On July 20, 2022 Manhattan BioSolutions, Inc. reported it has entered into two commercial evaluation license agreements with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), to generate and validate novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapies using monoclonal antibodies developed by NCI (Press release, Manhattan BioSolutions, JUL 20, 2022, View Source [SID1234618289]). ADCs harness the targeting ability of antibodies to deliver drugs to the tumor microenvironment or directly to cancer cells.

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Under the first agreement, Manhattan BioSolutions obtained the proprietary monoclonal antibody discovered and validated by Drs. Ira Pastan, MD, Distinguished Investigator, Chief Emeritus of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Mitchell Ho, PhD, Director of the Antibody Engineering Program and Deputy Chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the NCI Center for Cancer Research. This antibody targets a cell surface glycoprotein overexpressed in multiple cancers including mesothelioma, lung, ovarian and pancreatic cancer. Dr. Ira Pastan is recognized for his pioneering contributions to the fields of receptor biology, which led to the discovery of the new class of antibody drugs called recombinant immunotoxins. The targeted immunotoxin he developed to treat a deadly form of leukemia is now an approved medication marketed by Astra Zeneca under the name Lumoxiti.

The second license agreement provides access rights toa new monoclonal antibody directed to a cell surface receptor tyrosine kinase overexpressed and mutationally activated in a rare pediatric cancer as well as in other solid tumors. This antibody was discovered by the team of Dr. Javed Khan, MD, Senior Investigator and Deputy Chief at the Genetics Branch at the NCI Center for Cancer Research.

The partnerships allow Manhattan BioSolutions to further expand its preclinical pipeline of innovative biologic agents for oncology applications. The antibodies discovered at NCI will be combined with the proprietary immune-stimulating linker-payloads invented by Dr. L. Nathan Tumey, an ex-Pfizer medicinal chemist, who is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Binghamton University. The current collaboration follows the previously announced grant award and collaborative research agreement with the laboratory of Dr. Dhaval Shah, a former Pfizer scientist, now an Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University at Buffalo.

"The synergistic combination of assets and platforms enables the discovery of novel classes of medicines designed to activate innate, microbial host-defense immunity in tumor microenvironment," said Dr. Borys Shor, CEO of Manhattan BioSolutions. "We have assembled a world-class team of drug discovery experts to develop next-generation ADCs: a trio of ex-Pfizer scientific leaders, including Drs. Dhaval Shah and Nathan Tumey, all with a proven track record of bringing transformative oncology medicines to clinical development."

On July 20, 2022 Singapore-based biotech start-up, Tetris Therapeutics Pte. Ltd. reported that it has changed its name to Axcynsis Therapeutics Pte. Ltd (Press release, Axcynsis Therapeutics, JUL 20, 2022, View Source [SID1234618243]).. The new name will better reflect the company’s core business and platform technology – AXC (Antibody-X Conjugate) Synthesis.

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"Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) are a class of anticancer agents designed by conjugating cytotoxic drugs to monoclonal antibodies." said Dr. Zou Bin, founder and CEO of Axcynsis Therapeutics. "In fact, this concept can be extended beyond cytotoxic drugs. Hence we are developing our platform technologies to synthesize Antibody-X Conjugates, where "X" could be any molecules that disrupt the abnormal cells."

Axcynsis Therapeutics will continue to strengthen the company’s pipeline and provide new treatment options to address unmet medical needs.

On July 20, 2022 Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) and Verve Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: VERV) reported an exclusive, four-year global research collaboration focused on discovering and developing an in vivo gene editing program for a single undisclosed liver disease (Press release, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, JUL 20, 2022, View Source [SID1234616853]).

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Under the terms of the collaboration, Verve will advance the discovery, research and certain preclinical development of a novel in vivo gene editing program for the target of interest, with all program costs funded by Vertex. Vertex will be responsible for subsequent development, manufacturing and commercialization of any program stemming from Verve’s research efforts.

"This partnership with Vertex enables an important step forward for Verve as we build out our leading gene editing capabilities and pipeline of in vivo gene editing medicines to address serious diseases," said Sekar Kathiresan, M.D., Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Verve. "This agreement validates the pioneering work at Verve to develop liver-directed gene editing medicines and expands the reach of our capabilities and breadth of our pipeline. We are thrilled to partner with Vertex to advance this important research and development program."

"Vertex is committed to discovering and developing transformative medicines for people with serious diseases," said David Altshuler, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Global Research and Chief Scientific Officer of Vertex. "We are impressed by the progress Verve has made and look forward to combining the expertise in gene editing and drug development of our two companies to serve more patients in need."

Transaction Terms
Under the terms of the agreement, Verve will receive an upfront payment of $60 million, including a $35 million equity investment in Verve. Verve is also eligible to receive up to $66 million in success payments, up to $340 million in development and commercial milestones, and tiered royalties on future net sales for any products that may result from this collaboration agreement.

On July 20, 2022 Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARWR) reported that it will host a webcast and conference call on August 4, 2022, at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss its financial results for the fiscal 2022 third quarter ended June 30, 2022 (Press release, Arrowhead Research Corporation, JUL 20, 2022, View Source [SID1234616852]).

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Conference Call and Webcast Details

Investors may access a live audio webcast on the Company’s website at View Source For analysts that wish to participate in the conference call, please dial 888-243-4451 or 412-542-4135 and ask to join the Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals call.

A replay of the webcast will be available on the Company’s website approximately two hours after the conclusion of the call and will remain available for 90 days. An audio replay will also be available approximately two hours after the conclusion of the call and will be available for 3 days. To access the audio replay, dial 877-344-7529 or 412-317-0088 and provide Conference ID 8080876.

On July 20, 2022 Auron Therapeutics ("Auron"), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies that target dysregulated differentiation and cellular plasticity for treating cancer, reported the completion of its $48 million Series A financing round (Press release, Auron Therapeutics, JUL 20, 2022, View Source [SID1234616830]). Proceeds will be used to advance the lead program toward clinical development and drive additional programs into drug discovery. Funds will also be used to expand the proprietary, machine learning-based computational platform, AURigin, that is used to identify novel drug targets, and add personnel to support and accelerate research and development.

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The financing round was led by DCVC Bio with additional support from new investors Mubadala Capital and Apollo Health Ventures, and from existing investors Arkin Bio Ventures, Polaris Partners, Qiming Venture Partners USA, Eli Lilly and Company, BrightEdge (the investment arm of the American Cancer Society), Franklin Berger and Casdin Capital. Dr. Eric Shiozaki, Ph.D., Partner at DCVC Bio and Dr. Alexandra Cantley, Ph.D., Partner at Polaris Partners will be joining the Company’s Board of Directors. Dr. Rami Hannoush, Ph.D., Partner at Mubadala Capital, and Dr. Marianne Mertens, Ph.D., Partner at Apollo Health Ventures, will join the Company as Board observers.

"Dysregulation of normal cellular differentiation processes can alter normal cell biology leading to tumor formation and progression," said Dr. Yen, founder and CEO. "Most current cancer therapeutics aim to kill rapidly dividing tumor cells or by activating the patient’s immune responses. Our approach is different. We have built a machine learning, multi-omics based computational platform that enables us to rapidly identify the differentiation pathways that have been hijacked by the cancer cells. Drugging these pathways pushes the cancer cells to stop proliferating by promoting differentiation and/or cell death."

Dr. Yen added, "I am equally as excited about the strong team we are building at Auron. Dave is a passionate drug hunter and medicinal chemist with over twenty years of experience, while Tom brings an array of computational approaches to the team as a leading cancer systems biologist at UCLA. I am also excited to have Andrea join our leadership team to support the growth and cultural build of the company and Briggs’ exceptional experience developing numerous therapies across multiple disease areas, has already proven to be a valuable asset to the company."

Dr. Shiozaki shared, "Targeting cellular plasticity and differentiation pathways identified through Auron’s proprietary multi-omic translational platform, is distinct from existing anti-cancer approaches available today and has the potential to be employed as monotherapy or in combination with different therapeutic modalities. We are excited to participate in Auron’s growth and look forward to the advance of its lead candidate into clinical development, as well as the development of its drug discovery pipeline."

Dr. Morrison added, "The novel targets identified using Auron’s platform may enable completely innovative approaches to treating cancer that are complementary, rather than competitive, with existing therapeutics."