On April 4, 2016 Israeli cancer metabolism company Metabomed LTD. reported that it has completed an extension of its Series A round from current and new investors, bringing the total of its raise to $ 18 million (Press release, Metabomed, APR 4, 2016, View Source [SID:1234510367]). Existing investors include MS Ventures, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), Pontifax Fund, and the Technion Research and Development Foundation. New investors Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Arkin Holdings also joined the round. The final transaction is subject to the successful completion of the approval process by the Israel Antitrust Authority.

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Metabomed was co-founded by MS Ventures and three leading researchers in the field of cancer metabolism and computational biology — Prof. Eyal Gottlieb from the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow, UK, Prof. Eytan Ruppin from Tel Aviv University and the University of Maryland, and Prof. Tomer Shlomi from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology.

Metabomed is focusing on the discovery and development of potential small molecule drugs directed against novel targets in the field of cancer metabolism. Based on its proprietary interdisciplinary target identification platform, Metabomed utilizes a unique approach to discovery, which allows the company to potentially identify new targets that form a synthetic lethal gene pair with metabolic genes inactivated in cancer cells. By inhibiting these targets, Metabomed intends to develop more selective anti-cancer drugs that may potentially be highly targeted, and therefore sparing of normal cells.

Metabomed operates out of the state-of-the-art facilities at the MS Ventures Israel BioIncubator, which has supported the development of the new start-up with its infrastructure and a wide range of incubation services. Following the completion of this round, Simone Botti, current Head of the MS Ventures Israel BioIncubator, will leave his position in order to join Metabomed as its full-time CEO.

Simone Botti commented: "This Series A extension is a major success for Metabomed.. We believe that the vote of confidence from the existing syndicate and the addition of new top tier investors such as Pfizer and Arkin Holdings confirm the excitement around Metabomed and its technology, and I am very honored to have been chosen to lead the company as its CEO."

"We are proud to work with companies such as Metabomed that are exploring exciting and innovative technologies that may help lead to potential new treatment options in the field of oncology," said Robert Abraham, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Head of Pfizer’s Oncology-Rinat Research & Development Group, who will also become a member of Metabomed’s scientific advisory board. "Metabomed shares in our mission to deliver safer and more effective medicines to our patients."

On April 4, 2016 Gilead Sciences and Nimbus Therapeutics reported that the companies have signed a definitive agreement under which Gilead will acquire Nimbus Apollo, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nimbus Therapeutics, and its Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase (ACC) inhibitor program (Press release, Nimbus Therapeutics, APR 4, 2016, View Source [SID1234527317]). Nimbus Therapeutics will receive an upfront payment of $400 million, with the potential to receive an additional $800 million in development-related milestones over time.

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The Nimbus Apollo program includes the lead candidate NDI-010976, an ACC inhibitor, and other preclinical ACC inhibitors for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and for the potential treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and other diseases. NDI-010976 was granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in February 2016 and Phase 1 data for the compound will be presented next month during an oral session at The International Liver Congress 2016, the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL).

NASH is a serious liver disease resulting from metabolic dysfunction associated with steatosis (fat within the liver) that can lead to inflammation, hepatocellular injury, progressive fibrosis and cirrhosis. Affecting up to 15 million people in the United States, NASH is expected to become the leading indication for liver transplantation by 2020. ACC inhibitors target a central cause of the disease – reducing aberrant lipid-derived signaling that can result in steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis.

"The acquisition of Nimbus’ ACC-inhibitor program represents a timely and important opportunity to accelerate Gilead’s ongoing efforts to address unmet needs in NASH," said Norbert Bischofberger, PhD, Executive Vice President, Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer, Gilead Sciences. "These molecules will complement and further strengthen Gilead’s pipeline and capabilities to advance a broad clinical program in NASH that includes compounds targeting multiple key pathways involved in the pathogenesis of the disease."

"Given the company’s long-standing commitment to and expertise in liver disease, we are confident that Gilead is the ideal partner to accelerate and maximize the potential of the ACC inhibitor program," said Don Nicholson, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Nimbus Therapeutics. "This agreement underscores Nimbus’ ability to rapidly discover, design and optimize promising therapeutics in areas of unmet need, an approach we will continue to apply against other medically important targets."

Upon completion of the acquisition, Nimbus Apollo will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gilead. Nimbus Therapeutics will retain ownership of its other research and development subsidiaries. Gilead will be solely responsible for future development and commercialization of NDI-010976 and other ACC inhibitors.

About ACC and NDI-010976
Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) is an enzyme with two isoforms (ACC1 and ACC2) that is involved in de novo lipogenesis (the synthesis of endogenous fatty acids) and the regulation of beta-oxidation (the process by which fatty acids are broken down at a cellular level). Inhibitors of ACC therefore have the potential to prevent production of new lipids within the liver and stimulate their break down. In animal models of fatty liver, ACC inhibition reduces hepatic fat content, inflammation and fibrosis (scarring), all of which are important hallmarks of NASH progression. NDI-010976 is a potent, liver-targeted, allosteric inhibitor of both ACC isoforms.

Results from studies assessing the association between anticholinergic use and falls are mixed, and prior studies are limited in their ability to control for important potential confounders. Thus, we sought to examine the association between anticholinergic medication use, including over-the-counter medications, and recurrent falls in community-dwelling older women.
We analyzed data from a prospective cohort study of women aged 65 to 79 years from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study and Clinical Trials. Women were recruited between 1993 and 1998, and analyses included 61,451 women with complete information. Medications with moderate or strong anticholinergic effects were ascertained directly from drug containers during face-to-face interviews. The main outcome measure was recurrent falls (≥2 falls in previous year), which was determined from self-report within 1.5 years subsequent to the medication assessment.
At baseline, 11.3 % were using an anticholinergic medication, of which antihistamines (commonly available over-the-counter) were the most common medication class (received by 45.2 % of individuals on anticholinergic medication). Using multivariable GEE models and controlling for potential confounders, the adjusted odds ratio for anticholinergic medication use was 1.51 (95 % CI, 1.43-1.60) for recurrent falls. Participants using multiple anticholinergic medications had a 100 % increase in likelihood of recurrent falls (adjusted odds ratio 2.00, 95 % CI 1.73-2.32). Results were robust to sensitivity analysis.
Anticholinergic medication use was associated with increased risk for recurrent falls. Our findings reinforce judicious use of anticholinergic medications in older women. Public health efforts should emphasize educating older women regarding the risk of using over-the-counter anticholinergics, such as first-generation antihistamines.

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Methotrexate (MTX) is one of the most widely used medications to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and recent studies have also suggested the potential benefit of the drug for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. MTX is commonly administered in oral formulations, but is often associated with systemic adverse reactions. In an attempt to address this issue, we have shown previously that a conjugate of hyaluronic acid (HA) and MTX exhibits potential as a drug candidate for intra-articular treatment of inflammatory arthritis. In this study, we compare the efficacy and safety of an optimized HA-MTX conjugate, DK226, with that of MTX in inflammatory arthritis rat models.
In vitro activity of DK226 was assessed in human fibroblast-like synoviocytes (HFLS) and a synovial sarcoma cell line, SW982. Release of MTX from DK226 was investigated after incubation with rabbit synovial tissue homogenate or synovial fluid. In vivo efficacy of DK226 was evaluated in antigen-induced arthritis (AIA) and collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in the rat knee. Pharmacokinetics and hematological toxicity after treatment with oral MTX or an intra-articular injection of DK226 were compared in AIA.
Proliferation of HFLS and SW982 cells was inhibited by DK226, and the inhibitory activity was reversed by cotreatment with excess HA or anti-CD44 antibody. MTX was released from DK226 by incubation with rabbit synovial tissue homogenate or synovial fluid at pH 4.0, but not at pH 7.4. AIA was ameliorated by intra-articular DK226, but not by HA, as potently as oral MTX. Hematological toxicity was induced by oral MTX, but not by DK226. The maximum plasma concentration of MTX after oral MTX was 40 times higher than the concentration of MTX after an intra-articular injection of DK226. Knee swelling in AIA was inhibited by intra-articular injections of DK226, but not by free MTX or a mixture of HA and MTX. In CIA, an injection of DK226 into the right knee joint significantly reduced swelling and synovial inflammation of the treated knee joint, but had no effect on the untreated contralateral knee joint.
DK226 exerted anti-arthritic effects in two different models of arthritis. The conjugate had a wider therapeutic window than oral MTX, and could be a future drug for treatment of arthritic disorders, including inflammatory OA.

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Dysregulated cellular apoptosis and resistance to cell death are hallmarks of neoplastic initiation and disease progression. Therefore, the development of agents that overcome apoptosis dysregulation in tumor cells is an attractive therapeutic approach. Activation of the extrinsic apoptotic pathway is strongly dependent on death receptor (DR) hyperclustering on the cell surface. However, strategies to activate DR5 or DR4 through agonistic antibodies have had only limited clinical success. To pursue an alternative approach for tumor targeted induction of apoptosis, we engineered a bispecific antibody (BsAb) which simultaneously targets fibroblast-activation protein (FAP) on cancer-associated fibroblasts in tumor stroma and DR5 on tumor cells. We hypothesized that bivalent binding to both FAP and DR5 leads to avidity-driven hyper-clustering of DR5 and subsequently strong induction of apoptosis in tumor cells but not in normal cells. Here, we show that RG7386, an optimized FAP-DR5 BsAb, triggers potent tumor cell apoptosis in vitro and in vivo in preclinical tumor models with FAP-positive stroma. RG7386 antitumor efficacy was strictly FAP-dependent, was independent of FcR crosslinking, and was superior to conventional DR5 antibodies. In combination with irinotecan or doxorubicin, FAP-DR5 treatment resulted in substantial tumor regression in patient-derived xenograft models. FAP-DR5 also demonstrated single-agent activity against FAP-expressing malignant cells, due to cross-binding of FAP and DR5 across tumor cells. Taken together, these data demonstrate that RG7386, a novel and potent antitumor agent in both mono- and combination therapies, overcomes limitations of previous DR5 antibodies and represents a promising approach to conquer tumor-associated resistance to apoptosis.
Copyright ©2016, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper).

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