On September 18, 2019 Trobix Bio, a newly established start-up with a unique set of proprietary phage-based antibiotic resistance sensitizing solutions, reported that the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) recently approved a grant for Trobix Bio to receive funding through the IIA "Early Stage Companies Incentive Program" (Press release, Trobix Bio, SEP 18, 2019, View Source [SID1234644363]). This funding will support the continuing development of novel products that abolish bacterial antibiotic resistance.

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The IIA, previously known as the Office of the Chief Scientist of Israel’s Ministry of Economy, is an independent publicly funded agency, which acts as the support arm of the Israeli government to help facilitate the development of industrial R&D within the State of Israel.

"Trobix Bio is pioneering the development of products to treat the global crisis of antimicrobial resistance, and the support of our program by the IIA is proof of their confidence in the potential of Trobix Bio to combat antibiotic resistance with our unique technology," said Dr. Adi Elkeles, Founder and CEO of Trobix Bio. "We are grateful for the financial support from the IIA, which complements our seed funding that was completed in March 2019, thus enabling us to spring board the development of our initial product pipeline."

On September 17, 2019 Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONCT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel oncology therapies, reported that Paul A. Meyers, M.D., Chief, Pediatric Sarcoma Service and Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, presented a case study of a patient with Ewing sarcoma who achieved a sustained response following treatment with Oncternal’s investigational product candidate, TK216, in an ongoing Phase 1, first-in-human clinical trial (Press release, Oncternal Therapeutics, SEP 17, 2019, View Source [SID1234539588]). The presentation entitled, "TK216 for the Treatment of Ewing Sarcoma," was given at the Fall Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Meeting.

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Dr. Meyers reported that the patient, who had a history of Ewing sarcoma with pulmonary metastases, had recurrent disease despite multiple courses of chemotherapy, radiation, bevacizumab, pazopanib and surgery. Following two cycles of TK216 therapy given as a single agent, the patient achieved a confirmed objective response, which included resolution of several pulmonary lesions. This response has been sustained and has continued at six months of treatment, with the patient receiving TK216 plus vincristine in subsequent treatment courses. The final remaining residual tumor nodule which was less than one centimeter in diameter was later surgically removed, leading to a surgical complete remission. Treatment with TK216 has been well-tolerated by this patient.

"I am encouraged that this patient has had a sustained, impressive response on the TK216 study," said Dr. Meyers. "There is a high unmet medical need for new options to treat Ewing sarcoma, which is a rare cancer that affects mostly pediatric patients and young adults and has been very challenging to treat effectively."

"We are pleased by the results reported by Dr. Meyers and look forward to examining what we believe could be a recommended dosing regimen of TK216 in a larger number of patients with Ewing sarcoma," said James Breitmeyer, M.D., Ph.D., Oncternal’s President and CEO.

About TK216

TK216 is an investigational, potentially first-in-class small molecule that is designed to inhibit the biological activity of E26 transformation-specific (ETS) transcription factor oncoproteins including fusion proteins. Tumorigenic gene fusions involving ETS factors are frequently found in tumors such as Ewing sarcoma and prostate cancer, and ETS factors are often overexpressed in other tumors such as prostate cancer, and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). TK216 was developed based on discoveries of Jeffrey Toretsky, M.D. and his team at Georgetown University, who found inhibitors of EWS-FLI1 using a novel chemical screening assay. In preclinical models, TK216 binds to EWS-FLI1 and blocks the interaction between ETS family members and RNA helicase A leading to tumor cell apoptosis.

About the Study

TK216 is being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical study as a single agent and in combination with vincristine in patients with relapsed or refractory Ewing sarcoma, a rare pediatric cancer that has historically been very challenging to treat effectively, particularly for recurrent and metastatic disease. A dose-finding arm of this study is nearing completion, after which Oncternal intends to begin enrolling patients in an expansion cohort of the study to evaluate the clinical response of treatment with TK216 in combination with vincristine, an approved chemotherapy agent. This multi-center study is actively enrolling patients at six clinical trial centers across the U.S. Additional information about the TK216 study may be accessed at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02657005).

On September 17, 2019 Exicure, Inc. (Nasdaq: XCUR), a pioneer in gene regulatory and immunotherapeutic drugs utilizing spherical nucleic acid (SNA) constructs, reported that its chief operating officer, Dr. Matthias Schroff, will give a company presentation titled, "Multitargeting Spherical Nucleic Acids: Advantages & Applications," on Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at 11:40 am GMT at the 2019 International Oligonucleotide and Peptide Conference (Press release, Exicure, SEP 17, 2019, View Source [SID1234539589]). The presentation will be made in the Caplus Room of the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Milan.

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On September 17, 2019 Pfizer Inc. reported investors and the general public to view and listen to a webcast of a conference call with investment analysts at 10 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 (Press release, Pfizer, SEP 17, 2019, View Source [SID1234539606]). The purpose of the call is to provide an update on Pfizer’s results, as reflected in the company’s Third Quarter 2019 Performance Report, to be issued that morning.

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To view and listen to the webcast and view the Performance Report, visit our web site at www.pfizer.com/investors. Information on accessing and pre-registering for the webcast will be available at www.pfizer.com/investors beginning today. Participants are advised to pre-register in advance of the conference call.

You can also listen to the conference call by dialing either (855) 895-8759 in the United States and Canada or (503) 343-6044 outside of the United States and Canada. The password is "Third Quarter Earnings".

Visitors to www.pfizer.com/investors will be able to view and listen to an archived copy of the webcast of the conference call.

On September 17, 2019 The Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute (cc-TDI) reported the creation of Artisan Biopharma (artisanbio.com), a Public Benefit Corporation pediatric cancer biopharmaceutical company, wholly owned by the 501c3 nonprofit, cc-TDI (Press release, Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute, SEP 17, 2019, View Source [SID1234631990]).

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Artisan Biopharma (EIN 84-3079359) is a newly formed, angel-funded for-profit benefit corporation wholly-owned by the 501(c)3 nonprofit, cc-TDI. Our mission is to create a quiet cultural revolution in the way new drugs are brought to market for pediatric cancers. We incorporated September 17, 2019, and we are currently engaged with tax and security counsel to finalize our operational structure with respect to the nonprofit. Our stated mission as a public benefit corporation is to provide research and interventions related to the prevention and treatment of cancer in children.

Target market: Orphan drug indications in pediatric cancers
Few rare cancer patient populations with unmet clinical need are as vulnerable and in need of advocacy as children with cancer. Pharmaceutical companies have historically faced significant financial disincentives to pursue pediatric oncology therapeutics, including low incidence, high costs of conducting pediatric trials, and a lack of funding for early-stage research. We are leveraging the deep preclinical domain expertise of cc-TDI to more efficiently identify and in-license compounds. Our goal is to reverse the 40+ year drought represented by only 8 drug approvals for pediatric cancer. To achieve this goal, we aim to have 5 new compounds reach the clinic annually for children with high risk cancers.

Artisan advantage
The rapid advancement of new oncology drugs has created a massive, de-risked discovery tool for translational science, many of which remain novel molecular entities ready to match to rare disease indications. The founding equity investor of Artisan Biopharma, the Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute (cc-TDI.org), is an established partner to industry (NVS, PFE, LLY) for preclinical sciences. Artisan was formed as a natural opportunity to develop and market cancer drugs for childhood cancer, generating sustainable funding for cc-TDI’s drug discovery engine. Artisan launched with 15 pipeline candidates and a network of over 1200 families directly touched by pediatric cancer.