On February 24, 2016 Genoscience Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering and developing cancer treatment drugs, reported the arrival of four new members to its board of directors (Press release, GenoScience, FEB 24, 2016, View Source [SID:1234509200]). Dr Mahkam Zanganeh, Robert Duggan and Manmeet Soni, respectively the former chief operating officer, chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Pharmacyclics, are joining the board along with Chaim Hurvitz, who has worked in many management roles for Teva International Group. The new members will support the strategic and financial development of Genoscience, alongside existing board members – Antoine Béret, Jean-Marc Feryn, Vincent Fert and Chalom Sayada. Their arrival is accompanied by an increase in capital, the terms of which have not been disclosed.

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The four new members are all recognized biotechnology entrepreneurs. While at Pharmacyclics Pharmaceuticals, in less than seven years, Mahkam Zanganeh and Robert Duggan developed and brought to the market Imbruvica, a first-in-class compound treating patients with Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL), Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) and Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia (WM). In May 2015, Abbvie acquired Pharmacyclics for $21Bn (€18.9Bn), one of the biggest buyouts for a biotechnology company to date.

Genoscience Pharma’s most advanced compound, GNS561, is in preclinical development for the treatment of liver cancer. It is a small active molecule that works against a new target. It is unique as it targets not only hepatic cancerous cells, but also the progenitors of the cancerous hepatocyte stem cells. GNS561 begins its regulatory process with the aim of starting the first-in-man phase 1b/2a trials in 2017. Preclinical studies have demonstrated GN561’s potential to become a major therapeutic breakthrough in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

"I am delighted to welcome this high caliber team to our board of directors. Robert Duggan and Mahkam Zanganeh’s experience in the development of anti-tumor molecules will be a credit to our company," said Prof. Philippe Halfon, president and founder of Genoscience Pharma. "It is an honor and a true mark of recognition to be joined by such a team, who participate very selectively in high potential projects. Their scientific expertise in pharmaceutical development will undoubtedly help us achieve our objectives and get to phase 2 quickly."

"The next challenge in oncology is to cure cancer patients by targeting the seed of the disease; cancer stem cells which cause cancer to recur," said Dr. Mahkam Zanganeh. "The strategy proposed by Genoscience Pharma is unique and will allow us to make a decisive step forward in curing cancer."

About cancer stem cells

Since 2012, Genoscience has been involved in an ambitious program to discover and develop compounds that target cancer stem cells. These stem cells, which are ultra-resistant to traditional chemotherapy and radiotherapy, form a minority subpopulation of the cells in a tumor and are responsible for tumor growth and metastases. They renew themselves indefinitely, differentiating themselves to form and maintain the tumor tissue. These cells do not respond to conventional chemotherapy that targets the majority of differentiated tumor cells. This explains the indefinite development of tumors as well as metastases and relapses. Consequently, eradicating cancer stem cells is essential in order to achieve lasting clinical remission and to improve the prognosis of cancer patients.

Genoscience is one of the pioneers in this emerging domain of cancer biology, which aims to revolutionize the traditional approach to treating cancer. Genoscience’s main candidate, GNS561, is also under evaluation for treating other cancers (kidney and colorectal), which could respond to its first-in-class action mechanism.

About liver cancer

Liver cancer (or HCC – hepatocellular carcinoma) is the third most common cause of death by cancer in the world[1]. The medical needs for treating it are considerable and not yet resolved. The only existing chemotherapy treatment for HCC is sorafenib, which slightly increases survival rates, but has many adverse effects[2].

On February 24, 2016 Provectus Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE MKT: PVCT, www.pvct.com), a clinical-stage oncology and dermatology biopharmaceutical company ("Provectus" or "The Company"), reported that data on intralesional PV-10 and co-inhibitory blockade in a melanoma model will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper)’s ("AACR") Annual Meeting 2016 on Wednesday, April 20, 2016, from 8 am to 12 Noon Central Standard Time (Filing, 8-K, Provectus Pharmaceuticals, FEB 24, 2016, View Source [SID:1234509165]).

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The poster presentation is titled "T Cell Mediated Immunity after Combination Therapy with Intralesional PV-10 and Co-Inhibitory Blockade in a Melanoma Model." Scheduled for presentation at Section 26 of the exhibition area, the data are from a team of researchers at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, led by Dr. Shari Pilon-Thomas.

The AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2016 is being held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, from April 16-20, 2016.

Elevated concentrations of doxorubicin are found in eccrine sweat glands of the palms and soles. We therefore evaluated an antiperspirant as preventive treatment for palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia (hand-foot syndrome) in patients with metastatic breast cancer treated with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin.
An antiperspirant containing aluminum chlorohydrate or placebo cream was applied to the left or right hand and foot in a double-blinded manner (intra-patient randomization). The primary endpoint was the rate of grade 2 or 3 palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia. A secondary endpoint was the patient-reported symptom burden (tingling, numbness, pain, or skin problems). Using McNemar’s matched pairs design, 53 patients were needed to detect a 20% difference between the treatment and placebo sides with a significance level of 5% and power of 90%.
Grade 2 or 3 PPE occurred in 30 (58%) of 52 evaluable patients; in six patients adverse effects occurred on the placebo side but not on the treatment side, whereas one patient developed palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia on the treatment side only (P = 0.07). Four patients developed grade 2 or 3 palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia on their foot on the placebo side but not on the treatment side (P = 0.05). In the cohort with grade 2 or 3 palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia there was a trend towards fewer dermatologic symptomatologies with the active treatment (P = 0.05), and no difference for other adverse events.
Using topical aluminum chlorohydrate as an antiperspirant appears to reduce the incidence of grade 2 or 3 palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia following pegylated liposomal doxorubicin chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer.
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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On February 24, 2016, At its meeting today, the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG announced that they have approved the Board of Management’s recommendation that a dividend payment of EUR 2.50 (2014: EUR 2.25) per share be proposed to the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting on April 29, 2016 (Press release, Bayer, FEB 24, 2016, View Source [SID:1234509168]). "2015 was a very good year for Bayer. We would like our stockholders to share appropriately in this success," explained Bayer CEO Dr. Marijn Dekkers. With 826,947,808 shares entitled to the dividend, the total dividend payment would amount to EUR 2,067 million (2014: EUR 1,861 million), an increase of 11.1 percent.

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The Bayer Group’s consolidated financial statements for 2015 will be presented and discussed at the Financial News Conference on February 25, 2016.

To gain information about efficacy and safety of sunscreens, we compared the skin penetration of ultraviolet (UV) filters from two vehicles, i.e. an oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion gel and petrolatum jelly both in vitro and in vivo, as well as the corresponding pharmacological effect, i.e. the sun protection factor (SPF) in vivo. The UV filters studied were benzophenone-3 (BPH), ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (EHM), butyl methoxydibenzoyl methane, ethylhexyl salicylate and homosalate. The human skin penetration of these five chemicals from the two vehicles was determined both in vitro using Franz cells and in vivo using a standardized tape-stripping method. The SPF of the two sunscreens was determined in vivo following the COLIPA guidelines. In vitro none of the filters permeated through the skin after 6 h of product application and very little could be found in the skin. BPH and EHM were the only UV filters found in the dermis (both after 30 min and 6 h). An effect of the vehicle could be noticed only for BPH after 30 min in the dermis and 6 h in both dermis and epidermis. In vivo, no differences in the amount of individual UV filters (in % of the applied dose) in the 15 first strips of the stratum corneum (SC) were found following 30 min of application of the formulations; however, the amount of UV filters that were retained in the SC was significantly higher (around 3 times) with the O/W emulsion gel than with the petrolatum jelly. This difference between the two vehicles was also of consequence for the SPF in vivo measured 30 min after application of the products (SPF congruent with 18 with the O/W emulsion gel compared to SPF congruent with 10 with the petrolatum jelly). By choosing the right vehicle or optimizing it, not only sunscreen products can be significantly improved in terms of pharmacological efficacy but the potential toxicological risk associated with the skin penetration of UV filters may be significantly reduced.
Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel

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