On July 15, 2025 Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: IOVA), a commercial biotechnology company focused on innovating, developing, and delivering novel polyclonal tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies for patients with cancer, reported the appointment of Corleen Roche as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective August 6th, 2025 (Press release, Iovance Biotherapeutics, JUL 15, 2025, View Source [SID1234654381]).

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!

"I am pleased to welcome Corleen to Iovance at such an important stage in our first commercial launch," said Frederick G. Vogt, Ph.D., J.D., Interim Chief Executive Officer, President and General Counsel. "Corleen’s experience in executive financial leadership roles and multiple product launches will be invaluable as we focus on growing revenue, managing our balance sheet and advancing our mission of developing and delivering novel therapies to patients with solid tumors."

Ms. Roche has built an extensive track record throughout 30 years of experience in the biotech and life sciences industry, including executive financial leadership roles in publicly traded companies. Most recently she served as CFO of CG Oncology, a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company. Her previous roles included CFO of Immunome, U.S. CFO at Biogen, North America CFO of CSL Behring, and various CFO roles within Sandoz, Wyeth and Pfizer. During her career, Ms. Roche developed and executed on financial strategies to prepare for commercial launches including ZARXIO, the first U.S. approved biosimilar, GLATOPA, the world’s first complex generic for multiple sclerosis, and PREVNAR 13, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. She holds a B.A. in accountancy from Villanova University.

"I am excited to join Iovance to navigate our continued revenue growth and focus our pipeline investments on the highest value opportunities," stated Ms. Roche. "I am committed to the company’s patient-focused mission while achieving our financial goals to build a profitable biotechnology company."

On July 15, 2025 CNS Pharmaceuticals presented its corporate presentation (Presentation, CNS Pharmaceuticals, JUL 15, 2025, View Source [SID1234654380]).

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!

On July 15, 2025 Lisata Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: LSTA) ("Lisata" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies for the treatment of advanced solid tumors and other serious diseases, reported that the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") issued the Company a new composition of matter patent for certepetide through March 2040, with subsequent opportunity for patent term extension (Press release, Lisata Therapeutics, JUL 15, 2025, View Source [SID1234654379]).

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!

A composition of matter patent is the strongest form of intellectual property ("IP") protection, safeguarding the unique chemical structure of a substance. The U.S. Patent No. 12,351,653 includes claims to certepetide’s chemical structure, pharmacokinetic properties, methods of manufacturing, and applications for treating solid tumor cancers. For Lisata, securing this patent is profoundly significant as it not only strengthens Lisata’s robust IP estate, but, more importantly, grants exclusive rights to the drug itself, preventing others from manufacturing or selling it.
"This new patent marks a key milestone, significantly boosting the value of both certepetide and the Company by delaying generic encroachment for essentially the next two decades," stated David J. Mazzo, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Lisata. "This extended patent protection aids our commercialization efforts by offering long-term market exclusivity and enhances the potential future development and commercialization of certepetide. It not only secures our IP but also greatly strengthens our negotiating position with potential partners, increasing the potential for sustained growth and value creation for our shareholders."

About Certepetide

Certepetide (formerly LSTA1), an internalizing RGD (arginyl-glycyl-aspartic acid or iRGD), cyclic peptide product candidate, is an investigational drug designed to activate a novel uptake pathway that allows co-administered or tethered anti-cancer drugs to target and penetrate solid tumors more effectively. Certepetide actuates this active transport system in a tumor-specific manner, resulting in systemically co-administered anti-cancer drugs more efficiently penetrating and accumulating in the tumor. Certepetide also has been shown to modify the tumor microenvironment resulting in tumors which are more susceptible to immunotherapies. We and our collaborators have amassed significant non-clinical data demonstrating enhanced delivery of a range of emerging anti-cancer therapies, including immunotherapies and RNA-based therapeutics. To date, certepetide has also demonstrated favorable safety, tolerability, and clinical activity in completed and ongoing clinical trials designed to test its ability to enhance the effectiveness of standard-of-care chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer. Lisata is exploring the potential of certepetide to enable a variety of treatment modalities to treat a range of solid tumors more effectively. Certepetide has been awarded Fast Track designation (U.S.) and Orphan Drug Designation for pancreatic cancer (U.S. and E.U.) as well as Orphan Drug Designation for glioma (U.S.) and osteosarcoma (U.S.). Additionally, certepetide has received Rare Pediatric Disease Designation for osteosarcoma (U.S.).

On July 15, 2025 bioAffinity Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIAF; BIAFW), a biotechnology company advancing early-stage cancer diagnostics including CyPath Lung, the Company’s commercially available test for early-stage lung cancer, reported it has received notification of allowance from the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) for a patent application related to methods of predicting the likelihood of lung cancer using flow cytometry (Press release, BioAffinity Technologies, JUL 15, 2025, View Source [SID1234654378]).

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!

China represents a large prospective market for CyPath Lung with more than 300 million people who smoke, or nearly one-third of the world’s total smokers, according to the World Health Organization. The China cancer registry estimated 1.06 million new cases of lung cancer were diagnosed in 2022.

"This patent is another step forward in our strategy to safeguard and expand the reach of our proprietary diagnostic platform internationally," said Maria Zannes, President and CEO of bioAffinity Technologies. "With lung cancer representing a major health burden globally and particularly in China, we believe that securing this intellectual property positions us well for future opportunities in one of the world’s largest and most underserved healthcare markets. It reflects our continued execution toward building long-term shareholder value through innovation, protection of our unique assets, and a clear focus on early cancer detection that can save lives."

The newly allowed Chinese patent—titled "System and Method for Determining Lung Health"—protects the use of defined antibodies and the porphyrin TCPP to label cell populations in sputum and the use of flow cytometry to determine the presence of lung cancer cells in the sputum.

CyPath Lung is the Company’s first commercial product, with clinical study results demonstrating 92% sensitivity, 87% specificity and 88% accuracy in detecting lung cancer in patients at high risk for the disease who had small lung nodules less than 20 millimeters. In the study, CyPath Lung detected all forms of lung cancer and 80% of cancers that were Stage 1.

This newly allowed patent complements bioAffinity’s expanding global patent estate, which now includes multiple patents in the U.S, China, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Canada and the EU.

About CyPath Lung

CyPath Lung uses proprietary advanced flow cytometry and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify cell populations in patient sputum that indicate malignancy. Automated data analysis helps determine if cancer is present or if the patient is cancer-free. CyPath Lung incorporates a fluorescent porphyrin that is preferentially taken up by cancer and cancer-related cells. Clinical study results demonstrated that CyPath Lung had 92% sensitivity, 87% specificity and 88% accuracy in detecting lung cancer in patients at high risk for the disease who had small lung nodules less than 20 millimeters. Diagnosing and treating early-stage lung cancer can improve outcomes and increase patient survival. For more information, visit www.cypathlung.com.

On July 15, 2025 Aptose Biosciences Inc. ("Aptose" or the "Company") (TSX: APS; OTC: APTOF), a clinical-stage precision oncology company developing a tuspetinib (TUS) based triple drug frontline therapy to treat patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML), reported that it has received an additional advance of US$2.0M from Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. ("Hanmi"), as part of a US$8.5M loan facility agreement with Hanmi (the "Loan Agreement") announced prior on June 20, 2025 (Press release, Aptose Biosciences, JUL 15, 2025, View Source [SID1234654377]). To date, Aptose has received an aggregate of US$4.5M under the Loan Agreement.

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!

"Tuspetinib in combination with venetoclax and azacitidine (the TUS+VEN+AZA triplet) continues to demonstrate exciting antileukemic activity and safety across genetically diverse populations of newly diagnosed AML patients – including TP53-mutated AML and wildtype AML, representing large AML populations for which there are few treatment options," said William G. Rice, Ph.D., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aptose. "We are very grateful to Hanmi for its continued support to help advance tuspetinib clinical development and further extend Aptose’s ability to fund this important study."

Tuspetinib is a convenient once daily oral agent that potently inhibits targets that drive excessive proliferation and anti-apoptotic mechanisms, including SYK, mutated and wild type forms of FLT3, mutated KIT, JAK1/2, and RSK2 kinases. Yet, TUS maintains a favorable safety profile by avoiding typical toxicity concerns observed with other agents. The ongoing TUSCANY triplet Phase 1/2 study is designed to test various doses and schedules of TUS in combination with standard dosing of azacitidine and venetoclax in newly diagnosed patients with AML who are ineligible to receive induction chemotherapy. At the European Hematology Association (EHA) (Free EHA Whitepaper) Congress in June, Aptose reported early data from the first two dose cohorts that have demonstrated safety, CRs and minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity across patients with diverse mutations.