On February 13, 2020 SOPHiA GENETICS, leader in Data-Driven Medicine, reported the appointment of Philippe Menu, MD-PhD, MBA, as Chief Medical Officer (Press release, Sophia Genetics, FEB 13, 2020, View Source [SID1234554311]).

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Dr. Philippe Menu brings a unique blend of medical expertise across multiple areas including clinical medicine, fundamental research in molecular biology, and management consulting. He spent the last eight years at McKinsey & Company where he co-led the McKinsey Cancer Center and served dozens of clients in the biopharma sector. Dr. Menu advised global pharmaceutical companies, mid-size players and biotech alike across the entire value chain, with a major focus on innovative therapies and diagnostics in oncology and rare diseases.

"The potential linked to new-generation health data is limitless and it is our goal to continue expanding the scope of new clinical applications for our community of more than 1,000 hospitals across 82 countries," affirmed Jurgi Camblong, CEO and Co-founder of SOPHiA GENETICS. "Philippe’s background and track record across different sectors of life sciences, including biopharma, will help the execution of new clinical-grade applications. In turn, this will allow the longitudinal monitoring of patients through multi-modal data approaches and the optimization of drug development."

"It is a privilege to be joining SOPHiA GENETICS as Chief Medical Officer," said Dr. Menu. "I am incredibly inspired by what the SOPHiA team has already achieved by analyzing half a million patients’ genomic profiles across the world through its unique and growing global network of hospital partners. Looking ahead, I am most impressed by the full potential to positively impact patients’ lives that still lies ahead of us through the application of SOPHiA’s multi-modal data approach. SOPHiA is uniquely positioned to help deliver transformative progress for patients around the world: we can help discover new biomarkers to develop new therapies, match the right treatment to the right patients in clinical trials as well as in routine clinical care, and follow patients longitudinally through a multi-omics approach to help predict who will most benefit from which therapies and why. I look forward to working closely with our hospital, biopharma and other healthcare ecosystem partners to help accelerate the adoption of Data-Driven Medicine."

On February 13, 2020 Theravance Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: TBPH), a diversified biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of organ-selective medicines, reported that it will report its fourth quarter and full year 2019 financial and operating results and provide a business update after market close on Monday, February 24, 2020 (Press release, Theravance, FEB 13, 2020, View Source [SID1234554327]). An accompanying conference call and simultaneous webcast will be hosted at 5:00 p.m. ET (2:00 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. GMT) that day.

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Conference Call Information

To participate in the live call by telephone, please dial (855) 296-9648 from the US or (920) 663-6266 for international callers, using the confirmation code 5775588. Those interested in listening to the conference call live via the internet may do so by visiting Theravance Biopharma’s website at www.theravance.com, under the Investor Relations section, Presentations and Events.

A replay of the conference call will be available on Theravance Biopharma’s website for 30 days through March 25, 2020. An audio replay will also be available through 8:00 p.m. ET on March 2, 2020 by dialing (855) 859-2056 from the US, or (404) 537-3406 for international callers, and then entering confirmation code 5775588.

On February 12, 2020 Fortress Biotech, Inc. (Common Stock: Nasdaq: FBIO) (Preferred Stock: Nasdaq: FBIOP) ("Fortress"), an innovative biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying, in-licensing and developing high-potential marketed and development-stage drugs and drug candidates, reported that it has priced an underwritten public offering of 625,000 shares of its 9.375% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock at a price of $20 per share, with expected gross proceeds to Fortress of $12.5 million (Press release, Fortress Biotech, FEB 12, 2020, View Source [SID1234554215]). In addition, Fortress has granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to 93,750 additional shares at the public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions. The offering is expected to close on or about February 14, 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.

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The Benchmark Company, LLC and ThinkEquity, a division of Fordham Financial Management, Inc. are acting as joint bookrunning managers for the offering.

Fortress intends to use the net proceeds from the public offering for its operations, including, but not limited to, general corporate purposes, which may include research and development expenditures, clinical trial expenditures, manufacture and supply of product, and working capital.

The offering is being made by Fortress pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File 333-226089) previously filed with the Securities Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The offering is being made only by means of a written prospectus and related prospectus supplement that form a part of the registration statement. A copy of the final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus related to this offering may be obtained from any of the underwriters, including the offices of The Benchmark Company, LLC, Attn: Prospectus Department, 150 E 58th Street, 17th floor, New York, NY 10155, 212-312-6700, Email: [email protected], and the offices of ThinkEquity, a division of Fordham Financial Management, Inc., 17 State Street, 22nd Floor, New York, New York 10004, by telephone at (877) 436-3673 or by email at [email protected]. You may also obtain these documents for free when they are available by visiting the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

On February 12, 2020 Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) reported that its executives will be speaking at the following investor conferences and invited investors to participate via webcast (Press release, Illumina, FEB 12, 2020, View Source [SID1234554233]).

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SVB Leerink Global Healthcare Conference in New York, NY
Wednesday, February 26, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time

Cowen Annual Health Care Conference in Boston, MA
Tuesday, March 3, 2020 at 11:20 a.m. Eastern Time

The live webcasts can be accessed in the Investor Relations section of Illumina’s web site under the "company" tab at www.illumina.com. A replay of the presentations will be posted on Illumina’s website after the event and will be available for at least 30 days following.

On February 12, 2020 The Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation (NETRF), Boston, MA, reported $3.5 million in neuroendocrine tumor (NET) research grants to fund 12 projects around the world in pursuit of more precise treatments for this uncommon cancer affecting an estimated 171,000 Americans (Press release, NETRF, FEB 12, 2020, View Source [SID1234554385]).

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After investing $26 million in research during the past 15 years, NETRF has helped to establish the NET knowledge base needed to expand the exploration of improved treatments, according to Elyse Gellerman, NETRF chief executive officer. "We can see real momentum in this new round of grants. We hope the discoveries from these projects will lead to improved treatment options for patients."

NETRF is supporting a new pioneering approach to NET immunotherapy with a Petersen Accelerator Award to Steven Libutti, MD, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, to characterize a novel immune regulator called B7x to determine whether it has a role in shutting off the body’s immune response to fight against pancreatic NETs.

This round of funding features multiple new fronts for NETRF. To help grow the NET scientific workforce, the Foundation granted two inaugural Mentored Awards for early career researchers, one of which was funded by an educational grant from Ipsen. There were also new areas of NET inquiry. For the first time, NETRF is funding pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma research, including an evaluation of a novel radiotracer for imaging adrenal NETs.

NETRF also funded four research projects in lung NETs, an area that has not previously received the attention of other NET sites. These lung studies include:

Conducting single-cell genomic analyses to understand how lung NETs form, grow, and spread.
Mapping the cellular networks of typical and atypical lung NETs to find biomarkers that help predict a tumor’s aggressiveness.
Characterizing the molecular makeup of a newly identified, aggressive lung NET called "supra-carcinoid."
Determining the sociodemographic and geographic patterns of lung NETs in California.
"Advances in NET research have been hampered by the lack of effective laboratory disease models, and a limited understanding of the molecular and genetic profiles of NETs," said John Kanki, PhD, NETRF director of research. "Now that we are making strong headway along these lines, we can finally begin to drill deeper with greater specificity, to identify and explore new strategies for treating NETs."

NET tumors require the expansion of new blood vessels in order to grow and spread and two new grants explore new therapies that target developing tumor blood vessels. Researchers at Vanderbilt University will explore the potential efficacy of a combination therapy testing a drug known to affect the formation of new blood vessels (cabozantinib) together with an experimental drug called CB-839. At Columbia University Medical School, scientists will conduct preclinical laboratory experiments to test whether turning off two complementary blood vessel-forming processes together can improve therapeutic efficacy in pancreatic NETs.

NETRF also approved grants to study a potential cause of small intestinal multifocal tumors and to evaluate the role of the gut microbiome in carcinoid syndrome.

Seventy-five percent of the grants were awarded to research institutions that are new to NETRF including five grants funding international research at Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Netherlands; Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel; International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), Lyon, France; Istituto Auxologico Italiano – Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Milan, Italy; and Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.

Seven of the 12 grants fund innovative NET research at American academic institutions, including Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY; Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA; Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ; University of California, San Francisco, CA; Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI; and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN.

The NETRF grant process is a competitive and structured peer-reviewed process. The Foundation is currently accepting applications for its next grant cycle. Applications must be received by March 9, 2020. View Source

Gellerman thanked the many individuals and foundations whose gifts to the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization support NETRF’s research and educational activities. A generous gift from the Margie and Robert E. Petersen Foundation will fund several of the new projects. Additional support has been provided by the Goldhirsh-Yellin Foundation of Los Angeles and Advanced Accelerator Applications.