On January 12, 2021 Eligible PEA PME), a company specializing in decryption of the human genome which performs interpretable genomic analyses for academic and private laboratories, reported its unaudited sales revenue for 2020 (Press release, Integragen, JAN 12, 2021, View Source [SID1234574001]). 2020 revenue amounted to €9.0 million, a 10% increase compared to €8.1 million on a likefor-like basis with 2019 results.

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The company experienced sales growth in almost all of the service lines with strong growth particularly associated to the partnership with the Groupement Coopératif de Santé (GCS) SeqOIA. The services provided by the Evry laboratory also improved despite the context of the COVID-19 health crisis which has added complexities to the services provided on the Evry site. Finally, the microbiology sequencing platform operated for the Institut Pasteur, whose contract was renewed at the start of 2020, also experienced sales growth. Revenue associated with the company’s software tools accelerated during the second half of the year achieving 37% growth compared to the prior year with over 1,600 bioinformatic analyses performed during 2020.

The company’s cash position as of 31 December 2020 was €5.0 million compared to €2.8 million1 at the end of 2019. The company benefited from obtaining a French State Guaranteed Loan (PGE) €1.8 million in May 2020 and has generated positive cash flows for the past 3 semesters.

The friendly takeover bid launched by the Belgian company OncoDNA in September 2020 resulted in the takeover by OncoDNA in November 2020 resulting in a capital of IntegraGen increasing XX.X%. OncoDNA is a Belgian company recognized internationally for precision medicine in oncology. OncoDNA has developed offerings for clinicians that help guide the choice of the treatments for patients with advanced cancers. This merger enables the two companies to become a European leader 1 Before taking debt into account Clinical Genomics Experts 2/2 in the field that operates in more than 100 countries directly or through distributors and employees more than one hundred employees exclusively in the service of genomics and its applications.

OUTLOOK 2021: NEW, DYNAMIC COMMERCIAL OFFERINGS RESULTING FROM THE MERGER WITH OncoDNA Several factors will support the company’s continued commercial momentum during 2021. First, the merger with OncoDNA and associated commercial synergies between the two companies will generate sales in new segments and geographic areas. Additionally, multi-year contracts currently in place will produce increases in order intake for the company’s sequencing services business that will provide additional revenue growth.

Bernard Courtieu, CEO of IntegraGen, commented: "2020 has been an exceptional year for IntegraGen in several ways. Our business activities achieved double-digit growth and the company strengthened its cash position despite the considerable impact of theCOVID-19 health crisis. The successful merger with OncoDNA positions the new group as a European leader in the analysis of the human genome. This is not only beneficial for all stakeholders and partners of the company, but first and foremost patients with cancer who will be offered new solutions resulting from our complete offer which combines both laboratory tests and software tools for oncology."

The company’s complete financial results for 2020 will be published on 15 April 2021 prior to the opening of financial markets.

On January 12, 2021 Boehringer Ingelheim and Enara Bio, reported that they have entered into a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement to research and develop novel targeted cancer immunotherapies, leveraging Enara Bio’s Dark Antigen discovery platform (Press release, Boehringer Ingelheim, JAN 12, 2021, View Source [SID1234573995]). This new collaboration combines Boehringer Ingelheim’s approach to tackle cancer through pairing leading science with innovative immune-oncology platforms, such as oncolytic viruses and cancer vaccines, with Enara Bio’s expertise in cancer antigen identification. The aim is to provide potential new therapies for patients with difficult to treat lung and gastrointestinal cancers.

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"We are excited to partner with Enara Bio as part of our mission to bring transformative new treatments to cancer patients," said Jonathon Sedgwick, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Global Head, Cancer Immunology & Immune Modulation Research, Boehringer Ingelheim. "We are advancing a unique pipeline of cancer cell-directed agents, immuno-oncology therapies and intelligent combination approaches to help combat cancer. Enara Bio’s unique discovery platform offers a novel and highly differentiated approach that will allow us to look beyond the known proteome to identify and characterize Dark Antigens to support the development of T-Cell Receptor (TCR)-directed immunotherapies and therapeutic vaccines. We believe this is a highly innovative and promising approach to the development of the next wave of cancer immunotherapies."

Enara Bio’s proprietary Dark Antigen Platform Technology (EDAPT) will be used to discover and validate novel Dark Antigens in up to three tumor types in the lung and gastrointestinal cancer space. The discovery of shared antigens could lead to the development of vaccines that can be readily utilized to help a broader group of cancer patients.

Dark Antigens represent a new class of cancer-associated antigens that derive from the genomic dark matter, or the portion of the human genome that is normally not expressed as protein. Dark Antigen-encoding sequences are usually silenced in healthy cells but are activated and presented on tumor cells. They are associated with specific cancer types and, importantly, are shared across patients. Since typically not visible to the immune system, they represent a large potential repertoire of novel antigens that can be developed as targets for new immunotherapies.

"We are extremely pleased to enter this strategic licensing agreement, our first major deal leveraging our pioneering Dark Antigen discovery and validation capabilities," said Kevin Pojasek, President and CEO of Enara Bio. "Boehringer Ingelheim is an innovation-led company dedicated to producing breakthrough treatments with a significant focus on cancer. We are excited to build this relationship and are encouraged that Boehringer Ingelheim shares our view of the potential of Dark Antigens to be a source of important and unconventional targets for novel cancer immunotherapies. This agreement provides strong validation for our science and our approach to exploiting the cancer-associated antigenic repertoire derived from genomic dark matter and we look forward to a productive collaboration."

This collaboration with Enara Bio is the latest of several strategic partnerships and acquisitions for Boehringer Ingelheim to build its cancer vaccine platform and provides important validation for Enara Bio’s Dark Antigen platform. The past acquisitions of ViraTherapeutics and AMAL Therapeutics’ vaccine modalities coupled with Enara Bio’s capabilities position Boehringer Ingelheim to develop sophisticated virus and vaccine modalities for its prime/boost vaccine platform.

Under the agreement, Boehringer Ingelheim has the option to license Dark Antigens discovered and validated by Enara Bio. Boehringer Ingelheim will also be responsible for all non-clinical and clinical development, as well as commercialization of associated cancer immunotherapies, including therapeutic vaccines and T-cell redirecting biologics. Enara Bio retains rights to use any discovered antigens for use in cell therapy-based products.

Enara Bio is eligible to receive an upfront payment, together with research/preclinical milestones and licensing fees for each tumor type that is explored. Enara Bio is also eligible to receive more than EUR 876 million in clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, in addition to royalties on future product sales.

On January 12, 2021 Imago BioSciences, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative treatments for myeloproliferative neoplasms, reported that Hugh Young Rienhoff, Jr. M.D., CEO, will present at the 39th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference at 4:55 p.m. EST on Thursday, January 14, 2021 (Press release, Imago BioSciences, JAN 12, 2021, View Source [SID1234573950]). An archived replay of the presentation will be available on the company’s website, www.imagobio.com, for 30 days.

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On January 12, 2021 Scorpion, which focuses on "precision medicine" for cancer, reported it has completed a $162 million funding round, bringing the biotech’s total venture haul to about $270 million (Press release, Scorpion Therapeutics, JAN 12, 2021, View Source [SID1234573949]). It’s a large amount for a new company that so far has kept much of its work under wraps, and a sign that the region’s early-stage biotech industry is vibrant, despite the pandemic.

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"This will allow us to accelerate nearly all aspects of the business," said Gary Glick, Scorpion’s chief executive, who pointed out the oversubscribed round brought on 11 new investors.

Glick said the company would announce its first medicine candidate this year, with plans to begin clinical trials in 2022. While he declined to provide an update on how many other drugs the company has in development, Glick said the new funding could help Scorpion support multiple clinical trial programs.

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Scorpion is aiming to tackle cancer in three ways. It wants to make better medicines for known cancer mutations, which could spare healthy tissue and limit side effects, develop medicines for cancer targets previously dismissed as "undruggable," and discover new ones. Scorpion has plans to commercialize its own drugs, Glick said, instead of partnering with pharmaceutical giants.

On January 12, 2021 Medivir AB (publ) (Nasdaq Stockholm: MVIR) reported that it has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement, through which IGM Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: IGMS), will receive global, exclusive development rights for birinapant, a clinical-stage SMAC mimetic that binds to and degrades Inhibitors of Apoptosis Proteins (IAPs), leading to cell death (apoptosis) in tumor cells (Press release, Medivir, JAN 12, 2021, View Source [SID1234573940]). The combination of IGM-8444, an IgM antibody targeting Death Receptor 5 (DR5) being developed by IGM, and birinapant has been shown to enhance anti-tumor activity preclinically. Medivir will receive an upfront payment of USD 1 million upon signing the agreement, followed by an additional USD 1.5 million when birinapant is included by IGM in clinical phase I studies. The terms of the agreement furthermore entitle Medivir, should birinapant be successfully developed and approved, to receive milestone payments up to a total of approximately USD 350 million, plus tiered royalties up to mid-teens on net sales.

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– "Agreements, such as the one announced today with IGM, continue to be a core component of Medivir’s corporate mission and business model," said Yilmaz Mahshid, Chief Executive Officer of Medivir. "Today’s announcement further exemplifies our focus and commitment to the development and commercialization of innovative treatments for cancer, and we look forward to IGM’s progress with birinapant in the clinic and beyond."

– "Based on our in vitro and in vivo models, which have shown remarkable synergy between IGM-8444 and birinapant, we are excited to explore this combination’s potential to deliver superior anti-tumor activity in patients with solid tumors," said Fred Schwarzer, Chief Executive Officer of IGM Biosciences. "This agreement is part of a broader strategy to realize the full potential of our IgM drug candidates by maintaining control over the timing and development path of the more promising combinations to emerge from our preclinical and clinical work. We look forward to moving the IGM-8444-birinapant combination into clinical testing to begin validating the significance of targeting DR5 with an IgM antibody in certain combinations and to continuing to explore similar strategic options across our IgM platform."

In addition to its apoptotic activity, birinapant augments anti-tumor immune system activity. Through this double action, on both tumor cells and cells of the immune system, birinapant has the potential to improve the treatment of several types of cancer when used in combination with other drugs. IGM-8444 is currently being tested in a phase I dose escalation study in patients with solid and hematologic malignancies. DR5 is a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily (TNFRSF) and is often expressed on the surface of cancer cells. Subject to regulatory review, IGM hopes to begin the clinical testing of birinapant in combination with IGM-8444 for the treatment of solid cancers later this year.

Medivir AB is obliged to make this information public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation.

The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 23.59 CET on January 11, 2021.

About birinapant

Birinapant is a SMAC mimetic that was acquired from TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals Corporation (TetraLogic) in 2016 and has since then been developed by Medivir. Medivir recently renegotiated the original agreement with TetraLogic so that the compensation Medivir is obliged to pay in connection with a licensing agreement is based on the distribution of actual future revenues to Medivir.