SOM Biotech to participate at the BIO-Europe Spring

On March 1, 2021 SOM Biotech reported its participation in the BIO-Europe Spring 2021 partnering event on March 22nd – 25th, which will take place digitally due to the pandemic situation (Press release, SOM Biotech, MAR 1, 2021, View Source;utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=som-biotech-at-bio-europe-spring-2021 [SID1234575861]).

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Organized by the EBD Group, a global partnering event organizer, the BIO-Europe Spring event attracts leading decision-makers not only from the traditional pharma and biotech sectors but also the world´s most innovative scientific institutions and leading investors in life sciences.

Raúl Insa, CEO of SOM Biotech highlights: "The BIO-Europe is a very relevant global life science partnering event, that enables us to meet with executives of the leading drug development and pharmaceutical industries. Partnering is for SOM Biotech a key strategic pillar and the event offers us a unique opportunity to meet with potential partners to discuss strategic collaborations and share our latest drug development updates. Additionally, the event is a fantastic platform to meet qualified investors, present our strategic growth plan and explore future business opportunities".

Maria Zimina, Business Development Manager of SOM Biotech remarks: "We look forward to meeting with potential partners at BIO-Europe Spring 2021 and continuing building a strong network of pharmaceutical companies and research institutions to boost our development pipeline and strengthen operations with our AI-ligand-based drug discovery technology SOMAIPRO".

AIkido Pharma Inc. to Present at the H.C. Wainwright Global Life Sciences Conference (Virtual Event)

On March 1, 2021 AIkido Pharma Inc. (Nasdaq: AIKI) ("AIkido" or the "Company") reported it will be featured as a presenting company at the H.C. Wainwright Global Life Sciences Conference, a virtual conference held March 9-10, 2021 (Press release, AIkido Pharma, MAR 1, 2021, View Source [SID1234575877]). The Company will showcase an updated Investor Presentation and discuss some of its new technology. Darrell Dotson, Vice President and General Counsel, of AIkido Pharma Inc. will present for the Company.

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If you are an institutional investor, and would like to attend the Company’s presentation, please click on the following link (View Source) to register for the conference.

About H.C. Wainwright

H.C. Wainwright is a full–service investment bank dedicated to providing corporate finance, strategic advisory and related services to public and private companies across multiple sectors and regions. H.C. Wainwright & Co. also provides research and sales and trading services to institutional investors. According to Sagient Research Systems, H.C. Wainwright’s team is ranked as the #1 Placement Agent in terms of aggregate CMPO (confidentially marketed public offering), RD (registered direct offering) and PIPE (private investment in public equity) executed cumulatively since 1998.

Phio Pharmaceuticals and AgonOx, Inc. Announce Collaboration on Clinical Development of Novel T Cell-based Cancer Immunotherapies

On March 1, 2021 Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. (Nasdaq: PHIO), a biotechnology company developing the next generation of immuno-oncology therapeutics based on its proprietary self-delivering RNAi (INTASYL) therapeutic platform, reported it has entered into a clinical development collaboration with AgonOx, Inc. to develop novel T cell-based cancer immunotherapies using Phio’s lead INTASYL based product candidate PH-762 and AgonOx’s "double positive" (DP) tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) technology (Press release, Phio Pharmaceuticals, MAR 1, 2021, View Source [SID1234575827]). The companies have shown that the combination of their respective technologies can result in enhanced TIL therapeutics, and based on these data, the collaboration will focus on conducting a clinical study for PH-762 treated DP TILs. The study is expected to start enrolling patients later this year.

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AgonOx in collaboration with the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, a division of the Providence Cancer Institute, developed a method for the identification, isolation and expansion of tumor-specific CD8 T cells from cancer patients. AgonOx has also shown that "double positive" (DP) CD8 T cells isolated from human solid tumors have increased tumor killing activity when compared to CD8 TIL that were not enriched prior to expansion. Preclinical data presented at SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) 2020 by AgonOx in collaboration with Phio show that treating the DP CD8 TIL with Phio’s PH-762, increases the tumor killing activity of the CD8 DP TIL even further (two-fold increase). As a result, the use of PH-762 treated DP CD8 TIL is expected to enhance therapeutic responses in cancer patients.

Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, AgonOx will receive financial support for the clinical trial from Phio and Phio is entitled to certain future development milestones and sales related royalty payments from AgonOx’s DP TIL technology.

"Autologous T cell therapies hold a lot of promise, however, there is still a lot of research needed to be done to unlock its full therapeutic potential, including ways to improve upon the first generation of TIL products, and ways to use TIL therapy in more types of cancer," said Dr. Gerrit Dispersyn, President and CEO of Phio Pharmaceuticals. "By joining forces with AgonOx, we believe our collaboration can fulfil these unmet needs, without the need for complex and costly technologies, such as genetic engineering."

"Our collaboration with Phio is based on data showing that PH-762 increases the activity of our CD8 DP TIL technology, therefore we believe this combination should increase the therapeutic efficacy of this first-in-man study," stated by Dr. Andrew Weinberg, President/CSO of AgonOx, Inc. and Full Member at the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute.

Dr. James Cardia, VP of Business Operations of Phio Pharmaceuticals, commented: "Both the clinical community and the investment community are embracing the broad potential of cell-based immunotherapy, and TIL therapy in specific, based on recent clinical and corporate development activities in this field. Our data show the important role that INTASYL based products can play in improving adoptive cell therapy, and we look forward to working with AgonOx to bring better cell therapies to patients."

About TIL Therapy and "DP" TILs

In TIL therapy, T cells are extracted from a patient’s own tumor. These cells are then expanded ex-vivo, and infused back into the patient. The infused TIL naturally recognize the tumor and then attack the cancer cells. Currently, clinical applications focus on indications such as metastatic melanoma and cervical cancer. Increasing the frequency of tumor-reactive cells within TIL products should allow for improved response rates in these indications and expand the use of this form of treatment to patients with locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic cancers including head and neck, non-small cell lung cancer and other solid tumor types. AgonOx developed methods to enrich for tumor-killing T cells, which could greatly improve the immune response in cancer patients – potentially leading to successful treatment of tumors. Their research in collaboration with the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, entitled "Co-expression of CD39 and CD103 identifies tumor-reactive CD8 positive T cells in human solid tumors" was published in Nature Communications and forms the basis of this clinical study (Duhen, T., Duhen, R., Montler, R. et al, 2018: Co-expression of CD39 and CD103 identifies tumor-reactive CD8 T cells in human solid tumors. Nat Commun 9, 2724).

About PH-762

PH-762 is a self-delivering RNAi compound that targets the checkpoint protein PD-1. Checkpoint proteins, such as PD-1, normally act as a type of "off switch" that prevents T cells from attacking certain cells, such as cancer cells, in the body. PH-762 silences PD-1 checkpoint expression, thereby removing the "off switch" and resulting in enhanced T cell activation and tumor cytotoxicity. Experimental data shows that PH-762 can silence the expression of PD-1 in target human T cells in a potent and durable manner, and can increase function of patient derived TILs or engineered cells, such as CAR T-cells for use in adoptive cell therapy. PH-762 use does not involve genetic engineering, and its cell delivery does not require special formulations or other complex delivery tools.

Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement

On March 1, 2021, Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (the "Company," "we," "us" or "our") reported that it completed its previously announced sale of $805.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 0.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2027 (the " Convertible Notes"), including $105.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 0.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2027 to be purchased pursuant to the exercise by the initial purchasers of the Convertible Notes (the "Initial Purchasers") of the option to purchase additional Securities in a private placement to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") (Filing, 8-K, Halozyme, MAR 1, 2021, View Source [SID1234575844]). The Convertible Notes were issued under an indenture, dated as of March 1, 2021, (the "Indenture") between the Company and The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A., as trustee (the "Trustee"). The Company offered and sold the Convertible Notes in reliance on the exemption from registration provided by Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act. The Initial Purchasers offered and sold the Convertible Notes to "qualified institutional buyers" pursuant to the exemption from registration provided by Rule 144A under the Securities Act. The offer and sale of the Convertible Notes and the shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of the Convertible Notes have not been registered under the Securities Act, or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction, and the Convertible Notes and such shares may not be offered or sold absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements, or in a transaction not subject to, such registration requirements.

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The Company received net proceeds from the offering of approximately $784.3 million. The Company used a portion of the net proceeds of the offering to enter into privately negotiated agreements with certain holders of its outstanding 1.25% convertible senior notes due 2024 (the "Existing Convertible Notes") to exchange their Existing Convertible Notes for a combination of cash and shares of its common stock through privately negotiated transactions entered into concurrently with or shortly after the offering (the "Note Repurchases"). In connection with the Note Repurchases, the Company paid approximately $370.2 million in cash, which includes accrued interest, and issued approximately 9.08 million shares of its common stock, to settle such exchanges. In addition, the Company plans to use up to $75.0 million of the net proceeds from the offering to repurchase shares of its common stock under its existing stock repurchase program (the "Share Repurchases").

The Company intends to use the remainder of the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including other repurchases of the Company’s common stock from time to time under its existing stock repurchase program, working capital, capital expenditures, potential acquisitions and strategic transactions.

The Convertible Notes will pay interest semi-annually in arrears on March 1st and September 1st of each year at an annual rate of 0.25% and will be convertible into cash, and, if applicable, shares of the Company’s common stock, at the Company’s election, based on the applicable conversion rate at such time. The Convertible Notes are general unsecured obligations of the Company and will rank senior in right of payment to all of the Company’s indebtedness that is expressly subordinated in right of payment to the Convertible Notes, will rank equally in right of payment with all of the Company’s existing and future liabilities that are not so subordinated, will be effectively junior to any of the Company’s secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness and will be structurally subordinated to all indebtedness and other liabilities (including trade payables) of the Company’s current or future subsidiaries.

Holders may convert their Convertible Notes at their option only in the following circumstances: (1) during any calendar quarter commencing after the calendar quarter ending on June 30, 2021, if the last reported sale price per share of the Company’s common stock exceeds 130% of the conversion price for each of at least 20 trading days during the 30 consecutive trading days ending on, and including, the last trading day of the immediately preceding calendar quarter; (2) during the five consecutive business days immediately after any five consecutive trading day period (such five consecutive trading day period, the "measurement period") in which the trading price per $1,000 principal amount of notes for each trading day of the measurement period was less than 98% of the product of the last reported sale price per share of Company’s common stock on such trading day and the conversion rate on such trading day; (3) upon the occurrence of certain corporate events or distributions on Company’s common stock, as described in the offering memorandum; (4) if we call such notes for redemption; and (5) at any time from, and including, September 1, 2026 until the close of business on the scheduled trading day immediately before the maturity date. The Notes will be convertible, regardless of the foregoing circumstances, at any time from, and including, September 1, 2026 until the close of business on the scheduled trading day immediately preceding the maturity date.

Upon conversion the Company will pay cash or deliver, as the case may be, cash, shares of the Company’s common stock or a combination of cash and shares of the Company’s common stock, at the Company’s election. The initial conversion rate for the Convertible Notes will be 12.9576 shares of common stock per $1,000 in principal amount of Convertible Notes, equivalent to a conversion price of approximately $77.17 per share of common stock. The conversion rate will be subject to adjustment in some events but will not be adjusted for any accrued or unpaid interest.

Subject to certain exceptions, holders may require the Company to repurchase, for cash, all or part of their Convertible Notes upon a "Fundamental Change" (as defined in the Indenture) at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes being repurchased plus any accrued and unpaid interest, if any, up to, but excluding, the "Fundamental Change Repurchase Date" (as defined in the Indenture). In addition, upon a "Make-Whole Fundamental Change" (as defined in the Indenture) prior to the maturity date of the Convertible Notes, the Company will, in some cases, increase the conversion rate for a holder that elects to convert its Convertible Notes in connection with such Make-Whole Fundamental Change. The Company may not redeem the Convertible Notes prior to March 1, 2024 and on or before the 30th scheduled trading day immediately before the maturity date.

The Indenture contains certain events of default after which the Convertible Notes may be due and payable immediately. Such events of default include, without limitation, the following: (1) a default in the payment when due (whether at maturity, upon redemption or repurchase upon fundamental change or otherwise) of the principal of, or the redemption price or fundamental change repurchase price for, any Convertible Note; (2) a default for 30 days in the payment when due of interest on any Convertible Note; (3) the Company’s failure to deliver, when required by the Indenture, a fundamental change notice or other notices pursuant to the Indenture; (4) a default in the Company’s obligation to convert a Convertible Note in accordance with the Indenture upon the exercise of the conversion right with respect thereto, if such default is not cured within two business days after its occurrence; (5) a default in the Company’s obligations described in the Indenture with respect to consolidation, merger and sale of assets of the Company; (6) a default in any of the Company’s obligations or agreements under the Indenture or the Convertible Notes (other than a default set forth in the preceding (1), (2), (3), (4) or (5)) where such default is not cured or waived within 60 days after notice to the Company by the Trustee, or to the Company and the Trustee by holders of at least 25% of the aggregate principal amount of Convertible Notes then outstanding, which notice must specify such default, demand that it be remedied and state that such notice is a "notice of default"; (7) a default by the Company or any of the Company’s subsidiaries with respect to any one or more mortgages, agreements or other instruments under which there is outstanding, or by which there is secured or evidenced, any indebtedness for money borrowed of at least $30.0 million (or its foreign currency equivalent) in the aggregate of the Company or any of the Company’s subsidiaries, whether such indebtedness exists as of the date the Company first issues the Convertible Notes or is thereafter created, where such default: (x) constitutes a failure to pay the principal of, or premium or interest on, any of such indebtedness when due and payable at its stated maturity, upon required repurchase, upon declaration of acceleration or otherwise, in each case after the expiration of any applicable grace period; or (y) results in such indebtedness becoming or being declared due and payable before its stated maturity, in each case where such default is not cured or waived within 30 days after notice to the Company by the Trustee or to the Company and the Trustee by holders of at least 25% of the aggregate principal amount of Convertible Notes then outstanding; (8) one or more final judgments being rendered against the Company or any of the Company’s subsidiaries for the payment of at least $30.0 million (or its foreign currency equivalent) in the aggregate (excluding any amounts covered by insurance), where such judgment is not discharged or stayed within 60 days after (i) the date on which the right to appeal the same has expired, if no such appeal has commenced; or (ii) the date on which all rights to appeal have been extinguished; and (9) certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency and reorganization with respect to the Company or any of the Company’s "significant subsidiaries", as defined in the Indenture.

The foregoing description of the Indenture and Convertible Notes is qualified in its entirety by reference to the text of the Indenture and the Form of Convertible Note, copies of which are attached as Exhibits 4.1 and 4.2, respectively, to this Current Report on Form 8-K and are incorporated herein by reference.

Kaleido Biosciences to Present at Chardan’s 3rd Annual Microbiome Medicines Summit

On March 1, 2021 Kaleido Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: KLDO), a clinical-stage healthcare company with a differentiated, chemistry-driven approach to targeting the microbiome to treat disease and improve human health, reported that Dan Menichella, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kaleido will present a corporate overview and host 1×1 meetings with investors during Chardan’s 3rd Annual Microbiome Medicines Summit (Press release, Kaleido Biosciences, MAR 1, 2021, View Source [SID1234575862]). The presentation will take place virtually on Monday, March 8th at 9:30am-9:55am EST.

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A webcast of the presentation can be accessed on the Investors & Media section of Kaleido’s website at View Source An archived replay will be available for 90 days following the event.