On December 13, 2018 Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: APDN) ("Applied DNA" or the "Company"), a leader in large-scale PCR-based DNA manufacturing, reported selected preliminary unaudited financial results for the full fiscal year and quarter ended September 30, 2018 (Press release, Applied DNA Sciences, DEC 13, 2018, View Source [SID1234532062]).

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Preliminary (Unaudited) Fiscal 2018 Financial Results:

Revenues for fiscal 2018 totaled $3.9 million, a decrease of 18% from $4.8 million from the same period in the prior fiscal year. The decrease in revenues was attributable to a decrease in revenues of approximately $2.2 million in the textile industry for protecting cotton and synthetic supply chains. This decrease was offset by an increase in revenue from Contract Manufacturing of DNA for diagnostics as well as an increase from development projects, primarily those associated with partners’ pre-commercial business initiatives in legal cannabis and pharmaceuticals.
Deferred revenue increased to $1.9 million as of September 30, 2018 as compared to $352 thousand at September 30, 2017. The reason for this increase is due to the initial cotton order of $1.2 million shipped during June 2018 having extended payment terms and to be recognized to revenue as the payments become due. The extended payment terms for this shipment are three equal installments due 90, 180 and 270 days from shipment. One-third of the revenue was recognized during the fiscal fourth quarter of 2018. The increase in deferred revenue is also attributable to fees received for a variety of contracts that include specific milestones and therefore were not able to be fully recognized as revenue during the quarter ended September 30, 2018.
Operating expenses for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018 decreased by $2.2 million or 13% as compared to the prior fiscal year. The decrease is primarily attributable to a decrease in stock-based compensation of approximately $1.9 million and bad debt expense of $403 thousand.
Net loss for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018 decreased to $11.7 million or $0.40 per share, compared with a net loss of $12.9 million or $0.49 per share for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2017.
Preliminary (Unaudited) Fiscal Fourth Quarter Results:

Revenues increased 4% for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 to $1.2 million, compared to $1.1 million reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017, and increased 18% as compared to revenues for the fiscal third quarter ended June 30, 2018 of $1.0 million. The year-over-year increase in revenues is primarily attributable to an increase in revenues from development and pre-commercial pilots in pharmaceuticals and cannabis. This increase was offset by a decrease in textile revenues.
Total operating expenses were $4.4 million, compared with $3.7 million in the prior year’s quarter, an increase of approximately 19%. The increase in year-over-year total operating expenses is attributable to an increase in stock-based compensation expense due to the timing of the annual employee grant, payroll and research and development expenses, offset by a decrease in depreciation and amortization expense.
Net loss for the quarter ended September 30, 2018 was $3.5 million, or $0.12 per share, compared with a net loss of $2.9 million, or $0.10 per share for the same period in the prior fiscal year and a net loss of $2.9 million, or $0.10 per share for the third fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2018.
The Company also announced that it anticipates filing its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018 with the Securities and Exchange Commission during the week of December 17, 2018, and will hold an investor call during the week of December 24, 2018.

"Our performance in fiscal 2018 reflects execution on pre-commercial sales and business development initiatives to sow new revenue streams by leveraging our proven DNA taggant technology platform and capitalizing on secular industry trends emphasizing supply chain security, sustainability and traceability all along the value chain," stated Dr. James A. Hayward, president and CEO of Applied DNA. "During the year we continued to expand our business beyond cotton with diverse partners using synthetic fibers and generating initial revenues from the legal cannabis and pharmaceutical markets while progressing other programs, such as leather traceability, towards commercialization while also implementing feasibility pilots with a diverse customer base.

"Notable advancements made during the year included: in textiles, we furthered adoption of our platform for the tagging of non-cotton synthetic textiles to complement our cotton business that itself has begun to expand internationally; in the nascent legal cannabis industry where compliance with governmental permitting requirements is fundamental to its future, our partnership with TheraCann has yielded a seed-to-sale tracking program powered by blockchain and molecular tagging technologies and the development of a tagging system specifically designed to meet the needs of commercial growers; in pharmaceuticals, we advanced the manufacturing scale-up of our on-dose solution for enhanced patient safety and supply chain security with partner Colorcon; in biotherapeutics, we formally launched our LineaRx subsidiary that has already expanded our opportunity-set to include the potentially high-reward therapeutics space. We also saw continued demand for development pilots that serve as an indicator of growing industry interest in our technology platform and its value proposition."

Concluded Dr. Hayward, "Building on these advancements, we anticipate revenue from our key business verticals in fiscal 2019 with opportunities for increased contributions from certain verticals, such as in textiles where we are progressing towards big-box and online retailer adoption of DNA-tagged synthetic fiber products manufactured by ecosystem partners. In pharmaceuticals, we are pursuing regulatory approval of our molecular tag that if realized during 2019 should generate a second revenue milestone from Colorcon and make our solution compelling for pharmaceutical manufacturers in an era of government-mandated serialization practices."

Preliminary Results
The financial data contained in this press release are unaudited, preliminary, based upon Applied DNA’s good faith estimates and subject to completion of Applied DNA’s financial closing procedures. While Applied DNA expects that its final financial results for the fiscal year and quarter ended September 30, 2018, following the completion of its financial closing procedures, will generally be consistent with the amounts provided in this press release, Applied DNA’s actual results may differ materially from these estimates as a result of the completion of its financial closing procedures, as well as final adjustments and other developments that may arise between now and the time that its financial results for the fiscal year and quarter ended September 30, 2018 are finalized.

The results provided in this press release are preliminary and subject to completion and audit of Applied DNA’s financial statements in conjunction with the Company’s 2018 Form 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission anticipated to occur during the week of December 17, 2018.

On December 13, 2018 Y-mAbs Therapeutics, Inc. (the "Company" or "Y-mAbs") (Nasdaq:YMAB) a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel, antibody-based therapeutic products for the treatment of cancer, reported that Dr. Claus Møller, MD, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Y-mAbs Therapeutics will provide an overview and update on the company’s business at the 37th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, California (Press release, Y-mAbs Therapeutics, DEC 13, 2018, View Source [SID1234532065]). The presentation will take place on Thursday, January 10, 2019, at 8:00 AM Pacific Standard Time.

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On December 12, 2018 NETRIS Pharma, a clinical-stage company developing novel anticancer therapies targeting dependence receptors, reported successful completion of the first-in-human study on the effects of netrin-1 inhibition in patients with advanced solid tumors (Press release, Netris Pharma, DEC 12, 2018, View Source [SID1234611180]). The Phase 1 dose-escalation study showed that NP137, a first-in-class monoclonal anti-netrin-1 blocking antibody, was safe and well tolerated up to 20mg/kg, with no dose limiting toxicity (DLT), meeting the primary objective. In addition, patients with advanced uterine cancers exhibited encouraging signs of anti-tumor activity, including prolonged stable disease and objective response.

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"We are very pleased with the safety and tolerability profile of NP137 in this study, which enabled evaluation of netrin-1 inhibition in advanced solid tumors," said Philippe Cassier, MD, PhD, Head of Phase 1 unit at Centre Léon Bérard and Principal Investigator of the NP137 study.

"I am really impressed by the preliminary anti-tumor activity observed in this study with patients showing objective response and prolonged one-year disease control," added Professor Jean Yves Blay, MD, Ph.D. General Director of the Centre Léon Bérard and past president of EORTC.

The Phase 1 study was designed to evaluate the maximum tolerated dose, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, and establish the recommended dose for the Phase 1b/2 expansion study. NP137 was dosed every other week starting from 1 mg/kg up to 20mg/kg in heavily pre-treated patients with advanced solid tumors. Additional study objectives were to evaluate the adverse events (AE), pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD) and preliminary anti-tumor activity of NP137. The study enrolled a total of 19 patients in three French centers, the Centre Léon Bérard in Lyon, the Institut Claudius Régaud in Toulouse and the Institut de Cancérologie de l’Ouest in Nantes. A Phase 1 extension study with an additional 24 patients is ongoing to confirm the safety and tolerability of NP137, collect biopsies before and after treatment to allow measurement of potential biomarkers and confirm the preliminary clinical activity seen during dose escalation. The final phase 1a data will be submitted for presentation at an upcoming international medical conference.

"Meeting the primary objective of the dose-escalation part of this study and generating preliminary positive efficacy data, particularly in such chemotherapy-resistant patients, provide an important confirmation of our dependence receptor science and lay the groundwork for larger clinical studies with NP137 as a targeted approach to treat solid tumors in combination with chemotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors and tyrosine kinase inhibitors," said Prof. Patrick Mehlen, Chief Executive Officer of NETRIS Pharma. "Additionally, we would like to thank the investigators, patients and caregivers for their participation in this study, and for contributing to our understanding of NP137 as we work to address a significant medical need."

About NP137
Most types of tumors produce an abnormal amount of dependence receptors’ ligands, which prevents cells from dying. Netrin-1 is overexpressed in a large percentage of human cancers, including over two thirds of gynecologic cancers. Expression of netrin-1 often correlates with disease severity and no therapy has ever been tested against this new pathway.

NP137, a humanized monoclonal antibody of isotype IgG1 directed against netrin-1, is the first drug candidate developed by NETRIS Pharma. NP137 prevents the binding of netrin-1 on its dependence receptors, thereby re-inducing cancer cell death and impacting tumor cell plasticity. Pre-clinical studies show NP137 to have an anti-cancer effect as a monotherapy as well as synergistic effects in combination with chemotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors or tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

On December 12, 2018 Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCY) (TSX: ONC), currently developing pelareorep, an intravenously delivered immuno-oncolytic virus, reported that the first patient was treated in a phase 1 dose escalation study combining pelareorep and carfilzomib with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s checkpoint inhibitor Opdivo (nivolumab) to treat relapsed multiple myeloma patients (Press release, Oncolytics Biotech, DEC 12, 2018, View Source [SID1234532025]). This study is based on findings from the NCI 9603 multiple myeloma study that combined pelareorep with carfilzomib that resulted in objective responses, elimination of multiple myeloma cells and most importantly, an inflamed phenotype with PD-L1 overexpression.

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"Having worked with pelareorep in multiple myeloma and understanding its ability to act as a potentiator of checkpoint blockade, I’m very excited to work with the Oncolytics team on this study," said Dr. Craig Hofmeister, Associate Professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology Emory University School of Medicine. "Pelareorep has proven its ability to create an inflamed phenotype and its potential for upregulation of PD-1 on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. My hope is this study leads not only to an effective combination dosing schedule but provides quantitative data describing the expression of PD-1, along with correlative studies that reveal the roles of both immune-mediated and direct cytotoxic myeloma cell killing."

This open-label, phase 1 study, conducted by Dr. Hofmeister at Emory University, will enroll up to 62 patients to examine the side effects and best dosing schedule of pelareorep when given in combination with dexamethasone, carfilzomib, and nivolumab in treating participants with relapsed multiple myeloma. The primary objectives of the study are to determine the maximum tolerated dose of pelareorep in combination with carfilzomib and nivolumab. Secondary outcome measures include time to progression, progression-free survival and overall survival, as well as the characterization of an inflamed phenotype and confirmation of biomarker responses indicative of tumor inflammation.

"We now have our second checkpoint inhibitor combination study enrolling, and I’m excited for the potential of the immune and biomarker data to come from it," said Dr. Rita Laeufle, Chief Medical Officer of Oncolytics Biotech. "These studies, along with our soon to be initiated studies combining pelareorep with Merck’s Keytruda, also in multiple myeloma, and Roche’s Tecentriq in neoadjuvant breast cancer, will provide further evidence that pelareorep has the potential to expand the use of checkpoint inhibitors by priming tumors cells. The confirmation of our predictive biomarkers enhances the likelihood of success in registrational studies, thereby reducing both clinical and commercial risk making pelareorep more attractive to potential partners."

For more information about the study, including a comprehensive list of inclusion and exclusion criteria, please visit: www.clinicaltrials.gov (identifier: NCT03605719).

About Pelareorep
Pelareorep is a non-pathogenic, proprietary isolate of the unmodified reovirus: a first-in-class intravenously delivered immuno-oncolytic virus for the treatment of solid tumors and hematological malignancies. The compound induces selective tumor lysis and promotes an inflamed tumor phenotype through innate and adaptive immune responses to treat a variety of cancers and has been demonstrated to be able to escape neutralizing antibodies found in patients.