On March 16, 2021 Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SRNE), reported that Dr. Henry Ji, Chairman and CEO, will participate in the following upcoming conference (Press release, Sorrento Therapeutics, MAR 16, 2021, View Source [SID1234576802]):

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CEO Roundtable during WuXi Healthcare Forum 2021

Dr. Henry Ji will participate in the CEO forum this evening and provide an update on Sorrento’s programs. Sorrento’s Management will be available during the CEO roundtable to answer questions.

Interested investors and industry partners can register through the following link:

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On March 16, 2021 Immutep Limited (ASX: IMM; NASDAQ: IMMP) ("Immutep" or "the Company"), a biotechnology company developing novel immunotherapy treatments for cancer, infectious disease and autoimmune disease, reported a second clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with subsidiaries of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA (known as "MSD" outside the United States and Canada) (Press release, Immutep, MAR 16, 2021, View Source [SID1234576773]). Under the agreement, Immutep will conduct a new Phase IIb clinical trial in 1st line HNSCC patients, as initially described in the ASX announcement dated 28 September 2020.

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The trial, called TACTI-003 (Two Active Immunotherapies), will be a 1:1 randomised, controlled clinical study in approximately 160 1st line HNSCC patients. It will evaluate the safety and efficacy of Immutep’s lead product candidate, eftilagimod alpha (efti or IMP321), when given in combination with MSD’s KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), compared to pembrolizumab alone. TACTI-003 will take place in 20+ clinical sites in the United States, Australia and Europe, and the first patient is expected to be enrolled in mid-2021.

The combination of efti and KEYTRUDA is also being evaluated in Immutep’s ongoing Phase II TACTI-002 study. The promising clinical results generated to date from the TACTI-002 trial have prompted the initiation of the new TACTI-003 trial. The combination brings together two immuno-oncology treatments with complementary mechanisms of action at two different positions in the cancer immunity cycle. Efti is a first-in-class antigen presenting cell activator which stimulates cancer-fighting T cells, while KEYTRUDA is an anti-PD-1 therapy which blocks the immunosuppressive PD-1 pathway.

"We are excited to be deepening our collaboration with MSD through this second agreement and the TACTI-003 clinical trial. Advancing to this later stage Phase IIb trial will allow us to explore the combination therapy in the commercially relevant 1st line therapy setting which has a high unmet medical need," said Immutep CEO Marc Voigt.

HNSCC is the sixth most common cancer by incidence worldwide, with 890,000 new cases and 450,000 deaths reported in 2018.1,2,3 HNSCC is an aggressive, genetically complex, and difficult to treat cancer.4 Furthermore, HNSCC is associated with high levels of psychological distress and compromised quality of life (QOL).5 As such, patients with HNSCC are very much in need of improved treatment options.

On March 16, 2021 Israeli artificial intelligence firm Nucleai reported that it is partnering with Sheba Medical Center’s ARC Innovation Center for a new strategic data collaboration (Press release, Debiopharm, MAR 16, 2021, https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-ai-firm-nucleai-sheba-launch-partnership-for-data-collaboration-661267 [SID1234576769]).

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This new partnership will see Nucleai – which works in powered image analysis – gain access to millions of patient records at Israel’s largest hospital, which will include pathology images, clinical data, genomics and radiomics, along with other data modalities.

This is not the first time Nucleai and Sheba have collaborated. The two have an existing collaboration to work on identifying the histological biomarkers that can predict the body’s response to immunotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer patients.

This was done with the help of Sheba’s Institute of Pathology, a world leader in the field that acts as a center for diagnosis and research for pathology precision medicine.
Together, Nucleai and the ARC Innovation Center formed a team led by the Pathology Institute head Prof. Iris Barshack along with many of Sheba’s and Nucleai’s specialists to identify biomarkers in other cancer types and treatment modalities.

One success to come out of this partnership was a successful study that demonstrated the prediction efficiency of tumor microenvironment AI-based analysis for breast cancer. These findings were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) 2020 conference.

Together, Sheba and Nucleai are working to advance the study of technological and AI-based solutions to aid in the discovery of histological biomarkers.

On March 16, 2021 Next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based precision oncology provider Geneseeq Technology Inc. ("Geneseeq"), will collaborate with Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) ("Illumina") to develop comprehensive in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) NGS testing kits for cancer, using Illumina’s NextSeq 550Dx sequencing platform (Press release, Illumina, MAR 16, 2021, View Source [SID1234576755]). The companies will work together to promote the use and application of world leading Next-Generation-Sequencing technology to enhance standards-of-care for Chinese patients.

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Geneseeq’s comprehensive genomic profiling panel, GeneseeqPrime, analyzes genomic alterations in 425 cancer-related genes and assesses key biomarkers, such as tumor mutation burden (TMB) and microsatellite instability (MSI). This pan-cancer panel screens for actionable clinical next steps to therapy by providing valuable insight into key oncogenic genes and drug resistance mechanisms. In 2020, Geneseeq’s TMB Testing Kit in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) became the first comprehensive NGS panel entered into the Breakthrough Medical Devices Program of Chinese National Medical Products Administration (NMPA).

Geneseeq will conduct all testing studies using IVD instruments and components supplied by Illumina in order to develop and commercialize the IVD kits. The IVD kits will be made available directly to patients acquiring testing services from Geneseeq, as well as hospital testing centers. According to Dr. Xue Wu, CEO and co-founder of Geneseeq Canada, this collaboration will deliver streamlined workflow and produce accurate testing results rapidly. This will help cancer patients access critical information to optimize their treatment plans, and benefit from precision medicine.

"We’re pleased to extend our collaboration with Geneseeq to develop assays based on the newly approved NextSeq 550Dx in China," said Li Qing, Vice President & General Manager of Greater China at Illumina. "Together with partners such as Geneseeq, we are able continuously bring in innovative NGS testing products to patients in China, and ultimately help them by unlocking the power of genome."

This is the second time that the two companies joined forces to accelerate clinical availability in precision cancer care. In 2018, the two companies collaborated on the NMPA approval of the IVD kit, Essencare(EGFR/ALK/ROS1/BRAF/KRAS/HER2 mutation testing kit, Reversible terminator sequencing) for NSCLC.

On March 16, 2021 PEP-Therapy, a biotechnology company developing cell penetrating peptides as targeted therapies in oncology, and Institut Curie, France’s leading cancer center, reported that they have been granted approval from the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) to proceed with the first-in-human clinical trial of PEP-Therapy’s lead drug candidate, PEP-010 (Press release, PEP-Therapy, MAR 16, 2021, View Source [SID1234576754]).

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PEP-010 is a first-in-class therapeutic peptide based on PEP-Therapy’s innovative Cell Penetrating and Interfering Peptides (CP&IP) technology. These innovative molecules penetrate cells and specifically block relevant intracellular protein-protein interactions, leading to the inhibition of key pathological mechanisms, without altering physiological mechanisms. PEP-010 is a pro-apoptotic agent which has demonstrated anti-tumor efficacy in a number of pre-clinical models and a good safety profile.

The clinical trial, named ‘CleverPeptide’, is an open-label, non-controlled, multicenter, dose escalation, Phase I clinical trial with an expansion Phase. This Phase Ia/b study has been designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and preliminary antitumor activity of intravenous PEP-010, administered as a single agent and in combination with paclitaxel in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic solid tumors, and in particular in Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) and Ovarian Cancer (OC).

This study is sponsored by Institut Curie and led by Pr. Christophe Le Tourneau, Medical Oncologist at Institut Curie and Head of Department of Drug Development and Innovation (D3i), and Principal Investigator of the trial.

Antoine Prestat, CEO and co-founder of PEP-Therapy said: "We are pleased to have been granted approval by ANSM to start this first-in-human clinical trial of PEP-010. This is a major milestone for PEP-Therapy and our partners, amongst which Institut Curie and Sorbonne University where our technology originated from. PEP-010 aims to fight cancers with poor prognosis for which there are only few or no therapeutic alternatives. We look forward to starting this trial in the coming weeks and to generating results that we hope will confirm the promising results seen in preclinical studies."

"This exciting step has been achieved through a strong collaboration between PEP-Therapy and Institut Curie since its inception, demonstrating the ability to develop innovative therapeutics emerging from French institutional research. I am very pleased to involve the D3i – Department of Drug Development and Innovation – in this clinical trial", says Pr Christophe Le Tourneau.

The study will be conducted in three clinical centers in France: Institut Curie, Gustave Roussy and the François Baclesse Center.