On February 5, 2019 NanOlogy, a clinical-stage oncology company, reported its Chief Medical Officer, Gere diZerega, MD, will participate on an immuno-oncology panel at the BIO CEO and Investor Conference February 11, 2019 9:00-9:55 am, Schubert Complex, 6th floor, New York Marriot Marquis (Press release, NanOlogy, FEB 5, 2019, View Source [SID1234533072]).

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The panel, entitled "Reshaping Tumor Microenvironments via Immunotherapies," will examine the next wave of innovation in immunotherapies for leveraging knowledge of how tumor microenvironments develop to create treatments able to demonstrate more durable effects on shrinking tumors across wider ranges of patients.

Based on a proprietary production technology platform, NanOlogy is developing patented submicron particle forms of paclitaxel and docetaxel designed for local delivery directly to the disease site. Preclinical and clinical data across broad therapeutic areas, including genitourinary, gastrointestinal, peritoneal, and lung cancers indicate targeted delivery of the submicron particles of pure drug enhance tumor kill and generate significant immune stimulation with minimal systemic side effects. The data underscore the potential for NanOlogy investigational drugs to be ideal companions to IO therapy for certain solid tumors.

The company is in clinical development of its investigational drugs for prostate cancer, bladder cancer, renal cancer, peritoneal/ovarian cancers, pancreatic cancer, pancreatic mucinous cysts, and lung cancer.

BioSpace recently named NanOlogy to its list of Top 20 Life Sciences companies to watch in 2019.

Joining Dr. diZerega on the panel are: Moderator: Jotin Marango, MD, PhD, Managing Director, Senior Research Analyst, ROTH Capitol; Lewis H. Bender, Chief Executive Officer, Intensity Therapeutics; Sabine Chlosta, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer, Triumvira Therapeutics; and Eric Falcand, Vice President of Business Development & Licensing, Servier.

NanOlogy investigational drugs are progressing under the FDA streamlined 505(b) (2) regulatory pathway. The NanOlogy submicron particle technology platform is based on a patented production process that reduces the size of paclitaxel and docetaxel API crystals by up to 400 times into stable submicron particles of pure drug with exponentially increased surface area and unique geometry. The submicron particles are so unique that they are protected under a composition of matter patent (US 9,814,685) valid until 2036, which provides new molecular entity-like advantages without the risks and timeline associated with NME drug development.

On February 4, 2019 Syntrix Pharmaceuticals reported that it has been awarded a three-year grant worth $3.4 million from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to assess its investigational CXCR1/2 inhibitor SX-682 in patients with low- and high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) who had progression or were intolerant to prior therapy (Press release, Syntrix, FEB 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234553882]). The phase 1/2 clinical trial will be carried out in collaboration with researchers at the Moffitt Cancer Center led by Dr. Rami Kamrokji.

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"Patients with low-risk MDS have an expected median survival measured in years, but suffer from hematologic deficits and related symptoms that lead to transfusion dependence," said Syntrix’s President John Zebala. "Patients with high-risk MDS have debilitating cytopenias and borderline leukemia, and can have expected survival measured in months."

Only three drugs have received regulatory approval for MDS treatment, all with suboptimal response rates (<50%) and of limited durability (1-2 years). Once these agents fail in patients, there is no second-line treatment. Prognosis after failure is dismal, with median survival estimated at <6 months for higher-risk patients, and <18 months for lower-risk patients.

The Phase 1/2 clinical trial of SX-682 builds on groundbreaking discoveries by investigators at the Moffitt Cancer Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine who showed CXCR1/2 is pivotal in MDS and that its inhibition is a therapeutic strategy against the disease.

This Phase 1/2 trial in MDS patients will test the hypothesis that targeting CXCR1/2 with SX-682 will be efficacious in the disease by eliminating the MDS stem cells and bone marrow MDSCs. The FDA approved the protocol for the study in an IND sponsored by Syntrix.

ABOUT SX-682: SX-682 is a clinical-stage oral allosteric small-molecule inhibitor of CXCR1 and CXCR2 (CXCR1/2). Inhibiting both human receptors is believed essential. CXCR1/2 are a combined "master switch" of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Clinical studies in melanoma, breast, ovarian, prostate and colon cancer have shown a direct correlation between serum levels of CXCR1/2 ligands and disease progression. SX-682 has been validated in all major solid tumor models, where it exhibits mono-agent anti-tumor activity, blocks metastasis, depletes immunosuppressive myeloid cells, activates tumor killing by effector cells, reverses chemo-resistance, and potently synergizes with anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD1. SX-682 is also being evaluated in solid tumors supported by the National Cancer Institute.

On February 4, 2019 Tarveda Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing a new class of potent and selective miniature drug conjugates (Pentarins) for the treatment of patients with a wide range of solid tumors, reported that Drew Fromkin, President and Chief Executive Officer, will present at the 2019 BIO CEO & Investor Conference, occurring February 11-12, 2019 at the New York Marriot Marquis (Press release, Tarveda Therapeutics, FEB 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234533038]).

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The presentation will take place at 2:15pm Eastern Time on Monday, February 11 in the Gramercy room.

In the presentation, Mr. Fromkin will provide an overview of the Company’s two clinical programs including PEN-221, which is currently in clinical evaluation for the treatment of patients with somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR2) positive neuroendocrine tumors and PEN-866, the first miniature drug conjugate from Tarveda’s HSP90 binding conjugate platform, which is being developed for the treatment of patients with solid tumors including but not limited to small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and sarcomas.

On February 4, 2019 Calithera Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CALA), a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing novel small molecule drugs directed against tumor metabolism and tumor immunology targets for the treatment of cancer, reported that it has completed patient enrollment in the ongoing Phase 2 ENTRATA trial. ENTRATA is a randomized clinical study of the glutaminase inhibitor CB-839 combined with everolimus versus placebo with everolimus for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) (Press release, Calithera Biosciences, FEB 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234535231]). CB-839 now has the International Nonproprietary Name (INN) telaglenastat, as recommended by the World Health Organization.

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"The ENTRATA trial is the first randomized trial evaluating the glutaminase inhibitor telaglenastat. There is ample evidence demonstrating the potential of glutaminase inhibition to block growth and survival of cancer cells," said Susan Molineaux, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Calithera. "We are pleased that patient enrollment is now complete and look forward to learning more from ENTRATA about how this promising mechanism could help heavily pre-treated patients with advanced renal cancer."

The ENTRATA trial (NCT03163667) is a Phase 2 randomized, double blind trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of telaglenastat in combination with everolimus versus placebo with everolimus in patients with advanced clear cell RCC who have been treated with at least two prior lines of systemic therapy, including a VEGFR-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor. The trial enrolled 69 patients at multiple centers in the United States. The primary endpoint of ENTRATA is progression-free survival (PFS). Calithera plans to report efficacy and safety data from the trial in the second half of 2019.

Telaglenastat is an investigational, novel glutaminase inhibitor specifically designed to block glutamine consumption in tumor cells. RCC tumors commonly exhibit metabolic alterations that increase their dependence on glutamine. In preclinical studies, telaglenastat produced synergistic antitumor effects when used in combination with standard-of-care RCC therapies.

Telaglenastat is also being investigated in the CANTATA trial, which will enroll approximately 400 patients and is designed with registrational intent. It is a global, randomized, double-blind trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of telaglenastat in combination with cabozantinib versus placebo with cabozantinib in patients with advanced clear cell RCC who have been treated with one or two prior lines of systemic therapy. The primary endpoint is PFS by blinded independent review, and a key secondary endpoint is overall survival.

On February 4, 2019 Torque, an immuno-oncology company developing first-in-class Deep Primed T Cell Therapeutics to direct immune power deep within the tumor microenvironment, and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO), reported a collaboration to build a dedicated Slipstream manufacturing facility for high-efficiency production of Torque’s Deep-Primed T cell immunotherapies (Press release, Torque Therapeutics, FEB 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234553883]).

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Buildout of the Torque/Thermo Fisher manufacturing facility has begun, and the companies anticipate processing patient cells by the end of 2019. The Slipstream platform will initially be used in the clinical development of Torque’s lead Deep-Primed T cell candidate, TRQ-1501, in solid and hematologic tumors; followed by TRQ-1201, also for solid and hematologic tumors.

"Torque’s cell manufacturing technology platform is critical to achieving our goal of developing and commercializing a new class of cellular immunotherapy for cancer patients with both early and advanced disease, particularly for the large population of solid tumor patients in need of new treatments," said Bart Henderson, CEO of Torque. "We are very excited about partnering with Thermo Fisher to build this state-of-the-art manufacturing facility because of their vision and exceptional track record in building high-efficiency, globally integrated operations. This is a pioneering manufacturing partnership with the goal of dramatically improving the efficiency and scalability of producing best-in-class cellular immunotherapy products that have the potential to benefit a significant number of cancer patients."

"Thermo Fisher is dedicated to advancing precision medicine, and our collaboration with Torque is a tangible example of the progress we are making to become a recognized leader in cell therapy manufacturing," said Michel Lagarde, President of Pharma Services for Thermo Fisher Scientific. "We are pleased to partner with Torque to build and launch this unique and advanced manufacturing facility utilizing the Slipstream technology, Torque’s innovative cellular immunotherapy product, which has the potential to transform cancer treatment and patients’ lives."

The Slipstream platform technology situated in Princeton is a revolutionary design that uses a fully closed, semi-automated system that surpasses conventional cell therapy manufacturing techniques. The Slipstream process leverages advanced logistics that enable a substantially smaller manufacturing footprint that is less capital- and labor-intensive. Production capacity can be expanded modularly by adding arrays in Lego-like fashion.

About Slipstream Cell Therapy Manufacturing Technology
Slipstream is a proprietary, high-efficiency T cell manufacturing platform engineered by Torque. Currently marketed immune cell therapies are produced using open, complex, labor- and cost-intensive processes that require a substantial manufacturing facility. In contrast, Slipstream production is semi-automated and fully closed, which eliminates contamination risk between transfers and can dramatically reduce staffing requirements and the factory footprint. The cell engineering process uses a modular design that enables both large-scale and decentralized manufacturing. Slipstream has the potential to improve manufacturing efficiency beyond what is possible with currently used cell therapy manufacturing processes and to move cell therapy production closer to the point of care.

About Torque’s Deep-Primed Immune Cell Therapy Platform
Torque’s Deep-Priming platform uses advanced cell process engineering to:

prime and activate T cells to target multiple tumor antigens and
tether immune-stimulatory drugs to the surface of these multi-target T cells to direct immune activation in the tumor microenvironment
using a proprietary technology platform, without genetic engineering, for a high margin of safety.
Deep-Primed T cells both target multiple tumor antigens and pharmacologically activate an immune response with anchored cytokines. This process does not require genetic engineering of the T cells and so preserves the natural T cell receptor for delivering a regulated immune response, with the potential for a high margin of safety. In addition to antigen priming, immunomodulators are tethered to the surface of Deep-Primed T cells—initially IL-15 and IL-12 cytokines, and TLR agonists—that activate both innate and adaptive immunity. Administering these immunomodulators systemically to a patient can cause lethal toxicity by activating immune cells throughout the body. By loading precise doses of cytokines onto the surface of T cells, Deep Priming focuses the immune response to target the tumor, without systemic exposure.

In hematologic cancers, this new class of immune cell therapeutics has the potential to improve on the initial success of single-target CAR T therapeutics with expanded efficacy and also move cell therapy treatment out of the hospital with a high margin of safety. For solid tumors, Deep-Primed T cells have the potential to enable efficacy against tumors with heterogeneous antigens protected by hostile microenvironments, which are not readily addressable with the first generation of immune cell therapies.