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On January 18, 2019 Kitov Pharma Ltd. (NASDAQ/TASE: KTOV), an innovative pharmaceutical company, reported the closing of its previously announced registered direct offering of 3,428,572 American Depositary Shares (ADS) at a purchase price of $1.75 per ADS, for gross proceeds of $6 million (Press release, Kitov Pharmaceuticals , JAN 18, 2019, View Source [SID1234532789]).

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Kitov also issued unregistered warrants to purchase up to 2,571,430 ADSs. The warrants have a term of 5.5 years, are exercisable immediately and have an exercise price of $2.00 per ADS

H.C. Wainwright & Co. acted as the exclusive placement agent in connection with this offering.

The ADSs described above were offered pursuant to a shelf registration statement on Form F-3 (File No. 333-215037), which was declared effective by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on December 14, 2016. Such ADSs were offered only by means of a prospectus, including a prospectus supplement, forming a part of the effective registration statement.

Copies of the final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to the registered direct offering may be obtained at the SEC’s website at View Source and may also be obtained by contacting H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC at 430 Park Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10022, by calling (646) 975-6996 or emailing [email protected].

The warrants described above were offered in a private placement pursuant to an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Act"), and, along with the ADSs issuable upon their exercise, have not been registered under the Act, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration with the SEC or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

On January 18, 2019 argenx (Euronext & Nasdaq: ARGX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a deep pipeline of differentiated antibody-based therapies for the treatment of severe autoimmune diseases and cancer, reported the closing of the exclusive, global collaboration and license agreement for cusatuzumab (ARGX-110), a highly differentiated anti-CD70 SIMPLE Antibody, with Cilag GmbH International, an affiliate of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson (Press release, argenx, JAN 18, 2019, View Source [SID1234532774]). The collaboration agreement became effective following expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and the closing of the private placement described below.

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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

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argenx and Janssen have agreed to a joint global clinical development plan to evaluate cusatuzumab in acute myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes and other potential future indications. Under the terms of the agreement, Janssen will pay argenx $300 million in an upfront payment. argenx will be eligible to receive potentially up to $1.3 billion in development, regulatory and sales milestones, in addition to tiered, double-digit royalties. Janssen will be responsible for commercialization worldwide. argenx retains the option to participate in commercialization efforts in the US, where the companies have agreed to share economics 50/50 on a royalty basis, and outside the US, Janssen will pay double-digit sales royalties to argenx.

In addition, the private placement of 1,766,899 new argenx shares at a price of €100.02 ($113.19, based on the EUR/USD exchange rate as of December 2, 2018) per share to Johnson & Johnson Innovation Inc. — JJDC, Inc. (JJDC) was completed as part of the closing, with gross proceeds to argenx of €176.7 million (approximately $200 million). argenx’s share capital will be €3,789,576.40 after registration of the capital increase. Following Euronext Brussels’ approval of argenx’s request for the admission to listing and trading of the new shares, it is expected that the new shares will be admitted to trading and official listing on the regulated market of Euronext Brussels on January 23, 2019.

About Cusatuzumab

Cusatuzumab (ARGX-110) is an investigational SIMPLE Antibody targeting CD70, an immune checkpoint target involved in hematological malignancies, several solid tumors and severe autoimmune diseases. Cusatuzumab is designed to: block CD70, kill cancer cells expressing CD70 through complement dependent cytotoxicity, enhanced antibody-dependent cell-mediated phagocytosis and enhanced antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity, and restore immune surveillance against solid tumors (Silence K. et al. mAbs 2014; 6 (2):523-532). Cusatuzumab is currently being evaluated in patients with hematological malignancies, including a Phase 1/2 trial in combination with Vidaza in patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes. Recently,

cusatuzumab has been granted orphan drug designation for the treatment of AML by FDA. Preclinical work on cusatuzumab in AML was performed in collaboration with the Tumor Immunology Lab of Prof. A. F. Ochsenbein at the University of Bern, who won, together with Prof. Manz at the University Hospital of Zürich, the prestigious 2016 Otto Naegeli Prize for his breakthrough research on CD70/CD27 signaling with therapeutic potential for cancer patients

On January 18, 2019 Kura Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: KURA), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of precision medicines for oncology, reported new findings identifying a potential association between CXCL12 expression and clinical benefit in patients with pancreatic cancer treated with tipifarnib (Press release, Kura Oncology, JAN 18, 2019, View Source [SID1234532792]). These findings are being presented today at the 2019 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco. A copy of the poster is available on Kura’s website at www.kuraoncology.com.

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Tipifarnib has been shown to downregulate CXCL12, and previously reported data support tipifarnib as a CXCL12/CXCR4 pathway inhibitor. Elevated CXCL12 expression is known to be a poor prognosis factor in patients with pancreatic, Iung and esophageal-gastric cancers. In the specific context of pancreatic cancer, high CXCL12 expressing tumors may evade early diagnosis by decreasing abdominal pain through the attraction of pain-suppressing Schwann cells.

To investigate the potential for association between CXCL12 expression and clinical benefit in pancreatic cancer patients, Kura conducted a retrospective analysis of study INT-11, a randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 3 study of gemcitabine plus tipifarnib compared with gemcitabine plus placebo in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

A total of 688 pancreatic cancer patients were enrolled in study INT-11, of whom 155 reported no abdominal pain at study entry. Although no differences in survival were observed in the overall study, the absence of patient-reported abdominal pain at study entry was associated with higher median survival in the tipifarnib plus gemcitabine arm (10.2 months vs. 5.9 months, HR=0.52, p<0.0001), whereas no significant effect was observed in the placebo plus gemcitabine arm (6.0 months vs. 6.1 months), suggesting that the absence of abdominal pain may serve as a surrogate of clinical benefit from tipifarnib in pancreatic cancer.

In addition, patients with nodal disease or distant metastases limited to the liver also appeared more likely to receive clinical benefit from tipifarnib. Significant clinical benefit was observed in 67 patients with nodal metastases (12.8 months vs. 8.2 months, HR=0.46, p=0.01) and in 233 patients with liver (only) metastases (6.8 months vs. 5.0 months, HR=0.7, p=0.02), respectively. Nodal and liver metastases of pancreatic cancer were found to express high levels of CXCL12.

Analyzing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Kura also found an association between high CXCL12 expression and pancreatic tumors with low KRAS mutant allele frequency (≤ 5%, representing approximately 30% of pancreatic cancer patients), which may help identify patients with tumors overexpressing CXCL12.

"We are very encouraged by these results, which we believe support the development of tipifarnib in pancreatic cancer," said Antonio Gualberto, M.D., Ph.D., Head of Development and Chief Medical Officer of Kura Oncology. "In December 2018, we presented prospective proof-of-concept data in peripheral T-cell lymphoma which we believe validated our initial observations on tipifarnib as a CXCL12 pathway inhibitor in lymphoma and acute myeloid leukemia. This study now extends the therapeutic potential of tipifarnib to pancreatic cancer, and we intend to explore opportunities for further development of tipifarnib in this and other CXCL12-expressing hematologic and solid tumor indications."

About Tipifarnib

Kura Oncology’s lead drug candidate, tipifarnib, is a potent and highly selective inhibitor of farnesylation, a key cell signaling process implicated in cancer initiation and development. Tipifarnib was previously studied in more than 5,000 cancer patients and showed compelling and durable anti-cancer activity in certain patient subsets, however no molecular mechanism of action had previously been determined that could explain its activity across a range of diverse clinical indications, including squamous tumors that carry mutant HRAS, as well as in lymphoid, myeloid and solid tumors that do not carry HRAS mutations. Leveraging advances in next-generation sequencing as well as emerging information about cancer genetics and tumor biology, Kura is seeking to identify those patients most likely to benefit from tipifarnib.

In December 2018, Kura reported activity from an ongoing Phase 2 study of tipifarnib in patients with relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), including a significant association between CXCL12 expression and clinical benefit.

On January 18, 2019 Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (NYSE American: CANF) (TASE:CFBI), a biotechnology company advancing a pipeline of proprietary small molecule drugs that address cancer, liver and inflammatory diseases, reported that it has entered into a definitive agreement with a single institutional investor to receive gross proceeds of approximately $2.35 million (Press release, Can-Fite BioPharma, JAN 18, 2019, View Source [SID1234532775]).

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In connection with the offering, the Company will issue 2,238,096 registered American Depository Shares (ADSs) of Can-Fite at a purchase price of $1.05 per ADS in a registered direct offering. Additionally, for each ADS purchased by investors, the investors will receive an unregistered warrant to purchase one ADS. The warrants will have an exercise price of $1.30 per ADS, will be immediately exercisable and will expire five and one-half years from the issuance date. The closing of the offering is expected to take place on or about January 23, 2019, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

H.C. Wainwright & Co. is acting as the exclusive placement agent in connection with this offering.

The ADSs described above (but not the warrants or the ADSs underlying the warrants) are being offered pursuant to a shelf registration statement (File No. 333-220644) which became effective on October 11, 2017. Such ADSs may be offered only by means of a prospectus, including a prospectus supplement, forming a part of the effective registration statement.

The Company will file a prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus with the SEC relating to such ADSs. When available, copies of the prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus may be obtained at the SEC’s website at View Source, or by contacting H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC, 430 Park Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York, New York 10022, by telephone: (646) 975-6996 or by email at [email protected].

The warrants described above were offered in a private placement under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Act"), and Regulation D promulgated thereunder and, along with the ADSs issuable upon their exercise, have not been registered under the Act, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration with the SEC or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein. There shall not be any offer, solicitation of an offer to buy, or sale of securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offering, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction