On July 26, 2023 Akoya Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKYA) ("Akoya"), The Spatial Biology Company, reported that Company management will be participating in three upcoming investor conferences (Press release, Akoya Biosciences, JUL 26, 2023, View Source [SID1234633428]).

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Canaccord 43rd Annual Growth Conference
Fireside Chat on Wednesday, August 9th at 9:00 AM ET

UBS MedTech, Tools & Genomics Summit
Fireside Chat on Thursday, August 17th at 3:00 PM PT

Morgan Stanley 21st Annual Global Healthcare Conference
Fireside Chat on Wednesday, September 13th at 10:10 AM ET

A live and archived webcast of the events will be available on the "Investors" section of the Akoya website at View Source

On July 26, 2023 AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) and Calibr reported an expanded strategic collaboration to advance several innovative preclinical and early-stage clinical assets across AbbVie’s core therapeutic growth areas including immunology, oncology, neuroscience and other areas of interest (Press release, AbbVie, JUL 26, 2023, View Source [SID1234633427]). This partnership is an expansion of the collaboration AbbVie and Scripps Research formed in 2019 to develop a broad range of potential new and novel therapeutics.

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"We’ve made significant progress to advance rapidly many preclinical and clinical development programs across small molecule, biologics and CAR-T modalities," said Thomas Hudson, M.D., senior vice president, research and development, chief scientific officer, AbbVie. "Working together with Calibr, AbbVie is excited to explore and further develop the potential of novel technologies and new clinical indications to bring breakthrough medicines to patients."

In addition to programs initially named in the collaboration from preclinical to IND stages of development, Calibr will present to AbbVie a certain number of new discovery targets and preclinical assets of mutual interest for option considerations.

"AbbVie has been a trusted partner to Scripps Research for many years, as proven by our successful ongoing R&D collaborations spanning numerous disease areas that have yielded four clinical stage programs," says Peter Schultz, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Scripps Research and Calibr. "This expansion represents an important step forward in our mission of translating scientific insights and discoveries into innovative, clinically validated drugs, and we believe it is a model for biomedical industry-nonprofit R&D partnerships."

Under the terms of the agreement, AbbVie will provide Calibr with research option payments over the course of five years to obtain a first-exclusive option to develop and commercialize candidates arising from the independent preclinical research conducted by Calibr, with the goal of advancing its pipeline of therapeutic programs. Upon AbbVie’s decision to exercise its option to a specific program, Calibr is eligible to receive additional payments from AbbVie, including option exercise fees, success-based development and commercial milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties.

On July 26, 2023 Starpharma (ASX: SPL, OTCQX: SPHRY) reported that it has entered a new partnership with The University of Queensland’s (UQ’s) Hub for Advanced Manufacture of Targeted Radiopharmaceuticals (AMTAR Hub), which has been awarded $4.8 million from the Australian Government’s Australian Research Council (ARC) (Press release, Starpharma, JUL 26, 2023, View Source;mc_eid=bf52dd3418 [SID1234633419]). The partnership will advance the research and development of Starpharma’s targeted DEP radiotheranostic products – which includes both DEP radiodiagnostics and DEP radiotherapeutics.

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In addition to Starpharma, UQ’s AMTAR Hub is partnering with other leading commercial organisations and scientific institutions, including Telix Pharmaceuticals, Clarity Pharmaceuticals and CSIRO. The AMTAR Hub is dedicated to advancing the development of radiopharmaceuticals in Australia. It will provide access to world-leading research capabilities, scientific innovations and expertise in the radiopharmaceutical field.

"We are pleased to partner with Starpharma to collaborate within the AMTAR Hub on research and development of the broad range of potential applications of its unique targeted DEP radiopharmaceutical products. The DEP platform offers several distinct advantages versus other biological and nanotechnology approaches and we are encouraged by the existing data."

Professor Kris Thurecht from UQ’s Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) and Centre for Advanced Imaging (CAI), who will lead the AMTAR Hub.

"Starpharma is excited to collaborate with lead organisation UQ as part of the AMTAR Hub to access additional resources and accelerate the development of our expanding portfolio of targeted DEP radiotheranostic products. Spearheaded by internationally recognised Professor Kris Thurecht, the AMTAR Hub is a significant initiative that will shape the future of Australia’s radiotheranostics industry."

Dr Jackie Fairley, CEO of Starpharma

Last week, Starpharma announced1 new data for DEP HER2-zirconium, a HER2-targeted radiodiagnostic product, demonstrating its imaging benefits in a HER2-positive (HER2+) breast cancer model, in studies conducted in the laboratories of Professor Kris Thurecht, AIBN and CAI, at UQ. The benefits demonstrated for DEP HER2-zirconium include a favourable biodistribution profile, excellent imaging contrast between tumour and normal tissues, rapid uptake into tumour, high levels of tumour accumulation, and rapid clearance from blood.

DEP HER2-zirconium is a radiodiagnostic product that belongs to the rapidly growing "radiotheranostic" category – which includes both radiodiagnostics and radiotherapeutics. DEP HER2-zirconium is designed to specifically diagnose, stage, and monitor HER2+ cancers with greater sensitivity, meaning that patients suffering from these cancers could be diagnosed earlier, more accurately, and monitored more closely during cancer treatment.

Starpharma has also previously reported excellent efficacy data for DEP HER2-lutetium, a HER2-targeted radiotherapeutic, demonstrating enhanced delivery of radioisotopes to solid tumours in human cancer models and excellent tolerability. The DEP platform technology affords several benefits to radiotheranostics, and advantages over standard biological targeting of radioisotopes using monoclonal antibodies. These advantages include the ability to use a broad range of targeting molecules combined with a broad range of radioisotopes with different diagnostic and therapeutic applications. In addition, the DEP platform allows for improved and tailored pharmacokinetic profiles of different radiodiagnostics and radiotherapeutics, and improved stability of radiotheranostic products.

Radiotheranostics are innovative medical technologies that include targeted molecular imaging and targeted therapy using radioisotopes. This approach allows for the delivery of radiation directly to cancer cells while minimising adverse effects on normal tissues in the body. In contrast to conventional external-beam radiation therapy (EBRT), radiotheranostics also have the ability to deliver radiotherapy to any site in the body where cancer cells are present.

The radiotheranostic category is generating global interest, with several new product approvals in recent years, including Illuccix radiodiagnostic for prostate cancer from Telix Pharmaceuticals. In addition, there have been numerous high-value deals and acquisitions involving radiotheranostic products, such as Bayer’s acquisition of Bicycle Therapeutics’ radiotherapy cancer drug candidates valued at up to ~US$1.7 billion. The global radiotheranostics market was US$1.8 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow by over 10% annually to US$4.2 billion by 2030.

On July 26, 2023 Patrys reported its Quarterly Activities Report and Appendix 4C Quarterly Cash Flow report for the quarter ended 30 June 2023 (Press release, Patrys, JUL 26, 2023, View Source [SID1234633415]).

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Key highlights from this period include:

Investigation and audit suggest production issue for PAT-DX1 was a one-off event
Patrys commencing preparations for a replacement production run of PAT-DX1
No toxicology or safety issues identified in draft reports from GLP toxicology studies
US PTO grants two new patents for deoxymab technology providing coverage till 2039
The Company had a cash and short‑term investment balance of $4.0 million on 30 June 2023, with expected R&D rebate of $2.7 million.

Patrys CEO and MD, Dr James Campbell said:

"We are delighted that the investigation and audit by both the CDMO and our independent investigator have not identified any issue so far that is likely to impact on our future ability to manufacture GMP-grade PAT-DX1 for clinical trials…Based on the results to date, we believe we should be able to initiate a new production run in the coming months and have already commenced preparations for this."

On July 25, 2023 A-Alpha Bio, a synthetic biology and machine learning (ML) company that measures and engineers protein-protein interactions, reported a $22.4M Series A2 (Press release, A-Alpha Bio, JUL 25, 2023, View Source [SID1234636944]). The round was led by previous investor Perceptive Xontogeny Ventures, with strong support from Madrona and other existing investors. Breakout Ventures joined the round as a new investor, and Lindy Fishburne, Managing Partner at Breakout Ventures, will join the board as an observer.

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The funding will enable further development of the company’s AlphaSeq and AlphaBind platforms and accelerate their oncology-focused internal pipeline. In pursuit of their mission to accelerate therapeutic discovery to improve human health, A-Alpha Bio has recently announced collaborations with Bristol Myers Squibb, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Gilead Sciences to discover molecular glue targets for protein degradation, accelerate antibody discovery and development for emerging biothreats, and advance next-generation HIV therapeutic options, respectively. These collaborations underscore the flexibility of A-Alpha’s platforms to address a broad range of complex biological challenges, contributing to the development of next-generation therapeutics.

"A-Alpha’s rapid progress has been inspiring, with the team’s talent and commitment paving the way for extensive applications of our platforms and fostering remarkable collaborations," said David Younger, Co-Founder and CEO. "The continued support from our investors empowers us to focus on our mission of improving human health by progressing our internal programs and further developing our unique platforms. We are particularly excited to welcome our new Board Observer, Lindy Fishburne, who brings a wealth of industry expertise and shares our vision for the future of medicine empowered by synthetic biology and machine learning."

Innovating at the intersection of wet lab and computation, A-Alpha Bio is leveraging their synthetic biology and ML platforms, AlphaSeq and AlphaBind. The AlphaSeq platform measures protein-protein interactions on an unparalleled scale using genetic engineering and DNA sequencing. The resulting enormous and quantitative datasets are then fed to AlphaBind, which uses ML to train models that predict new protein sequences with desired binding properties. This wet-lab / dry-lab integration enables groundbreaking biological insights, expedites scientific discoveries, and enhances the engineering of more effective therapeutics.

"We are excited to join A-Alpha Bio in their mission to improve human health using synthetic biology and machine learning," said Lindy Fishburne, Managing Partner at Breakout Ventures. "Their platforms have already shown a great deal of promise through their internal pipeline and partnerships, and we believe they have the potential to redefine our understanding of protein-protein interactions and accelerate the development of innovative and high-impact therapeutics."

The Series A2 brings A-Alpha’s total funding to $51M, including non-dilutive funding from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense. As the company continues to expand its partnerships and pipeline, it remains committed to its mission of improving human health by unlocking the potential of protein-protein interactions.