On January 9, 2020 IMMUNOPRECISE ANTIBODIES LTD. (the "Company" or "IPA") (TSX VENTURE: IPA) (OTC QB: IPATF) a provider of best-in-class therapeutic antibody discovery capabilities for the global industry, reported that its wholly owned subsidiary U-Protein Express BV signed a long-term lease contract for the new multi-tenant building for life sciences "Accelerator" at the Utrecht Science Park (Utrecht, The Netherlands) (Press release, ImmunoPrecise Antibodies, JAN 9, 2020, https://www.immunoprecise.com/immunoprecise-subsidiary-joins-genmab-and-merus-in-expansion-to-new-biotech-accelerator-at-the-center-of-europes-most-competitive-science-region/ [SID1234552922]). In addition to accommodating large biotechnology companies, the new building will offer space to companies that want to accelerate their development. The design is based on the vision of listed biotechnology companies Genmab (NASDAQ:GMAB) and Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS): Improving lives of patients by developing innovative therapies for cancer treatment, partly by entering into valuable collaborations. Accelerator endorses this ambition by creating a unique hub within the innovation ecosystem.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Accelerator offers Utrecht Science Park a welcome addition to accommodate more innovative companies in the Life Sciences sector. The building will be developed aiming for high sustainability requirements (BREEAM Excellent) and will have a prominent place at the entrance of Utrecht Science Park.
"We are happy to welcome U-Protein Express to Accelerator. Accelerator is designed to facilitate and connect Life Sciences companies, creating a tight international community within Utrecht Science Park. U-Protein Express is a great addition to the ecosystem and Accelerator will stimulate their growth ambitions," said Chiel van Dijen, Commercial Director of Kadans Science Partner.

Dr. Martin Hessing, General Manager of U-Protein Express, stated: "We are delighted to move our continuously expanding service activities towards the new building alongside important stakeholders such as Genmab and Merus. This will enable us to keep in pace with our growing contract research business as Accelerator will give us over 3-4 times current capacity".

"The investments we are making in our European operations are a strong reflection of ImunoPrecise’s position in the marketplace and positive outlook for the future," said Dr. Jennifer Bath, President and CEO. "The Accelerator provides state-of-the-art facilities that enable our talented team to respond to the increasing demand for our services and innovative technologies."

On January 9, 2020 Zai Lab Limited (NASDAQ: ZLAB), a China and U.S.-based innovative commercial stage biopharmaceutical company, and Novocure (NASDAQ: NVCR), a global oncology company with a proprietary platform technology called Tumor Treating Fields, reported that the first patient has been enrolled in a phase 2 pilot clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of Tumor Treating Fields in combination with chemotherapy as a first-line treatment in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma (Press release, Zai Laboratory, JAN 9, 2020, View Source [SID1234552938]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

"Zai Lab licensed Tumor Treating Fields from Novocure in September 2018, and we have since launched Optune in Hong Kong for the treatment of patients with recurrent, or newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and submitted a Marketing Authorization Application to the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for approval," said Dr. Samantha Du, Founder and CEO of Zai Lab. "Optune also has been granted the Innovative Device Designation which allows our team to accelerate dialogue with the NMPA. What is especially attractive about Tumor Treating Fields is its potential applicability to treat a wide variety of solid tumors including gastric cancer, the second most common cancer in China in terms of incidence rate. The initiation of this phase 2 pilot trial in gastric cancer represents our commitment to bringing Tumor Treating Fields to as many patients who may benefit in Greater China."

"Tumor Treating Fields is already approved for glioblastoma and malignant pleural mesothelioma in the U.S.," added William Doyle, Executive Chairman of Novocure. "We are moving forward with multiple clinical trials to evaluate Tumor Treating Fields for other indications including brain metastases, non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and ovarian cancer. It is very gratifying to see our partner engaged in active dialogue with the NMPA and studying Tumor Treating Fields for gastric cancer, a serious and unmet medical need in China."

The phase 2 pilot gastric cancer trial of Tumor Treating Fields is expected to enroll approximately 50 patients in Greater China. The study is a single arm, open-label, multi-center study, investigating the safety and efficacy of Tumor Treating Fields in combination with chemotherapy as the first-line treatment of unresectable gastric adenocarcinoma, or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. In the study, patients will receive Tumor Treating Fields at 150 kHz and XELOX chemotherapy, a combination of oxaliplatin and capecitabine, until disease progression. The primary endpoint is investigator-assessed objective response rate.

About Gastric Cancer

Gastric cancer is the second most common cancer in China (679,100 newly diagnosed cases in 2015) and the second leading cause of death in China (498,000 deaths in 2015). The 5-year overall survival rate of gastric cancer is only 35.9%. Current therapies include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapy, which prolong progression free survival and overall survival to 6 months and 8-14 months, respectively.

About Tumor Treating Fields

Tumor Treating Fields is a cancer therapy that uses electric fields tuned to specific frequencies to disrupt cell division, inhibiting tumor growth and potentially causing cancer cells to die. Tumor Treating Fields does not stimulate or heat tissue and targets dividing cancer cells of a specific size. Tumor Treating Fields causes minimal damage to healthy cells. Mild to moderate skin irritation is the most common side effect reported. Tumor Treating Fields is approved in certain countries for the treatment of adults with glioblastoma and in the U.S. for mesothelioma, two of the most difficult cancer types to treat. The therapy shows promise in multiple solid tumor types – including some of the most aggressive forms of cancer.

On January 9, 2020 Adicet Bio, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of allogeneic cell therapies for cancer using innovative gamma delta T cells, reported that the company will present at the 38th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference (Press release, Adicet Bio, JAN 9, 2020, View Source [SID1234552955]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Anil Singhal, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Adicet Bio, will provide a company overview on Thursday, January 16, 2020, at 7:30am PT.

On January 9, 2020 Grey Wolf Therapeutics, a drug discovery biotechnology company focused on developing first-in-class therapies for immuno-oncology (IO), reported it has completed a £2.5 million ($3.3 million) Series A2 financing round with existing leading international healthcare investors Andera Partners and Canaan (Press release, Grey Wolf Therapeutics, JAN 9, 2020, View Source [SID1234552910]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

The new funding – all from existing investors – will allow the company to accelerate development of therapies targeting endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase 2 (ERAP2), following many positive signals of its potential. Funds will also be used to continue to drive the lead endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase 1 (ERAP1) modulator program. For context, both of Grey Wolf’s novel ERAP approaches are aimed at directly altering tumor cells, illuminating them for attack and destruction by the immune system. The goal is to exploit this increased tumor visibility in monotherapy and to extend the therapeutic benefit of already approved immunotherapies to many more cancers. The company is developing small molecule modulators of ERAP1 and ERAP2, two key proteins in the antigen presentation pathway, to change the antigen repertoire of tumors and thereby increase the number and range of cancer-related antigens, including neoantigens, presented on tumor cells available to engage an immune response.

"We are delighted to have the continued support of Andera and Canaan." said Peter Joyce, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder. "The financing reflects growing potential in both our ERAP1 and ERAP2 approaches. We continue to see momentum, both in our own work and in the broader scientific community. These funds will allow us to further capitalize on this opportunity and expand our leadership position in the discovery and development of both ERAP1 and ERAP2 modulators."

Grey Wolf is expanding efforts around ERAP2 for two reasons. First, clinical data continues to demonstrate that tumors which are more visible to the immune system show improved responses to checkpoint inhibitors. One such example is the recent November 2019 paper published in Nature Medicine by the Chan group at MSKCC. The results are consistent across patients which either have a higher tumor mutational burden, heterozygosity of the Class I HLA locus or greater structural / sequence divergence at the Class I HLA locus. Second, the company has developed unique insight into the targeting of the ERAP enzymes through the lead program ERAP1 and validated the role for ERAP inhibition in modulating the cancer-related antigen repertoire. These in-house data provide compelling evidence that the therapies could have a real impact in the treatment of oncology.

"We have continued to generate data showing that modulation of both ERAP pathways drives change to the cancer-related antigen repertoire," said Tom McCarthy, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Grey Wolf Therapeutics. "Data clearly demonstrates that modulation of ERAP2 drives an altogether different change to the antigen repertoire, when compared with ERAP1 modulation, due to ERAP2’s clearly differentiated peptide substrate specificities. With this investment and the prior knowledge base within Grey Wolf we will be able to accelerate the ERAP2 program quickly through optimization, building on our leading position in ERAP disease-related biology."

The additional funds represent further confidence from investors. "Grey Wolf have already provided compelling insight into the potential of ERAP1 modulation," said Raphaël Wisniewski, Partner at Andera Partners. "This timely investment further underlines our excitement in these approaches. Grey Wolf are fast becoming true experts in modulation of ERAP biology for treatment of cancer." Brent Ahrens, General Partner at Canaan, added: "Canaan continues to be excited by the potential of targeting the ERAP pathway and are impressed with the progress the team has made in such a short space of time since closing Series A. The additional A2 investment enables the Company to push forward ERAP2 whilst maintaining the momentum on the lead ERAP1 program."

On January 9, 2020 Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INFI) reported that Adelene Perkins, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of Infinity Pharmaceuticals, will provide a corporate overview at the 38th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Healthcare Conference on Thursday, January 16, 2020 at 9:00 am Pacific Time at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, California (Press release, Infinity Pharmaceuticals, JAN 9, 2020, http://investors.infi.com/news-releases/news-release-details/infinity-pharmaceuticals-present-corporate-overview-38th-annual [SID1234552923]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

A live webcast of the presentation will be available on the Investors/Media section of Infinity’s website at www.infi.com, and will be available for 30 days following the event.

About Infinity and IPI-549

Infinity is an innovative biopharmaceutical company dedicated to advancing novel medicines for people with cancer. Infinity is advancing IPI-549, a first-in-class, oral immuno-oncology development candidate that selectively inhibits PI3K-gamma, in multiple clinical studies. MARIO-1 is an ongoing Phase 1/1b study evaluating IPI-549 as a monotherapy and in combination with Opdivo (nivolumab) in approximately 225 patients with advanced solid tumors including patients refractory to anti-PD-1 therapy. MARIO-275 and MARIO-3 have recently initiated. MARIO-275 is a global, randomized, combination study of IPI-549 combined with Opdivo in I/O naïve urothelial cancer patients. MARIO-3 is the first IPI-549 combination study in front-line advanced cancer patients and is evaluating IPI-549 in combination with Tecentriq and Abraxane in front-line TNBC and in combination with Tecentriq and Avastin in front-line RCC. With the MARIO-275, MARIO-3 and the MARIO-1 studies, Infinity is evaluating IPI-549 in the anti-PD-1 refractory, I/O-naïve and front-line settings. For more information on Infinity, please refer to Infinity’s website at www.infi.com.