On March 29, 2022 IGM Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: IGMS), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on creating and developing engineered IgM antibodies, reported that the Company will host a conference call and live audio webcast today, Tuesday, March 29, 2022, at 8:00 am ET to discuss the Company’s global collaboration agreement with Sanofi, as recently announced (Press release, IGM Biosciences, MAR 29, 2022, https://investor.igmbio.com/news-releases/news-release-details/igm-biosciences-host-conference-call-and-webcast-today-discuss [SID1234611088]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

The conference call may be accessed by dialing (866) 649-1996 (domestic) or (409) 217-8769 (international) and referring to conference ID 4983742. A live webcast of the presentation will be available on the "Events and Presentations" page in the "Investors" section of the Company’s website at View Source A replay of the webcast will be archived on the Company’s website for 90 days following the presentation.

On March 29, 2022 Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY) and IGM Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: IGMS) reported the signing of an exclusive worldwide collaboration agreement to create, develop, manufacture, and commercialize IgM antibody agonists against three oncology targets and three immunology/inflammation targets (Press release, IGM Biosciences, MAR 29, 2022, View Source [SID1234611087]). Engineered IgM antibodies represent a new class of potential therapeutics that combine the multi-valency of IgM antibodies possessing 10 binding sites compared to conventional IgG antibodies having only 2 target binding sites.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

John Reed, M.D., Ph.D.
Global Head of Research and Development, Sanofi

"We look forward to this collaboration with IGM Biosciences, a pioneer in a new class of antibody medicines for the treatment of cancer, immunology, and inflammatory diseases. The IGM Biosciences technology platform offers an exciting approach to developing high-avidity IgM antibodies that can efficiently bind and stimulate the activity of cell surface receptors. This unique platform has the potential to overcome historical limitations of conventional IgG antibodies when seeking agonists of some classes of receptors."

Fred Schwarzer
Chief Executive Officer of IGM Biosciences

"Sanofi is a global leader in the development and commercialization of innovative therapies, and we welcome the addition of their extensive expertise and resources in expanding and accelerating the development of our IgM antibody platform across multiple areas of high unmet need.

This partnership builds on an existing research collaboration with Sanofi and is a key step towards our goal of unlocking the full breadth of potential for this important new class of therapeutics. We are pleased to share this vision with Sanofi and look forward to working together on these six potentially first- and best-in-class programs."

Terms of the Collaboration
Under the terms of the agreement, IGM will receive a $ 150 million upfront payment. Sanofi has also expressed an interest in purchasing up to $100M of IGM non-voting common stock in a public financing.

For each oncology target collaboration program, IGM will lead research and development activities, and assume related costs, through approval of the first biologics license application (BLA) for a product directed to that oncology target by the FDA or EMA in exchange for up to $940 million in development and regulatory milestones per oncology target. After receipt of the first marketing approval for a product directed to an oncology target, Sanofi will lead all subsequent development and commercialization activities for that oncology target. For each oncology target, the companies will share profits 50:50 in certain major markets, and IGM will be eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales in the rest of world.

For each immunology/inflammation target collaboration program, IGM will lead research and development activities, and assume related costs, through the completion of Phase 1 clinical trial for up to two constructs directed to each immunology/inflammation target, after which Sanofi will be responsible for all future development and related costs, in exchange for up to $1,065 million in aggregate development and regulatory and commercial milestones per immunology/inflammation target. Following the completion of Phase 1 clinical trial for each immunology/inflammation target, Sanofi will be responsible for subsequent development activities, commercialization efforts, and related costs. IGM is eligible to receive tiered high single-digit to low-teen royalties on global net sales.

Closing of the collaboration is contingent on completion of review under antitrust laws, including the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 in the U.S., and customary closing conditions.

On March 29, 2022 Cogent Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: COGT), a biotechnology company focused on developing precision therapies for genetically defined diseases, reported details for its planned Virtual R&D Investor Event on Friday, April 8, 2022, beginning at 4:05 PM EDT (Press release, Cogent Biosciences, MAR 29, 2022, View Source [SID1234611086]). Attendees can register HERE for the event.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Cogent will share updates on recent progress, including additional nonclinical data demonstrating the potential of bezuclastinib as a best-in-class KIT mutant inhibitor, outline its strategy and focus to create best-in-class small molecules for genetically defined diseases, and present early data from its growing pipeline of novel, small molecule targeted therapy programs, including Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 2 (FGFR2).

Featured speakers include:

Andrew Robbins, President and Chief Executive Officer
John Robinson, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer
Jessica Sachs, MD, Chief Medical Officer
Access to the webcast will be available on the investor relations section of Cogent’s website, including an archived replay of the webcast at View Source

The Virtual Investor R&D Event will coincide with the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2022, taking place April 8-13 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, at which Cogent will share data from two poster presentations. The first poster presentation (Abstract 147) will highlight new nonclinical data on the unique properties of bezuclastinib that differentiate it from other KIT inhibitors. Bezuclastinib is currently under clinical investigation in Advanced Systemic Mastocytosis (NCT04996875), Nonadvanced Systemic Mastocytosis (NCT05186753), and imatinib-resistant Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST) (NCT05208047). A second poster presentation (Abstract 167) will reveal in vitro and in vivo characteristics of a novel series of FGFR inhibitors with potency against clinically relevant mutations. The AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) poster presentations will be made available through the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) conference website on Friday, April 8 at 1:00 PM EDT, and the in-person poster presentations will occur Sunday, April 10, 1:30 – 5:00 PM CDT.

On March 29, 2022 Biodesix, Inc. (Nasdaq: BDSX), a leading data-driven diagnostic solutions company with a focus in lung disease, reported that new data were published in the peer-reviewed journal, Diagnostics (Basel), in an article titled, "Analytic and Clinical Validation of a Pan-Cancer NGS Liquid Biopsy Test for the Detection of Copy Number Amplifications, Fusions and Exon Skipping Variants (Press release, Biodesix, MAR 29, 2022, View Source [SID1234611085])." This peer-reviewed publication further validates the GeneStrat NGS test and the use of multiple classes of tumor markers in circulating free nucleic acid analysis as a surrogate for tumor tissue biopsies. [i]

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

"These data extend on Biodesix’ testing of plasma for somatic nucleotide variants and indels in circulating nucleic acids by detecting amplifications, fusions and exon skipping. We can broadly assay for the major variant classes which includes actionable mutations in support of comprehensive molecular testing in lung cancer," said Gary Pestano, Ph.D., Chief Development Officer, Biodesix.

Additionally, Biodesix will present data associated with the GeneStrat ddPCR and NGS blood tests in a poster presentation focused on reporting validation studies of key actionable mutations in NSCLC entitled: Analytic and clinical validation of a new pan-cancer NGS liquid biopsy test for the detection of copy number variations, fusions/exon skipping, somatic variants and indels (Abstract number 5323), at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting from April 8-13, 2022. The full abstract can be found on the official AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) website here. Poster presentations will be viewable after April 8th, 2022.

The company believes that the coupling of highly sensitive, rapid stand-alone droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) and the NGS techniques offers more comprehensive blood-based testing support for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and provides clinically relevant information both before and after targeted treatment of patients with cancer.

On March 29, 2022 GT Apeiron Therapeutics (‘Apeiron’) reported it has completed a $17.5 million Series A financing (Press release, GT Apeiron Therapeutics, MAR 29, 2022, View Source [SID1234611079]). Panacea Venture led the investment round with participation from Viva BioInnovator and existing investors. This is the company’s second round of financing in the last year following a Pre-A+ round in May 2021. The investment will enable the company to advance its lead CDK7 program to enter clinical trials, as well as several earlier stage programs. In conjunction with the financing, James Huang, Founding Managing Partner at Panacea Venture joined the Apeiron Board of Directors.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Apeiron, in collaboration with Exscientia (NASDAQ: EXAI), is developing a pipeline of novel CDK therapies. Its leading asset, GTAEXS617, an orally bioavailable, highly potent and selective small-molecule inhibitor of CDK7, is currently in IND-enabling studies and pre-clinical data will be presented at this year’s AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper).
Apeiron also announced a strategic partnership with Viva Biotech (HK: 01873) under which Viva Biotech provides world-leading structure-based drug discovery expertise to enhance Apeiron’s AI-empowered innovative drug discovery and development platform.

"We are excited to welcome a group of visionary investors, embracing our journey and mission to deliver breakthrough therapies to cancer patients globally," said Dr. Mingxi Li, Co-Founder and CEO of Apeiron, "Over the past two years, our team has built a unique pipeline of precision oncology therapies, focusing on CDKs and synthetic lethality. We will continue strengthen our integrated drug discovery platform with AI and structural biology."