On November 4, 2019 Sentinel oncology Limited reported an expansion of it’s collaboration with PhoreMost Limited to accelerate the development of SOL686, a novel allosteric Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) inhibitor (Press release, Sentinel Oncology, NOV 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234550397]). The programme adds to Sentinel Oncology’s NeuroOncology pipeline, has started formal preclinical studies and is positioned to enter clinical development as a glioma treatment by 2021.

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Mitotic PLKs are widely recognised as playing crucial roles in disease causing pathways, including K-Ras mutant cancers. Traditional approaches to drugging PLK enzymes have focused on targeting their active site; however this tactic has been hindered by toxicity-associated adverse events. Sentinel Oncology’s allosteric PLK1 inhibitor takes the novel approach of targeting the Polo-box domain (PBD) of the PLKs, thereby aiming to mitigate adverse events seen by active site inhibitors.

The programme has demonstrated a promising combination of specific drug-like properties, mode of action and target validation data obtained so far. The programme, which originated from the laboratory of Prof Ashok Venkitaraman at the University of Cambridge, has been optimised by both PhoreMost and Sentinel Oncology to the point where SOL686 was recently identified as a candidate drug for the treatment of glioma. Both PhoreMost and Sentinel Oncology received funding from Innovate UK for the drug discovery programme.

On November 4, 2019 Mateon Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQB:MATN) (‘Mateon") reported that they have completed their acquisition of PointR Data Inc. (PointR), a privately-held, developer of high performance cluster computer and artificial intelligence technologies (Press release, Mateon Therapeutics, NOV 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234550276]). This will create a publicly traded artificial intelligence ("AI") and blockchain driven immuno-oncology company to apply machine learning and AI approaches to its pipeline of first in class TGF-β immunotherapies for late stage cancers such as gliomas, pancreatic cancer and melanoma.

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Leveraging its deep partnership with IBM, the PointR team will combine its own AI Vision technology with industry standard Blockchain to transform drug manufacturing and real-world evidence monitoring for clinical trials. The combined system has the potential to automatically record individual key steps in cGMP manufacturing operations including the flow of people, raw materials and operations in trusted perpetual blockchain ledgers that are indisputable. This has the potential to create much more efficient GMP manufacturing operations while simultaneously improving reliability and data security.

As the result of the acquisition, Saran Saund, former CEO of PointR, will assume the role of Chief Business Officer (CBO)/ General Manager of AI Division at Mateon and Burcak Beser, former CTO of PointR, will assume the role of Sr. VP/CTO of AI Division at Mateon.

Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Saran has been founder, CEO and GM at startups and public companies. Passionate about applying technology innovations to real world markets, he successfully founded an AI consortium to accelerate enterprise adoption of AI which engaged leading universities and technology vendors. A startup veteran, his track record includes senior leadership roles at companies that were acquired by leaders such as Marvell (MRVL) and Qualcomm (QCOM). His startup Cybercash (CYCH) had a successful IPO on NASDAQ. Saran started his career at Xerox PARC pushing 1’s and 0’s as a software engineer.

In the last 20 years, as a Silicon Valley technologist, Burcak has founded startups and established multi-site cross-organizational teams that led to designs and deployments of world-class systems. With 144 patent applications, of which 88 have been issued, Burcak’s innovative solutions are connecting billions of people in the world together. Passionate about AI, he sees working on AI as an opportunity to solve problems that were considered insurmountable. Burcak spends most of his time building systems to make these solutions a reality. He finished his Masters in Artificial Intelligence in 1991, winning the best thesis-of-the-year award and highest honors.

"The PointR acquisition is clearly transformative for Mateon Therapeutics," said Vuong Trieu, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mateon. "We welcome the addition of Saran Saund and Burcak Beser to our management team, their engagement greatly enhances our ability to move forward as the biotech company of the future."

"With the completion of the acquisition of PointR, we will be working hard at the commercialization and monetization of PointR Data technologies," said Saran Saund, CBO of Mateon, "Since the signing of the definitive agreement in August, we have been exploring implementation of AI and Blockchain technologies into Mateon’s workflow – in particular the application of PointR Data Vision AI in pharmaceutical manufacturing and patient monitoring. We look forward to announcing multiple collaborations in the near future."

Leading Silicon Valley VC and Chairman of PointR, Balaji Baktha said, "The traditional drug discovery process can take up to a decade of development timeline costing over a billion dollars and yet has a track record of a 90 percent failure rate for new drugs entering clinical development. AI and blockchain technologies can dramatically improve the process and help millions of under-served patients. This merger promises to transform the industry by reducing the overall timelines and costs."

On November 4, 2019 Santhera Pharmaceuticals (SIX: SANN) reported a strategic change to its management team with the appointment of Dario Eklund as CEO, effective December 1, 2019 (Press release, Santhera Pharmaceuticals, NOV 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234550275]). Thomas Meier will continue as a Board Member and will chair the newly formed Board of Director’s Scientific Committee. He will also serve as a special advisor to Dario Eklund, ensuring a smooth transition in Santhera’s leadership.

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Thomas Meier, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Santhera, said: "This is a very exciting time for Santhera. Puldysa (idebenone) is under review by the European Medicines Agency as treatment for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and vamorolone, a first-in-class steroidal drug, is in a pivotal DMD trial. We anticipate market entries for these products from 2020 onwards and we are gearing up commercial preparations both in Europe and the US. As we transition to become a leader in innovative treatments for rare neuromuscular and pulmonary diseases it is important for Santhera to be led by a CEO with international commercial experience. Dario shares my belief in Santhera’s potential and excitement about the future opportunities for the Company and he will contribute the perfect blend of global commercial expertise and management skills to lead Santhera into the growth phase ahead. As member of the Board I look forward to supporting Dario in his new role."

Dario Eklund joins Santhera from Vifor Pharma, where he most recently served as Chief Commercial Officer with full P&L responsibility for a global business with turnover in excess of CHF 1 billion and more than 1’000 employees. He was a member of Vifor’s Corporate Executive Committee and a member of the Board of Directors of the joint venture with Fresenius Medical Care (Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma). Prior to Vifor, Dario spent a decade in Boston as Vice President and a member of the Executive Committee at Organogenesis Inc., a Nasdaq-listed world leading company in regenerative medicine and cell therapy with three approved products. During his time the company experienced strong growth and rapid expansion with sales coming from Europe and USA (annual growth rates of 20-25% over a decade). He started his career with various roles in sales, global marketing, business development and general management at Novartis and Sanofi in a number of territories.

Elmar Schnee, Chairman of Santhera, said: "On behalf of the Board, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Thomas for his well-recognized achievements as founder and member of Santhera’s executive team since 2004, first as Chief Scientific Officer and then as CEO. Under his leadership, Santhera developed from a hopeful start-up into a fully integrated pharmaceutical company with a first product on the market and a very promising and innovative rare disease product pipeline addressing neuromuscular and pulmonary diseases with high unmet medical need. We are extremely pleased that he will continue to contribute his drive and scientific excellence as Chair of the Scientific Committee and member of the Board of Directors, supporting our ambition to turn innovative ideas into novel products. As we seek to broaden the scope of our business, Dario is a perfect fit as CEO. He has an exceptional track record as a commercial leader with experience in large pharma and biotech environments, and we are confident that he will successfully lead Santhera as we move along a strong path for the future."

Dario Eklund, CEO elect of Santhera, commented: "It’s an exciting time to be joining the Santhera team and to help drive its next phase of development. With two late-stage DMD drug candidates covering essentially the entire disease spectrum in all patients, Santhera is poised to become the world leader in an area where the unmet medical need is significant. I am looking forward to leading a strong and dedicated team and working alongside the Board and management team of Santhera to deliver on the Company’s vision."

On November 4, 2019 Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGLE), a clinical-stage biotechnology company that engineers next-generation human enzymes to provide solutions for diseases with unmet medical need, reported two additions to its senior management team (Press release, Aeglea BioTherapeutics, NOV 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234550273]). The Company welcomes Dr. Ravi M. Rao as chief medical officer and Michael C. Hanley as chief commercial officer.

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"These appointments add important drug-development and commercial expertise to our leadership team as we advance our lead investigational therapy of pegzilarginase for patients with Arginase 1 Deficiency through a pivotal Phase 3 trial, and move two rare-disease pipeline programs into clinical studies," said Anthony G. Quinn, M.B Ch.B, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Aeglea. "Ravi brings extensive experience from GlaxoSmithKline and Roche, and has led programs across specialties in all stages of development, registration and launch. Mike is an accomplished life sciences commercial executive with diverse rare disease experience, having a track record of balancing a strategic long-term view with short-term performance and execution."

Dr. Rao joins Aeglea from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) where he served as Vice President, Global Medical Affairs Head, Immunology and Specialty Franchise, leading programs across a number of emerging disease areas, previously serving as the Head Unit Physician and a Medicine Development Leader in immune-inflammation R&D. Prior to GSK, he served as Group Medical Director, Product Development Immunology and Clinical Development Site Head at Roche, where he played an important role in leading activities for the global clinical development and subsequent approvals of a number of the company’s key late-phase programs. Ravi was an academic physician-scientist at Imperial College (London) and is a Member of the Royal College of Physicians, London. He received his MB. BChir from Cambridge University and his Ph.D. in vascular biology from Imperial College, completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School.

Mr. Hanley was previously Vice President and U.S. Chief Commercial Officer for Esteve Pharmaceuticals. He also previously served as Group Vice President, Marketing, Americas and Asia Pacific, Orphan Business Unit for Horizon Therapeutics with P&L responsibility for the company’s rare disease portfolio. In all, Mr. Hanley has 20 years of commercial leadership experience in the life sciences industry. Mr. Hanley holds a B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA in Management and Strategy, Marketing from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.

On November 4, 2019 FibroGen, Inc. (NASDAQ: FGEN), reported that financial results for the third quarter 2019 will be released after market on Monday, November 11, 2019 (Press release, FibroGen, NOV 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234550272]). An investor conference call will be held at 5:00 p.m. ET (2:00 p.m. PT) to discuss financial results and provide a business update.

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Conference Call and Audio Webcast
Interested parties may access a live audio webcast of the conference call via the investor section of the FibroGen website, www.fibrogen.com. It is recommended that listeners access the website 15 minutes prior to the start of the call to download and install any necessary audio software.

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