On October 31, 2017 Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: XBIO) (“Xenetic” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, research and development of next-generation biologic drugs and novel orphan oncology therapeutics, reported that it has appointed Jeffrey F. Eisenberg as Chief Executive Officer. M. Scott Maguire will continue to serve Xenetic during the management transition (Press release, Xenetic Biosciences, OCT 31, 2017, View Source [SID1234521377]).

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“On behalf of everyone at Xenetic, we would like to thank Scott for his years of commitment and dedication to the Company. Mr. Maguire joined a company with a collection of patents and transformed the Company into a clinical-stage business, listing the company on NASDAQ last year. His efforts were critical in securing an exclusive license deal with, and a series of equity investments from, Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPG) (formerly Baxalta, Baxter Incorporated and Baxter Healthcare) to develop a novel series of polysialylated blood coagulation factors employing Xenetic’s proprietary PolyXen technology platform,” commented Adam Logal, Chairman of the Board of Xenetic. “We believe that Jeff’s appointment today as Chief Executive Officer is an important step in the continued evolution of Xenetic. His industry experience and professional track record are perfectly aligned with the Company’s strategic priorities, and I believe he will do a tremendous job leading the Xenetic team and driving the Company to its next phase of growth.”

Mr. Eisenberg joined the Xenetic management team in December 2016 as Chief Operating Officer and has served on the Company’s Board of Directors since July 2016. He is a seasoned life science executive with over 20 years of broad operational expertise. Over the course of his career, Mr. Eisenberg has led all crucial areas of R&D, operations, manufacturing/quality, business development, strategic partnering, product development, commercialization, and talent management. Prior to joining Xenetic, his most recent position was Chief Executive Officer of Noven Pharmaceuticals, where during his tenure as CEO revenues more than doubled, the company’s cash increased by more than 300%, and two new products were launched following the successful filings of New Drug Applications (NDAs) submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Mr. Eisenberg also was responsible for leading Noven’s Novogyne joint venture with Novartis (NYSE: NVS), an entity that generated over $300 million in revenue in its last full year of operation.

Mr. Eisenberg commented, “I am very pleased to be appointed to lead Xenetic at this pivotal point in the Company’s history, and I am prepared for this exciting challenge. We have a strong team in place, and together we will focus on continuing to fundamentally transform Xenetic on multiple fronts. We look forward to advancing our ongoing Phase 2 study of our flagship product, XBIO-101 as candidate for the treatment of progestin resistant endometrial cancer and announcing interim data from the study in 2018. Beyond XBIO-101, we believe there is an opportunity to build a growing pipeline of partnerships utilizing our proven PolyXen platform technology.”

On October 31, 2017 Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGMO) reported that the company will release its third quarter 2017 financial results after the market closes on Thursday, November 9, 2017 (Press release, Sangamo Therapeutics, OCT 31, 2017, View Source [SID1234521376]). The press release will be followed by a conference call at 5:00 p.m. ET, which will be open to the public via telephone and webcast. During the conference call, the company will review its financial results and provide a business update.

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The conference call dial-in numbers are (877) 377-7553 for domestic callers and (678) 894-3968 for international callers. The conference ID number for the call is 7886879. Participants may access the live webcast via a link on the Sangamo Therapeutics website in the Investors and Media section under Events and Presentations. A conference call replay will be available for one week following the conference call. The conference call replay numbers for domestic and international callers are (855) 859-2056 and (404) 537-3406, respectively. The conference ID number for the replay is 7886879.

On November 1, 2017 Verseon reported that it will present preclinical data on its novel anticancer drug candidates, which have shown promising results in preliminary testing against tumor cell lines resistant to major chemotherapy agents. The results will be shown at the BIO-Europe conference held in Berlin from November 6–8, 2017 (Press release, Verseon, OCT 31, 2017, View Source [SID1234521459]).

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Cancer still remains a primary concern with almost 1.7 million people in the US newly diagnosed with some form of cancer in 2016. Currently, chemotherapy is essential to the treatment of most cancers. However, tumors in many patients become resistant to chemotherapy agents over time, limiting the effectiveness of available drugs.

Dr. Anirban Datta, Verseon’s Director of Discovery Biology, will present the first preclinical results on a new class of anticancer agents, which are potent against a range of cancer cell lines in cell-based assays. In particular, he will highlight the effectiveness of these new drug candidates against cancer cell lines resistant to established chemotherapy agents.

“We are really excited about these results as they show that our novel chemotherapy agents are largely unaffected by mechanisms of multidrug resistance. This fills an important need for the treatment of many cancers, especially for patients with recurrent solid tumors,” said Dr. Datta.

Verseon uses its innovative computer-driven drug discovery platform to generate new drug candidates for a variety of indications. This platform provides access to many more drug-like molecules than are available to conventional pharmaceutical companies. Verseon currently has active programs in anticoagulation, diabetic macular edema, hereditary angioedema, and oncology.

Details of the presentation are as follows:

Date: Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Time: 5:15 PM

Location: CityCube Berlin, Room M3 on Level 3

On October 31, 2017 MabVax Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBVX), a clinical-stage oncology drug development company focused on the development of antibody-based products to address unmet medical needs in the treatment of cancer, reported an important update on its HuMab-5B1 clinical program as well as presented preclinical data for its HuMab-Tn research program describing a new series of fully-human antibodies targeting ovarian and breast cancer at the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper)-NCI-EORTC AACR-NCI-EORTC (Free AACR-NCI-EORTC Whitepaper) International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics (EORTC-NCI-AACR) (Free ASGCT Whitepaper) (Free EORTC-NCI-AACR Whitepaper) held October 26 – 30, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Press release, MabVax, OCT 31, 2017, View Source [SID1234521357]).

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MabVax Therapeutics Logo (PRNewsfoto/MabVax Therapeutics Holdings, I)

Three posters were presented by Paul W. Maffuid, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Research and Development, outlining important progress in the Company’s lead fully human antibody programs, HuMab-5B1 currently in Phase 1 clinical development for the treatment of pancreatic cancer and other CA19-9 positive malignancies, and HuMab-Tn currently in preclinical development with potential clinical utility in breast and ovarian cancers.

MVT-5873 in combination with nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine as first line therapy – The Company reported that newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer patients participating in the Phase 1 clinical trial of MVT-5873, when given in combination with first line nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine, demonstrated reductions in tumor size after the first two months of therapy. The data reported from this dose escalation safety study included safety data from 7 patients at 1mg/kg and 0.125mg/kg. After the first cohort was treated at 1mg/kg, the MVT-5873 dose was reduced to 0.125 mg/kg in combination with nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine as the lower dose appears to be generally well tolerated. Two of 3 patients at this lower dose had a partial response (PR) with the remaining patient recording stable disease (SD). One patient continues therapy after six-months. The Company is currently enrolling an additional cohort of patients at the 0.125mg/kg cohort and expects to report on additional data near the end of this year.

Utility of HuMab-5B1 (MVT-5873) in cancers beyond pancreatic cancer – At the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper)-NCI-EORTC meeting, the Company presented a series of studies examining expression of CA19-9 on tumor microarrays (TMA) and patient derived tumor xenografts (PDX). The results support the expansion of clinical studies of MVT-5873 for the treatment of other CA19-9 positive malignancies, including colorectal, small cell lung and non-small lung cell cancers. Human colorectal (CRC) TMA samples displayed moderate to high levels of positive staining with MVT-5873 in >75% of tumor samples evaluated. MVT-5873 staining of PDX samples was positive in 21% of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), 50% of small cell lung cancer (SCLC), and 69% of CRC cores evaluated. The study included PDX samples from patients with KRAS, BRAF, PIK3CA, or MMR pathway mutations and PDX samples rendered chemoresistant. These results support that expression of CA19-9 in these tumor types is unaffected by mutational status or treatment with chemotherapy. Based on these encouraging data, the Company plans to enroll and treat patients in its ongoing clinical trials with tumor types beyond pancreatic cancer. The Company has previously reported Phase 1a results for MVT-5873 as a single agent in pancreatic cancer patients.

New antibodies focused on the treatment of breast and ovarian cancer – The Company presented data from its lead preclinical development program summarizing the discovery, optimization, and target validation of new series of fully-human antibodies targeting the Thomsen-nouveau (Tn) and the sialyl Tn (sTn) carbohydrate antigens that have potential use for the treatment of patients with ovarian and breast cancers. Tissue microarray data support that these carbohydrate antigens are present on a broad array of tumor types and minimally seen on normal tissues. The results summarized the binding specificity, high affinity, and internalization data that make this series of antibodies attractive as development candidates. Target validation data included screening against multiple patient tumor microarrays of breast, lung, ovarian and colon cancer. 90% of samples from patients with triple negative breast cancer and 50% of samples from patient with ovarian cancer tested positive. A patent application covering this series of antibodies was recently filed by the Company and it is actively advancing the lead series.

On October 31, 2017 Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma presented financial results for FY2017 (Press release, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, OCT 31, 2017, View Source [SID1234521374]).

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