On August 20, 2024 Scorpius Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: SCPX), ("Scorpius", or the "Company"), an integrated contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), reported the closing of its underwritten public offering of 14,375,000 shares of common stock (and/or pre-funded warrants ("Pre-Funded Warrants") in lieu thereof), including full exercise of the underwriter’s over-allotment option (Press release, Scorpius BioManufacturing, AUG 19, 2024, View Source [SID1234645987]). Each share of common stock (or Pre-Funded Warrant) was offered at a public offering price of $1.00 per share (inclusive of the Pre-Funded Warrant exercise price), for gross proceeds of $14,375,000, before deducting underwriting discounts and offering expenses.

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The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to fund working capital and for general corporate purposes.

ThinkEquity acted as sole book-running manager for the offering.

A registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-280887) relating to the securities being offered was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and became effective on August 6, 2024. This offering is being made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the final prospectus may be obtained from ThinkEquity, 17 State Street, 41st Floor, New York, New York 10004. The final prospectus has been filed with the SEC and is available on the SEC’s website located at View Source

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

On August 19, 2024 Purple biotech presented its corporate presentation (Presentation, Purple Biotech, AUG 19, 2024, View Source [SID1234645986]).

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On August 19, 2024 Peptomyc S.L., a company developing foundational mini-protein therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, reported that the Company has been issued a patent by the Hong Kong Patent Office protecting its Methods and Composition of Matter (Press release, Peptomyc, AUG 19, 2024, View Source [SID1234645985]).

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"We are delighted to announce further protection of our mini-protein therapeutics in Hong Kong. This patent grant strengthens our patent portfolio that protects our unique mini-protein therapeutics, which are able to inhibit MYC, the most dysregulated oncogene in human cancer, in the major geographical areas in oncology," said Laura Soucek, CEO at Peptomyc S.L.

The Company currently maintains over 10 different patent families worldwide covering applications protecting Peptomyc S.L. first-in-modality mini-protein therapeutics in multiple oncological indications, and counts on the services of ABG Intellectual Property and Dechert LLP for the protection of its IP assets.

On August 19, 2024 Kineta, Inc. (Nasdaq: KA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel immunotherapies in oncology that address cancer immune resistance, reported that enrollment has resumed for the Company’s ongoing VISTA-101 Phase 1/2 clinical trial, effective immediately (Press release, Kineta, AUG 19, 2024, View Source;utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=kineta-reopens-enrollment-for-the-vista-101-clinical-trial-evaluating-kva12123-in-patients-with-advanced-solid-tumor-cancer [SID1234645983]). As previously announced on March 12, 2024, patient enrollment in the clinical trial was suspended due to certain investors indicating that they would not fulfill their funding obligation due in April 2024 pursuant to the previously disclosed private placement financing.

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To date, KVA12123 has cleared the fifth of six monotherapy dose levels and two of the four cohorts in combination with pembrolizumab. Initial results demonstrating partial response and stable disease in the combination cohorts and durable stable disease in the monotherapy cohorts were reported earlier this year at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2024. Additionally, the initial results of KVA12123 showed a favorable clinical safety and tolerability profile with no dose limiting toxicities and no evidence of CRS-associated cytokines at any dose level.

"We are very pleased to resume enrollment for VISTA-101. KVA12123 has been well tolerated with no dose limiting toxicities and no cytokine release syndrome and we continue to be encouraged by the initial data demonstrated. With enrollment now recommenced, we are focused on successful execution and working towards completing enrollment which we expect to do by the end of 2024," said Thierry Guillaudeux, Chief Scientific Officer of Kineta.

On July 8, Kineta announced that it had entered into an exclusivity and right of first offer agreement (the "Agreement") with TuHURA Biosciences, Inc. ("TuHURA"), a Phase 3 registration-stage immuno-oncology company developing novel technologies to overcome resistance to cancer immunotherapy. As part of the Agreement, Kineta received a concurrent $5 million nonrefundable payment from TuHURA. Kineta and TuHURA are cooperating on the reinitiation of patient enrollment into this trial.

"KVA12123 is a novel, differentiated new treatment alternative for patients with cancer. The completion of the enrollment in the Phase 1 portion of the trial this year is an important milestone for this exciting development program and we are pleased to work closely with the Kineta team to resume enrollment," said James A. Bianco, Chief Executive Officer of TuHURA.

Pursuant to the Agreement, among other things, Kineta has granted TuHURA an exclusive right to acquire Kineta’s worldwide patents, patent rights, patent applications, product and development program assets, technical and business information, and other rights and assets associated with and derived from its development program related to KVA12123, Kineta’s VISTA blocking immunotherapy. This exclusive right shall continue through the first to occur of (a) the execution of any definitive agreement with respect to a potential transaction by TuHURA or one or more of its affiliates and (b) 11:59 PM Eastern Time on October 1, 2024, subject to extension.

KEYTRUDA is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA.

On August 19, 2024 ImmunoPrecise Antibodies Ltd. (the "Company" or "IPA") (NASDAQ: IPA), an AI-driven biotherapeutics company, reported a groundbreaking achievement: the ability to engineer antibodies entirely through computer simulations using LENSai (Press release, ImmunoPrecise Antibodies, AUG 19, 2024, View Source [SID1234645982]). This marks a significant milestone for the biotechnology industry. Additionally, the antibodies produced by IPA are highly specific to a challenging oncology target located within the Tumor Microenvironment (TME).

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This achievement was made possible by the patented LENSai technologies, which began from an exceptionally challenging starting point: the target protein had no previously known structural information. Despite this, the LENSai platform was able to model the protein’s structure and accurately engineer antibodies specifically tailored to bind to it. This is particularly significant because designing effective therapeutics without prior structural knowledge of the target is a major hurdle in drug discovery, often requiring extensive experimentation and resources. LENSai’s ability to overcome this challenge entirely in silico highlights its advanced capabilities in computational biology and its potential to revolutionize the field of antibody engineering.

The potential therapies were engineered to bind exclusively to the oncology target under specific conditions. Importantly, it was demonstrated that these therapies do not bind to similar proteins known to be present on healthy cells and tissues, which is crucial because such binding typically leads to the negative side effects seen in chemotherapy. These findings highlight LENSai’s ability to address one of the toughest challenges in optimizing antibodies for oncology.

"This marks a significant milestone for the biotechnology industry, demonstrating LENSai’s ability to engineer highly specific and validated antibodies for the exceedingly difficult environment around tumors, and doing so entirely on a computer," said Dr. Jennifer Bath, President and CEO of IPA. "This success, elevated by the fact that important details of the protein being targeted were unknown, represents a major feat in the application of LENSai in generating targeted and specific therapies for the potential treatment of cancer. Moreover, our continuous advancements and integrations have significantly enhanced our ability to develop these therapies faster, more efficiently, and at a reduced cost compared to traditional methods."

Historically, biologic drug discovery has been a risky, time-consuming, and expensive endeavor, with failure rates exceeding 90%. Recent data indicates that it now costs approximately $1.3 billion and takes an average of 10 to 15 years to bring a single new drug to market, with costs potentially rising even higher depending on the complexity of the drug and therapeutic area​. The market has seen major successes like Humira, which has shown potential in the tumor microenvironment and has generated over $20 billion in annual sales. Similarly, Keytruda has demonstrated effectiveness in modulating the tumor microenvironment and has generated over $14 billion annually. However, the time, cost, and risk associated with developing such biologics have historically limited the number of these therapies that can be pursued, creating a bottleneck in the availability of life-saving treatments.

"The successful application of LENSai, along with laboratory validation of these novel antibodies, underscores LENSai’s potential to accelerate the development of precision-targeted treatments, aimed at more effective cancer therapies with fewer side effects," stated Dr. Dirk Van Hyfte, MD, PhD, Co-Founder and Head of Innovation at BioStrand, an IPA subsidiary. "What LENSai has accomplished today is just one of the reasons we firmly believe in its ability to bring potentially life-changing biologics to patients with the power of our AI."