On January 7, 2022 Shasqi, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision activated oncology therapeutics with its proprietary Click Activated Protodrugs Against Cancer (CAPAC) Platform, reported that its Founder and CEO, José M. Mejía Oneto, M.D., Ph.D., will present at the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Monday, January 10, 2022, at 10 a.m. EST (Press release, Shasqi, JAN 7, 2022, View Source [SID1234598423]). Dr. Mejía Oneto will provide an overview of Shasqi, recent pipeline developments and corporate milestones.

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The presentation will be available as a live webcast through the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference portal and an archived recording will be made available after the event.

About CAPAC and SQ3370:

SQ3370 is the first click chemistry-based treatment to be tested in humans, and utilizes Shasqi’s proprietary CAPAC platform, an approach that activates cancer drugs at a tumor with decreased systemic toxicity. Shasqi is validating its platform with SQ3370, which is designed to activate a powerful chemotherapeutic, doxorubicin, at the site of the tumor. The investigational product is based on the chemical reaction between a drug protected through a trans-cyclooctene modification (a protodrug) and a tetrazine-modified biopolymer. The biopolymer is injected into the target tumor lesion, where it precisely activates an intravenously infused protodrug. Shasqi believes its click-chemistry approach can improve the efficacy and safety of many existing drugs and various modalities that have a limited therapeutic window.

On January 7, 2022 Compass Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CMPX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing proprietary antibody-based therapeutics to treat cancer, reported that Thomas Schuetz, M.D., Ph.D., Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, will present a company update at the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, January 12, 2022 (Press release, Compass Therapeutics, JAN 7, 2022, View Source [SID1234598422]).

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The presentation details are:

Date: Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Time: 8:15 – 8:55 a.m. ET
Location: Virtual – please refer to the Investor tab on the Compass website which will be updated as details for the webcast link becomes available.

On January 7, 2022 NOXXON Pharma N.V. (Euronext Growth Paris: ALNOX) (Paris:ALNOX), a biotechnology company focused on improving cancer treatments by targeting the tumor microenvironment (TME), reported that the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) positively evaluated safety data from the initial four weeks of treatment of the first patient enrolled in the GLORIA clinical trial expansion arm with NOX-A12 combined with radiotherapy and bevacizumab (Press release, NOXXON, JAN 7, 2022, View Source [SID1234598421]). The DSMB concluded that it is safe and appropriate to continue recruitment of five additional remaining patients into this arm according to the study protocol. NOXXON also announced that the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM, Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte) approved the third expansion arm of the GLORIA clinical trial in which patients will receive the PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab in combination with NOX-A12 and radiotherapy.

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Aram Mangasarian, CEO of NOXXON, commented: "The three arms in the expansion of our Phase 1/2 study of NOX-A12 are supported by the clinical data from the GLORIA trial and are designed to explore the potential for improved benefits for patients with brain tumors. The combination with the anti-PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab is of particular interest as we expect this combination therapy to unlock a stronger and more durable immune response against the tumor. This is based on our previous observation that NOX-A12 drives infiltration of activated cytotoxic immune cells into brain tumor tissue. We plan to use clinical data from the expansion arms to support our future pivotal glioblastoma study."

The GLORIA Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluates the safety and efficacy of NOX-A12 combined with radiotherapy in newly diagnosed brain cancer (glioblastoma) patients with unmethylated MGMT promoter. Three expansion arms, each intending to enrol six patients, will evaluate the benefit of NOX-A12 in other therapeutic settings:

Arm A: NOX-A12 with radiotherapy in patients with complete tumor resection
Arm B: NOX-A12 with radiotherapy and bevacizumab in patients with incomplete tumor resection
Arm C: NOX-A12 with radiotherapy and pembrolizumab in patients with incomplete tumor resection.

On January 7, 2022 QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) reported new additions to the growing number of applications for QIAcuity, its ultrasensitive digital PCR (dPCR) platform that has set new standards by using so-called nanoplates to process samples in two hours rather than the five hours required by other systems (Press release, Qiagen, JAN 7, 2022, View Source [SID1234598420]).

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QIAGEN has entered into two new collaborations that extend the QIAcuity ecosystem:

A collaboration with Atila BioSystems to provide non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) solutions to QIAGEN’s dPCR franchise. NIPT requires only a blood sample from the mother, and replaces more invasive testing methods such as amniocentesis that can endanger the fetus and mother.
A co-exclusive licensing and co-marketing agreement with German life-sciences start-up Actome GmbH extends QIAcuity’s reach beyond genomics into proteomics, enabling the quantification of proteins as well as the analyses of interactions between different proteins and between proteins and target genes.
"QIAcuity is expanding into new research fields as a cost-effective and very reliable digital PCR system," said Thomas Schweins, Senior Vice President, Head of the Life Science Business Area at QIAGEN. "The partnership with Actome extends for the first time the use of this technology to protein quantification and protein-protein interaction. Our aim is to make digital PCR and QIAcuity the new standard in PCR. This technology is significantly more robust and precise than traditional real-time PCR. In particular, it enables the quantification of rare genetic events – such as cancer mutations – with very high precision and in absolute terms, even in a high background of wildtype genes. We expect more than half of all traditional PCR applications to eventually move to digital PCR."

QIAcuity disperses a sample over thousands of tiny nanoplate partitions and then simultaneously reads the reaction in each one. This enables it to quantify even the faintest signals from DNA and RNA – and now proteins – as it tests for viruses, bacteria or other disorders, including rare cancer mutations. Its precision has already established QIAcuity as a vital tool in testing wastewater for SARS-CoV-2.

Leveraging QIAGEN’s capabilities in dPCR and also sample preparation, Atila BioSystems has launched the iSAFE Non-Invasive Prenatal Test Kit for use on QIAcuity in singleton pregnancies. The Research Use Only test can detect targets that indicate possible chromosomal anomalies – trisomy 21 associated with Down Syndrome, trisomy 18 associated with Edwards Syndrome, and trisomy 13 associated with Patau Syndrome and fetal fractions. Processing on QIAcuity takes only 2.5 hours compared to five hours for rival devices, and comes with five detection channels, making it the system with the highest multiplexing capabilities for this application.

The partnership with Actome involves a co-marketing agreement and provides QIAGEN with a co-exclusive license for digital PCR applications to use Actome’s patented Protein-Interaction-Coupling (PICO)-Technology on QIAcuity as an ultrasensitive method to measure smallest amounts of proteins and the interaction between proteins as well as between proteins and genes. The PICO-Technology translates complex protein status into DNA barcodes that can be amplified and detected on QIAcuity.

As part of the agreement, QIAGEN has made an undisclosed investment in Actome. The companies will now jointly develop assays for protein quantification, which will complement genomic analysis and help establish a fuller picture of a disease. The technology has the potential to drive the discovery of new biomarkers and the development of new drugs and diagnostics. It is a step on the path to understanding the interactome, all the molecular interactions in a cell, that contribute to diseases.

On January 7, 2022 Kriya Therapeutics, Inc., a fully integrated company pioneering novel technologies and therapeutics in gene therapy, reported that it has acquired Warden Bio, a company developing novel AAV-mediated gene therapies for glycogen storage disorders (GSDs) (Press release, Kriya Therapeutics, JAN 7, 2022, View Source [SID1234598419]). Under the agreement, Kriya has obtained exclusive rights to Warden Bio’s five preclinical gene therapy programs. This acquisition serves as the foundation for Kriya’s Rare Disease Division focused on the discovery and development of gene therapies for rare diseases.

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GSDs are a group of rare disorders caused by distinct single enzyme deficiencies involved in the synthesis or breakdown of glycogen. Warden Bio was established with a goal of comprehensively addressing multiple GSDs without approved therapies based on pioneering gene therapy technologies originally developed at Duke University. Currently, approved therapies are only available for one type of GSD, Pompe disease (GSD II).

"We are incredibly enthusiastic about the compelling research that has led to the development of Warden Bio’s pioneering gene therapies for GSDs," said Shankar Ramaswamy, M.D., Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kriya. "This acquisition and the establishment of our Rare Disease Division align with our commitment to accelerating the advancement of best-in-class gene therapies. Kriya’s technology and manufacturing platforms uniquely position our company to drive meaningful progress to address a group of diseases in desperate need of new and better treatments."

Together with the acquisition, Warden Bio co-founder Kunal Kishnani is joining Kriya as President of its Rare Disease Division, where he will lead overall strategic, development, and partnership activities. Prior to founding Warden Bio, Mr. Kishnani was a member of the corporate development team at Roivant Sciences, where he was responsible for helping to evaluate and negotiate new investment opportunities and strategic alliances. Mr. Kishnani also previously served as Co-Founder and Head of Operations at Genevant, where he was instrumental in driving key milestones for the company, including its launch, establishment of business operations, and execution of multiple collaborations with major pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Kishnani has degrees in finance and accounting from Elon University.

"I am excited to join Kriya and help advance its mission of expanding the reach of gene therapy to new frontiers," said Mr. Kishnani. "Despite recent advancements in the rare disease field, many conditions remain significantly undertreated. There is an urgent need to address rare diseases such as GSDs, and we are committed to making the treatment of these patients our priority – both previously at Warden Bio and now at Kriya."

The new GSD gene therapy programs Warden Bio brings to Kriya are based on research led by the lab of Dr. Priya Kishnani, Chen Family Distinguished Professor & Division Chief for Medical Genetics at Duke University, in close collaboration with Dr. Aravind Asokan, Professor & Director of Gene Therapy at Duke University and Co-Founder of StrideBio. Over the past three decades, Dr. Kishnani has built an interdisciplinary team with world-leading GSD expertise whose efforts are most notably demonstrated by the long-standing research and clinical experience that resulted in FDA approval of alglucosidase alfa (Myozyme/Lumizyme) as the first available treatments for Pompe disease. Dr. Kishnani and Dr. Asokan will become Scientific Advisors to Kriya as the company advances its portfolio of gene therapies for GSDs and other diseases.