On march 14, 2022 Pacylex Pharmaceuticals, an oncology company developing a first-in-class, oral drug for a new approach to cancer therapy, reported the publication in the journal Current Oncology of data from the first patient (Press release, Pacylex Pharmaceuticals, MAR 14, 2022, View Source [SID1234645061]). The paper entitled "Novel, First-in-Human, Oral PCLX-001 Treatment in a Patient with Relapsed Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma" describes how an eighty-six year old woman with relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) received oral PCLX-001, a small molecule, N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) inhibitor, as the initial patient in a phase 1 dose escalation clinical trial.

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In this patient, daily oral administration of 20mg PCLX-001 tablets produced a pharmacokinetic profile suitable for single daily dosing: rapid oral absorption followed by an apparent elimination half-life of 16 hours, without systemic accumulation of drug by day 15. This Phase 1 study is primarily intended to determine the safety of PCLX-001 at escalating doses. There were no dose limiting toxicities and the patient completed their 28-day cycle without incident. Subsequently two additional patients successfully completed the 20 mg dose level without dose limiting toxicities and patients are now being dosed at 40 mg daily.

"We are encouraged that the first patient experience with an NMT inhibitor shows the initial dose to be well tolerated and rapidly absorbed, with a PK consistent with a daily oral drug" said John Mackey, CMO of Pacylex.

All three initial patients were enrolled at the Cross Cancer Institute. Dr. Randeep Sangha, the principal investigator for the study of PCLX-001 at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, said "our first dose level of PCLX-001 in two relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients and a metastatic leiomyosarcoma patient went very smoothly and the safety results encouraged us to escalate to the next dose level and continue to explore its potential as a new treatment for patients".

Patient enrollment is continuing, and patients have also been dosed at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto and are expected to be dosed at Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) and the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver. The study will enroll 20-30 patients in the initial phase. Four principal investigators will oversee the clinical study at the four clinical sites in Canada: Dr. John Kuruvilla at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Dr. Randeep Sangha at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, Dr. Laurie Sehn at the British Columbia Cancer Center in Vancouver, and Dr. Rahima Jamal at CHUM in Montreal.

This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04836195.

On March 14, 2022 Iaso Therapeutics, a research program focused on the development of novel technologies for next-generation vaccines, reported it has received a $978,597 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for phase 2 of its development program (Press release, Iaso Therapeutics, MAR 14, 2022, View Source [SID1234626569]). The grant, titled Proprietary Bacteriophage Qβ Mutant as a Platform Carrier for Next-Generation Vaccines, will allow Iaso Therapeutics to acquire data and test its technology and methods to create powerful and versatile vaccine carriers for pre-clinical and clinical studies.

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"Vaccines have become one of the most successful tools to protect us from deadly infectious diseases, and the COVID-19 pandemic only further highlighted this fact," said Robert Forgey, president and CEO at Iaso Therapeutics. "The funding we are receiving from the National Science Foundation will not only pave the way for the future of our program, but also serve as a large step forward in the treatment and management of diseases that were previously considered uncurable or untreatable."

Iaso Therapeutics’ bacteriophage Qβ mutants (mQβ) carrier technology was designed to elicit superior antibody responses for vaccines. By creating this carrier, Iaso Therapeutics aims to address a wide range of biomedical needs, including human infectious diseases like pneumonia and recurrent cancers.

"The National Science Foundation is proud to support the technology of the future by thinking beyond incremental developments and funding the most creative, impactful ideas across all markets and areas of science and engineering," said Andrea Belz, division director of the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships at NSF. "With the support of our research funds, any deep technology startup or small business can guide basic science into meaningful solutions that address tremendous needs."

Prior to the grant from the NSF, Iaso Therapeutics successfully raised $2.25 million for phase 1 research through federal research grants, an investment from Red Cedar Ventures and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Emerging Technology Fund.

"We are able to develop our technology thanks to the grants, investments and funding so vital to this research," said Dr. Xuefei Huang, founder and chief science officer at Iaso Therapeutics. "The carrier technology that we are creating, and testing will allow biotechnological companies to develop effective vaccines like never before. We see our mQβ technology addressing a wide range of biomedical needs to advance the health and welfare of the public."

To learn more about the science behind Iaso Therapeutics and stay up to date throughout phase 2, visit View Source

On March 14, 2022 Netris Pharma reported The selected companies will receive grants and/or equity investments, depending on their needs, up to a maximum of EUR 17.5 million (Press release, Netris Pharma, MAR 14, 2022, View Source [SID1234611186]). They were selected following a rigorous process, introduced under Horizon Europe, involving an ideas screening stage, and full applications assessed by external experts and an interview with a jury of experienced investors and entrepreneurs.

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The selected companies have a wide geographical spread spanning 21 countries, including seven from Horizon Europe "widening countries" that have lower levels of research and innovation performance. The selection also confirms the high demand for EIC equity investments with 65 of the 99 companies requesting equity investments of up to EUR 414 million (out of the total EUR 627 million). In most cases, the companies will receive the grant financing within the coming months, while the equity investment is likely to take longer as the arrangements for implementing EIC equity need to be re-established under Horizon Europe. This delay will also affect companies selected in the previous funding round.

On March 14, 2022 NETRIS Pharma reported the arrival of Frédéric Le Bras, MD; as the new company Chief Medical Officer (Press release, Netris Pharma, MAR 14, 2022, View Source [SID1234611182]). Graduated from René Descartes University in Paris, Frédéric obtained his oncology degree from the Gustave Roussy Institute and mainly worked in pharmaceutical industries in medical affairs, in oncology, rare diseases and immunology, both in France and in Europe.

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"We are very excited to welcome Frederic at NETRIS Pharma" comments Patrick Mehlen, CEO. "Frédéric has a very large experience in the pharmaceutical industry to conduct clinical trial. His timely venue will be instrumental especially when considering the upcoming combination trials that will soon start with our lead asset NP137".

After 29 years spent in oncology and in specialty care in big pharma, Frédéric is very enthusiastic to join NETRIS Pharma: "Not only the great hope of developing a first-in-class compound bringing new hopes in cancer is an exciting challenge but bringing my expertise to a very scientific and dynamic French human-size clinical stage company in Oncology is definitively a new personal project " says Frédéric, adding that "Oncology is like a marathon: you have to start running as fast as you can without forgetting the long way you still have to run."

On March 14, 2022 NETRIS Pharma reported that the ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) allocated a 6.6 M€ grant to the RHU DEPGYN project aiming to develop new therapeutic approaches targeting the dependence receptors in gynecological cancers (Press release, Netris Pharma, MAR 14, 2022, View Source [SID1234611181]).

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This project will be coordinated by Prof. Jean-Yves Blay, Director of the Léon Bérard comprehensive cancer center, and will consist in collaboration with NETRIS Pharma and Deeplink Medical (i) in performing a clinical POC exploring the netrin-1 mAb in combination with anti-cancer drugs and ICPI in gynecological cancers, renowned for their poor prognosis in advanced stages and for the lack of efficient systemic therapies. Additional aims include (ii) improving general knowledge on DRs in the biology of human cancers in vivoand the associated MoA of interfering with netrin-1/DR interactions, as well as (iii) to perform an ambitious ancillary/translational program to identify biomarkers of efficacy for each netrin-1 mAb/combination treatment.