INOVIO to Report First Quarter 2020 Financial Results on May 11, 2020

On April 27, 2020 INOVIO (NASDAQ:INO) reported that first quarter 2020 financial results will be released after the market close on May 11, 2020 (Press release, Inovio, APR 27, 2020, View Source [SID1234556641]). Following the release, the Company will host a live conference call and webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss financial results and provide a general business update, including the company’s ongoing vaccine developments for COVID-19.

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A live and archived version of the audio presentation will be available online at View Source This is a listen-only event but will include a live Q&A with analysts.

Telephone replay will be available approximately one hour after the call at 877-344-7529 (US toll free) or 412-317-0088 (international toll) using replay access code 10143530.

BIOGEN PRICES $3.0 BILLION OF SENIOR UNSECURED NOTES

On April 27, 2020 Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq: BIIB) reported the pricing of two series of senior unsecured notes for an aggregate principal amount of $3.0 billion (Press release, Biogen, APR 27, 2020, View Source [SID1234556700]). The notes will mature as follows:

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$1.5 billion will mature on May 1, 2030 and will bear interest at an annual rate of 2.25%

$1.5 billion will mature on May 1, 2050 and will bear interest at an annual rate of 3.15%
The offering is expected to close on April 30, 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.

Biogen intends to use the net proceeds from the sale of the notes to redeem in full $1.5 billion in aggregate principal amount of its outstanding 2.90% Senior Notes due September 15, 2020, and all accrued and unpaid interest thereon, to fund, together with cash on hand, repurchases of its common stock under its share repurchase plans and for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, BofA Securities, Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC are acting as joint book-running managers and representatives of the several underwriters. A copy of the preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus, which is filed as part of Biogen’s effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 filed on April 24, 2020 (File No. 333-237819), may be obtained from any of the representatives by calling Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC toll-free at 1 (866) 471-2526, BofA Securities, Inc. toll-free at 1 (800) 294-1322 or J.P. Morgan Securities LLC at 1 (212) 834-4533.

An electronic copy of the preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus may also be obtained at no charge at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state or other jurisdiction where such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction, where the offer, solicitation or sale of these securities would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction. The offering of the notes may be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus.

Sutro Biopharma Announces Encouraging Interim Phase 1 Clinical Data for a Dose Escalation Study of STRO-002 Antibody-Drug Conjugate in Ovarian Cancer

On April 27, 2020 Sutro Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: STRO), a clinical-stage drug discovery, development and manufacturing company focused on the application of precise protein engineering and rational design to create next-generation oncology therapeutics, reported updated interim data regarding safety and anti-tumor activity results in heavily pre-treated patients with ovarian cancer from its on-going Phase 1 clinical trial (dose escalation phase) evaluating its folate receptor alpha (FolRα) antibody drug-conjugate (ADC) STRO-002 (Press release, Sutro Biopharma, APR 27, 2020, View Source [SID1234556606]). Sutro will host a conference call and live audio webcast on Monday, April 27, at 8 a.m. EDT to discuss the STRO-002 data.

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"We designed STRO-002 to have a wider therapeutic window, with the potential for improved tumor control and better patient tolerability, than other FolRα targeted therapies," said Bill Newell, CEO of Sutro Biopharma. "The data we present today from this all-comers trial suggest that our optimally designed ADC can achieve these objectives. In 75% (15 of 20) of ovarian cancer patients at STRO-002 dose levels of 2.9 milligrams per kilogram (mpk) or higher, we saw in the initial post-baseline scans one partial response and 14 stable disease. This level of tumor control is typically very difficult to achieve in these patients who have been heavily pre-treated, with a median of five prior lines of other therapies, and who have such advanced disease. Equally encouraging are the data showing that 13 patients had a ≥50% reduction or normalization of CA-125, including six confirmed responses, six unconfirmed responses and one prolonged CA-125 normalization. Of these 13 patients, one patient is not yet evaluable under RECIST criteria. All of the other 12 patients (100%) have also achieved stable disease (confirmed or unconfirmed) or a confirmed partial response. With 89% of adverse events (AEs) reported to be grade 1 or 2, we believe the emerging safety profile reflects our optimized design approach."

The interim clinical data for STRO-002 in patients treated at dose levels of 2.9 mpk or higher include: one patient with an ongoing confirmed partial response (36 weeks); five patients with confirmed stable disease (three up to 18 weeks, two up to 27 weeks); and seven ongoing patients who have unconfirmed stable disease at the six-week assessment point.

STRO-002 was generally well-tolerated and was mostly associated with mild AEs. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of AEs were grade 1 or grade 2 and prophylactic corticosteroid eye drops have not been necessary. Grade 3 treatment emergent AEs included fatigue, neutropenia, arthralgia, diarrhea, peripheral neuropathy and myalgia, with the only grade 4 treatment emergent AE being neutropenia; all neutropenias were reversible within one week.

"The preliminary evidence of anti-tumor activity we observed is encouraging, particularly in this heavily pre-treated patient population," said Wendel Naumann, MD, gynecologic oncologist at Levine Cancer Institute and a principal investigator on the STRO-002 study. "With limited therapeutic options for these patients, we are excited to continue to advance this clinical program to further investigate its therapeutic potential."

"These data support Sutro’s continued development of targeted therapies for cancer patients and joins two other Sutro-developed and manufactured ADCs in clinical trials, including our BCMA-targeted ADC which is in a Phase 1 trial being conducted by our collaborator Bristol Myers Squibb," said Arturo Molina, MD, Sutro’s Chief Medical Officer. "It is extremely encouraging that we see this preliminary evidence of anti-tumor activity at this stage of development. As we advance STRO-002 in the clinic, we plan to share additional data on the efficacy and safety of STRO-002 by the end of 2020 and we look forward to the potential to bring a new treatment option to ovarian cancer patients."

Through April 20, 2020, the Phase 1 trial of STRO-002 has enrolled 30 patients with recurrent platinum resistant or refractory ovarian cancer, without regard to FolRα expression levels. A dose expansion phase of this trial is planned to commence in the second half of 2020. Although maximum tolerated dose (MTD) has not been reached, Sutro is continuing to actively explore the 5.2 mpk to 6.0 mpk dose levels as it seeks to determine the recommended Phase 2 dose.

The ongoing Phase 1, open-label, multicenter, dose escalation trial with dose expansion of STRO-002 is designed to identify the MTD, the recommended Phase 2 clinical dose and to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary anti-tumor activity of STRO-002 in adults with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer, including fallopian or primary peritoneal cancer, and endometrial cancer. This trial is registered with clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT03748186. Sutro discovered, developed and manufactures STRO-002 using its proprietary XpressCF+ cell-free protein synthesis technology.

Conference Call Information:

To access the conference call and live audio webcast on Monday, April 27, at 8 a.m. EDT, please dial (833) 729-4781 (domestic) or (830) 213-7705 (international) and refer to conference ID 2699785.

The conference call will be webcast via the Investors page on the company’s website at ir.sutrobio.com. Approximately two hours following the live event, a webcast replay of the conference call will be available through the Company Presentation page of the Investor section of the company’s website at www.sutrobio.com for approximately 30 days.

Poster Presentation Details:

STRO-002-GM1, a First in Human, Phase 1 Study of STRO-002, an anti-Folate Receptor-alpha (FRα) Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC), in Patients with Advanced Platinum-Resistant/Refractory Epithelial Ovarian Cancer (OC), including Fallopian Tube or Primary Peritoneal Cancers

Date & Time:

Monday, April 27, 2020, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EDT

Location:

The AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) Virtual Meeting at aacr.org

Poster Number:

CT125

The poster will be accessible through the Clinical/Scientific Presentation and Publication Highlights page of the News section of the company’s website at www.sutrobio.com.

eFFECTOR’s Zotatifin (eFT226) Inhibited Tumor Growth and Caused Tumor Regression Across Diverse Receptor Tyrosine Kinase-Driven Tumor Types in Preclinical Models of Disease

On April 27, 2020 eFFECTOR Therapeutics, Inc., a leader in the development of selective translation regulator inhibitors (STRIs) for the treatment of cancer, reported that data presented today in a virtual session at the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, showed the anti-tumor activity of the company’s product candidate, zotatifin, in preclinical models of FGFR1, FGFR2 and HER2 driven cancers, demonstrating the potential of zotatifin in receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK)-driven cancers (Press release, eFFECTOR Therapeutics, APR 27, 2020, View Source [SID1234556626]).

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Peggy A. Thompson, Ph.D., executive director, translational medicine at eFFECTOR, gave a presentation entitled, "Preclinical evaluation of eFT226, a potent and selective eIF4A inhibitor with anti-tumor activity in FGFR1, FGFR2 and HER2 driven cancers" which showed that zotatifin significantly inhibited tumor growth and caused tumor regression across diverse RTK-driven tumor types. Zotatifin has been shown to downregulate RTK protein levels and associated AKT and MAPK signaling, resulting in anti-tumor activity in FGFR1, FGFR2 and HER2 driven models. In a HER2+ breast cancer model, tumor regression was sustained long after cessation of therapy. Further evaluation of predictive markers of sensitivity or resistance showed that RTK tumor models with mTOR mediated activation of eIF4A are most sensitive to zotatifin.

"These promising preclinical studies demonstrated that the association of zotatifin activity in RTK tumor models with mTOR pathway activation provides an opportunity to further enrich for sensitive patient subsets during clinical development," said Steve Worland, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of eFFECTOR. "This selection strategy will complement our selection of KRAS-mutant tumors based on zotatifin’s down-regulation of KRAS protein in preclinical studies."

A Phase 1/2 clinical trial of zotatifin in patients with KRAS- or RTK-mutant solid tumors is ongoing [NCT04092673]. The trial is enrolling patients with activating mutations, amplifications or fusions in HER2, ERBB3, FGFR1, or FGFR2 receptor tyrosine kinases, or any KRAS mutation subtype. The primary objectives of the trial include safety and tolerability of zotatifin as monotherapy. Secondary objectives include antitumor activity and survival, as well as pharmacokinetics of the drug. Exploratory objectives include pharmacodynamics of zotatifin.

About Zotatifin
Zotatifin is a potent and sequence selective inhibitor of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A (eIF4A) mediated translation. Zotatifin is designed to inhibit the translation of mRNAs encoding several important oncogenes and survival factors, including several RTKS, KRAS, Cyclin D, CDK4/6, MYC, MCL1 and BCL-2 resulting in potent in vivo tumor regression in multiple tumor models dependent on these factors, including colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma and B cell lymphomas. Since zotatifin inhibits the translation of mRNA encoding KRAS and RTK, it is not limited to any mutation subtypes. The product candidate is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in patients with solid tumors.

About eIF4A
eIF4A is an RNA helicase that catalyzes the ATP-dependent translation of highly structured mRNA. eIF4A helicase activity is tightly controlled by the PI3K and RAS signaling pathways. Activation of eIF4A results in the selective upregulation of oncogenes with highly structured 5’-UTRs (untranslated regions) that are involved in cell proliferation, survival and metastasis. Inhibition of eIF4A selectively regulates the translation of a set of target mRNAs distinct from those regulated by MNK1/2 and eIF4E. Targeting these selective translational regulators may expand the potential patient population that benefits from translation regulation therapy.

Epizyme Announces Date of First Quarter 2020 Financial Results

On April 27, 2020 Epizyme, Inc. (Nasdaq: EPZM), a fully integrated, commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel epigenetic therapies, reported that management will host a conference call and webcast to discuss its first quarter 2020 financial results and other business highlights on Monday, May 4, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. ET (Press release, Epizyme, APR 27, 2020, View Source [SID1234556643]).

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To participate in the conference call, please dial (877) 844-6886 (domestic) or (970) 315-0315 (international) and refer to conference ID 1329067. A live webcast will be available in the investor section of the company’s website at www.epizyme.com, and will be archived for 60 days following the call and presentation.