Photocure ASA: Results for the third quarter of 2022

On November 2, 2022 Photocure ASA (OSE:PHO) reported Hexvix/Cysview revenues of NOK 96.9 million in the third quarter of 2022, up 12% compared to Q3 2021 (NOK 86.7 million), and positive EBITDA of NOK 4.7 million (NOK -0.2 million) for the Company (Press release, PhotoCure, NOV 2, 2022, View Source [SID1234622845]). With the launch of Karl Storz’s new high-definition blue light system in the U.S., Photocure expects that placements of new blue light rigid towers will begin to accelerate in the fourth quarter of this year. A recent ruling by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) improves U.S. reimbursement for Cysview, expanding access in the Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) segment.

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"Photocure delivered Hexvix/Cysview revenue growth of 12%, driven by higher unit sales in both North America and Europe in addition to the net favorable effect of foreign exchange. I am very pleased to report that our North American business segment achieved the highest quarterly unit sales volume in our history, and we are now in a strong position to significantly expand the installed base of blue light capital equipment in the U.S. and get back to the high growth trajectory that we were achieving before the pandemic," says Daniel Schneider, President & Chief Executive Officer of Photocure.

Photocure reported total group revenues of NOK 106.8 million in the third quarter of 2022 (NOK 87.4 million), and EBITDA* of NOK 4.7 million (NOK -0.2 million), driven by the increase in product revenue and a milestone payment from Asieris. Hexvix/Cysview revenues ended at NOK 96.9 million in the quarter (Q3 2021: NOK 86.7 million), due to higher unit sales in both North America and Europe, and net favorable foreign exchange. EBIT was NOK -1.4 million (-6.3 million) and the cash balance at the end of Q3 2022 was NOK 283.9 million.

Photocure announced the commercial availability of Karl Storz’s new high-definition blue light rigid system in the United States late in the quarter. The Company reports that 10 new blue light towers were installed during the period; 6 new Saphira cystoscopes and 4 flexible units. The installed base of blue light cystoscopes in the U.S. was 339 (302) at the end of the third quarter, a 12% increase from the same period last year. This includes 62 flexible cystoscopes, an increase of 38%.

"The pipeline for new blue light cystoscopy towers remains stronger than ever. With the new system now officially launched, we are currently assisting Karl Storz with the placement and activation of towers for accounts that participated in the obsolescence protection program to replace the old standard definition system. We anticipate broader installations of rigid BLC equipment in new accounts this quarter," Schneider adds.

With the launch of Karl Storz’s new high-definition blue light system in the U.S. at the end of the third quarter 2022, Photocure expects that placements of new blue light rigid towers will accelerate in the fourth quarter of this year and beyond. Additionally, the post-period ruling by CMS to improve Medicare reimbursement is anticipated to help increase sales in the Hospital-Based Outpatient Department (HOPD) setting and enable Photocure’s U.S. commercial team to penetrate accounts in the ASC site of care.

"With account access now open in our major markets, Karl Storz’s new blue light system launching, and an improvement in Medicare access and reimbursement expected to take effect January 1 of next year, I believe that Photocure’s business is at an inflection point. We remain focused on positioning the Hexvix/Cysview franchise as the standard of care in the management of bladder cancer," Schneider concludes.

Please find the full financial report and presentation enclosed.

EBITDA* and other alternative performance measures (APMs) are defined and reconciled to the IFRS financial statements as a part of the APM section of the third quarter 2022 financial report on page 22.

The quarterly report and presentation will be published at 08:00 CET and will be publicly available at www.photocure.com. Daniel Schneider, CEO and Erik Dahl, CFO, will host a live webcast at 14:00 CET.

The presentation will be held in English and questions can be submitted throughout the event. The streaming event is available through https://channel.royalcast.com/hegnarmedia/#!/hegnarmedia/20221102_7

Omega Therapeutics Receives Orphan Drug Designation for OTX-2002 for the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

On November 2, 2022 Omega Therapeutics, Inc. ("Omega"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the first systematic approach to use mRNA therapeutics as a new class of programmable epigenetic medicines, reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation for OTX-2002, the company’s first-in-class epigenomic controller engineered to downregulate c-Myc (MYC), for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (Press release, Omega Therapeutics, NOV 2, 2022, View Source [SID1234622844]).

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The company recently announced that the first patient had been dosed in its Phase 1/2 MYCHELANGELO I clinical trial investigating the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and preliminary antitumor activity of OTX-2002 as a monotherapy and in combination with standard of care therapies in patients with relapsed or refractory HCC and other solid tumor types known for association with the MYC oncogene.

"HCC is a devastating illness that often develops resistance to current standard of care therapeutics. The FDA’s decision to grant orphan drug designation for OTX-2002 underscores the need for novel therapies to address HCC and the potential of epigenomic programming to transform the treatment landscape," said Mahesh Karande, President and Chief Executive Officer of Omega Therapeutics. "We look forward to continuing to work with clinical investigators, patients and the FDA as we advance our MYCHELANGELO clinical program and evaluate the potential of OTX-2002 to bring a new treatment option to the liver cancer patient community."

About Orphan Drug Designation
The FDA’s Orphan Drug Designation program provides orphan status to drugs defined as those intended for the treatment, diagnosis or prevention of rare diseases that affect fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. Orphan drug designation qualifies the sponsor of the drug for certain development incentives, including tax credits for qualified clinical testing, prescription drug user fee exemptions and seven-year marketing exclusivity upon FDA approval.

About Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and represents an unmet clinical need with few therapeutic options. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have been used as a systemic therapy for HCC, but patients frequently develop resistance with oncogenic MYC identified as a correlating prognostic factor. The MYC oncogene is associated with aggressive disease in up to 70% of patients with HCC.

About OTX-2002
OTX-2002 is a first-in-class Omega Epigenomic Controller in development for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). OTX-2002 is an mRNA therapeutic delivered via lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and is designed to downregulate MYC expression pre-transcriptionally through epigenetic modulation while potentially overcoming MYC autoregulation. MYC is a master transcription factor that regulates cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis and plays a significant role in more than 50% of all human cancers. OTX-2002 is currently being evaluated in the Phase 1/2 MYCHELANGELO I trial in patients with relapsed or refractory HCC and other solid tumor types known for association with the MYC oncogene; visit clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05497453) for more details.

Aadi Bioscience to Report Third Quarter 2022 Results and Corporate Update

On November 2, 2022 Aadi Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: AADI), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing precision therapies for genetically-defined cancers with alterations in mTOR pathway genes, reported that it will host a conference call and live webcast on Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 8:30 am ET (5:30 am PT) to report third quarter 2022 financial results and provide recent corporate updates (Press release, Aadi Bioscience, NOV 2, 2022, View Source [SID1234622843]).

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Conference Call Information

Participants may access a live webcast of the call on the "Investors & News" page of the Aadi Bioscience website at aadibio.com. To participate via telephone, please register in advance at this Conference Registration (vevent.com). Upon registration, all telephone participants will receive a confirmation email detailing how to join the conference call, including the dial-in number along with a unique passcode and registrant ID that can be used to access the call. A replay of the conference call and webcast will be archived on the website for at least 30 days.

QuantuMDx and Menarini Announce an Exclusive Distribution Agreement for the Q-POC™ Platform

On November 2, 2022 QuantuMDx Group Limited ("QuantuMDx"), a UK-based developer of transformational Point-of-Need molecular diagnostics, and A.Menarini Diagnostics S.r.I. (Menarini), reported an exclusive distribution agreement for QuantuMDx’s Q-POC platform in the UK and France (Press release, QuantuMDx, NOV 2, 2022, View Source [SID1234622842]).

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Under the terms of the agreement, Menarini will market, sell and service Q-POC, QuantuMDx’s SARS- CoV-2 assay and its new SARS-CoV-2, Flu A/B, RSV Respiratory Panel test which the Company launched earlier this year. The [five-year] agreement will initially cover distribution to the UK and France, with the scope to expand to other markets.

Jonathan O’Halloran, Chief Executive Officer, QuantuMDx, said: "This agreement with Menarini is a significant commercial step for QuantuMDx. Not only does Menarini have a vast global network, but their specific in-country knowledge and presence across Europe, and beyond, means they are an excellent partner for us. The agreement will allow us to further accelerate commercial sales of Q- POC, bringing our Point-of-Need multiplex molecular diagnostics platform to clinical and non-clinical settings in a host of new markets. I look forward to working closely with Menarini on what I am confident will be a very successful partnership."

Fabio Piazzalunga, Global Head, Menarini Diagnostics S.r.I., commented: "The recent pandemic has highlighted the importance of being able to accurately, and rapidly, diagnose infectious diseases. QuantuMDx’s Q-POC platform, which can provide results in approximately 30 minutes, will allow healthcare professionals to make informed treatment decisions and slow the risk of transmission. Menarini is a pioneer in decentralising diagnostics routines and developed core competencies and technologies in doing so. We are extremely happy to be able to start providing such an innovative platform to laboratories in the UK and France."

PACT Pharma to Present New Data Highlighting First-of-its-Kind Personalized Neoantigen TCR T Cell Therapy Platform at SITC 2022

On November 2, 2022 PACT Pharma, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing transformational personalized neoantigen-specific and off-the-shelf T cell receptor (TCR) T cell therapies for the eradication of solid tumors, reported that new data highlighting its first-of-its-kind adoptive T cell therapy platform will be featured in multiple presentations at the upcoming 37th Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper) (SITC 2022) (Press release, PACT Pharma, NOV 2, 2022, View Source [SID1234622841]). The company, along with academic research collaborators, will deliver oral and poster presentations, including a late-breaking oral presentation, providing the latest clinical and preclinical findings from its pioneering research in the field of personalized neoantigen TCR T cell therapies. SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) 2022 is being held November 8-12, 2022, in Boston, Massachusetts.

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Details of the company’s presentations at SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) 2022 are as follows:

Late Breaking Oral Presentation #1478 (With Accompanying Poster):

Title: A Phase I Study of Personalized Adoptive TCR T Cell Therapy in Patients with Solid Tumors: Safety, Efficacy, and T Cell Trafficking to Tumors of Non-virally Gene Edited T Cells
Presenting Author: Stefanie Mandl, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, PACT Pharma
Category/Session: Late Breaking Abstract Session 103
Date/Time: Thursday, November 10, 2022, 11:10 a.m. – 11:40 a.m. Eastern
Location: Hall B2
Oral Presentation #123:

Title: Landscape Analysis of the Neoepitope-specific T Cell Responses in Patients with and without Clinical Benefit from Immune Checkpoint Blockade Therapy
Presenting Author: Cristina Puig Saus, Ph.D., adjunct assistant professor, University of California, Los Angeles
Category/Session: Rapid Oral Abstracts – Basic Science Session 104
Date/Time: Thursday, November 10, 2022, 12:25 – 12:33 p.m. Eastern
Location: 253ABC
Poster Presentation #320:

Title: Rapid Identification of a TCR Library Targeting the HPV E6/E7 Oncoproteins to Enable Multi-TCR T-Cell Therapies for Patients with HPV16+ Epithelial Cancers
Presenting Author: Stefanie Mandl, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, PACT Pharma
Category/Session: Cellular Therapies Poster Session
Date: Friday, November 11, 2022
Location: Poster Hall C
Poster Presentation #712:

Title: Retrospective Tumor Microenvironment Analysis from a Personalized neoTCR-T Cell Therapy Clinical Trial and Its Potential Applications for Off-the-Shelf HPV TCR T Cell therapies
Presenting Author: Chad Smith, Ph.D., associate director, bioinformatics, PACT Pharma
Category/Session: Clinical Trials in Progress Poster Session
Date: Friday, November 11, 2022
Location: Poster Hall C
Additional information on the 37th Annual Meeting of SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) is available through the conference website at: View Source