On October 25, 2022 Spectrum Solutions, LLC reported David T.W. Wong, D.M.D., D.M.SC. of the UCLA School of Dentistry will present at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting 2022 on Friday, Oct. 28 at 1:00 p.m. in the CoLab Theater (Press release, Spectrum Solutions, OCT 25, 2022, View Source [SID1234622360]). This presentation will highlight the new era of saliva as a non-invasive biospecimen for CLIA-validated liquid biopsies in non-small cell lung cancer. Working from bench to bedside, the clinical utility of salivary liquid biopsies provides opportunities for both ongoing surveillance and continued monitoring following treatment.

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Previous research by UCLA researchers demonstrated detection of actionable EGFR mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients using saliva delivering a 96% and 100% sensitivity/concordance with serum. Published in The BIO Journal, Dr. Wong’s research demonstrates the ability to detect circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) within saliva using the Electric Field–Induced Release and Measurement (EFRIM) electrostatic platform and goes a step further highlighting the superior ability and benefits of stabilized and preserved saliva using Spectrum’s SDNA-1000 saliva collection kit compared to raw saliva. Study findings illustrate and credit Spectrum’s patented stability and preservation technology for dramatically increasing sensitivity and delivering a significant 14-fold boost in signal detection for all three EGFR mutations (p<0.0001) associated with NSCLC. Additional benefits of Spectrum’s saliva collection system included improving assay reproducibility and decreasing sample variability among study participants.

Dr. Wong is a Distinguished Professor in the Division of Oral and Systemic Health Sciences and Director of the UCLA Center for Oral/Head and Neck Research and an active scientist in oral cancer and saliva diagnostics research. He has authored over 315 peer-reviewed scientific publications and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS), a past member of the ADA Council of Scientific Affairs, past president of American Association of Dental Research (AADR), chair of the NCI Liquid Biopsy Consortium, chair of the NIH Cancer Biomarker Study Section, and a member of the scientific advisory board for Spectrum Solutions.

In addition, Spectrum will be introducing their new saliva-based multi-omic collection platform with the first preservation buffer purpose-built to stabilize and preserve both salivary proteins and genomic material post-collection for multiple days at room temperature. For more information on this or Dr. Wong’s presentation stop by booth number 2123.

On October 25, 2022 Mevion Medical Systems reported it has entered into a contract with the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network to bring the MEVION S250i Proton Therapy System to Wisconsin (Press release, Mevion Medical Systems, OCT 25, 2022, View Source [SID1234622359]).

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The system will be installed at the Froedtert & MCW Clinical Cancer Center at Froedtert Hospital campus. Construction is scheduled to commence in early 2023, with the first patient treatment expected in 2024, which could make the Froedtert & MCW health network the first health system to offer proton therapy in Wisconsin.

Earlier this year, the Froedtert & MCW health network announced a partnership with Legion HealthCare Partners, which will assist with feasibility, design, and construction, as well as successful implementation and management of the complex proton therapy operations of the proton therapy system.

Through its Cancer Network, the Froedtert & MCW health network will offer adults treatment with the MEVION S250i system and will work with Children’s Wisconsin, one of the nation’s top pediatric facilities, to treat pediatric patients with proton therapy.

The Cancer Network offers six locations connected with the unparalleled resources of eastern Wisconsin’s only academic medical center at Froedtert Hospital campus. Renowned cancer specialists and researchers have disease-specific expertise and find innovative ways to make treatment personalized and effective. The Cancer Network also offers the largest cancer clinical trials treatment program in Wisconsin.

Proton therapy is an advanced form of radiation therapy that better targets radiation doses to cancerous cells with less exposure to healthy tissues. Protons are directed precisely at the tumor, where the beam stops, rather than continuing on through the patient as conventional radiation does. This approach helps prevent complications and secondary cancers and can be used with patients who have previously had radiation therapy. The technology will feature HYPERSCAN Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS) technology, coupled with Adaptive Aperture, the industry’s only proton multi-leaf collimator. This powerful duo further enhances proton therapy benefits with a more precise and conformal dose delivery to the tumor. The system will also include an integrated dual-energy diagnostic CT scanner for high-precision image guidance and adaptive proton delivery.

"Proton therapy supports our ongoing commitment to developing and offering world-class, innovative radiation therapy treatment approaches. We will offer it to patients from diverse communities throughout Wisconsin," said Christopher Schultz, MD, FACR, MCW Professor and Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology. "Our mission continues to focus on expanding access to academic medicine with the goal of expanding the availability of precision treatment options. With Mevion’s advanced technology, we will be able to offer this caliber of care to more patients when they need it."

"We are excited to partner with the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network to bring proton therapy to Wisconsin," said Tina Yu, PhD, chief executive officer and president of Mevion. "We are dedicated to making proton therapy accessible and proud to see our MEVION S250i has enabled more and more centers to offer this advanced cancer treatment to their patients close to home."

On October 25, 2022 Castle Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSTL), a company improving health through innovative tests that guide patient care, reported new data showing that the use of TissueCypher Barrett’s Esophagus Test results can significantly improve management decisions for Barrett’s esophagus (BE) patients with low-grade dysplasia (LGD) to improve health outcomes (Press release, Castle Biosciences, OCT 25, 2022, View Source [SID1234622358]). TissueCypher is Castle’s precision medicine test designed to predict future development of high-grade dysplasia (HGD) and/or esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) within five years for patients diagnosed with BE.

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Overall, the study results suggest that TissueCypher may be used to standardize the management of BE patients with LGD to improve health outcomes, by helping ensure that patients at a high risk of progression receive earlier interventions and by potentially reducing unnecessary use of endoscopic eradication therapy (EET) and endoscopies for lower risk patients.

"A diagnosis of low-grade dysplasia in Barrett’s esophagus warrants expert pathology review, as these patients may have a significant risk of developing esophageal cancer. However, expert pathology review lacks standard criteria, is highly variable and is fraught with logistical challenges," said Lucas C. Duits, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at University Medical Center in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. "The use of TissueCypher test results can reduce inconsistencies in management decisions for Barrett’s esophagus patients with low-grade dysplasia. We believe there are potential implications to this finding, including a reduction in the incidence and mortality of esophageal cancer and a reduction in the use of unnecessary clinical treatments, when appropriate."

The study results were shared in a podium presentation at the 2022 American College of Gastroenterology (ACG2022) Annual Scientific Meeting, being held Oct. 21-26 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The presentation was titled "An Objective Spatialomics Test Standardizes Management Decisions with Potential to Improve Outcomes for Barrett’s Esophagus Patients," and was given by Lucas C. Duits, M.D., Ph.D.

The study involved a cohort of 154 real patients with known outcomes who were followed prospectively as part of the SURF trial. Twenty-four of these patients progressed to HGD/EAC within five years. Each patient’s baseline specimens were independently reviewed by 30 pathologists from five countries and also tested with TissueCypher in a blinded manner. Management decision simulations were performed, where each patient’s baseline specimens were first evaluated by a generalist pathologist, and then referred to an expert pathologist from the same country for any diagnoses of LGD. In one arm of the study, management for the patients was determined by the current standard of care, which includes pathology review of tissue samples and management according to current guidelines. In the other arm, patients were managed by the current standard of care with additional guidance from TissueCypher test results. The percentage of patients receiving appropriate management per their known outcome was compared between the two study arms, with appropriate management defined as:

Three- to five-year surveillance for patients who did not progress to HGD/EAC during surveillance; and
Either surveillance in less than one year or EET for patients who did progress to HGD/EAC during surveillance.
The study results showed the following:

Using TissueCypher test results to guide patient management decisions significantly increased the likelihood of BE patients with LGD receiving appropriate management per their known outcome (p=0.0007). 58.4% of patients had a 100% chance of receiving appropriate management when TissueCypher test results were used to guide decisions despite different pathologists reviewing their baseline specimens, compared to 9.1% of patients who were managed according to the standard of care pathology review alone.
Use of TissueCypher test results improved the consistency of management decisions for BE patients with LGD by reducing the impact of variable pathology review (p<0.0001). 57.1% of patients whose care was guided with the addition of TissueCypher test results had no deviation in management decisions when different pathologists reviewed their baseline specimens, compared to 7.1% of patients whose management was guided only by the current standard of care.
About TissueCypher Barrett’s Esophagus Test

The TissueCypher Barrett’s Esophagus test is Castle’s precision medicine test designed to predict future development of high-grade dysplasia (HGD) and/or esophageal cancer in patients with Barrett’s esophagus (BE). TissueCypher is indicated for use in patients with endoscopic biopsy confirmed BE that is graded non-dysplastic (ND), indefinite for dysplasia (IND) or low-grade dysplasia (LGD); its clinical performance has been supported by nine peer-reviewed publications of BE progressor patients with leading clinical centers around the world. The TissueCypher Barrett’s Esophagus Assay is a proprietary Laboratory Developed Test with its own unique CPT PLA code (0108U) and has been on the Medicare Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule since January 2021. Additionally, the test received Advanced Diagnostic Laboratory Test (ADLT) status from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in March 2022.

On October 25, 2022 Adrestia Therapeutics, a leader in synthetic rescue therapies for genetic diseases, reported the appointment of Dr James Osborne as Head of Chemistry and the initiation of a multi-target partnership with Proteros biostructures GmbH (Munich, Germany) to accelerate the discovery of first-in-class candidate drugs for intractable diseases (Press release, Proteros biostructures, OCT 25, 2022, View Source [SID1234622357]).

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"Throughout my career I’ve watched our industry design candidate drugs for targets that turned out to be inadequately validated," said Tom Heightman, Adrestia’s Chief Research and Development Officer. "Adrestia is different: our synthetic rescue platform is identifying novel targets that are highly validated by clinically relevant human cellular experiments with strong support from human genetics. Given our high conviction in these targets, we are applying parallel drug discovery strategies to maximize probability of success and accelerate timelines to IND. I’m thrilled to be working with James and Proteros – we’re poised to deliver some revolutionary new medicines."

James Osborne is an accomplished drug discovery leader with experience in several successful biotech companies. He has led or been involved with the delivery of seven drug candidates across a range of target classes. In James’s most recent position he ran the medicinal chemistry function at Amphista Therapeutics. Prior to that he led small molecule discovery at GW Pharmaceuticals and held project and medicinal chemistry leadership roles at Astex and Charles River Labs. James started his drug discovery career at the Institute of Cancer Research. He holds an MSc in Chemistry and a PhD in organic synthesis from Nottingham University and completed his postdoctoral studies at the University of Oxford.

"I’m really excited by the opportunity of Adrestia’s target portfolio," said Dr. Osborne, "and I look forward to exploiting a range of modalities including small molecule and oligonucleotide chemistries. Our collaboration with Proteros allows us to apply sophisticated structure-guided drug design methodologies including crystallographic fragment screening, artificial intelligence and virtual library screening."

As a leader in structure-based drug discovery, Proteros enables Adrestia to accelerate its drug discovery activities by providing access to leading protein biochemistry, assay development and high throughput protein structure capabilities. "Adrestia’s carefully validated targets discovered through their unique platform and their disease applications are an inspiration to Proteros. We are delighted to support Adrestia in their accelerated drug discovery endeavors for a variety of complex targets to treat genetic diseases," said Debora Konz Makino, VP Business Unit Discovery Solutions. The collaboration is already providing Adrestia with world-first protein crystal structures and is using both the Swiss Light Source (Villigen, Switzerland) and the Diamond Light Source, the UK’s synchrotron facility, to enable rapid drug design.

About Adrestia’s synthetic rescue platform

Adrestia has developed a leading synthetic rescue drug development platform, which has already identified completely new targets for treating intractable genetic diseases. The platform identifies and validates novel targets across the human genome and delivers optimized drug candidates. The platform’s data contributes to Adrestia’s synthetic rescue ‘Atlas’ of the human genome. As the Atlas expands, it will identify both rare and common diseases with a shared genetic component where synthetic rescue drugs could offer new hope for treatment.

This scalable platform builds on decades of research by Professor Steve Jackson’s laboratory at the University of Cambridge into synthetic rescue and the related concept of synthetic lethality for the treatment of cancer. The Jackson Laboratory’s foundational work is complemented by world-class genomic analyses, screening and drug discovery activities led by recognized experts in their fields who have joined Adrestia.

On October 25, 2022 Agenus (NASDAQ: AGEN) an immuno-oncology company with an extensive pipeline of therapeutics designed to activate the immune response to cancers and infections, reported the Company will release its third quarter 2022 financial results before the market opens on Tuesday, November 8, 2022 (Press release, Agenus, OCT 25, 2022, View Source [SID1234622356]). Agenus executives will host a conference call and webcast at 8:30 a.m. ET that morning to discuss the results and to provide a corporate update.

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Webcast
A webcast and replay of the conference call will be accessible from the Events & Presentations page of the Company’s website at View Source and via View Source

"The Road Taken" R&D Event
Agenus will host an in-person and virtual R&D event ("The Road Taken") on Saturday, November 12th, 2022, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET at the Prudential Tower in Boston, MA. The event will feature insights from leading cancer immunologists who will share their collective and individual expertise on the current and future state of cancer immunotherapy, including a deep dive into the botensilimab data presented at SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper). Institutional investors, research analysts, and key opinion leaders are invited to attend the Event in-person and can RSVP by emailing [email protected]. To register for the live webcast, please click here.