Redx Pharma appoints chief medical officer who will oversee launch of phase I clinical trial of new cancer drug

On January 22, 2018 Redx Pharma Plc (LON:REDX) reported that it has appointed a chief medical officer ahead of the imminent launch of phase I clinical trials of its lead drug (Press release, Redx Pharma, JAN 22, 2018, View Source [SID1234524742]).

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Dr Andrew Saunders has 25 years in the cancer field and was recruited from Lytix Biopharma, a Norwegian immuno-oncology firm, where he held the same role.

He will work with the research and development team at Redx, "fronting" the clinical development of RXC004.

This is a potentially potent small molecule drug called a porcupine inhibitor that targets Wnt pathway.

Chairman Iain Ross said he was "very pleased" to announce Saunders’ appointment.

"He brings to the company a wealth of relevant experience and expertise in the clinical development of oncology drugs," Ross explained.

"This will be invaluable as the company transforms into a clinical stage company with the anticipated commencement of the first phase I study on lead compound RXC004 in the coming weeks.

"We are very excited by the potential of RXC004 to make a major difference in cancer treatment.

"We intend to progress RXC004 in the clinic both as a monotherapy and in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor. Therefore, we envisage that Andrew’s recent experience in immuno-oncology combination trials will be particularly pertinent to the design and execution of future clinical trials with RXC004."

Porcupine inhibitors such as RXC004 are a new and potentially breakthrough method of fighting the killer disease.

They work by targeting cancer stems cells that can often lie dormant after traditional treatment and are associated with a recurrence of the illness. Kill the stem cells and you have a chance of eradicating the disease completely.

Clinical trials of the new Redx drug commence in the "coming weeks".

Harbour BioMed Completes Series A+ Round Financing to Accelerate the Development of Clinical Programs and Company Growth

On January 22, 2018 Harbour BioMed reported that it has completed a Series A+ round financing to accelerate its growth, especially the development of multiple clinical programs (Press release, Harbour BioMed, JAN 22, 2018, View Source [SID1234523461]). The A+ round is financed by CDH Investments, a top PE firm in China, with A round investor Advantech Capital participating. Financial details were not disclosed.

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"Within the first year of operation, Harbour BioMed has successfully acquired and integrated the antibody platform company Harbour Antibodies BV, and transformed into a biopharmaceutical company with multifaceted core business. We are building a top-notch antibody discovery and technology team specialized in Immuno-Oncology and Immunology, developing a robust internal pipeline targeting global market, in licensing innovative assets to address high unmet needs for the China market, and forging new partnerships based on internal technology platforms. This progress has been highly recognized by investors and the market," said Dr. Jingsong Wang, CEO of Harbour BioMed. "We are very pleased to collaborate with leading investors such as CDH Investments to accelerate the development of our clinical stage biologic assets, and to strengthen our partnering capabilities."

Dr. Wang noted that in September 2017, Harbour BioMed licensed in two innovative clinical stage biologics, and has assembled an experienced clinical development and regulatory science team. In 2018, Harbour BioMed plans to submit at least two IND targeting multiple indications in areas of high unmet medical needs for Chinese patients.

Harbour BioMed was established in 2016 with $50 million A round financing, and acquired Harbour Antibodies BV and its subsidiaries, one of the few companies that owns technologies for generating fully human monoclonal antibodies, of both conventional as well as heavy chain only form. Current investors of Harbour BioMed include Atlas Venture, Advantech Capital, Legend Capital, CDH Investments and founding team. Harbour BioMed is headquartered with R&D Centers in China. It also has a Business Operation and Innovation Center in Boston, and an Antibody Technology Innovation Center located in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Nymox Reports 5-Year Results From Prospective Randomized Controlled Prostate Cancer Study of Fexapotide Triflutate in 146 U.S. Men

On January 22, 2018 Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation (NASDAQ:NYMX) reported today top-line 5-year results from Nymox’s U.S. Study NX03-0040. Study NX03-0040 was undertaken starting in 2012 at 44 investigational sites across the U.S. comprising a highly representative sample of 146 men with the biopsy confirmed diagnosis of T1c prostate cancer, which is the most common type of low grade localized prostate cancer (Press release, Nymox, JAN 22, 2018, View Source [SID1234523418]). After 5 years, the study has now shown that high dose Fexapotide 15mg single dosage treatment resulted in 80% less surgery or radiotherapy associated with Gleason grade progression (p=.0003), and that both doses of Fexapotide (15mg and 2.5mg) were consistently effective (p=.0003). There were 4.4% patients in the entire Fexapotide group who showed increase in their Gleason primary pattern grade in the 5-year study, compared to controls where the incidence of grade 4 or higher primary pattern was 23.5%, a reduction of 81.3% (p=.0061).

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Paul Averback MD, CEO of Nymox, said, "These major new results show the beneficial long-term effect of a single injection of Fexapotide Triflutate. The results are expected to be even better with regimens of additional or multiple treatment administrations if required."

In the studies Fexapotide triflutate was administered by a single painless injection directly into the prostate requiring several minutes or less in an office procedure guided by routine ultrasound. The drug was injected into the area of the prostate where the cancer was previously detected prior to enrollment in NX03-0040; and repeated biopsies every 18 months, serial PSA measurements and long-term follow-up were performed on all consenting treated patients and controls. After 5 years of study, high dose Fexapotide 15mg single treatment resulted in 80% less surgery or radiotherapy associated with Gleason grade progression (p=.0003), and both doses of Fexapotide (15mg and 2.5mg) were consistently effective (p=.0003). There were 4.4% patients in the entire Fexapotide group who showed increase in their Gleason primary pattern grade in the 5-year study, compared to controls where the incidence of grade 4 or higher primary pattern was 23.5%, a reduction of 81.3% (p=.0061). The new study results also indicated that after 5 years of study, all recorded instances of surgery or radiotherapy, including elective cases without Gleason upgrades, were decreased by 69.8% (p=.0002) in Fexapotide 15mg treated patients compared to the randomized control group.

Dr. Averback added, "Eight years of other related U.S. long-term Phase 3 BPH studies of Fexapotide have shown reduction in new prostate cancer incidence to 1.2%, compared to previous large BPH studies of earlier drugs where the incidence of prostate cancer is in the 10-20% range. There are therefore 2 different long-term Fexapotide programs which have now each independently shown that Fexapotide has a significant and highly beneficial effect for men with prostate cancer."

"These strong results clearly support Management’s ongoing efforts to advance both of the Company’s 2 major projects towards marketing goals. Nymox expects to report further on its U.S. development plans for registration trials for low grade prostate cancer. There is a global unmet medical need for more effective prostate treatments without the undesirable side effects of current treatments," he said.

One of the major problems with the main current prostate treatments for localized prostate cancer (radical prostatectomy, external beam radiation, brachytherapy) is the relatively high incidence of serious sexual problems post-treatment. In 9 studies, Fexapotide treatment has been shown to have a negligible significant adverse effect post-treatment on sexual function or testosterone levels.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men, other than skin cancer, and is the second leading cause of cancer death for men. Approximately 50% of prostate cancers are initially considered low risk.

Fexapotide has shown significant long-term benefit for prostate enlargement (benign prostatic hyperplasia, BPH). The recent results of Phase 3 studies of Fexapotide for BPH were communicated in podium and symposium presentations to the American Urological Association at four sectional Annual Meetings in 2017 in Scottsdale (North Central AUA November 15, 2017), Havana, (New York AUA November 6, 2017), Naples (South Central AUA November 27, 2017), and Savannah (Northeastern AUA October 12, 2017). The Company has filed for approval for Fexapotide in Europe for BPH for prostate enlargement in 2017, and the filing was validated in September 2017.

For more information please contact [email protected] or 800-936-9669.

Celgene Announces Acquisition of Juno Therapeutics

On January 22, 2018 Celgene reported Acquisition of Juno Therapeutics (Press release, Juno, JAN 22, 2018, View Source [SID1234524085]).

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Laminar Pharma awarded a 6,15M€ grant by the H2020 Programme to conduct a PIIb trial with 2OHOA in patients with newly-diagnosed glioblastoma

On January 21, 2018 Laminar Pharma, a pioneering clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new generation of products modulating metabolism of membrane lipids based on the groundbreaking MLT platform, reported that the European Commission has awarded a 6,15M€ grant to the CLINGLIO consortium, lead by Laminar Pharma, to execute the project entitled "A Clinical Phase IIB trial with 2OHOA in patients with newly-diagnosed malignant glioma" (Press release, Laminar Pharma, JAN 21, 2018, View Source [SID1234562095]).

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The CLINGLIO project was evaluated as a Research and Innovation Action (RIA) within the call H2020-SC1-2017-Two-Stage-RTD, Topic SC1-PM-08-2017 (New therapies for rare diseases), part of the Health, Demographic Change and Well-being Work Programme of the H2020. Total budget available for this H2020-SC1-2017-Two-Stage-RTD call was 173M€, of which 65M€ were assigned to topic SC1-PM-08-2017. Overall, 668 proposals were submitted to this call, of which 37 were pre-selected for funding across the four topics of the call (5,5% of the initial proposals). In the New Therapies for Rare Diseases topic, the EC will select for funding up to 11 proposals with an average budget per project of around 6M€.

The grant has been awarded to a multinational, well balanced consortium formed by 5 leading clinical research institutions in the UK (Royal Marsden Hospital and Northern Institute for Cancer Research, University ofNewcastle upon Tyne), France (Institut Gustave Roussy), Italy (Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta) and Israel (Hadassah Medical Organization), two universities in Spain (Universitat de les Illes Balears, UIB) and Italy (Universita degli Studi di Salerno) and 4 specialized SMEs from The Netherlands (SMS Oncology, clinical CRO), Hungary (Lipodom Kft, lipidomic analysis), USA (LMBRI, pharmacoeconomics and market access) and Spain (Praxis Pharmaceutical, Drug product manufacturing and commercialization, and Laminar Pharma, coordinator and sponsor of the clinical trial).

The main objective of the CLINGLIO project is to execute a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled adjuvant trial in primary newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients to assess the efficacy and safety of 2OHOA in combination with radiotherapy and temozolomide. This study is a phase IIB adaptive trial with interim dose selection, sample size reassessment and biomarker threshold/omics signature determination. It is anticipated that around 15 clinical research hospitals across Europe and Israel will recruit 150 patients in the first part of the study, distributed in three arms: 1) control, with Standard of Care (SoC) plus placebo, 2) SoC plus 2OHOA "low dose" and 3) SoC plus 2OHOA "high dose". An interim analysis will take place after 75 events (Disease Progression) occurs and depending on the results of this interim analysis 60 to 120 additional patients will be enrolled in the second part of the study. The primary endpoint will be Progression Free Survival, according to RANO criteria, and Overall Survival will be a key secondary endpoint.

If the results of this clinical trial are positive, Laminar Pharma plans to apply for a conditional approval of 2OHOA in Europe for the treatment of newly diagnosed GBM patients, in combination with radiotherapy and temozolomide