On June 2, 2022 GRAIL, LLC, a healthcare company whose mission is to detect cancer early when it can be cured, reported a broad strategic collaboration with AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/Nasdaq: AZN) to develop and commercialize companion diagnostic (CDx) assays for use with AstraZeneca’s therapies (Press release, Grail Bio, JUN 2, 2022, View Source [SID1234615458]). The collaboration will initially focus on developing companion diagnostic tests to identify patients with high-risk, early-stage disease, with plans to embark on numerous studies across multiple indications over the next several years. The parties are additionally planning to use GRAIL’s technology to enable recruitment of patients with early-stage cancer for AstraZeneca’s clinical studies.

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"GRAIL has developed a novel approach to detect cancer signals in blood, regardless of whether or not the patient has clinical symptoms. We are excited to embark on this work with AstraZeneca to transform cancer outcomes through a broad, strategic collaboration," said Sir Harpal Kumar, President, Biopharma Business and Europe at GRAIL. "Through our collaboration, we hope to provide critical information to improve the identification of patients who may be eligible for clinical trials and change clinical paradigms for the treatment of early-stage cancers."

Across the projects within this collaboration, GRAIL will use its methylation platform to perform testing for patients enrolled in AstraZeneca’s clinical trials. GRAIL will seek regulatory approval in key markets for the liquid biopsy companion diagnostics.

Susan Galbraith, Executive Vice President of Oncology R&D, AstraZeneca, said: "Identifying and treating cancer early is at the heart of this strategic collaboration. Combining GRAIL’s innovative blood-based methylation profiling platform with AstraZeneca’s leadership in Oncology, we hope to accelerate the adoption of circulating tumor DNA across clinical trials and make our cancer medicines available at an earlier stage of disease when there is greater potential to transform patient outcomes, and even cure."

GRAIL is developing its proprietary methylation platform for use in multiple post-diagnostic settings to identify patients at high risk of future cancer recurrence, detect the presence or absence of residual disease, and to inform treatment decisions, including identifying patients with cancer who may be eligible for neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy. GRAIL’s technology platform is designed to optimize circulating tumor DNA testing to enable detection of early stage disease and minimal residual disease (MRD).

On June 2, 2022 Boehringer Ingelheim and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) reported a global licensing agreement under which Boehringer Ingelheim will obtain exclusive worldwide rights to research, develop and commercialize products based on a panel of innovative, tumor-specific antibodies from A*STAR (Press release, Boehringer Ingelheim, JUN 2, 2022, View Source [SID1234615457]). Boehringer Ingelheim aims to use these antibodies to direct therapeutic effector mechanisms such as antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and T-cell engagers exclusively to tumor cells, and to that end develop a range of highly targeted cancer treatments.

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"Boehringer Ingelheim believes that these promising antibodies in-licensed from A*STAR will help us advance potent therapeutic candidates against key molecular cancer targets," says Clive R. Wood, Senior Corporate Vice President and Global Head of Discovery Research at Boehringer Ingelheim and continues: "We look forward to developing these assets for a broad range of cancers with the goal to deliver breakthrough opportunities for patients."

Boehringer Ingelheim is pioneering a range of versatile therapeutic platforms in order to develop innovative medicines that target the tumor directly (tumor cell-directed therapies) or that enable the immune system to target the tumor (immune cell-targeted therapies). One tumor cell-directed modality is antibody drug conjugates, which allows for delivery of toxins directly into tumor cells. Another is T-cell engagers facilitating direct contact between T-cells and tumor cells, leading to T-cell-mediated killing of the tumor. Both technologies are directed towards markers on the surface of cancer cells, also known as antigens, in order to attack tumor cells but spare healthy tissues.

The innovative antibodies from A*STAR can potentially enable the development of safer, more efficacious therapies as they selectively bind to antigens that are highly expressed on tumor cells but are absent on normal healthy tissues.

Under the terms of the agreement, Boehringer Ingelheim will be responsible for further research, preclinical and clinical development as well as commercialization of targeted cancer therapies using the antibodies from A*STAR. A*STAR may receive payments totalling >100 million EUR in upfront and success-based development and commercialization milestones.

The technology used to identify the unique A*STAR antibodies resulted from a multi-institutional collaboration in Singapore. A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and Institute of Bioengineering & Bioimaging (IBB) generated antibodies which exclusively target antigens that were initially identified from gastric cancer cells. Experimental Drug Development Centre (EDDC), Singapore’s national platform for drug discovery and development hosted by A*STAR, then optimized the antibodies and confirmed their applicability to a range of other solid cancers. EDDC also demonstrated the utility of these antibodies in directing different therapeutic modalities selectively to cancer cells.

Professor Damian O’Connell, Chief Executive Officer of EDDC, says, "As Singapore’s national drug discovery and development platform, EDDC is proud to translate great science in Singapore into valuable assets that can enable the precise treatment of cancer. We believe that Boehringer Ingelheim, with its broad expertise and technologies, is the right partner to maximize the potential of these antibodies for the development of safer, more targeted therapies for cancer patients."

Professor Tan Sze Wee, Assistant Chief Executive (Enterprise) of A*STAR, says, "These antibodies were developed in Singapore through close collaboration across multiple institutions. There was also strong support by the Singapore Gastric Cancer Consortium. The agreement is testament to the best-in-class research taking place in Singapore. Cancer is a devastating disease, and we hope the fruits of our research can improve patient outcomes."

On June 2, 2022 Median Technologies (ALMDT) reported that it will be presenting an abstract at the 2022 ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, June 3-7, McCormick Place, Chicago, IL, USA (exhibition dates: June 4-6) (Press release, MEDIAN Technologies, JUN 2, 2022, View Source [SID1234615456]).

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Details of the session include:

Abstract # / Poster # – The adjudication rates between readers in Blinded Independent Central Review (BICR) of advanced esophageal cancer trials with or without immune checkpoint initiators as first-line therapy

Session: Gastrointestinal Cancer, Gastroesophageal, Pancreatic and Hepatobiliary
Date: Saturday June 4, 2022
Time: 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM CDT
Place: McCormick Place South, Hall A, Poster Board 27

The study analyzed a pool of advanced esophageal cancer trials with or without immune checkpoint inhibitors, which used RECIST 1.1, and documented the proportion of reader discrepancies, reader performance through monitoring procedures. 4 esophageal cancer BICR trials that included 1,875 patients (8,501 time-points) involving 14 radiologists were analyzed. Trials had an average adjudication rate of 45.28%. The discordances of baseline lesion selection (34.4% of discordances) and lesion measurement (40.3% of discordance) in follow up visits are the main reasons triggering adjudications in esophageal cancer central reading. Appropriate reader training and monitoring are solutions which can not only mitigate a large portion of the commonly encountered reading errors, but also help to reach more consensus on lesion selection and measurement between readers.

The Median’s clinical team will be available at booth #2098, Exhibit Hall A to discuss the abstract results from June 4 to June 6, 9:00 am-5:00 pm.

The ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting is the world’s premier oncology conference, organized by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper), the largest oncology society in the world. Each year, the ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) conference brings together more than 35,000 oncologists from all around the globe, and is attended by all medical, educational and industrial stakeholders involved in the field of oncology worldwide. More about the ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting: View Source

On June 2, 2022 Immunome, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMNM), a biopharmaceutical company that utilizes its human memory B cell platform to discover and develop first-in-class antibody therapeutics, reported that Purnanand Sarma, PhD, President and CEO of Immunome, will present at the Jefferies Healthcare Conference on Thursday, June 9, at 2:30 p.m. ET (Press release, Immunomedics, JUN 2, 2022, View Source [SID1234615455]).

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Interested parties can access the live audio webcast for this conference from the Investor Relations section of the company’s website at www.immunome.com. The webcast replay will be available after the conclusion of the live presentation for approximately 90 days.

On June 2, 2022 Janux Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: JANX) (Janux), a biopharmaceutical company developing a broad pipeline of novel immunotherapies by applying its proprietary technology to its Tumor Activated T Cell Engager (TRACTr) and Tumor Activated Immunomodulator (TRACIr) platforms, reported that Janux management will present at the 2022 Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference on Friday, June 10, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. ET in New York, New York (Press release, Janux Therapeutics, JUN 2, 2022, View Source [SID1234615454]).

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A live webcast of the presentation may be accessed via the Investors & Media section of Janux’s website. An archived replay of the webcast will be available on the website for approximately 90 days following the presentation.