On January 4, 2019 MabVax Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. (OTC Pink: MBVX), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology drug development company with a fully human antibody discovery platform focused on the clinical development of products to address unmet medical needs in the treatment of cancer and pancreatitis, reported that it has entered into discussions to merge with Oncotelic, Inc., a privately held cancer immunotherapy company (Press release, MabVax, JAN 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234532459]). Oncotelic is developing a unique TGF-b antisense therapy which has demonstrated the ability to break immune tolerance in mid-stage clinical trials for the treatment of glioblastoma and pancreatic cancer.

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Based on terms of a non-binding letter of intent signed by both companies on January 3, 2019, MabVax and Oncotelic are entering discussions to combine the companies to form a publicly traded company focused on the development of proprietary immunotherapy-based products of both companies to diagnose and treat cancer. Under the terms of the letter of intent, Oncotelic will merge with a wholly-owned subsidiary of MabVax in an all-stock transaction and will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of MabVax. The merger is subject to the approval of the MabVax board of directors and achieving certain financing objectives and other customary conditions. Upon closing of the transaction, MabVax will be re-named Oncotelic, Inc. and will operate under the leadership of the combined Oncotelic and MabVax management teams, with Vuong Trieu, founder of Oncotelic, an experienced and successful biotechnology entrepreneur, as executive chairman. Certain current senior management team members at MabVax will remain with the merged companies to fill key operational roles.

On a pro forma basis, calculated at the close of the merger, the current MabVax stockholders will own 25% and Oncotelic stockholders will own 75% of the combined company, respectively. The merger agreement contemplates securing financing of at least $10 million simultaneous with execution of the merger to support the clinical development of Trabedersen, Oncotelic’s TGF-b antisense therapy, in both glioblastoma and pancreatic cancer trials.

Vuong Trieu, Ph.D., who will be executive chairman of the company post-merger, said, "Our goal has been to grow a strong RNA therapeutic company that leverages innate immunity to achieve durable and effective immunotherapies for solid tumors and the merger with MabVax will allow us to complement that effort with key programs and capabilities from MabVax that will significantly strengthen the effort."

David Hansen, President and CEO of MabVax, said, "Through this transaction we hope to leverage our clinical and operational expertise in the post-merger company to advance the clinical development of Trabedersen while also integrating the development of key assets discovered by MabVax. This will allow us to continue the process of realizing the maximum value of assets we have developed through a process already initiated with Objective Capital while simultaneously maximizing the value of our lead technologies for stockholders."

On December 13, 2018, MabVax announced that it had engaged Objective Capital Partners, LLC to serve as a financial advisor to assist MabVax in exploring the sale of clinical and preclinical assets of the Company with the goal of maximizing the value of these assets within the near term. MabVax’s lead monoclonal antibody product, 5B1 for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, could be one of the assets that potentially could be developed into later stage clinical trials by the combined company.

On January 4, 2019 KalGene Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biotechnology company developing therapeutics to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, reported the appointment of James Callaway, Ph.D. as chief executive officer, effective immediately (Press release, KalGene Pharma, JAN 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234532493]).

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"This has been a very important transition year as we have confirmed our initial thesis with respect to validating the company’s lead KG207, which in pre-clinical studies was shown to successfully cross the blood brain barrier and safely reduce plaque load. The company has successfully completed early toxicology studies and has carried out all the requisite steps to manufacture product," said Dr. Jacki Jenuth, Chairperson of the Kalgene’s board of directors. "We are very pleased to have executed on the next key step of our strategy in attracting an accomplished new CEO to the company as we leverage this foundation and address significant inbound interest for the company and its lead program. Jim brings an ideal set of leadership skills and domain expertise to guide the team through the transition from a pre-clinical to a clinical stage company."

"KG207 has shown exceptional potential in pre-clinical studies, and I am excited about the prospect of bringing such a promising compound into the clinic," Dr. Callaway commented. "I look forward to working with the savvy and talented team at KalGene as we strive to make a difference in the lives of individuals affected by Alzheimer’s disease."

Dr. Callaway has over three decades of biopharmaceutical development experience, primarily targeting CNS therapeutics, and has served most recently as CEO for two privately-held biotech companies. As the CEO of ArmaGen, he brought its products from the laboratory to the clinic, helping the company emerge as the first to demonstrate the ability of engineered biologics to cross the blood-brain barrier. In addition, Dr. Callaway led the Alzheimer’s immunotherapy program at Elan Pharmaceuticals, which became the first company to introduce disease-modifying biologics (e.g., AN1792, bapinuzumab, ACC001) into clinical studies. Dr. Callaway has filed and defended numerous NDAs and INDs during his career, including shepherding the approval of MyoBloc and the production of Tysabri. He previously served in senior development roles at Bayer Pharmaceuticals, SmithKline Beecham (GSK), and InGene (since acquired by Xoma Corporation). He holds a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from UCLA, with a focus on peptide chemistry

On January 3, 2019 Ophthotech Corporation (NASDAQ: OPHT) reported that Glenn P. Sblendorio, Chief Executive Officer and President, will present an overview of the Company at the 37th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, CA on Thursday, January 10, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time (1:00 p.m. Eastern Time) (Press release, Ophthotech, JAN 3, 2019, View Source [SID1234532407]).

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Investors and the general public are invited to listen to a live webcast of the presentation at www.ophthotech.com. Please connect to Ophthotech’s website several minutes prior to the start of the presentation to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be necessary. A replay will be available for 14 days following the presentation.

On January 3, 2019 Amunix Pharmaceuticals Inc. ("Amunix"), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel immuno-oncology therapeutics, reported that it has entered into a licensing agreement with Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, for rights to develop therapeutics against an undisclosed target using Amunix’s proprietary protease-triggered immune activator (ProTIA) technology platform (Press release, Amunix, JAN 3, 2019, View Source [SID1234532423]).

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"We are very pleased to enter into the collaboration with Merck, an acknowledged leader in the field of novel cancer therapeutics," said Volker Schellenberger, Ph.D., President and CTO of Amunix. "The agreement with Merck is a testament to Amunix’s protein engineering expertise reflected in our ProTIA platform. This powerful new platform technology enables the rapid generation of tumor activatable cytokines, signaling peptides/proteins or immune cell engagers. We look forward to a productive and successful relationship."

"Amunix’s ProTIA technology offers the potential to create novel tumor-targeted molecules for evaluation in our immuno-oncology clinical development programs," said Rob Kastelein, Ph.D., Associate Vice President, Immune-Oncology Discovery, Merck Research Laboratories. "We look forward to working with the Amunix team."

Under terms of the agreement, Amunix will receive an upfront payment from Merck and is eligible to receive payments associated with the achievement of certain developmental milestones as well as royalties on sales of any products derived from the collaboration. Further financial details were not disclosed.

On January 3, 2019 Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American: ATNM) reported that Sandesh Seth, Actinium’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer will present at the Biotech Showcase 2019 being held on January 7-9 (Press release, Actinium Pharmaceuticals, JAN 3, 2019, View Source [SID1234532408]). The conference will be held at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. Details of Actinium’s presentation are as follows:

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Date: Monday, January 7, 2019
Time: 10:00 AM PT
Track: Yosemite A (Ballroom Level)
Venue: Hilton San Francisco Union Square

Members of Actinium’s Executive and Corporate Development teams will be available for 1-on-1 meetings during the conference. Those interested in scheduling a meeting with Actinium may do so by contacting Steve O’Loughlin, Actinium’s Principal Financial Officer via email to [email protected].

Biotech Showcase, produced by Demy-Colton and EBD Group, is an investor and networking conference devoted to providing private and public biotechnology and life sciences companies with an opportunity to present to, and meet with, investors and executives in one place during the course of one of the industry’s largest annual healthcare investor conferences, J.P. Morgan Annual Healthcare Conference.