On January 16, 2024 DISCO Pharmaceuticals ("DISCO"), a specialist biotech unlocking the surfaceome of cancer cells at scale to identify new targets and develop first in class drugs, reported the company emerged from stealth (Press release, DISCO Pharmaceuticals, JAN 16, 2024, View Source [SID1234639281]). The Company, operating out of Cologne, Germany and Schlieren, Switzerland, successfully raised seed financing of EUR 20 million and is backed by a world leading investor syndicate, including Sofinnova Partners, which led the round, Panakes Partners, M Ventures and AbbVie Ventures.

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The development of new treatment modalities in oncology is growing at an ever-increasing rate, but the lack of cancer-specific cell surface targets limits the application to a few clinically effective targets. The development of new biologics, such as antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and bi-specific antibodies, is on the rise; however, there are currently less than 30 molecular targets which form the basis of all antibody-based therapies. Therefore, there is a significant need to identify novel cancer-specific targets and target pairs.

DISCO’s pioneering surfaceome mapping platform transforms the current approach of target discovery for large molecule R&D. The technology identifies proteins and protein communities across the entire cancer cell surface in a scalable manner, thus addressing the need for target candidates for both mono- and bi-specific antibodies. These insights enable the development of a multitude of cancer-specific therapies, with the potential to boost efficacy and reduce side effects for patients. DISCO has started to create an internal pipeline of novel anti-cancer therapeutics leveraging this knowledge.

DISCO has completed the first-ever map of the surfaceome of a cancer type, Small Cell Lung Cancer, (SCLC) and is developing proprietary antibody-based treatments for SCLC, which has historically been difficult to treat. DISCO is currently working on Microsatellite-Stable Colorectal Cancer, which is associated with a high unmet medical need and for which only a few treatment options are available. The Company’s pipeline includes further undisclosed programs.

DISCO was spun out of ETH Zürich, with founders from ETH, the University of Cologne and Stanford University, and was founded in May 2022 by Prof. Roman Thomas, Dr. Johannes Heuckmann, Prof. Bernd Wollscheid and Prof. Julien Sage. The founders have a deep understanding of surface proteomics, cancer biology and drug discovery, and a track record of value creation. Dr. Stefan Ries, who has previously held leadership positions at Roche and was a venture partner at Versant Ventures, joins DISCO as Chief Scientific Officer. The DISCO team is complemented by a world leading group of scientific advisors.

In addition to the experienced Board of Directors from the investor syndicate, Dieter Weinand will join as Chairman of the Board. Dieter Weinand was previously the CEO of Bayer Pharmaceuticals and has held leadership positions at Pfizer, BMS and Sanofi. He currently serves on the Board of Coya Therapeutics (NASDAQ: COYA), as Chairman of the Boards of Replimune (NASDAQ: REPL), Umoja, and Inspirna, and as Executive Chairman of Mnemo Therapeutics. Furthermore, Carsten Reinhardt, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Development Officer at Immatics (NASDAQ: IMTX), joins the DISCO Board as an Independent Director. Previously, he was EVP and Chief Medical Officer at Micromet Inc, International Medical Leader at Hoffmann-La Roche, and has been serving as a director on supervisory boards to a variety of biopharma companies.

Roman Thomas, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, at DISCO Pharmaceuticals, said: "Today, we are launching DISCO Pharmaceuticals and its breakthrough technology after a decade of research by our exceptional team. We believe that our surfaceome discovery technology is truly disruptive and will transform oncology treatment options and ultimately improve outcomes for patients. The surfaceome mapping in Small Cell Lung Cancer – that we completed within months – has validated our technology platform and approach, demonstrating its potential, and we look forward to applying it to different indications."

Maina Bhaman, Partner at Sofinnova Partners, added: "DISCO is uniquely positioned to transform cancer care. The team, which brings together individuals with diverse backgrounds from academia, biotech and pharma, combined with its unique surfaceome discovery technology, enables comprehensive target information which neither standard proteomics, nor genome or transcriptome sequencing can provide."

Dieter Weinand, newly appointed Chairman of the DISCO Board of Directors, commented: "Expanding the possible target space in oncology has been a bottleneck in the industry for decades. I am thrilled to be working with the truly exceptional people at DISCO as I firmly believe that they will be able to overcome this hurdle by using their disruptive surfaceome discovery engine.

On January 16, 2024 Carcell Biopharma ("Carcell") and CATUG Biotechnology ("CATUG") reported their collaboration to provide lipid nanoparticle (LNP) services worldwide (Press release, Carcell Biopharma, JAN 16, 2024, View Source [SID1234639240]).

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This partnership aims to deliver contract research and manufacturing services globally for clients developing LNP-based drugs. These services will utilize Carcell’s proprietary cationic lipids and unique high throughput in vivo lipid screening platform, coupled with CATUG’s advanced capabilities for large-scale manufacturing of LNP-based drugs. Under the terms of the agreement, CATUG will have non-exclusive rights to utilize Carcell’s LNP technology for servicing its clients.

Lanlin Wu, CEO of Carcell, shared Carcell’s privilege to have CATUG as a strategic partner. She commended CATUG as the embodiment of the high execution speed of Chinese companies and is emerging as an industrial benchmark for gene therapy and nucleic acid drug production. Leveraging a proprietary large lipid library and internally-developed high-throughput formulation technology, Carcell has identified lipids with global intellectual property rights. When compared to industry benchmarks, these novel LNPs have demonstrated superior potency in applications that include vaccines and gene editing. Ms Wu believes that the partnership with CATUG unlocks multiple opportunities in the global non-viral nucleic acid delivery space and will contribute to the dynamic growth of the cell and gene therapy field.

Dr. Xiao Wang, CEO of CATUG, expressed that CATUG is honored to be in a strategic partnership with Carcell, whom possesses a world-class LNP development team and technical capabilities. As CATUG is committed to providing a one-stop CRDMO (Contract Research, Development and Manufacturing Organization) solution to customers globally, she believes that this newly formed strategic partnership with Carcell will empower customers who are seeking unique and high quality LNPs for drug delivery, for instance extra-hepatic delivery to immune cells. Such a partnership presents many opportunities for both parties and greatly accelerates R&D of various gene therapies and nucleic acid drugs.

On January 16, 2024 Myriad genetics presented its corporate presentation (Presentation, Myriad Genetics, JAN 16, 2024, View Source [SID1234639262]).

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On January 16, 2024 Accurus Biosciences Inc. ("Accurus") reported that it has entered into a worldwide licensing agreement for its CLDN18.2 monoclonal antibody with ImmPACT Bio USA, Inc. ("ImmPACT Bio"), a clinical-stage company focusing on the development of next generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies (Press release, Accurus Biosciences, JAN 16, 2024, View Source [SID1234639282]).

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"We are excited to announce that ImmPACT Bio chose to utilize our potential best-in-class CLDN18.2 antibody to develop next generation CAR T therapies," said Dr. Richard Zhang, chief executive officer of Accurus. "We believe ImmPACT’s programs have the potential to deliver differentiated and powerful therapies to benefit cancer patients."

Under the terms of the agreement, Accurus Biosciences has granted exclusive worldwide rights to ImmPACT Bio to develop and commercialize next generation cell therapies using a designated antibody from Accurus’ CLDN18.2 antibody portfolio. Accurus retains the rights to develop and commercialize its CLDN18.2 antibody portfolio for all non-cell based therapeutic applications. The financial terms were not disclosed

On January 16, 2024 Propanc Biopharma, Inc. (OTC Pink: PPCB) ("Propanc" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company developing novel cancer treatments for patients suffering from recurring and metastatic cancer, reported that a certificate of grant for the Company’s foundation patent was received from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (Press release, Propanc, JAN 16, 2024, View Source [SID1234639263]). The foundation patent covers composition claims for the Company’s lead product candidate, PRP. In further news, the PRP dosing and method to treat cancer stem cells (CSCs) patents were validated in countries across Europe, resulting in the Company’s IP portfolio growing to 87 patents filed in major global jurisdictions.

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The Canadian foundation patent is the final application to receive a certificate of grant in the Company’s foundation patent family (there are two divisional patents remaining citing additional inventions in the US and Mexico further dividing an original patent,). This means that grant status has been secured in every jurisdiction in which the Company has filed a foundation patent application. Propan has achieved grant status for the foundation patent in over 30 different countries across North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Japan.

The PRP dosing patent is an important part of the IP portfolio covering possible future clinical dosage ranges for PRP as the Company advances into early stage clinical development. For the CSCs patent, the claims cover a method to minimize the progression of cancer in a patient who has already received a first line treatment by detecting the presence of CSCs, followed by administering PRP. The future potential clinical application describes when a patient experiences a relapse and the cancer returns after primary standard of care has been applied. Europe is considered a major global region and in 2022, the worldwide pharmaceutical market was valued at approximately $1.48 trillion by Statista.com and accounted for 23.4% of global pharmaceutical sales in 2021, according to the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).

"The advancement of our growing IP portfolio in these major regions gives us confidence that we are leading a novel approach using proenzyme technology as a long-term therapy for the treatment and prevention of metastatic cancer from solid tumors by targeting and eradicating CSCs," said Mr. James Nathanielsz, Propanc’s Chief Executive Officer. "Our lead product candidate, PRP, is unique from other approaches as it targets CSCs, but leaves healthy cells alone, making it less toxic compared to standard treatment approaches. Furthermore, PRP is known as differentiation therapy, which means it does not directly kill CSCs, but enforces them to return to a less malignant state so they die naturally. This means a less aggressive and toxic approach, providing a better quality of life for the patient, but we hope effective over a prolonged period, because you can treat them for longer, minimizing the threat of recurrence. We look forward to advancing PRP into the clinic, and together with our growing IP portfolio, establishing the Company as a pioneer in the way we treat this killer disease."