On December 8, 2022 Alector, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALEC), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering immuno-neurology and innate immuno-oncology, reported that on December 6, 2022, the compensation committee of Alector’s board of directors granted 8 (eight) new employees options to purchase an aggregate of 91,851 shares of the company’s common stock and restricted stock units (RSUs) for an aggregate of 40,961 shares of the company’s common stock (Press release, Alector, DEC 8, 2022, View Source [SID1234624946]). These awards are made under Alector’s 2022 Inducement Equity Incentive Plan (the "Plan").

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The stock options each have an exercise price of $9.27 per share, equal to the closing price of Alector’s common stock on December 6, 2022. The stock options each have a ten-year term and vest over a period of four years with one forty-eighth of the shares vesting each month. The RSUs vest over a period of three years with one-twelfth of the shares vesting quarterly.

The above-described awards were each granted as an inducement material to the employees entering into employment with the company in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4) and were granted pursuant to the terms of the Plan.

On December 8, 2022 Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) reported that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of fifty-seven cents ($0.57) per share on the $.10 par value common stock of the company (Press release, Bristol-Myers Squibb, DEC 8, 2022, View Source [SID1234624941]). The dividend is payable on February 1, 2023 to stockholders of record at the close of business on January 6, 2023.

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This quarterly dividend represents a 5.6% increase over last year’s quarterly dividend rate of fifty-four cents ($0.54) per share. At this quarterly dividend rate, subject to the normal quarterly review by the Board of Directors, the annual dividend rate for the fiscal year 2023 is $2.28 per share. This marks the fourteenth consecutive fiscal year that the company has increased its dividend and the 91st consecutive year that the company has paid a dividend.

In addition, the Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of fifty cents ($0.50) per share on the company’s $2.00 convertible preferred stock, payable on March 1, 2023 to stockholders of record at the close of business on January 31, 2023.

On December 8, 2022 Delcath Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: DCTH), an interventional oncology company focused on the treatment of primary and metastatic cancers of the liver, reported that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain accredited investors for a private placement transaction (the "Private Placement") (Press release, Delcath Systems, DEC 8, 2022, View Source [SID1234624939]).

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Delcath Systems, Inc. is an interventional oncology company focused on the treatment of primary and metastatic liver cancers.

Delcath will issue and sell 1,448,889 shares of its common stock (the "Common Stock") at a price per share of $2.90, or, in lieu of shares of Common Stock, 692,042 pre-funded warrants to purchase Common Stock (the "Pre-Funded Warrants") at a price per Pre-Funded Warrant of $2.89. The Pre-Funded Warrants will have an exercise price of $0.01 per share of Common Stock, be immediately exercisable and remain exercisable until exercised in full.

Delcath expects to receive gross proceeds from the Private Placement of approximately $6.2 million before deducting offering expenses payable by Delcath.

Delcath intends to use the net proceeds from the Private Placement for working capital purposes and other general corporate purposes.

The closing of the Private Placement is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

The securities to be sold in the Private Placement, including the shares of common stock underlying the Pre-Funded Warrants, have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or state securities laws as of the time of issuance and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. Delcath has agreed to file one or more registration statements with the SEC registering the resale of the Common Stock and the shares issuable upon exercise of the Pre-Funded Warrants purchased in the Private Placement.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy these securities nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

On December 8, 2022 Dantari, Inc. ("Dantari"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing best-in-class targeted therapeutics for the treatment of cancers and other diseases, reported that its emergence from stealth mode with $47 million Series A financing (Press release, Dantari, DEC 8, 2022, View Source [SID1234624938]). The Series A financing was led by Westlake Village BioPartners ("Westlake") and included participation from Corner Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, and Caltech. The Company also announced the appointment of Richard A. Markus, M.D., Ph.D., as president and chief executive officer (CEO), and its board of directors, chaired by Sean Harper, M.D., a co-founding managing director at Westlake.

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Proceeds from the financing support the advancement of Dantari’s differentiated antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) and chemotherapeutic platforms. Dantari’s platform of T-HDC (Targeted High-capacity Drug Conjugate) technology enables a significantly higher drug-antibody ratio (DAR) and tunable-release of chemotherapy compared to today’s ADCs. The Company’s next-generation targeted therapeutics can deliver larger payloads with a DAR of 60 for greater efficacy, and their biodistribution reduces bone marrow exposure, providing broad therapeutic potential.

The Company’s lead clinical investigational product is DAN-222, a novel HDC chemotherapeutic agent with a topoisomerase 1 inhibitor (topo1) payload. The use of topo1 products is often limited due to bone marrow toxicity. Because of its low bone marrow exposure in preclinical models, DAN-222 has the potential to broaden indications and provide new utility as a combination therapy with PARP inhibitors and other agents. DAN-222 is being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of metastatic human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) 2-negative breast cancer. Early results from the dose-escalation portion of the study will be presented today in a poster session at the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). The study is ongoing and full results will be presented in a future scientific forum.

Dantari’s pipeline also includes several next-generation ADC programs leveraging the T-HDC platform. The Company’s next program, DAN-311 for HER2-positive and HER2-low breast cancer, is planned to enter the clinic in the second half of 2023. Dantari’s other T-HDC product candidates combining validated targets and payloads for a variety of solid tumors including prostate cancer are progressing through preclinical development.

"We are excited to announce Dantari’s launch and initial clinical data. Our vision is to deliver groundbreaking next-generation targeted high-capacity therapeutics with enhanced efficacy and safety," said Dr. Markus. "DAN-222, our lead program in HER2-negative breast cancer, has significant commercial potential while also substantially de-risking our T-HDC platform technology. We look forward to sharing our dose-escalation data today at SABCS which demonstrate excellent translation from preclinical species into patients. We will continue to progress our pipeline as rapidly as possible, including advancing our lead T-HDC candidate DAN-311 in HER2-positive and HER2-low breast cancer into the clinic in 2023. We look forward to bringing much-needed new options to patients who have failed current therapies including traditional ADCs."

Dantari’s HDC and T-HDC platform technology originated at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) with more than 20 years of research and uses standard organic chemistry manufacturing. Dantari’s T-HDC platform uses chemically defined polymers with a high degree of control and flexibility to optimize performance of targeted drug conjugates and leverages validated targets across a broad range of therapeutic payload options. Payload conjugation enables tunable-controlled release, with no ‘burst release’ and the high drug load enables more payload for greater bystander effect killing of tumor cells including in heterogenous tumors.

Dr. Harper commented, "The Dantari team has made great progress in building a world-class platform for oncology drug innovation. Dantari’s proprietary T-HDC platform provides significantly enhanced capabilities for targeted delivery of therapeutics, which I believe will usher in a step-change in the treatment of solid tumors. With Richard at the helm and this outstanding team, we look forward to the exciting future for this company and the medicines it will advance for patients."

As part of the Series A financing, Mark Davis, Ph.D., Warren and Katherine Schlinger Professor of Chemical Engineering at Caltech, and Pascal Touchon, president and CEO of Atara Biotherapeutics, join Drs. Harper and Markus on the Company’s board of directors.

DAN-222 Phase 1 dose-escalation data at San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
Poster Title: A Dose-escalation Study of the Safety and Pharmacology of DAN-222 in Subjects with Metastatic Breast Cancer (NCT05261269)
Presenter: Tim Hagerty, Ph.D., vice president of translational sciences, Dantari
Poster ID: OT3-28-01
Session: Ongoing Trials Poster Session 3
Date/Time/Location: Thursday, December 8, 2022; 5:00-6:15 PM CT, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center

DAN-222, a novel clinical investigational product, has complementary mechanism of action with PARP inhibitors and can be used in combination since it has demonstrated reduced bone marrow risk in preclinical models. Importantly, the complementary enhanced efficacy is independent of tumor homologous repair deficiency (HRD) status, including BRCA status.

This is an open-label, multicenter, dose-escalation study designed to assess the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics (PK) of intravenously (IV) administered DAN-222 and includes a dose-escalation of DAN-222 in combination with niraparib in patients with HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

Results from the first three cohorts showed that the PK profiles of DAN-222 are linear and dose proportional, and that DAN-222 is stable and releasing the payload with consistent kinetics with very low variability between patients (CV% = 7.1 – 20.5). The PK profile of DAN-222 is consistent with and without niraparib.

"These early data on DAN-222 are encouraging as they show this novel platform with high chemotherapy capability appears to be delivering as expected and is well tolerated by patients," said Sara A. Hurvitz, M.D., associate professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), medical director of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Clinical Research Unit, co-director of the Santa Monica-UCLA Outpatient Oncology Practices, director of the Breast Cancer Clinical Trials Program at UCLA, and clinical consultant and principal investigator of the study.

On December 2, 2022, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the "Company") entered into an open market sale agreement (the "Open Market Sale Agreement") with Jefferies LLC (the "Agent"), pursuant to which the Company agreed to issue and sell up to 7,807,620 shares of common stock (the "Shares"), par value $0.001 per share (the "Common Stock") (Filing, Arrowhead Research Corporation, DEC 8, 2022, View Source [SID1234624937]). The Company estimates that gross proceeds from the offering will be approximately $250 million, after deducting the Agent’s discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company.

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The offering is being made pursuant to the Company’s automatically effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (Registration No. 333-268665), which was previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The offering closed on December 2, 2022. Pursuant to the Open Market Sale Agreement, the Company has agreed to indemnify the Agent against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or to contribute to payments that the Agent may be required to make because of such liabilities. The Open Market Sale Agreement contains other customary terms and conditions, including representations and warranties, covenants, and indemnification obligations in favor of each party.

The foregoing descriptions of the Open Market Sale Agreement do not purport to be complete and are qualified in their entirety by reference to the full text of the Open Market Sale Agreement, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit 1.1. A copy of the opinion of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP relating to the legality of the issuance and sale of the of the Shares is attached to this Current Report on Form 8-K as Exhibit 5.1.