On November 15, 2018 Celyad (Euronext Brussels and Paris, and NASDAQ: CYAD), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of CAR-T cell-based therapies, reported that management will participate at both the Bryan, Garnier & Co 6th European Healthcare Conference and the Piper Jaffray 30th Annual Healthcare Conference (Press release, Celyad, NOV 15, 2018, View Source [SID1234532509]).

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The Bryan, Garnier & Co 6th European Healthcare Conference will take place in Paris, France, on November 22-23, 2018. The Company will participate in investor meetings at the Conference.

The Piper Jaffray 30th Annual Healthcare Conference will take place in New York, NY on November 27-29, 2018 and the Company is scheduled to participate in a fireside chat on Tuesday, November 27 at 11:30 am Eastern Time. A live webcast of the discussion can be accessed here. An archived webcast recording will also be available under Events & Webcasts in the Investors section of the Company’s website.

On November 15, 2018 INmune Bio, Inc., an immunotherapy company developing treatments to reprogram the patient’s innate immune system, reported that Lazar Vujanovic, Ph.D., a research instructor at the University of Pittsburgh, presented results from a preliminary study at the 33rd annual Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper) meeting on November 9 (Press release, INmune Bio, NOV 15, 2018, View Source [SID1234531521]). The results of the research conducted at the University of Pittsburgh, demonstrated the potential effectiveness of INB03TM, the company’s lead drug candidate in treatment of drug-resistant melanoma, which was developed from patented intellectual property licensed from the University of Pittsburgh.

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"The study’s findings indicate a potential shift in approach to how clinicians may treat patients who harbor treatment-resistant cutaneous melanomas by using TNF receptors as biomarkers," said Dr. Vujanovic. "These results, showing the effectiveness of biomarker-guided soluble TNF-targeting strategy, are an encouraging development in potentially raising the standard of care for patients with treatment-resistant melanoma, which kills thousands each year."

Soluble TNF (sTNF) is an immunologic protein that has multiple functions in the development of cutaneous melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. In a cohort of patients, sTNF facilitates tumor growth and drug resistance. Dr. Vujanovic’s data shows that sTNF may induce drug resistance and suggests that some melanoma patients may benefit from neutralization of sTNF with a drug like INB03. As an innate immunotherapy drug currently in Phase I trials, INB03 is being used in patients to neutralizes sTNF using a novel Dominant-Negative TNF technology.

"At INmune Bio we believe that, when possible, a patient’s cancer therapy should be guided by biomarkers that can better predict a favorable response to therapy," said INmune Bio co-founder and CEO, Raymond J. Tesi, M.D. "Dr. Vujanovic’s work is an example of how laboratory studies are the foundation of important concepts that can alter the treatment of cancer patients."

SITC is one of the leading organizations for the exchanging of ideas and discovery in the cancer immunotherapy field.

On November 15, 2018 Tocagen Inc. (Nasdaq: TOCA), a clinical-stage, cancer-selective gene therapy company, reported that Lori Kunkel, M.D. has been named acting chief medical officer, effective November 26, 2018 (Press release, Tocagen, NOV 15, 2018, View Source;p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2377408 [SID1234531471]). Asha Das, M.D., senior vice president and chief medical officer will be leaving the company effective November 23, 2018 to allow her to focus on unforeseen and immediate personal matters. The company has initiated a search process to fill the position.

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"On behalf of the management team and Board of Directors, we are thankful for the significant contributions Asha has made over the past three years," said Marty J. Duvall, chief executive officer of Tocagen. "With Lori’s remarkable track record in the biotechnology industry coupled with her deep familiarity of our program and clinical data we look forward to working closely with her to advance our cancer-selective gene therapy platform, and our lead product candidate. This transition is not expected to impact our current business plans or development timelines."

Among other responsibilities, Dr. Kunkel previously served as acting chief medical officer of Loxo Oncology, Inc, chief medical officer of Pharmacyclics LLC, acquired by AbbVie Inc., and chief medical officer of Proteolix, Inc., acquired by Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Kunkel currently serves on the board of directors of Loxo Oncology, Inc., a publicly held biotechnology company, Curis, Inc., a publicly held biotechnology company, and Maverick Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company. A full biography is available here. In connection with Dr. Kunkel’s appointment as acting chief medical officer of Tocagen, Dr. Kunkel will be temporarily leaving the board of directors of Tocagen in order for the company to maintain compliance with the Nasdaq listing rules regarding independent directors.

"Being dedicated to the development of new treatment options for patients with brain cancer, I am extremely grateful to have worked closely with the Tocagen team on advancing Toca 511 & Toca FC and regret having to leave the company at this time," said Dr. Das. "I am excited about the potential of the Toca 5 trial and future development in newly diagnosed brain cancer to positively impact patients around the world."

On November 15, 2018, Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the "Company") reported that it held a conference call and webcast in which the Company’s management reviewed a slide presentation describing, among other things, data from the dose-escalation portion of the Company’s Phase 1 clinical trial of SY-1365 (Presentation, Syros Pharmaceuticals, NOV 15, 2018, View Source [SID1234531470]). This slide presentation is attached as Exhibit 99.1 to this Form 8-K and incorporated herein by reference.

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On November 15, 2018 DCprime bv, a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on cancer immunotherapies, reported that the first patient has been dosed with DCP-001 in a phase 2 study, called ADVANCE-II (Press release, DCPrime, NOV 15, 2018, View Source [SID1234531456]). Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in complete remission after induction therapy but with persistence of measurable residual disease (MRD) will be included in this multi-centre study. Effects on MRD and cellular and humoral immune responses will be monitored to evaluate the efficacy of this cancer vaccine.

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Prof Dr Arjan van de Loosdrecht, Amsterdam UMC, VU University Medical Center, The Netherlands commented: "We are very glad that the first patient was treated with the DCP-001 vaccine in the ADVANCE-II study. This is an important study to show the potential efficacy of this cancer vaccine in patients who have measurable residual disease and are at great risk of disease relapse."

The study is currently open for recruitment of patients in The Netherlands and Germany, with additional request for regulatory approval in Norway, Sweden and Finland pending.

Dr Jeroen Rovers, Chief Medical Officer at DCprime added: "Start of the phase 2 study marks an important step for DCprime in development of its technology. It will provide additional evidence whether DCP-001 can initiate immunological control of aggressive cancers, such as AML. We are grateful to all investigators and patients committed to contribute to this study."

Last month data from the phase 1 study with DCP-001 in AML were published in Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy (van de Loosdrecht, A.A., van Wetering, S., Santegoets, S.J.A.M. et al. Cancer Immunol Immunother (2018) 67: 1505.).