On April 15, 2024 CNS Pharmaceuticals presented it’s corporate presentation (Presentation, CNS Pharmaceuticals, APR 15, 2024, View Source [SID1234642067]).

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On April 15, 2024 Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (NYSE American: CANF) (TASE: CANF), a biotechnology company advancing a pipeline of proprietary small molecule drugs that address oncological and inflammatory diseases, reported that Biomedicines published an article titled "Namodenoson at the Crossroad of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH) and Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)" (Press release, Can-Fite BioPharma, APR 15, 2024, View Source [SID1234642066]). Biomedicines is a highly reputable journal that publishes articles on clinical and basic science topics in medicine. View Source

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The article’s first author, Dr. Ohad Etzion, is a renowned key opinion leader (KOL) in the Hepatology field and is the engine for some of the novel drugs under development for the treatment of MASH and additional liver diseases. Dr. Etzion is the Head, Department of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, at Soroka University Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel.

The Biomedicines article presents the pre-clinical and clinical activity of Namodenoson and the mechanism of action through which the drug induces the anti-cancer activity and at the same time the liver protective effects. This dual activity enables the drug to have positive effects in both liver cancer and MASH.

Currently, Namodenoson is being evaluated in LiverationTM, a pivotal Phase III study for advanced liver cancer that has been approved by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and also in a Phase IIb study in patients with MASH.

"We are very much encouraged by the clinical data from the Phase II study in HCC and the Phase IIa study in MASH. The drug mechanism of action which is presented in the manuscript and entails inflammatory cytokine inhibition together with the stimulation of positive cytokines, position Namodenoson as a promising safe drug," stated Dr. Etzion.

About Namodenoson

Namodenoson is a small orally bioavailable drug that binds with high affinity and selectivity to the A3 adenosine receptor (A3AR). Namodenoson was evaluated in Phase II trials for two indications, as a second line treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma, and as a treatment for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). A3AR is highly expressed in diseased cells whereas low expression is found in normal cells. This differential effect accounts for the excellent safety profile of the drug.

On April 15, 2024 Bio-Path Holdings, Inc., (NASDAQ:BPTH), a biotechnology company leveraging its proprietary DNAbilize liposomal delivery and antisense technology to develop a portfolio of targeted nucleic acid cancer drugs, reported the receipt of newly issued patents in Mexico, Australia and Japan, and updated investors on the extent of its global intellectual property portfolio (Press release, Bio-Path Holdings, APR 15, 2024, View Source [SID1234642065]).

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Bio-Path has expanded its intellectual property portfolio by filing patent applications that are applicable to its technology and business strategy. Bio-Path’s patent portfolio currently includes five issued patents in the U.S. and 54 issued patents in foreign jurisdictions, providing protection in 21 countries.

"We continue our efforts to build protection around our platform as it safeguards our technology, is a deterrent to would-be competitors and creates value around our core competencies," said Peter Nielsen, Chief Executive Officer of Bio-Path. "These efforts are designed to protect our investments and advance our clinical programs to bring new medicines to patients suffering with cancer."

Bio-Path’s composition of matter patents are intended to protect encroachment from third parties on its proprietary products. This technology is solely owned by Bio-Path. These composition patents, including composition and methods of use patents covering the DNAbilize technology, should allow the Company to apply its core technology to new protein targets and receive an additional 20 years of patent exclusivity. On this basis, Bio-Path has one additional patent application allowed in the U.S. and five additional patent applications allowed in foreign jurisdictions, for a total of six additional patent grants expected this year. Further, the Company has five pending patent applications in the U.S. and 46 pending patent applications in key foreign jurisdictions across six families of applications, for a total of 51 pending applications.

Newly issued patents have been granted in Mexico, Australia, and Japan. Instituto Mexicano de la Propriedad Industrial (IMPI) has issued MX 409482 titled, "P-ethoxy nucleic acids for IGF-1R inhibition." In addition, IP Australia issued three new patents: AU 2018255352 titled, "P-ethoxy nucleic acids for STAT3 inhibition;" AU 2018255353 titled, "P-ethoxy nucleic acids for IGF-1R inhibition;" and AU 2018254468 titled, "P-ethoxy nucleic acids for BCL2 inhibition." Finally, the Japanese Patent Office has issued JP 7441002 titled, "P-ethoxy nucleic acids for liposomal formulation."

On April 15, 2024 Aileron Therapeutics, Inc. ("Aileron", the "Company", "we", "our" or "us") (NASDAQ: ALRN), a biopharmaceutical company advancing a novel pipeline of first-in-class medicines to address significant unmet medical needs in orphan pulmonary and fibrosis indications, reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2023 and provided a business update (Press release, Aileron Therapeutics, APR 15, 2024, View Source [SID1234642064]).

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"We ended the year in a solid position after the successful completion of our merger with Lung Therapeutics, which provided a focused pipeline of promising clinical-stage candidates for life-threatening lung conditions, coupled with a strengthened balance sheet from the successful closure of a $18.4 million financing," said Brian Windsor, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Aileron. "We anticipate 2024 as a pivotal year of execution as we continue to progress our lead product candidate, LTI-03. We expect to report topline results from the ongoing Phase 1b study of LTI-03 in the third quarter of this year. LTI-03 and its potential dual mechanism of action on both epithelial cells and fibroblasts is gaining support from the medical community, and we look forward to building upon encouraging preclinical data that LTI-03 has the potential to protect healthy lung epithelial cells and to reduce pro-fibrotic signaling."

Recent Business Highlights and Upcoming Milestones

Corporate Updates

In October 2023, Aileron acquired Lung Therapeutics, Inc. ("Lung"), shifting the Company’s disease focus to advance a pipeline of first-in-class medicines to address significant unmet medical needs in orphan pulmonary and fibrosis diseases. The Company’s lead clinical programs include LTI-03 for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and LTI-01 for loculated pleural effusion (LPE).

Immediately following the closing of Aileron’s acquisition of Lung ("Lung Acquisition"), the Company entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of shares of its Series X non-voting convertible preferred stock and warrants to purchase shares of Aileron common stock in a private placement to a group of accredited investors led by Bios Partners, the majority stockholder of Lung prior to the Lung Acquisition, and including Nantahala Capital, as well as additional undisclosed investors. The private placement resulted in gross proceeds to Aileron of approximately $18 million before deducting placement agent fees and other offering expenses.

In March 2024, the Company announced the appointment of Brian Windsor, Ph.D., as President and Chief Executive Officer and to the Board of Directors. Dr. Windsor previously served as Aileron’s Chief Operating Officer and President, and Chief Executive Officer and director of Lung.
Pipeline

In February 2024, Aileron hosted a pulmonary care expert panel to discuss the potential implications of LTI-03 for IPF, featuring pulmonary care experts Fernando J. Martinez, M.D., M.S., Chief of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division at Weill Cornell Medicine; Tejaswini Kulkarni, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Pulmonology, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine and Director of the Interstitial Lung Disease Program at University of Alabama at Birmingham Medicine; and Andreas Günther, M.D., Senior Physician of Pulmonology and Intensive Care Medicine and Chief Physician of Pulmonology and Internal Intensive Care Medicine at Agaplesion Evang. Central Hesse Hospital and Professor of Interstitial and Rare Lung Diseases at Justus Liebig University. A replay of the event can be accessed at View Source

LTI-03: a novel Caveolin-1-related (Cav1) peptide with a dual mechanism targeting both alveolar epithelial cell survival as well as inhibition of profibrotic signaling
LTI-03 is currently in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 1b clinical trial in IPF patients. Aileron expects to report topline results from this trial in the third quarter of 2024.
LTI-01: a PAI-1 resistant plasmin activated proenzyme for loculated pleural effusions
LTI-01 has been evaluated in Phase 1b and Phase 2a clinical trials in patients with infected, non-draining LPEs and is ready for Phase 2b. LTI-01 has received Orphan Drug Designation in the US and EU and Fast Track Designation in the US.
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Financial Results

Cash Position: Cash, cash equivalents, and investments on December 31, 2023, were $17.3 million, compared to $21.2 million on December 31, 2022. Based on its current operating plan, the Company expects its existing cash, cash equivalents, and investments will fund operations into the fourth quarter of 2024.

Research and Development (R&D) Expenses: R&D expenses for the quarter ended December 31, 2023, were $2.0 million, compared to $2.4 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2022. R&D expenses decreased primarily due to the termination of R&D activities related to ALRN-6924. R&D expenses for the full-year 2023 were $4.0 million, compared to $18.0 million for the prior year.

General and Administrative (G&A) Expenses: G&A expenses for the quarter ended December 31, 2023, were $5.3 million compared to $2.3 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2022. G&A expenses increased due to the integration and operating activities of Lung. G&A expenses for the full-year 2023 were $11.4 million, compared to $9.7 million for the prior year.

Net Loss: Net loss for the quarter ended December 31, 2023, was $7.3 million, compared to $4.5 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2022. The basic and diluted net loss per share for the quarter ended December 31, 2023 was $1.54 compared to $1.00 for the quarter ended December 31, 2022. The basic and diluted net loss per share for the full-year 2023 was $3.42 compared to $6.02 for the full-year 2022.

On April 15, 2024 Innate Pharma SA (Euronext Paris: IPH; Nasdaq: IPHA) ("Innate" or the "Company") reported that the first patient was dosed in the Phase 2 dose expansion part of the Sanofi-sponsored clinical trial of SAR443579 / IPH6101 (NCT05086315), evaluating SAR443579 as a monotherapy for the treatment of blood cancers with high unmet needs, including relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (R/R AML), B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and high-risk myelodysplasia (Press release, Innate Pharma, APR 15, 2024, View Source [SID1234642045]).

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SAR443579 is an investigational trifunctional anti-CD123 NKp46xCD16 NK cell engager from a joint research collaboration between Innate Pharma and Sanofi. SAR443579 received FDA Fast Track Designation for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. Efficacy and safety results from the dose-escalation part of the trial were shared in a poster presentation at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) (Free ASH Whitepaper) 2023 Annual Meeting in San Diego, California.

"The progression of SAR443579 to the Phase 2 expansion part of the clinical trial in blood cancers is another step in bringing this innovative NK cell engager to patients," said Dr. Sonia Quaratino, Chief Medical Officer of Innate Pharma. "SAR443579 has shown promising clinical efficacy in the dose escalation of the Phase 1/2 in R/R AML patients, and we look forward to the dose expansion part of the study."

Under the terms of the 2016 research collaboration with Sanofi, the progression to the dose expansion part of the trial has triggered a milestone payment from Sanofi to Innate of €4m.

"Our goal is to continue to develop the best and most impactful treatments for patients with cancer," said Peter Adamson, Global Development Head, Oncology, Sanofi."We are encouraged by our progress in this study for patients with AML, and look forward to sharing results in the future as data continues to emerge."

More information about the Phase 1/2 trial can be found on clinicaltrials.gov.

About ANKET

ANKET (Antibody-based NK cell Engager Therapeutics) is Innate’s proprietary platform for developing next-generation, multi-specific natural killer (NK) cell engagers to treat certain types of cancer.

This versatile, fit-for-purpose technology is creating an entirely new class of molecules to induce synthetic immunity against cancer.

About the Innate-Sanofi research collaboration and licensing agreements

The Company has a research collaboration and license agreement with Sanofi to apply Innate’s proprietary technology to the development of innovative multi-specific antibody formats engaging NK cells through the activating receptors NKp46 and CD16 to kill tumor cells.

Under the terms of the 2016 research collaboration and license agreement, Sanofi is responsible for the development, manufacturing and commercialization of products resulting from the research collaboration, which includes SAR443579/IPH6101 (Trifunctional anti-CD123 NKp46xCD16 NK cell engager) and SAR445514/IPH6401 (Trifunctional anti-BCMA NKp46xCD16 NK cell engager). As part of the 2016 agreement, Innate Pharma is eligible to up to €400m in development and commercial milestone payments as well as royalties on net sales.

As part of the license agreement entered in December 2022, Sanofi licensed IPH62 and IPH67 and has the option for one additional target. Under the terms of the 2022 agreement, Innate Pharma is eligible to up to €1.35bn total in preclinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones plus royalties on potential net sales.