On February 3, 2022 Sierra Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: SRRA), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to delivering targeted therapies for rare cancers, reported that the underwriters of its previously announced underwritten public offering exercised in full their option to purchase 750,000 additional shares of common stock at a price of $27.00 per share, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions (Press release, Sierra Oncology, FEB 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234607719]). With this exercise, the aggregate gross proceeds to Sierra Oncology from the offering were approximately $155.3 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses. The offering of the additional 750,000 shares closed on February 3, 2022. Sierra Oncology intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to prepare for potential commercialization of momelotinib, clinical development of its other product candidates, research, clinical and process development and manufacturing of its product candidates, working capital, and capital expenditures and other general corporate purposes.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Jefferies and Cantor acted as the joint book-running managers and representatives of the underwriters for the offering. LifeSci Capital, Oppenheimer & Co. and H.C. Wainwright & Co. acted as lead managers for the offering.

A shelf registration statement on Form S-3 relating to the securities offered in the public offering described above was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 5, 2021 and declared effective by the SEC on November 12, 2021. A final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering have been filed with the SEC and are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Copies of the final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus may also be obtained by contacting Jefferies LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Prospectus Department, 520 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, by telephone at (877) 821-7388, or by email at [email protected]; or Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Attention: Capital Markets, 499 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10022, or by e-mail at [email protected].

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

On February 3, 2022 Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) reported that its executives will be speaking at the following investor conferences (Press release, Gilead Sciences, FEB 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234607718]):

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

SVB Leerink Annual Global Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, February 16 at 2:20pm ET

Raymond James Annual Institutional Investors Conference on Tuesday, March 8 at 1:05pm ET

Cowen Annual Health Care Conference on Wednesday, March 9 at 10:30am ET

The live webcasts can be accessed at the company’s investors page at investors.gilead.com. The replays will be available for at least 30 days following the presentation.

On February 3, 2022 Kriya Therapeutics, Inc., a fully integrated company pioneering novel technologies and therapeutics in gene therapy, reported that it has appointed Ma’an Muhsin, M.D., as President and Chief Medical Officer of Kriya Oncology, the company’s oncology therapeutic area division (Press release, Kriya Therapeutics, FEB 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234607717]). Dr. Muhsin will lead overall strategic, development, and partnership activities to accelerate and expand Kriya’s portfolio of transformative gene therapies for cancers of high unmet need.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

"Ma’an brings a wealth of experience in the development of novel oncology therapies across a number of modalities," said Shankar Ramaswamy, M.D., Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kriya. "He is uniquely positioned to accelerate the expansion and clinical translation of our growing pipeline of gene therapies that can be combined with existing and emerging standards of care in oncology. We are keen to bring forward in vivo gene therapy as a new modality to treat cancer, and Ma’an is a leader with an exceptional track record that will help us achieve this goal."

Dr. Muhsin previously served as Chief Medical Officer at Medicenna Therapeutics where he designed and executed clinical trials of the company’s solid tumor programs. Prior to joining Medicenna, he served as Medical Lead, Oncology Clinical Development for Nektar Therapeutics where he oversaw the progression of the PIVOT-12 and REVEAL clinical studies for metastatic melanoma and advanced and local solid tumors, respectively. Dr. Muhsin has held roles of increasing responsibility at HUYA Bioscience International where he served as the Senior Vice President, Oncology Clinical Development, and at Halozyme Therapeutics where he served as Senior Medical Director, Oncology Clinical Development. He also worked in the U.S. Army Combat Support Hospitals (CSH) and held other positions within the Medical Brigade and the Medical Command under the United States Department of Defense (DoD). Dr. Muhsin completed his medical education at the Baghdad University School of Medicine and completed postgraduate education in oncology drug development at Tufts University Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD).

"I am excited to join Kriya and look forward to advancing its promising portfolio of gene therapies in oncology," said Dr. Muhsin. "While the management of cancer has come a long way in the last decade, I believe in the potential to further enhance the treatment of patients with the incorporation of rationally engineered gene therapies that can transform treatment paradigms for a wide array of cancers. I look forward to leveraging Kriya’s fully-integrated gene therapy engine to deliver a pipeline of novel medicines with the potential to significantly impact the lives of cancer patients."

On February 3, 2022 Synthekine Inc., an engineered cytokine therapeutics company, reported the dosing of the first patient in a Phase 1a/1b clinical trial of its IL-2 partial agonist, STK-012, for the treatment of solid tumors. STK-012 is designed as an alpha/beta-biased IL-2 partial agonist to selectively stimulate antigen-activated T cells, which are associated with potent anti-tumor activity, and avoid stimulation of toxicity causing immune cells, such as natural killer cells (Press release, Synthekine, FEB 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234607716]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

"We are proud to begin this year with the important milestone of dosing the first patient in our Phase 1 trial of STK-012," said Debanjan Ray, chief executive officer of Synthekine. "STK-012 is a highly differentiated IL-2 partial agonist tuned to expand the therapeutic index of IL-2 by biasing towards efficacy driving antigen-activated T cells and away from toxicity causing lymphocytes, such as natural killer (NK) cells. STK-012 is the first program from our broad portfolio of biased cytokines to enter the clinic, and its rapid progress into clinical investigation further highlights our team’s tremendous ability to execute efficiently and move our pipeline forward."

Aldesleukin (recombinant IL-2) has shown to be active in certain cancers, but its use is limited due to life threatening toxicities such as capillary leak syndrome (CLS). Synthekine presented preclinical data at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) 2021 demonstrating a mouse surrogate of STK-012 achieved superior tumor regression compared to both wild-type mouse IL-2 and a non-alpha-IL-2 agent, representing a different approach to biasing IL-2. In toxicity models, the mouse surrogate of STK-012, unlike these same comparators, was well tolerated and did not induce CLS. In non-human primate studies, STK-012 avoided lymphopenia, NK cell activation and CLS induction, which was observed with both aldesleukin and a non-alpha-IL-2 agent.

The Phase 1a/1b clinical trial is an open-label, multi-center study enrolling patients with advanced solid tumors. The dose escalation portion of the study will evaluate STK-012 both as a monotherapy and in combination with pembrolizumab. Following completion of the dose escalation, Synthekine will initiate expansion cohorts with STK-012. For additional information about the trial, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov using the identifier NCT05098132.

On February 3, 2022 Sprinter Health, an on-demand mobile health service bringing personalized and affordable healthcare services to the home, reported a collaboration with Naveris, a molecular diagnostics company dedicated to improving patient care through early detection of virus-related cancers (Press release, Naveris, FEB 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234607715]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

The partnership will improve the detection, treatment, and clinical management of HPV-driven cancers, such as head and neck cancers, by augmenting the convenience of Naveris’ lead product, NavDx, which requires regular blood draws. Patients living in Sprinter Health service areas will be able to easily schedule a visit from a Sprinter Health nurse or phlebotomist (also known as "Sprinters") to collect blood specimens for the test in the comfort of their homes.

The NavDx blood test uses proprietary technology to detect circulating tumor tissue modified HPV (TTMV) DNA. NavDx helps healthcare providers optimize the clinical management of HPV-driven cancer by accurately assessing treatment response, identifying the presence of post-treatment molecular residual disease, and conveniently monitoring for recurrence. The test has been shown to accurately detect cancer recurrence a median of four months earlier than it would present clinically via PET or CT scan, which can facilitate earlier intervention of salvage therapy.1

"Patients being monitored with NavDx need regular blood draws, so we want to make sure they have a consistent, positive experience and don’t have to navigate a complex system just to get their blood specimens collected," said Piyush Gupta, CEO of Naveris. "Sprinter Health’s tech platform makes booking appointments easy for our patients and customer support reps, and they have become a partner we can count on to deliver high quality, reliable care that our patients love."

"Barriers to access can hold back progress toward better care. Lowering these barriers starts with using technology to improve the patient experience," said Max Cohen, CEO of Sprinter Health. "My father is an oncologist, and I’ve seen firsthand the difficult journeys of patients and families experiencing cancer. We’re proud to play a small part in helping patients access Naveris’ innovative test, and look forward to expanding our partnership throughout 2022."

Both companies have been working together in California for several months and plan to expand the partnership to new states in the first half of 2022.