On June 9 2022 Race Oncology Limited ("Race") reported the Board has approved an on-market share buyback for up to 4 million Race Oncology ordinary shares over the next 12 months (Press release, Race Oncology, JUN 9, 2022, View Source [SID1234615803]).

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Race Oncology’s Board believes an on-market buyback is an efficient capital management option available to maximize shareholder value. All committed clinical and preclinical programs as outlined in the November 2021 Share Purchase Plan remain fully funded.

The structure of an on-market buyback allows Race Oncology to take advantage of share price volatility through opportunistic share purchases during periods in which the share price does not reflect the robust outlook for the company.

The on-market buyback does not require shareholder approval and will be executed at Race Oncology’s discretion. The buyback will remain in place for a period of up to 12 months or until completed. Race may vary, suspend or terminate the buyback based on its view of market conditions and other factors. The shares that are bought will be purchased at a price of not more than 5% above the 5-day volume weighted average price of Race’s shares.

On June 9, 2022 ORPHELIA Pharma and Gustave Roussy reported the publication in the scientific journal Pharmaceuticals of the work related to the development of the first temozolomide oral suspension for the treatment of young children and adults with cancer and presenting difficulties to swallow temozolomide capsules (Annereau M. et al., Pharmaceuticals, 2022) (Press release, ORPHELIA Pharma, JUN 9, 2022, View Source;utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=orphelia-pharma-and-gustave-roussy-announce-the-publication-in-pharmaceuticals-of-the-scientific-work-related-to-the-development-of-the-first-temozolomide-oral-suspension-for-children [SID1234615800]).

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"Since 2015, we have been manufacturing a liquid temozolomide hospital compounded formulation to address the needs of young patients treated in our hospital and a few partner centers," explains Maxime Annereau, pharmacist at Gustave Roussy and the originator of this project. "In collaboration with ORPHELIA Pharma, we carried out the necessary research work to optimize the physico-chemical properties and the stability of the suspension. Then we conducted a palatability study in order to select the aroma capable of covering the bitterness of temozolomide in the most efficient way. The development of this concentrated suspension has made it possible to obtain a form adapted to the needs of patients and caregivers", he adds.

"The work done in collaboration with our partner Gustave Roussy led to a prototype of KIMOZO, an industrialized and patented version of this drinkable and highly concentrated suspension. KIMOZO is currently in an advanced phase of clinical development," says Jeremy Bastid, Chief Development Officer of ORPHELIA Pharma. "Temozolomide is an essential drug in the management of many pediatric cancers, including relapsed or refractory neuroblastoma which unfortunately affects very young children. Thanks to the results of this collaboration, we intend to make this pediatric formulation available to patients soon," he concludes.

About KIMOZO 40 mg/ml

KIMOZO 40 mg/ml is a liquid, taste-masked and ready-to-use oral formulation of temozolomide developed in collaboration between the pharmacists and clinicians of Gustave Roussy and the development team of ORPHELIA Pharma. The formulation of KIMOZO has been covered by a patent application in Europe and in the US.

On June 9, 2022 Massive Bio, Inc., a leader in precision medicine and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled patient-centric clinical trial enrollment for oncology, and AdhereTech, a pioneer and leading provider of smart devices that connect patients to care with real-time interventions, reported their partnership to provide advanced, data-driven digital health technology solutions, focusing in oral oncolytic agents providing real-time integrated access to care for cancer patients to precision oncology drugs and leading-edge clinical trials (Press release, Massive Bio, JUN 9, 2022, View Source [SID1234615799]). Both companies were recognized in the 2022 NYC Digital Health 100, which showcases the most exciting digital health companies in the New York region.

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Massive Bio and AdhereTech have committed to combining their products and services to offer global, comprehensive solutions to measure, analyze and monitor precision oncology medication adherence for patients participating in clinical trials and those prescribed commercially available treatments. Both companies currently are contracted with leading pharmaceutical companies and major specialty pharmacies. Their work with payers, pharmacies, and pharmaceutical companies to develop adherence programs utilizing device-generated data to optimize processes and improve cost-effective measures for specialty drug and clinical trial programs that may save the industry hundreds of billions of dollars per year.

"While the conversation around digital health and pharma has expanded well beyond adherence, in oncology it provides the link between cost-effective treatments, and an opportunity to prioritize clinical trials when most appropriate," mentioned Selin Kurnaz, CEO and Co-Founder of Massive Bio. "Even modest improvements can lead to huge cost savings for payers and the pharmaceutical research industry while allowing streamlined access in real-time to effective on-label precision oncology treatments. It is a win-win situation for all stakeholders, from patients to specialty pharmacies, payers, and the commercial and cancer research ecosystem. AdhereTech is one of the few companies successfully achieving those goals, and we are excited about this collaboration."

With over 13,000 active cancer clinical trials in the US at any given time, and dozens of biomarkers and precision oncology molecules under study, Massive Bio aims to use AI and patient-centric concierge services at scale to reach cancer patients globally and accelerate the oncology research and development infrastructure. Massive Bio had recently announced the launch of its NASA-style Oncology Clinical Trial Command Center (OCTCC) to disrupt and accelerate trial enrollment, and also the launch of its 100K Cancer Clinical Trial Singularity Program aimed at matching 100,000 cancer patients in real-time to cutting-edge clinical trials using its Massive Bio’s AI-based technology, website and apps across iOS and Android platforms, expanding their presence as a global company with country-level success in 12 markets.

AdhereTech is a leader in medication programs, providing commercialized digital solutions to measure and manage medication adherence in a variety of settings, including academics, clinical trials, and commercially prescribed treatments. It develops and produces treatment management solutions utilizing smart devices with integrated cellular technology that seamlessly connects patients in real-time to confirm when patients take their medication and provides two-way communications to ensure dosing regimens are followed and reports and escalate the reasons for and missed doses.

"The Aidia System creates personalized patient support with specialty pharmacies and healthcare teams, enabling timely health interventions when necessary, and clinical trials can benefit from those key interventions," said Chris O’Brien, Chief Executive Officer of AdhereTech. "Upon learning of Massive Bio’s traction in the oncology space and the opportunities of using our Aidia System, expansive network, and real-world data to help patients, physicians and the cancer research industry at a technology-enabled scale, it made absolute sense to explore and operationalize this partnership."

"Our AI-enabled clinical trial and precision oncology therapy-finding technology works at its best when paired up with real-time patient-reported insights" said Arturo Loaiza-Bonilla, M.D., Co-Founder of Massive Bio. "By leveraging real-time data from AdhereTech’s Smart Adherence System in combination with our SYNERGY-AI cancer trial matching platform, we can identify key opportunities for clinical trial enrollment while also optimizing medication adherence and access in both precision oncology care and cancer research."

"At AdhereTech, we strive to bring data, analytics, and new technologies to market to serve patients and life science companies with better resources in the vital clinical research and treatment realms," said Gregory Gallo, Chief Revenue Officer of AdhereTech. "We’re excited to partner with a cutting-edge solutions provider in the critical oncology therapeutic category. Integrating technology and resources will streamline patient journeys and achieve more consistent engagement, enhance care, and ultimately improve outcomes and scientific advances," added Gallo.

On June 8, 2022 C&Cure (CEO Min Jeong-jun and Park Joong-gon), which develops a bacterial anticancer drug platform and radioactive pharmaceuticals, reported the company has completed Series B bridge investment (Press release, CNCure, JUN 8, 2022, View Source [SID1234649033]).

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It has been one year since it was selected for Series A investment (KRW 6.5 billion) and investment-linked Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy project (support amount KRW 2.5 billion) in February last year.

According to C&Cure on the 8th, existing institutional investors DT&Investment and ID Ventures made follow-up investments in the Series B bridge investment, and Hana Ventures participated as a new institutional investor.

Including the 2019 seed round (KRW 2.3 billion), the total amount raised up to this stage amounts to KRW 13 billion.

Kang Hoon-mo, an executive director at Hana Ventures who led this investment, said, "The investment point is the high research capabilities of C-level executives with world-class global competitiveness."

The funds raised will be used for the development of a bacterial anticancer drug currently underway in the United States (under contract with a US CDMO) and for the development of a radiopharmaceutical drug (in the first clinical trial underway with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety).

The company plans to apply for an additional clinical trial of a radiopharmaceutical for the early diagnosis of malignant melanoma in the second half of this year.

C&Cure is a company established in 2019 by professors at Chonnam National University College of Medicine, and is conducting a national research project with a total budget of 8 billion won hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Science and ICT.

Professor Min (Department of Nuclear Medicine, photo), Professor Hong Young-jin (Microbiology), and Professor Kim Dong-yeon (College of Pharmacy, Gyeongsang National University) who are co-representatives are leading the research and development.

On June 08, 2022 Anagenex, a pioneering drug discovery company pairing large-scale data generation with machine learning to discover the next generation of small molecule medicines, reported that it has closed a $30 million Series A financing round led by Catalio Capital Management, with participation from existing investors Lux Capital, Khosla Ventures, Obvious Ventures, Air Street Capital, and Menlo Ventures (Press release, Anagenex, JUN 8, 2022, View Source [SID1234648814]). Catalio’s George Petrocheilos and Dr. Matthew Hobson will be joining the company’s Board as a Director and Observer respectively. Anagenex will use its Series A funds to further expand its novel data generating platform and build a robust pipeline of programs addressing historically challenging unmet medical needs.

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"At Lux, we’ve repeatedly seen how merging state-of-the-art computational tools with custom built lab operations transforms drug discovery to bring innovative medicines to patients"

"Traditional small molecule drugs, which account for the majority of FDA approvals, remain the best and most cost-effective medicines for most patients," said Nicolas Tilmans, CEO of Anagenex. "However, they are still very challenging to develop. At Anagenex we’ve built a closed-loop iterative system inspired by evolution that alternates between massive lab experiments and next-generation, machine learning-powered predictions so that we can deliver novel small molecule medicines to patients faster."

The Anagenex platform iteratively assesses up to billions of compounds in parallel to generate extraordinarily high quality data. First, Anagenex experimentally tests billions of compounds in parallel using a mix of technologies such as DNA Encoded Libraries (DELs) and Affinity Selected Mass Spectrometry. Those measurements feed into proprietary machine learning (ML) algorithms that consider not only the results of that experiment, but also hundreds of billions of other datapoints from internal databases. The trained ML models then design the next "evolved" generation of compounds to test, which Anagenex then synthesizes and tests. This creates a virtuous cycle of real data perfecting ML models, in turn, driving better data with each cycle. Armed with these enormous datasets and highly accurate models, Anagenex has the tools to address some of the hardest targets in drug discovery.

"We see a lot of platform technologies, but were blown away by Anagenex’s potential to fundamentally reshape how small molecule drugs are discovered," said George Petrocheilos, General Partner at Catalio. "Going after targets that have frustrated the industry for decades is always a risky business. The power and efficiency of Anagenex’s platform makes that risk tolerable, especially considering the potential payout."

Since beginning operations in the fall of 2020, Anagenex has built a customized parallel biochemistry lab miniaturizing, automating and carefully measuring every step in its parallel processes. This means Anagenex can rapidly generate data of unmatched quality, giving its ML algorithms an unprecedented clear view of chemical space.

"At Lux, we’ve repeatedly seen how merging state-of-the-art computational tools with custom built lab operations transforms drug discovery to bring innovative medicines to patients," said Zavain Dar, founding investor and Venture Partner at Lux Capital. "By controlling its process from start to finish, Anagenex’s expert team can build tailored neural networks and lab methodologies to achieve game-changing results."

Rapid Progress to Date

Prior to this Series A financing, Anagenex raised $7.2 million in a seed round led by Lux Capital in 2020, with participation from Obvious, Air Street Capital, Menlo, and Khosla. Since then, Anagenex’s team has applied their decades of experience in ML, parallel chemistry and biochemistry to build and validate the first generation of the company’s platform. With the Series A funding, Anagenex has now raised a total $37.2 million in financing to date.

To date, the Anagenex platform has processed over 25 targets and identified biochemically active compounds for eight of those with more coming weekly. Anagenex’s directed evolution platform has also identified small molecule compounds for a validated "undruggable" target. These powerful results have enabled Anagenex to develop a strong pipeline, including several early-stage drugs for cardiovascular and oncology indications.

For more information about Anagenex, go to www.anagenex.com.