TriSalus Life Sciences Expands Clinical Executive Team and Scientific Advisors in Support of Company’s Focus to Overcome Liver and Pancreatic Cancer Treatment Barriers and Enable More Patients to Benefit From Immunotherapy

On February 10, 2022 TriSalus Life Sciences, an immunotherapy company on a mission to improve the lives of patients living with liver and pancreatic tumors, reported the addition of three new members to its Scientific Advisory Boards and two new members of its clinical leadership team, Drs. Alexander Kim and John Hardaway, as director of interventional oncology clinical strategies and strategic immunotherapy advisor, respectively (Press release, TriSalus Life Sciences, FEB 10, 2022, View Source [SID1234607994]).

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Alexander Y. Kim, MD, FSIR, is a nationally recognized vascular and interventional radiologist. Throughout his career, Dr. Kim has led or participated in clinical trials related to the study of liver cancers, uterine fibroids and symptoms of benign prostate hypertrophy. Recognized for his expertise, Dr. Kim has served in leadership positions on professional associations including the Society of Interventional Radiology and the American Board of Radiology. Following his clinical training, which included a research fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, he served as Chief of the vascular and interventional radiology division at Georgetown University Hospital.

John Hardaway, MD, PhD, is a board-certified general surgeon and surgical oncologist focused on surgical management of gastrointestinal malignancies, including diseases of the liver and pancreas. In addition to his surgical practice, Dr. Hardaway is a trained cellular immunologist with research efforts focused on translational development of CAR-T therapies against solid tumors and regional delivery of immunotherapies to treat solid tumors. He currently serves as a cancer liaison physician on the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer.

In addition to these hires, Drs. Venu Pillarisetty, Divya Sridhar, and Jordan Tasse have joined TriSalus’ Scientific Advisory Boards. The three new appointments join 10 other preeminent experts—across medical, surgical and radiation oncology, interventional radiology and immunology—who guide and support the company as it aims to transform the way liver and pancreatic tumors are treated through its interventional immunotherapy platform.

"These additions come at a critical point in TriSalus’ growth as we advance work to enable more liver and pancreas tumor patients to benefit from checkpoint inhibitors and other immunotherapeutic agents," said Steven Katz, MD, FACS, chief medical officer at TriSalus and Scientific Advisory Board chairman. "Our advisors represent the integration of key leaders in the medical oncology, surgical oncology and interventional radiology fields who share our vision of overcoming current limitations in immunotherapy treatment success for liver and pancreatic cancers. This collective expertise enhances our focus on overcoming specific immunologic barriers in the liver or pancreas and physical limitations to drug delivery that result in treatment failure."

Venu G. Pillarisetty, MD, FACS, is a board-certified surgical oncologist, professor of surgery at the University of Washington Medical School and medical director for the Continuous Performance Improvement Department at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Dr. Pillarisetty specializes in treating pancreatic cancer and his expertise includes both open and minimally invasive surgical techniques. Throughout his career, Dr. Pillarisetty has authored and co-authored over 70 medical publications. His research focuses on the immune response to pancreatic cancer as well as other solid tumors. Dr. Pillarisetty received his medical degree from Columbia University and completed a surgical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Divya Sridhar, MD, is an interventional radiologist and chief of vascular and interventional radiology at Harlem Hospital Center, a Level 1 Trauma Center affiliated with Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Sridhar’s specialties include image-guided therapies for cancer and many other conditions. She received her medical degree from the University of Miami Medical School and is a board-certified in diagnostic radiology and interventional radiology by the American Board of Radiology.

Jordan C. Tasse, MD, is a vascular and interventional radiologist, an associate professor of radiology, and the director of interventional oncology at Rush University Medical Center. Dr. Tasse received his medical degree from the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.

TriSalus’ Scientific Advisory Boards reflect a unique blend of specialties, including clinical expertise on the barriers that prevent optimal delivery and performance of immunotherapeutics when treating liver and pancreatic tumors, as well as clinical research and evaluation of new therapeutics. Additional Scientific Advisory Board members include:

Oncology

Richard D. Carvajal, MD
Christopher Crane, MD
Marlana M. Orloff, MD
Sapna Patel, BA, MD
Vincent Picozzi, MD
Interventional Radiology

Terence Gade, MD, PhD​
Ripal Gandhi, MD​​
Sirish Kishore, MD ​
Rahul Sheth, MD​​
Particularly as the company continues its Pressure Enabled Regional Immuno-Oncology (PERIO)-01 clinical study evaluating the administration of SD-101, an investigational toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist, via the Pressure Enabled Drug DeliveryTM (PEDD) method, input from leading experts is instrumental. The ongoing study is the first program to evaluate TriSalus’ platform aimed at improving outcomes in liver and pancreatic cancer by delivering SD-101 to the site of disease via an intra-vascular approach through proprietary PEDD method of administration. TriSalus’ immunotherapy platform aims to solve two primary issues that limit the effectiveness of immunotherapy in the liver and pancreas: immunosuppressive pathways dominant in the liver or pancreas and physical barriers to delivery.​

PERIO-01 investigators include Sapna Patel, MD, associate professor of melanoma medical oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Richard Carvajal, MD, director of the melanoma service at Columbia University Irving Medical Center; and Marlana Orloff, MD, associate professor at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

For more background, visit www.trisaluslifesci.com/scientific-boards.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Announces Participation in 11th Annual SVB Leerink Global Healthcare Conference

On February 10, 2022 Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCKT), a clinical-stage company advancing an integrated and sustainable pipeline of genetic therapies for rare childhood disorders, reported Gaurav Shah, M.D., Chief Executive Officer, will participate in a fireside chat at the virtual 11th Annual SVB Leerink Global Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 10 a.m. ET (Press release, Rocket Pharmaceuticals, FEB 10, 2022, View Source [SID1234607993]).

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A live audio webcast of the presentation will be available under "Events" in the Investors section of the Company’s website at View Source The webcast replay will be available on the Rocket website following the conference.

Indapta Therapeutics Names Mark W. Frohlich, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and Raises Over $50 Million in Series A Financing and Commitments to Advance Development of G-NK Cell Therapy to Treat Multiple Types of Cancer

On February 10, 2022 Indapta Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company developing an NK (natural killer) cell therapy platform for the treatment of blood and solid tumor cancers, reported it has appointed Mark W. Frohlich, M.D., chief executive officer and raised over $50 million in Series A financing and commitments co-led by RA Capital Management, LP, Vertex Ventures HC and Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment arm of Bayer AG (Press release, Indapta Therapeutics, FEB 10, 2022, View Source [SID1234607992]). The Myeloma Investment Fund, the venture philanthropy subsidiary of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, and Lonza also participated in the round. In connection with the financing, Laura Stoppel, Ph.D., principal at RA Capital Management, LP, Lori Hu, managing director at Vertex Ventures HC, and Fabio Pucci, Ph.D., senior director of venture investments health at Leaps by Bayer, joined Indapta’s board of directors.

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Dr. Frohlich, who also joined the board of directors, succeeds founding chief executive officer and co-founder Guy DiPierro, who has taken on the position of chief strategy officer.

The company will use the proceeds of the financing to grow the team and continue to advance its universal, allogeneic NK cell platform toward an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) and clinical trials. The company’s platform involves the isolation and expansion of a subset of NK cells known as G-NK cells, which have increased potency relative to conventional NK cells. Because the G-NK cells have very active antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, they have the potential to provide substantial clinical benefit to patients when used in combination with monoclonal antibodies. Indapta’s G-NK cells are isolated from healthy donors and do not require genetic engineering, so they can serve as an off-the-shelf treatment that can overcome the cost and inconsistency of autologous T-cell therapies.

Dr. Frohlich has more than 25 years of experience developing cellular immunotherapies to treat cancer. He previously served as executive vice president of portfolio strategy at Juno Therapeutics, which developed the FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapy Breyanzi for large B-cell lymphoma, until the company was sold to Celgene, now part of Bristol Myers Squibb. Before Juno, Dr. Frohlich was chief medical officer and executive vice president at Dendreon Corporation, a pioneer in the development of cellular immunotherapy. At Dendreon, he led the clinical team responsible for the development and U.S. and European regulatory approval of PROVENGE, one of the first commercially available cancer immunotherapies.

"Mark is perfectly suited to lead Indapta as we move our unique G-NK cell therapy closer to clinical trials in patients with multiple myeloma and lymphoma," said Ronald Martell, co-founder and chairman of the board. "His biopharma management pedigree, successful drug development track record and scientific acumen, together with our Series A financing from such an experienced syndicate of investors, will accelerate our ability to bring this innovative therapy to patients. We look forward to Guy’s continued contributions as he transitions to the role of chief strategy officer."

Before joining Dendreon, Dr. Frohlich served as vice president and medical director at Xcyte Therapies, where he led the clinical development program for an autologous activated T-cell therapy to treat cancer. Earlier in his career, he was an assistant adjunct professor of hematology/oncology at the University of California, San Francisco, where he specialized in urologic oncology and conducted laboratory, translational and clinical research. Dr. Frohlich earned a B.S. in electrical engineering and economics from Yale College and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. At UCSF, he served as chief resident in medicine and completed a fellowship in hematology/oncology and a Howard Hughes postdoctoral fellowship. Dr. Frohlich has served as a strategic advisor to several early-stage immuno-oncology and cell therapy companies and currently serves on the boards of NEUVOGEN and Bioeclipse Therapies.

"I joined Indapta because I believe its NK cell platform is truly differentiated and its preclinical data is particularly compelling. I’m excited to bring this off-the-shelf cell therapy to the clinic, where we have the potential to demonstrate it can benefit patients without the toxicities associated with currently approved cell therapies," said Dr. Frohlich. "I look forward to applying everything I’ve learned over the past two decades to develop this novel therapy."

SVB Leerink acted as Indapta’s exclusive financial advisor for the Series A financing.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, 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 laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Indapta’s G-NK Cell Therapy

Indapta Therapeutics is developing a universal, allogeneic G-NK cell therapy designed to substantially improve the cytotoxicity of monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy in multiple cancers. G-NK cells are a specific and potent subset of NK (natural killer) cells with specialized anti-tumor activity resulting from an epigenetic change rather than engineering. Indapta has further enhanced G-NK cells via specific G-NK cell subset selection and its proprietary manufacturing process, which, when combined, produce a G-NK cell therapy that demonstrates higher efficacy, persistence and enhanced cryopreservation.

When a mAb binds to the tumor target and Indapta’s G-NK cell therapy, it initiates the release of dramatically more cancer-killing compounds than conventional NK cells, allowing for increased efficacy and potentially less frequent dosing. Indapta’s off-the-shelf G-NK cell therapy is further differentiated from other NK cell therapies in that it is a cell banked product with low variability. In vivo studies have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of Indapta’s G-NK cell therapy.

Indapta is partnering with Lonza, a world-leading cell therapy manufacturer, to manufacture G-NK cells for use in clinical trials. Indapta will leverage Lonza’s process development capabilities and expertise to ensure robust, reproducible and scalable clinical good manufacturing processes (cGMP).

Aldeyra Therapeutics to Participate in Fireside Chat at the SVB Leerink 2022 Global Healthcare Conference

On February 10, 2022 Aldeyra Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALDX) (Aldeyra), a biotechnology company discovering and developing innovative therapies for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases, reported that Todd C. Brady, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, will participate in a fireside chat at the SVB Leerink 2022 Global Healthcare Conference (Press release, Aldeyra Therapeutics, FEB 10, 2022, View Source [SID1234607991]).

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Dr. Brady’s conversation with Marc Goodman, Senior Research Analyst at SVB Leerink, will be available on demand beginning at 9:20 a.m. ET Wednesday, February 16, 2022. To view the webcast, log in to the Investors & Media section of the Aldeyra website at View Source The event will remain archived on the website for 90 days.

Surface Oncology to Participate in Citi’s 2022 Virtual Immuno-Oncology Summit

On February 10, 2022 Surface Oncology (Nasdaq: SURF), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing next-generation immunotherapies that target the tumor microenvironment, reported that company management will participate in a fireside chat during Citi’s 2022 Virtual Immuno-Oncology Summit (Press release, Surface Oncology, FEB 10, 2022, View Source [SID1234607990]).

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The presentation begins at 8 a.m. ET on Wednesday, February 16, 2022. The live audio and subsequent archived webcast of the fireside chat will be accessible from the Events page of the company’s website.