Arcellx to Participate at the Canaccord Genuity 2023 Horizons in Oncology Virtual Conference

On April 13, 2023 Arcellx, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACLX), a biotechnology company reimagining cell therapy through the development of innovative immunotherapies for patients with cancer and other incurable diseases, reported that management will participate in a fireside chat at the Canaccord Genuity 2023 Horizons in Oncology Virtual Conference on Thursday, April 20, 2023, at 1:00 p.m. ET (Press release, Arcellx, APR 13, 2023, View Source [SID1234630065]).

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A live webcast of this discussion will be accessible from Arcellx’s website at www.arcellx.com in the Investors section. A replay of the webcast will be archived and available for 30 days following the event.

TORL BioTherapeutics Launches with $158 Million Series B Financing to Advance Development of Novel Oncology Biologics

On April 13, 2023 TORL BioTherapeutics LLC (TORL), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing new biologics for cancer treatment, reported its public launch and the closing of a $158 million Series B financing (Press release, TORL Biotherapeutics, APR 13, 2023, View Source [SID1234630063]). TORL’s pipeline of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were discovered in the laboratory of scientific co-founder Dennis Slamon, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine, and Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM). He is an accomplished physician and scientist whose research was pivotal in identifying HER2 as a target in breast cancer and the development and initial approval of trastuzumab (Herceptin). Dr. Slamon’s lab went on to discover CDK4/6 as an important target in hormone receptor (HR+) positive breast cancer. Subsequently, his group led the clinical development of CDK4/6 inhibitors, resulting in breakthrough status therapies palbociclib (Ibrance) and ribociclib (Kisqali), in HR+ breast cancer.

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TORL is built on a strategic partnership with the Slamon Research Lab at UCLA, whereby the Company has exclusive development and commercial rights to biologics-based drug candidates focused on promising cancer targets. TORL’s lead drug programs target Claudin 6 (CLDN 6) and Claudin 18.2 (CLDN 18.2), both of which are currently in clinical trials. The Company also expects to put 2-3 additional compounds into clinical trials over the next 12 months, with plans to advance 1-2 new compounds each year.

"It has been very rewarding to use 30 years of experience, lessons learned, and preclinical models developed in our lab for this new company for," said Dennis Slamon, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Founder of TORL. "This unique academic/corporate partnership allows us to quickly identify novel targets, validate them preclinically, then proceed to bring these new biologic treatments into clinical testing and development in an exceptionally rapid and efficient manner. Our goal is to develop compounds that address critical or as yet unmet medical needs while simultaneously providing new and effective treatment options for cancer patients that can be life and practice changing. There are more of these to come, and we are thrilled we have this partnership to expand cancer therapy."

Leveraging the Slamon research lab’s unique discovery engine and validation platforms, TORL was founded to promote its novel oncology biologics with industry leading speed and capital efficiency. Since its inception in 2018, TORL has moved forward three, internally developed drug programs into the clinic and advanced two more through IND-enabling studies with less than $50 million.

"It has been tremendously gratifying to pioneer TORL’s innovative approach to drug discovery and development, culminating in the launch of multiple clinical trials with our drugs over the past year", said David Licata, TORL’s CEO. "We created and demonstrated an original, capital efficient structure which, despite the challenging market conditions, attracted a distinguished group of biotech investors with a shared vision for rapid cancer drug development. With the close of this Series B financing, we can advance our new programs into the clinic and existing clinical-stage programs into the next phase."

"Despite meaningful advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, most patients worldwide continue to face serious morbidity and significant mortality," said Mark Alles, TORL’s Executive Chairman. "With strong support from our highly accomplished investors, we are building a preeminent biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of first and best-in-class antibody-based immunotherapies to improve and extend the lives of people living with this terrible disease."

"TORL represents a unique model for company formation. Through their holistic relationship with the Slamon research lab and UCLA, the Company can leverage decades of scientific expertise and deep research capabilities while avoiding the significant costs and risks associated with early-stage discovery," said Amit Sinha, Head of Life Sciences Investing within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. "We believe TORL-1-23 and TORL-2-307 represent promising potential therapies for ovarian and gastric cancers, two indications with significant unmet patient need. We look forward to partnering with the TORL team to rapidly advance the lead programs toward late-stage clinical trials while progressing the broader portfolio of novel programs."

TORL builds on a 30-year history of scientific collaboration amongst a team of clinical pioneers and laboratory researchers. In addition to Dr. Dennis Slamon, the scientific founding team includes:

John Glaspy, M.D., MPH, Professor of Medicine, DGSOM, UCLA
Neil O’Brien, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, DGSOM, UCLA
Martina McDermott, Ph.D., Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine, DGSOM, UCLA
Ben Hoffstrom, Ph.D., Adjunct Assistant Professor, Medicine, DGSOM, UCLA
Sarah Larson, M.D., Assistant Professor, Medicine DGSOM, UCLA
Mike Press, M.D., Ph.D, Professor of Pathology, Keck School of Medicine of USC
With scientific advisors including Tom Boone, Ph.D., Brian Lawliss, Ph.D., and Leonard Presta, Ph.D.

TORL Board of Directors

Mark Alles – Executive Chairman
Mark Attanasio – Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Crescent Capital Group LP
David Licata – Co-Founder and CEO
Neil O’Brien, Ph.D. – Co-Founder
Amit Sinha – Partner, Goldman Sachs
Lynn Seely, M.D. – President and CEO of Lyell Immunopharma
Dennis Slamon, M.D., Ph.D. – Co-Founder
TD Cowen acted as exclusive placement agent for the Series B financing.
Crandon Law LLC served as counsel to TORL BioTherapeutics LLC.
Latham & Watkins LLP. served as counsel to Goldman, Sachs & Co. LLC.

Caris Life Sciences and Flare Therapeutics Announce Strategic Preferred Portfolio Partnership to Advance Flare’s Precision Oncology Pipeline

On April 13, 2023 Caris Life Sciences(Caris), the leading molecular science and technology company actively developing and delivering innovative solutions to revolutionize healthcare, and Flare Therapeutics, a biotechnology company targeting transcription factors to discover precision medicines for cancer and other diseases, reported a multi-year strategic collaboration to accelerate precision medicine approaches across five of Flare’s therapeutic programs into clinical trials through advanced molecular profiling approaches that guide patient selection and participation (Press release, Caris Life Sciences, APR 13, 2023, View Source [SID1234630062]).

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The partnership reinforces Flare’s commitment to longitudinal testing, leveraging Caris’ comprehensive molecular tissue and liquid profiling services including whole exome sequencing and whole transcriptome sequencing for patients enrolled in Flare’s clinical trials, while also applying Caris’ data and analytics tools to bolster future clinical trial enrollment programs and companion diagnostics capabilities.

"We understand the importance of shaping translational insights early on as a major area of focus to help ensure efficient drug development at scale and clinical trial preparedness," said Michaela Bowden, Ph.D., Chief Development Officer at Flare. "With access to Caris’ robust clinico-genomic real-world data, comprehensive molecular profiling and extensive precision oncology alliance network, we are well positioned to unlock the full potential of drugging transcription factors by further unraveling the molecular complexities of cancer at the patient level and successfully enter the next phase of our growth as a clinical stage company."

Through comprehensive molecular profiling and the application of advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning, Caris has created the largest clinico-genomic database coupled with cognitive computing to unravel the molecular complexity of disease. Under the terms of the agreement, Flare will leverage Caris’ industry-leading next generation sequencing technology for the molecular testing of patients treated with Flare’s assets. In addition, Flare will receive access to Caris’ data insights and analytics capabilities to accelerate oncology drug discovery, identify novel biomarkers and optimize clinical positioning strategies for their pipeline. Flare will also leverage Caris’ biomarker-driven patient selection for clinical trials, allowing Caris the first option to develop a companion diagnostic for any drug candidate developed as part of the collaboration.

"This broad partnership with Flare will leverage Caris’ leading molecular science and technology solutions to support Flare’s novel approach to decipher the biology of transcription factors to develop small molecule medicines," said Milan Radovich, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Caris Life Sciences. "The data accessibility and continuum across real world and clinical trial populations will provide Flare the necessary insights for successful molecule discovery and development.

Simcere Zaiming will Present 8 Research Abstracts at the 2023 AACR Annual Meeting

On April 13, 2023 Simcere Zaiming (Company), a pharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs to address unmet clinical needs for cancer patients around the globe, and subsidiary of Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Limited (2096.HK) (Simcere), a global pharmaceutical company, reported that two oral and six poster presentations will be presented on the Company’s preclinical programs at the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, taking place April 14-19, 2023, in Orlando, FL (Press release, Jiangsu Simcere Pharmaceutical Company, APR 13, 2023, View Source [SID1234630061]).

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The AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) annual meeting is one of the most influential oncology conferences of the year and attracts tens of thousands of scientists and clinical experts to share and discuss the latest progress in basic research, translational research, clinical research and prevention research in the field of oncology.

Today’s announcement marks a significant milestone for the company as it will be the first time Simcere Zaiming will participate in an international academic conference as an independent oncology entity with multiple studies, including on-site oral presentations. The eight studies cover several targets including SMARCA2, CBL-b, Polθ, SOS1, MUC17, USP1, SIRPα, GPRC5D, and involve multiple novel technologies such as targeted protein degradation, mutant fusion proteins, bispecific T engager and others.

Oral Presentations:

Title: Identification of a high selective SMARCA2 degrader which effectively suppresses the SMARCA4-deficient tumors M vitro and in Wvo
Session Type: Minisymposium
Session Category: Experimental and Molecular Therapeutics
Session Title: Innovative Therapeutic Approaches
Session Date/Time: Sunday Apr 16, 2023 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Room W331
Abstract Presentation Number: 1137

Presenter: Dr. Zhengtao Li, Vice President, Simcere Zaiming

Targeting the "synthetic lethal" partner proteins SMARCA2/4 (human chromatin SWI/SNF- Related, Matrix-Associated, actin-dependent regulatory factor subfamily A member 2 and 4), SCR-9140 selectively degrades SMARCA2 to precisely kill SMARCA4-deficient tumors in preclinical studies while preventing damage to normal cells, thus exhibiting strong antitumor efficacy and favorable safety profile.

Title: Identification of the selective CBL-b inhibitors which effectively prevent T cells from exhaustion and demonstrate synergistic anti-tumor activity in combination with an anti-PD1 antibody
Session Title: Immune Checkpoints at Tumor Beds
Session Date/Time: Monday Apr 17, 2023 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Abstract Presentation Number: 3474

Presenter: Dr. Tamas Oravecz, Senior Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer, Simcere Zaiming

The E3 ubiquitin ligase CBL-b (Casitas B-cell lymphoma protein b) negatively regulates immune function and is considered a potential novel intracellular immune checkpoint. In preclinical studies, a group of Cbl-b inhibitor candidate drugs developed by Simcere Zaiming have demonstrated strong immune activation capabilities and synergistic effects with PD-1 inhibitors, suggesting strong potential for clinical application.

Poster Presentations:

Title: Identification of SS008871, a novel Polθ inhibitor that effectively inhibits tumors with homologous recombination deficiency in vitro and in vivo
Session Title: Experimental and Molecular Therapeutics, Novel Antitumor Agents 2
Session Date and Time: Sunday Apr 16, 1:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Poster Section 18
Poster Board Number: 12
Abstract Number: 512

DNA polymerase θ (Polθ) is a key enzyme for DNA double-strand break repair and cell survival in homologous recombination-deficient tumors, and it is also a potential synthetic lethal new therapeutic target. The small molecule inhibitor of Pol θ, SS008871, has shown significant anti-tumor effect and good safety in various preclinical models.

Title: SCR-8388, a potent and selective SOS1::KRAS inhibitor, is effective in KRAS-addicted cancers
Session Title: Oncogenes and Tumor Suppressor, Genes as Targets for Therapy 2
Session Date and Time: Monday, Apr 17, 9 AM – 12:30 PM
Location: Poster Section 20
Poster Board Number: 21
Abstract Number: 1724

The most common oncogene, KRAS, was once regarded as the most difficult drug target, and there was a large unmet clinical need. SCR-8388 is a selective SOS 1 protein inhibitor that acts on the upstream pathway of KRAS and prevents KRAS activation. Preclinical studies have shown that SCR-8388 can significantly inhibit the growth of KRAS mutant tumors in both in vitro and in vivo models, and has a synergistic effect with EGFR antagonists.

Title: SCR-9171, a MUC17-targeted bispecific T cell engager molecule for gastrointestinal cancer
Session Title: Immunology, Therapeutic Antibodies 1
Session Date and Time: Monday Apr 17, 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Location: Poster Section 25
Poster Board Number: 21
Abstract Number: 1882

MUC17 is a transmembrane mucin that is often overexpressed in gastric cancer tissues and is also a potential target for gastric cancer therapy. SCR-9171 is a MUC17/CD3 bispecific T cell engager that precisely inhibits MUC17 expressing tumors with optimal CD3 affinity. In preclinical studies, SCR-9171 induces T cell activation, thereby potently killing MUC17-positive tumors, while releasing low level of cytokines that can lead to better treatment tolerability.

Title: A novel T cell engager targeting BCMA and GPRC5D showed promising preclinical activity with low toxic risk for multiple myeloma treatment
Session Title: Immunology, Therapeutic Antibodies 1
Session Date and Time: Monday Apr 17, 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Location: Poster Section 25
Poster Board Number: 22
Abstract Number: 1883

SCR-8572, a T-cell engager developed against two specific targets in multiple myeloma, BCMA and GPRC5D, demonstrated potent tumor-killing effects in preclinical in vitro and in vivo models, with preliminary good safety results. It is expected to become a candidate drug for clinical development.

Title: Identification of SP-002, a highly selective USP1 inhibitor effectively inhibits HRD tumor growth and displays low hematotoxicity risk
Session Title: Experimental and Molecular Therapeutics, DNA Repair / Molecular Classification of Tumors for Diagnostics, Prognostics, and Therapeutic Outcomes / Others
Session Date and Time: Wednesday Apr 19, 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Location: Poster Section 18
Poster Board Number: 3
Abstract Number: 6201

USP1 (ubiquitin-specific peptidase 1) is a synthetic lethal protein of HRD (homologous recombination deficient) tumors. As a highly selective USP1 inhibitor, SP-002 has significant anticancer activity against HRD tumors as a single drug or in combination with PARP inhibitors in preclinical in vitro studies. Furthermore, no significant hematological toxicity was observed.

Title: Generation of a mutant SIRPa fusion protein with highly-improved affinity and favorable safety profile
Session Title: Immunology, Immune Checkpoints
Session Date and Time: Wednesday Apr 19, 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Location: Poster Section 23
Poster Board Number: 1
Abstract Number: 6357

Interaction of the transmembrane glycoprotein CD47 with signal regulatory protein alpha (SIRPα) triggers "don’t eat me" signaling to the macrophage, thereby serving as a key immune checkpoint in a variety of hematological malignancies. SCR9168 is a SIRPα mutant protein fused with Fc, which has significantly improved CD47 affinity, and has good safety in various animal models including cynomolgus monkeys and has best-in-class potential of SIRPα mutant protein in the treatment of hematological tumors.

Bold Therapeutics to Present Best-in-Class Phase 2 Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Data at AACR 2023

On April 13, 2023 Bold Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class oncology therapeutics, reported that it will present two posters – a clinical poster (#CT149) and a translational research poster (#2259) – at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2023 on April 14 – 19, 2023 in Orlando, Florida (Press release, Bold Therapeutics, APR 13, 2023, View Source [SID1234630060]).

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The clinical poster (#CT149) is entitled "BOLD-100-001 (TRIO039): a Phase 1b/2a Dose-Escalation Study of BOLD-100 in Combination with FOLFOX Chemotherapy in Patients with Pre-treated Advanced Colorectal Cancer: Interim Efficacy, Safety and Tolerability Analysis," and will be presented April 17, 2023 at 1:30PM.

The translational research poster (#2259) is entitled "Novel Metallotherapeutic BOLD-100 Induces Circulating Cytokine Changes When Administered in Combination with FOLFOX in Advanced Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients," and will be presented April 17, 2023 at 9:00AM.

"We are thrilled to share these posters, showcasing the profound progress we’ve made with BOLD-100 over the last year," said Jim Pankovich, EVP Clinical Development. "This robustly positive interim clinical data is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, collaborators, clinical sites, investigators and patients. We look forward to continuing development of this innovative therapeutic."

Bold Therapeutics’ BOLD-100 is a first-in-class ruthenium-based small molecule therapeutic that (1) alters the unfolded protein response (UPR) through selective GRP78 inhibition; and (2) induces reactive oxygen species (ROS) which causes DNA damage and cell cycle arrest. Collectively, these effects result in cell death in both sensitive and resistant cancers, giving BOLD-100 the potential to significantly improve outcomes in a wide range of both solid and liquid tumors in combination with other anticancer therapies ranging from traditional chemotherapies to targeted therapies and immuno-oncology agents. Earlier preclinical data showed that BOLD-100 has potential immune modulating capabilities, including the induction of immunogenic cell death pathways. The translational data to be presented at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) shows that BOLD-100 in combination with FOLFOX induced short-term plasma level changes in multiple cytokines, including IL-10 and IL-27.

BOLD-100 is currently being studied in a global Phase 1b/2 trial for the treatment of advanced gastrointestinal cancers, with more than 100 patients successfully treated to date. Previous Phase 1b trial results, presented at ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) 2022, demonstrated that BOLD-100 in combination with FOLFOX was generally safe and well-tolerated. This data release expands on the prior data with a much larger sample size and includes progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and overall response rate (ORR) data that positions BOLD-100 as a potentially best-in-class therapy for mCRC.

Additional Phase 2 safety and efficacy results in advanced gastric and bile duct cancer have been accepted for presentation at ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) 2023 in June.