selective and is underpinned by a target-class agnostic mechanism of action that is clearly differentiated from other targeted protein degradation technologies.

Dunad’s platform has the potential to generate orally bioavailable degrader therapeutics that significantly expand the frontiers of protein degradation targets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dunad will receive $24 million in an upfront payment and equity investment, as well as significant research funding. Dunad will also be eligible for milestone payments that could aggregate to up to $1.3 billion and royalties.

Alongside the equity investment of Novartis, and the founding investor Epidarex Capital, BioGeneration Ventures (BGV) is joining Dunad as a new investor. Oskar Slotboom, General Partner at BGV, has joined Dunad’s Board of Directors.

Prof. Patrick Gunning, Dunad’s co-founder, acting Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer commented: "We are thrilled to have entered this collaboration with Novartis, which has already established a world leading position in the protein degradation space. This deal highlights the clear benefits our platform promises for the development of next-generation targeted protein degrader therapeutics. We are confident that with our approach of inducing degradation via direct modulation of target proteins with mono-valent small molecules, we can significantly expand the boundaries of targeted protein degraders as a therapeutic modality."

Dr. Diana Kraskouskaya, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Dunad, commented: "This collaboration is an important milestone for Dunad. It allows us to rapidly expand the impact of our platform technology to additional target classes and therapeutic areas, beyond Dunad’s own internal target pipeline. Our growing team is committed to advancing our internal pipeline and partnered programs directed against the most sought-after and previously intractable targets."

Dr. Elizabeth Roper, Partner at Epidarex Capital, Dunad’s founding investor, and board director of Dunad, commented: "We are delighted to see Dunad’s growth continue with such a significant deal with Novartis. This collaboration provides validation of Dunad’s differentiated protein degradation technology and explores the full potential of this new modality as a therapeutic approach. We are also excited to welcome BGV and Novartis as investors to the syndicate and look forward to our continued collaboration with the team."

On November 2, 2021 Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS), a biotechnology company focused on the development of innovative therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, reported that Curis management will participate in virtual fireside chats and panels at the following upcoming conferences in November and December (Press release, Curis, NOV 2, 2021, View Source [SID1234594194]):

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30th Annual Credit Suisse Healthcare Conference on Monday, November 8, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. ET
Jim Dentzer, President and CEO, will participate in the virtual fireside chat.
12th Annual Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference, starting on Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 3:00 a.m. ET (8:00 a.m. GMT).
Jim Dentzer, President and CEO, will participate in the virtual fireside chat that will be available for on-demand viewing during the conference.
B. Riley Fall Best Ideas in Oncology Panel Series on Wednesday, December 1, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. ET
Robert Martell, Head of Research and Development, will participate on the oncology panel series titled "Emerging Targeted Therapies in Acute Myeloid Leukemia"
Live webcasts of the Credit Suisse and B. Riley presentations will be available under "Events & Presentations" in the Investors section of the Company’s website at www.curis.com. Archived replays for all the events will be available on the Curis website for approximately 90 days following the event.

On November 2, 2021 Synlogic, Inc. (Nasdaq: SYBX), a clinical stage company bringing the transformative potential of synthetic biology to medicine, reported the Company will release its third quarter 2021 financial results before the market opens on Wednesday, November 10, 2021 (Press release, Synlogic, NOV 2, 2021, View Source [SID1234594193]). The press release will be followed by a conference call at 8:30 am ET, which will be open to the public via telephone and webcast. During the conference call, the Company will review its financial results and provide a corporate update.

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The conference call dial-in numbers are (844) 815-2882 for domestic callers and (213) 660-0926 for international callers. The conference ID number for the call is 5450919. Participants may access the live webcast via a link on the Synlogic website in the Events Calendar of the Investors and Media section. For those unable to participate in the conference call or webcast, a replay will be available for 30 days on the Company’s website.

Additionally, Aoife Brennan, M.B. Ch.B., Synlogic’s President and Chief Executive Officer, will present at the following banking conference:

Jefferies London Healthcare Conference, November 18th and 19th. The Company presentation will be available on demand.
Synlogic’s pre-recorded session will be available for the duration of the conference and a replay will be available for 30 days on the Company’s website.

On November 2, 2021 Evotec SE’s (Frankfurt Stock Exchange; EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809, WKN 566480) management board reported – with the approval of its supervisory board – on the volume and the issue price of its public offering of American Depositary Shares ("ADSs") (Press release, Evotec, NOV 2, 2021, View Source;announcements/ad-hoc-releases/p/evotec-se-announces-placement-of-its-public-offering-of-american-depositary-shares-6114 [SID1234594191]). The offering will produce gross proceeds of $ 435,000,000 from the sale of 10,000,000 ordinary shares of Evotec in the form of 20,000,000 ADSs at a price of $ 21.75 per ADS. Each ADS will represent one half of an ordinary share of Evotec. Accordingly, Evotec’s share capital, on the basis of Evotec’s articles of association ("Satzung"), will be increased to € 173,914,741,00 by issuing 10,000,000 shares from the authorized capital ("Genehmigtes Kapital 2021") under exclusion of subscription rights of the existing shareholders (taking into account the subscription shares issued to date from conditional capital ("Bezugsaktien"), the actual share capital will then amount to € 175,110,695).

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In addition, Evotec has granted the underwriters an option exercisable for 30-days after the date hereof to purchase up to 3,000,000 additional ADSs.

The ADSs are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on or about November 4, 2021 under the ticker symbol "EVO".

The offering is expected to close on or about November 8, 2021, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

A registration statement relating to the ADSs being sold in this offering has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and was declared effective on November 3, 2021.

The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the final prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained, when available, for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, copies of of the final prospectus, when available, may be obtained from: BofA Securities, NC1-004-03-43; 200 North College Street, 3rd Floor, Charlotte, North Carolina 28255-0001, Attention: Prospectus Department or by email at [email protected], Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attn: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014, or by email at [email protected].

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

This communication and the information contained herein is made solely for information purposes only and does not constitute or form part of a prospectus or any offer or invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, any securities of Evotec, in any jurisdiction. Neither this communication, nor any part of it, nor the fact of its distribution, shall form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contractual commitment or investment decision in relation to the securities of Evotec, in any jurisdiction, nor does it constitute a recommendation regarding any such securities.

The placement of the securities mentioned in this communication is directed only at persons in member states of the European Economic Area (the "EEA") who are "Qualified Investors" within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation EU 2017/1129 ("Prospectus Regulation") ("Qualified Investors"). Any person in the EEA who acquires the securities in any offer (an "Investor") or to whom any offer of the securities is made will be deemed to have represented and agreed that it is a Qualified Investor.

In the United Kingdom, this communication is only directed at persons who are "qualified investors" within the meaning of Article 2 of the Prospectus Regulation as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 who are also (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order") or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "Relevant Persons"). Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only to Relevant Persons in the United Kingdom and will only be engaged with such persons. Any person in the United Kingdom who is not a Relevant Person should not act or rely on this communication or any of its contents.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements concerning future events, including the proposed offering and listing of Evotec’s securities. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "potential," "should," "target," "would" and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements include comments regarding completion of the offering. These forward-looking statements are based on the information available to, and the expectations and assumptions deemed reasonable by Evotec at the time these statements were made. No assurance can be given that such expectations will prove to have been correct. These statements involve known and unknown risks and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates, which are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond the control of Evotec. Evotec expressly disclaims any obligations or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Evotec’s expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.

On November 2, 2021 Immutep Limited (ASX: IMM; NASDAQ: IMMP) ("Immutep" or "the Company"), a biotechnology company developing novel LAG-3 related immunotherapy treatments for cancer and autoimmune disease, reported the grant of a new patent (number ZL 201610221687) entitled "Use of recombinant LAG-3 or the derivatives thereof for eliciting a monocyte immune response" by the Chinese Patent Office (Press release, Immutep, NOV 2, 2021, View Source [SID1234594190]). The patent forms part of a broad and growing portfolio of patent families for the Company’s lead product candidiate eftilagimod alpha ("efti" or "IMP321") in key global markets including China.

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This new Chinese patent follows the grant of the corresponding European, Japanese and United States patents announced previously. The claims of the new patent relate to methods of use of (a) Immutep’s efti which is a LAG-3 fusion protein (LAG-3Ig) and (b) a chemotherapy agent in combination for the manufacture of a preparation for the treatment of cancer. The patent provides protection in mainland China and the expiry date is 3 October 2028.

The new patent is owned by Immutep S.A.S. and exclusively licensed to Immutep’s partner in China, EOC Pharma ("EOC").

Immutep CEO, Marc Voigt, noted: "We are making good progress building our global patent estate around our LAG-3 development pipeline, including lead candidate efti which has delivered promising clinical data in various settings. We will continue to make these important investments and are especially pleased to be working so closely with our Chinese partner, EOC Pharma, as they expand their clinical development of efti for the Chinese market."

EOC Pharma CEO, Xiaoming Zou, said: "We are investing in the development of efti for the local market in China and are very pleased with the steps being taken by our partner, Immutep, to build a broad portfolio of patent families around this unique candidate. These are important and ongoing steps in the complex process of bringing innovative medicines to the market for patients."

About efti in China

Efti is exclusively licensed by Immutep to EOC Pharma for the territory of Greater China (namely mainland China, Hong Kong S.A.R, Macao S.A.R. and Taiwan). Under its agreement with Immutep, EOC will make further milestone payments to the Company if efti achieves specific development milestones, as well as pay sales-based royalties. Immutep retains the rights to efti outside the territory of Greater China.