On September 10, 2024 Delta-fly pharma reported that a phase I/II clinical trial of DFP-10917 in combination with venetoclax (VEN) in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who have received prior VEN-containing therapy was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on April 8, 2024 ( Delta-Fly Pharma Inc: Notice of Authorization to Conduct Phase I/II Study of DFP-10917 in Combination with Venetoclax | Business Wire ) (Press release, Delta-Fly Pharma, SEP 10, 2024, View Source [SID1234646492]). Today, we are pleased to announce that the first patient has been enrolled at the University of Virginia Hospital based on Investigational Review Board (IRB) approval. The University of Virginia Hospital is the clinical site that has enrolled the most patients in the Phase III study of DFP-10917 as a single agent in patients with relapsed/refractory AML.

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Pharmaceutical companies have already expressed interest in the Phase III study of DFP-10917 as a monotherapy. In addition, many companies, including pharmaceutical giants, have expressed interest in the Phase I/II combination study of DFP-10917 with VEN, due to the large potential market size for the treatment of AML.

VEN alone is not effective against AML, but it becomes effective in combination with azacitidine (DNA methylation inhibitor), which is currently recognized as a standard treatment for AML despite safety concerns. We will therefore provide significantly more combination therapy of VEN and DFP-10917 (G2/M arrest) compared to the current standard treatment for AML. Up to 39 patients will be enrolled in this study. The endpoints are complete remission rate and progression-free survival. After the completion of the Phase I/II study, Delta-Fly Pharma, Inc. will cooperate with a pharmaceutical giant to file a New Drug Application (NDA).

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On September 10, 2024 Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) and Genesis Therapeutics, Inc. reported that the companies have entered into a strategic collaboration to discover and develop novel, small molecule therapies across multiple targets (Press release, Gilead Sciences, SEP 10, 2024, View Source [SID1234646477]).

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Genesis is pioneering generative and predictive artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to help create therapeutics for challenging targets. This collaboration will deploy Genesis’ field-leading AI platform, GEMS (Genesis Exploration of Molecular Space), to assist in generating and optimizing molecules for targets selected by Gilead. The companies will collaborate closely on preclinical research activities and Gilead will have exclusive rights for potential clinical development and commercialization of collaboration compounds.

"The use of generative AI in drug development, enabled by people, science and other new technology, has shown potential to accelerate the discovery of molecules for challenging targets," said Flavius Martin, M.D., Executive Vice President, Research, Gilead Sciences. "We look forward to working with Genesis to apply their AI platform to discover and advance novel therapies that may address significant unmet patient needs ."

"Many promising protein targets have a paucity of relevant training data, which makes it difficult to apply off-the-shelf machine learning methods," said Evan Feinberg, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Genesis. "We have designed our physical AI platform to address this issue and enable drug discovery campaigns for difficult targets. Genesis is thrilled to combine our expertise in generative AI and drug discovery with Gilead’s deeply experienced research and development teams, with the shared goal of creating breakthrough therapies for patients."

Terms of the Agreement

Under the terms of the agreement, Genesis will receive an upfront cash payment of $35 million across three targets and Gilead will have an option to nominate additional targets for a predetermined per-target fee. Across programs, Genesis is eligible to receive additional preclinical, development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments. Genesis is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales should Gilead successfully commercialize products from the collaboration.

Gilead does not exclude acquired IPR&D expenses from its non-GAAP financial measures. This transaction with Genesis is expected to reduce Gilead’s GAAP and non-GAAP 2024 EPS by approximately $0.02.

On September 10, 2024 enGene Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: ENGN, or "enGene" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage genetic medicines company whose non-viral lead investigational product detalimogene voraplasmid, (also known as detalimogene, and previously EG-70), is in an ongoing pivotal study in patients with high-risk, Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-unresponsive, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) with carcinoma in situ (Cis), reported its financial results for the third quarter ended July 31, 2024 and provided a business update (Press release, enGene, SEP 10, 2024, View Source [SID1234646493]).

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"Detalimogene was designed to be the most practical therapy for patients living with NMIBC and the urologists caring for them," said Ron Cooper, Chief Executive Officer of enGene. "We believe the unmet need for bladder cancer patients is significant and that detalimogene has the potential to offer a highly differentiated profile with a unique combination of clinical activity, tolerability, and ease of use. We look forward to sharing preliminary results from our pivotal LEGEND study later this month."

Anticipated Milestones and Strategic Corporate Updates

Release of preliminary data from LEGEND Cohort 1: The Company expects to release preliminary data from the LEGEND study’s pivotal BCG-unresponsive cohort by the end of September.

Key leadership hires and board additions: In July 2024, enGene announced that Ron Cooper joined the Company as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors. The Company also announced the promotion of Dr. Raj Pruthi to Chief Medical Officer.

Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results

Cash and cash equivalents, as of July 31, 2024, were $257.7 million. The Company expects that its existing cash and cash equivalents will fund operating expenses, debt obligations and capital expenditures into 2027.

Three Months ended July 31, 2024

Total operating expenses were $16.8 million for the three months ended July 31, 2024, compared to $6.2 million for the three months ended July 31, 2023. Research and development expenses increased by $7.6 million, mainly due to increasing manufacturing and clinical costs related to our pivotal LEGEND study and headcount costs. General and administrative expenses increased by $2.9 million, primarily driven by headcount costs and other expenses driven by director and officer insurance expense as the Company scales its general and administrative function to support the operation of a public company.

For the three months ended July 31, 2024, net loss attributable to common shareholders was approximately $14.1 million, or $0.32 per share, compared to approximately $6.0 million, or $8.55 per share, for the same period for the three months ended July 31, 2023. The increase in net loss is mainly attributed to the increase in operating expenses partially offset by net interest income earned during the period.

On September 10, 2024 Verastem Oncology (Nasdaq: VSTM), a biopharmaceutical company committed to advancing new medicines for patients with cancer, reported the acceptance of a late-breaking abstract of the mature data from the ongoing Phase 2 RAMP 201 (ENGOT-ov60/GOG-3052) clinical trial to be presented as an oral presentation at a plenary session at the International Gynecologic Cancer Society (IGCS) Annual Meeting taking place October 16-18, 2024 in Dublin, Ireland (Press release, Verastem, SEP 10, 2024, View Source [SID1234646478]). The presentation will include updated safety and efficacy data from the RAMP 201 trial evaluating the combination of avutometinib, a RAF/MEK clamp, and defactinib, a selective FAK inhibitor, in patients with low-grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC), including overall response rate, progression free survival, and duration of response.

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"The robust interim data from the ongoing RAMP 201 clinical trial in LGSOC, announced earlier this year, enabled us to initiate the rolling NDA submission to the FDA," said Dan Paterson, president and chief executive officer of Verastem Oncology. "We look forward to the oral presentation at IGCS of the mature RAMP 201 data and engaging with experts in ovarian cancer as part of the international gynecologic community. We also remain on track to finalize our clinical module and complete our NDA submission in the fourth quarter of this year."

About the Avutometinib and Defactinib Combination

Avutometinib is a RAF/MEK clamp that induces inactive complexes of MEK with ARAF, BRAF and CRAF potentially creating a more complete and durable anti-tumor response through maximal RAS/MAPK pathway inhibition. In contrast to currently available MEK-only inhibitors, avutometinib blocks both MEK kinase activity and the ability of RAF to phosphorylate MEK. This unique mechanism allows avutometinib to block MEK signaling without the compensatory activation of MEK that appears to limit the efficacy of other MEK-only inhibitors.

Verastem Oncology is currently conducting clinical trials with avutometinib in RAS/MAPK driven tumors as part of its Raf And Mek Program or RAMP. RAMP 301 (NCT06072781) is an international Phase 3 confirmatory trial evaluating the combination of avutometinib and defactinib, a selective FAK inhibitor, versus standard chemotherapy or hormonal therapy for the treatment of recurrent low-grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC). RAMP 201 (NCT04625270) is a Phase 2 registration-directed trial of avutometinib in combination with defactinib in patients with recurrent LGSOC and enrollment has been completed for the entire RAMP 201 trial, including regimen selection and expansion of the go forward regimen.

Verastem has initiated a rolling New Drug Application (NDA) submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the investigational combination of avutometinib and defactinib in adults with recurrent LGSOC and expects to complete its NDA submission in the second half of 2024 with a potential FDA decision in the first half of 2025. The FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation of the investigational combination of avutometinib and defactinib for the treatment of all patients with recurrent LGSOC after one or more prior lines of therapy, including platinum-based chemotherapy. Avutometinib alone or in combination with defactinib was also granted Orphan Drug Designation by the FDA for the treatment of LGSOC.

Verastem Oncology has established clinical collaborations with Amgen and Mirati to evaluate LUMAKRAS (sotorasib) in combination with avutometinib and defactinib and KRAZATI (adagrasib) in combination with avutometinib in KRAS G12C mutant NSCLC as part of the RAMP 203 (NCT05074810) and RAMP 204 (NCT05375994) trials, respectively. The RAMP 205 (NCT05669482), a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial evaluating avutometinib and defactinib with gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel in patients with front-line metastatic pancreatic cancer, is supported by the PanCAN Therapeutic Accelerator Award. FDA granted Orphan Drug Designation to avutometinib and defactinib combination for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

On September 10, 2024 BeiGene, Ltd. (NASDAQ: BGNE; HKEX: 06160; SSE: 688235), a global oncology company, reported that it will present new data on TEVIMBRA (tislelizumab) at the European Society for Medical Oncology 2024 Congress (ESMO 2024) in Barcelona, ​​Spain, September 13-17, 2024 (Press release, BeiGene, SEP 10, 2024, View Source [SID1234646494]). Seven BeiGene abstracts have been selected for the ESMO (Free ESMO Whitepaper) 2024 Congress, including one that has been selected for the special session revisiting the virtual ESMO (Free ESMO Whitepaper) plenary held in February 2024.

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New data strengthen evidence for TEVIMBRA’s efficacy in multiple conditions

As a reminder of the ESMO (Free ESMO Whitepaper) plenary session, interim results from the RATIONALE-315 study show a statistically significant benefit in terms of event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) trend supporting neoadjuvant tislelizumab plus chemotherapy with adjuvant tislelizumab compared with placebo plus chemotherapy with adjuvant placebo for patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (session #VP1-2024, 13 September from 16:17 to 16:29 CEST). These results confirm data presented at ESMO (Free ESMO Whitepaper) 2023, showing that the major pathological response (MPR) and pathological complete response (pCR) rates were significantly improved: 56.2% vs. 15.0% (P<0.0001) and 40.7% vs. 5.7% (P<0.0001), respectively. The safety profile of the tislelizumab arm was consistent with that of the individual therapies, with 72.1% (vs. 66.4% in the placebo arm) of patients in the tislelizumab arm experiencing grade ≥3 treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) and 15.5% (vs. 8.0% in the placebo arm) experiencing serious TRAEs. The most common treatment-related adverse events were neutrophil count decreased, white blood cell count decreased, and alopecia. Symptom improvement achieved with RATIONALE-315 will also be presented as patient-reported outcomes (Poster #1213P, September 14).
Three-year overall survival data from the RATIONALE-305 study continue to demonstrate the long-term efficacy and safety of tislelizumab in combination with chemotherapy in patients with first-line advanced or metastatic gastric cancer/gastroesophageal junction cancer (GC/GEJC) (Poster #1437P, September 16), as well as improved patient-reported outcomes (Poster #1449P, September 16).
Long-term results from the RATIONALE-307 study in the ITT population as well as in the population with long-term exposure to tislelizumab plus chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of squamous cell NSCLC show a continued OS benefit, with clinically promising four-year OS rates (Poster No. 1323P, September 14).
Relative efficacy of tislelizumab compared with other anti-PD-1 therapies approved in the European Union and the United Kingdom for the second-line treatment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESC) using a grounded theory simulated treatment comparison of data from the RATIONALE-302 study and comparative clinical studies (poster #1417P, September 16).
"TEVIMBRA has demonstrated potential in multiple disease states, and the data presented at ESMO (Free ESMO Whitepaper) 2024 reinforce its position as a cornerstone asset in our solid tumor pipeline," said Dr. Jan-Henrik Terwey, Vice President, Medical Affairs, Europe, BeiGene. "As part of our commitment to bring innovative cancer medicines to more patients, we recently launched TEVIMBRA in EMA-approved indications in Germany, Austria and Norway, and are working to make TEVIMBRA available across Europe."

TEVIMBRA in Europe

BeiGene recently launched TEVIMBRA in the first European countries following EU marketing authorizations for the treatment of eligible patients with EOC and NSCLC. TEVIMBRA is also approved in the United Kingdom and Switzerland for eligible patients with advanced or metastatic EOC.

"Advanced or metastatic EOC and NSCLC are aggressive cancers with limited treatment options," said Markus Moehler, MD, PhD, of Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center Mainz in Germany. "The availability of tislelizumab for these patients represents an important next step in changing the treatment landscape."

The European Commission’s authorisations are based on the results of four randomised phase 3 studies in the RATIONALE programme: RATIONALE-302 ( NCT03430843 ) in EOC and RATIONALE-307 ( NCT03594747 ), RATIONALE-304 ( NCT03663205 ) and RATIONALE-303 ( NCT03358875 ) in NSCLC. The approved indications for TEVIMBRA in the EU are:

In combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel for the first-line treatment of adult patients with locally advanced squamous cell NSCLC who are not candidates for surgical resection or platinum-based chemoradiation, or metastatic NSCLC.
In combination with pemetrexed and platinum-containing chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of adult patients with non-squamous NSCLC whose tumors have PD-L1 expression on ≥50% of tumor cells, without positive EGFR or ALK mutations, and who have locally advanced NSCLC and are not candidates for surgical resection or platinum-based chemoradiation, or metastatic NSCLC.
As monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC after prior platinum-based therapy. Patients with EGFR mutation-positive or ALK-positive NSCLC should also have received targeted therapies prior to receiving tislelizumab.
As monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic EOC after prior platinum-based chemotherapy.
About TEVIMBRA (tislelizumab)

Tislelizumab is a uniquely designed humanized anti-programmed death protein 1 (PD-1) immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) monoclonal antibody with high affinity and specificity of binding against PD-1. It is designed to reduce binding to Fc-gamma (Fcγ) receptors on macrophages, which helps the body’s immune cells detect and fight tumors.