Lunit to Present 11 Abstracts at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting

On April 28, 2022 Lunit reported the presentation of 11 abstracts featuring its AI-biomarker platform at the 2022 ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting from June 3 to 7 (Press release, Lunit, APR 28, 2022, View Source [SID1234613187]).

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Since 2019, the company has presented groundbreaking findings based on its AI-powered tissue analysis platform, ‘Lunit SCOPE.’ This year’s ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Meeting will showcase the largest number of studies by Lunit, including seven poster presentations and four online publications.

One of Lunit’s presentations will focus on the use of AI technology to define tumor immune phenotypes. Findings from the study validate the effectiveness of Lunit SCOPE IO—Lunit’s AI biomarker—in predicting clinical outcomes of immunotherapy across more than 16 different cancer types.

Lunit’s other major study assesses the practical efficacy of Lunit SCOPE PD-L1, an AI-powered PD-L1 tumor proportion score (TPS) analyzer, which recently has received a CE mark.

In addition, Lunit will also present clinical findings that demonstrate the accuracy of its AI imaging solution in detecting high-risk breast cancer patients.

The company’s four abstracts due to be published online include a joint study to evaluate the performance of ‘Lunit SCOPE HER2’ in reducing interobserver variation among pathologists, as well as an examination of the landscape of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in neuroendocrine tumors, a rare form of cancer, by using Lunit SCOPE IO.

"Through several studies, Lunit has demonstrated the credibility of Lunit SCOPE IO as a practical biomarker to predict cancer patients’ response to immunotherapy," said Chan-Young Ock, Chief Medical Officer at Lunit. "This study validates the efficacy of our AI biomarker as we continue to expand the range of our research across all cancer types originating from the epithelium."

ImmunityBio To Present Data From Multiple Clinical Trials at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting

On April 28, 2022 ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ: IBRX), a clinical-stage immunotherapy company, reported its abstracts were accepted for presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, June 3-7, in Chicago (Press release, ImmunityBio, APR 28, 2022, View Source [SID1234613122]).

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QUILT 3.032 Oral Presentation: Principal Investigator Karim Chamie, M.D., Associate Professor of Urology at UCLA, will present final clinical results of pivotal trial of IL-15RαFc superagonist N-803 with BCG in BCG-unresponsive CIS and papillary non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).
QUILT 88 Poster Session: Phase 2 clinical trial of DAMP inducers combined with IL15 superagonist, N-803, and anti–PD-L1 NK cell therapy more than doubles historical overall survival in patients with third- to sixth-line advanced pancreatic cancer.
ImmunityBio will be exhibiting at booth number 26135.

Emergent BioSolutions Reports Financial Results For First Quarter 2022

On April 28, 2022 Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE: EBS) reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022 (Press release, Emergent BioSolutions, APR 28, 2022, View Source [SID1234613139]).

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"Emergent remains focused on our strategic plan to grow within public health threat markets where we can positively impact patients and customers," said Robert G. Kramer, president and CEO of Emergent BioSolutions. "Our diversified business model, disciplined operating approach, and financial strength enable us to continue pursuing our vision of protecting and enhancing one billion lives by 2030."

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (1)

SELECT Q1 2022 AND OTHER RECENT BUSINESS UPDATES

Completed the rolling submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Biologics License Application (BLA) for AV7909 (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed, Adjuvanted), the Company’s new anthrax vaccine candidate.
Announced updates to the Company’s corporate governance:
Appointed Zsolt Harsanyi, Ph.D., as Chairman of the Board of Directors; and
Appointed Keith Katkin to the Board of Directors.
Strengthened the Company’s senior leadership with three key hires:
Coleen Glessner joined as EVP, Global Quality and Ethics and Compliance, reporting to the CEO;
Bill Hartzel joined as SVP and Head of the CDMO Services business, reporting to the COO; and
Joseph Philipose joined as SVP and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, reporting to the EVP, Global Quality and Ethics and Compliance.
Initiated a Phase 1 study evaluating the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of stabilized isoamyl nitrite (SIAN), a treatment being developed for known or suspected acute cyanide poisoning, with funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and in collaboration with Southwest Research Institute.
Continued to repurchase the Company’s common stock under an existing authorization by the Board of Directors to management to repurchase up to $250 million through November 11, 2022; during the quarter ended March 31, 2022, the Company purchased an additional 1.1 million shares for $52.2 million, resulting in an aggregate of approximately 3.8 million shares for $164.7 million since initiating repurchases in Q4 2021.
Q1 2022 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE (1)

For Q1 2022, revenues from Anthrax vaccines increased $48.6 million as compared to Q1 2021. The increase is largely driven by timing of deliveries to the U.S. government (USG), specifically the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). The Company received an AV7909 (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed, Adjuvanted) contract modification in September 2021 valued at approximately $399 million to deliver additional AV7909 doses through March 2023.

Nasal naloxone products
For Q1 2022, revenues from nasal naloxone products increased $18.9 million as compared to Q1 2021. The increase is driven by strong growth in sales of NARCAN (naloxone HCl) Nasal Spray to U.S. public interest and Canadian customers, as well as solid contributions from sales of the authorized generic product licensed to Sandoz which launched in December 2021. These increases are offset by a decrease in sales of NARCAN Nasal Spray to the U.S. commercial retail market.

ACAM2000
For Q1 2022, revenues from ACAM2000 (Smallpox (Vaccinia) Vaccine, Live) increased $14.4 million as compared to Q1 2021. The increase is driven by international sales.

Other (4)
For Q1 2022, revenues from other product sales increased $17.3 million as compared to Q1 2021. The increase is largely a result of sales of VIGIV [Vaccinia Immune Globulin Intravenous (Human)] driven by timing of deliveries to the USG and of sales of Anthrasil (Anthrax Immune Globulin Intravenous (Human)) driven by timing of deliveries to international customers.

Contract Development and Manufacturing (CDMO)
CDMO Services
For Q1 2022, revenue from contract development and manufacturing services decreased $15.8 million as compared to Q1 2021. This decrease is largely due to the impact of the Company’s decision to initiate maintenance and other modification-related work at the Bayview facility which reduced manufacturing activities during the quarter. The decline in revenues at Bayview was offset by an increase in manufacturing activities at the Company’s Camden and Winnipeg sites in support of drug substance and drug product manufacturing services related to products and product candidates of the Company’s commercial customers.

CDMO Leases
For Q1 2022, revenue from contract development and manufacturing leases decreased $107.2 million as compared to Q1 2021. The decrease was primarily due to the completion of the Company’s public-private partnership with BARDA in November 2021.

Contracts and Grants
For Q1 2022, revenues from contracts and grants decreased $11.7 million as compared to Q1 2021. The decrease is primarily due to lower revenue from BARDA as a result of the termination of the Center for Innovation and Advanced Development and Manufacturing (CIADM) agreement in November 2021 as well as decreases in development activities associated with various other externally funded R&D projects.

Operating Expenses

For Q1 2022, cost of product sales increased $27.7 million as compared to Q1 2021. The increase is primarily due to the higher volume of product sales.

Cost of CDMO
For Q1 2022, cost of CDMO increased $28.9 million as compared to Q1 2021. The increase is driven by professional services in support of quality functions at the Bayview site and at the Camden and Winnipeg sites due to an increase in manufacturing activities in Q1 2022 compared to Q1 2021.

Research and Development
For Q1 2022, research and development expenses decreased $6.1 million as compared to Q1 2021. The decrease is primarily due to a decline in costs associated with the development of the Company’s COVID-19 therapeutic product candidates offset by an increase in costs associated with the Phase 3 study of the Company’s chikungunya virus (CHIKV) virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine candidate.

Selling, General and Administrative
For Q1 2022, selling, general and administrative expenses increased $3.9 million due to an increase in professional services and marketing costs in support of the expansion of the Company’s business operations and defending and supporting the Company’s corporate reputation.

Additional Financial Information

Segment Information
During Q1 2022, the Company began assessing its operating performance by focusing on two reportable segments: 1) a products segment (Product) consisting of the Government/Medical Countermeasure (MCM) and Commercial products business lines; and 2) a services segment (Services) consisting of the CDMO services business line. The Company evaluates the performance of these reportable segments based on revenue and adjusted gross margin. Segment revenue includes external customer sales but does not include inter-segment services. The Company does not allocate Contracts and grants, R&D, SG&A, amortization of intangible assets, interest and other income (expense) or taxes to its evaluation of the performance of these segments.

** Gross margin is calculated as Revenue less cost of sales. Gross margin % is calculated as gross margin divided by Revenue.
*** Adjusted gross margin is calculated as Revenue less Adjusted cost of sales. Adjusted gross margin % is calculated as Adjusted gross margin divided by Revenue.
For Q1 2022, Product margin increased $71.5 million as compared to Q1 2021. Product adjusted gross margin increased $70.9 million as compared to Q1 2021. The increase in Product gross margin and Product adjusted gross margin is primarily due to increased volumes.

For Q1 2022, Services gross margin and adjusted gross margin decreased $151.9 million as compared to Q1 2021. The decrease in Services gross and adjusted gross margin is primarily due to the decline in revenue at the Bayview facility as a result of the completion of the Company’s arrangement with BARDA, the pause in manufacturing activities for improvement and modifications, as well as an increase in professional services costs.

For Q1 2022, the Company is temporarily suspending disclosing CDMO Backlog as of March 31, 2022, pending further clarity on Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine requirements, influenced by the fact this metric includes value from the J&J contract. The Company will resume providing this metric at the appropriate time.

For Q1 2022, capital expenditures decreased largely due to less spending associated with the expansion project at the Company’s Rockville facility which is nearing completion.

2022 FINANCIAL FORECAST

The Company provides the following update to its full year 2022 forecast.

Reaffirmed Guidance

The following revenue guidance is reaffirmed for full year 2022 ($ in millions):

• Anthrax Vaccines $280-$300
• ACAM2000 $190-$210
• Nasal Naloxone Products $240-$310
• Other Products + Contracts and Grants $200-$260
Temporarily Suspended Guidance

Following the recent decision by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to suspend projecting COVID-19 vaccine sales for 2022 due to global supply surplus and vaccine hesitancy in the developing world, the Company’s 2022 revenues related to its commercial supply arrangement with J&J are uncertain. Accordingly, the following metrics are temporarily suspended for full year 2022 pending further clarity on J&J COVID-19 vaccine requirements:

CDMO Revenues
Total Revenues
Adjusted Net Income
Adjusted EBITDA
Gross Margin
At the appropriate time, the Company will communicate additional information and update the overall forecast.

Assumptions

The Company’s 2022 financial forecast also takes into consideration the following assumptions.

2022 Product and Contract and Grant Revenues

Anthrax vaccines revenues are expected to continue at similar levels to 2021 under the terms of the Company’s existing contract with BARDA.
ACAM2000 vaccine deliveries are expected to continue under the terms of the Company’s existing contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) at unit volume levels consistent with 2021 deliveries.
Nasal naloxone products revenues reflect the formation of a generic market and comprise revenues from a combination of NARCAN Nasal Spray and the authorized generic of NARCAN Nasal Spray, a product licensed to Sandoz and launched in late 2021 and one in which the Company retains a financial interest.
Other Products + Contracts and Grants revenues: 1) other products revenues reflect continued procurement of other products not highlighted on a standalone basis from various government customers under existing multi- year contracts; 2) contracts and grants revenues reflect continued funding of select development programs from various government and other non-dilutive sources.
Other

Pipeline progress is expected across the R&D portfolio with the ongoing advancement of the CHIKV VLP Phase 3 clinical trial, the completion of the BLA filing for AV7909, and anticipated advancements of a number of early- stage programs.
Capital expenditures, net of reimbursement, are expected to be approximately 10% of total revenues at the midpoint, reflecting ongoing investments in capacity and capability expansions related to the CDMO business and the Company’s R&D programs, and aligned with the average over the previous five-year period.
FOOTNOTES

(1) All financial information incorporated within this release is unaudited.
(2) See "Reconciliation of Net Income to Adjusted Net Income," "Reconciliation of Net Income to Adjusted EBITDA," and "Adjusted Revenues" for a definition of terms and the reconciliation tables.
(3) Product sales, net are reported net of variable consideration including returns, rebates, wholesaler fees and prompt pay discounts in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
(4) Other can include a combination of sales of any of the following products: BAT, VIGIV, Anthrasil, raxibacumab, RSDL, Trobigard, Vivotif, and Vaxchora.
(5) CDMO Customer is defined as a client (commercial, government, NGO) for whom the Company has performed CDMO services where there is evidence of meeting all of the following criteria: i) completion of any billable project milestones in the preceding 24-month period, indicating ongoing work; ii) secured project work planned in the future, which has not yet been invoiced, capturing future work not yet indicated in the invoice record; and, iii) neither the Company nor the client having yet to formally terminate the last remaining project, thereby removing any client for whom work has fully concluded.
(6) CDMO New Business Secured is defined as initial value of contracts secured as well as incremental value of existing contracts modified within the indicated period.

CONFERENCE CALL, PRESENTATION SUPPLEMENT AND WEBCAST INFORMATION

Company management will host a conference call at 5:00 pm (Eastern Time) today, April 28, 2022, to discuss these financial results. The conference call and presentation supplement can be accessed from the Company’s website or through the following:

A replay of the call can be accessed from the Company website.

Chimera Appoints New CEO, Wins AFCR BRACE Award, and Accelerates towards the Clinic with TME-Modifying CAR-T Therapies for Solid Tumors

On April 28, 2022 Chimera Bioengineering ("Chimera") a biotherapeutics company building next-generation CAR-T therapeutics focused primarily on solid tumors, reported the appointment of Vlad Hogenhuis, M.D., as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (Press release, Chimera Bioengineering, APR 28, 2022, View Source [SID1234613172]). Previously, Dr. Hogenhuis was Chief Operating Officer at Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals and Head of Specialty Pharma and Oncology at GSK. The Company also announced it won AFCR’s 2021 BRACE Award Venture Competition, in recognition of Chimera’s breakthrough science for the development of transformative cancer therapeutics. Chimera’s lead candidate, CBIO-007, is a conditionally armed CAR-T cell therapy in preclinical development as a potential treatment for major solid tumors, such as lung, breast, colorectal, pancreatic, prostate, and ovarian cancers. CBIO-007 was generated from Chimera’s proprietary GOLD Platform technology, which creates conditional, location-specific activation of tumor microenvironment (TME)-modifying payloads by CAR-T cell therapies.

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"When I was evaluating opportunities, I was immediately struck by the elegance and enormous potential impact of Chimera’s approach to enhance CAR-T efficacy while minimizing their toxicity," said Dr. Hogenhuis. "We are thrilled to have won AFCR’s BRACE Award, which has not only connected us to investors and advisors, it also has provided key funding and validation of our approach and current dataset. We’ve generated compelling preclinical data confirming delivery of potent immunomodulatory payloads to solid tumors without systemic exposure, and this data gives us confidence that Chimera’s GOLD Platform technology can unlock the potential of CAR-T to treat a broad range of cancers, including solid tumors."

AFCR’s BRACE Award is a first-of-its-kind program for early stage oncology technology companies focused on Asian-prevalent cancers. With this honor, AFCR, Bluedot Bio, and other new investors contributed $7.5 million of new capital, joining Chimera’s existing investors, including Viking Global Investors, Founders Fund, and Illumina Accelerator, to bring the company’s total amount raised to $26 million, since the company was founded in 2015. Since that time, Chimera has established a pipeline of therapies from its proprietary GOLD Platform technology, which creates conditional, location-specific activation of tumor microenvironment (TME)-modifying payloads by CAR-T therapies. The company’s preclinical dataset on its lead candidate, CBIO-007, in pancreatic, prostate, and triple negative breast cancer xenograft tumor models, demonstrates that CBIO-007 efficiently eliminates tumors, while unarmed CAR-T cells are unable to control them.

AFCR’s Chief Executive Officer and Founder Sujuan Ba, Ph.D., said, "AFCR’s BRACE Award Venture Competition is designed to accelerate the commercialization of innovative cancer research discoveries for cancer patients, in Asia and worldwide, and we believe Chimera’s novel approach to spatially controlling CAR-T cells, for safer, more potent therapies, has the potential to improve the treatment of a broad range of cancers from hematologic cancers to solid tumors."

"During the evaluation of Chimera for AFCR’s BRACE Award, I was impressed with Chimera’s insightful approach to counteract the suppressive tumor microenvironment by leveraging natural mechanisms in the engineering of T cells to selectively deliver a payload only when they are activated by tumor cells," said Raju Kucherlapati, Ph.D., Paul C. Cabot Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical school, who led the committee for the AFCR’s BRACE Award Venture Competition and founded several biotechs, including Cell Genesys, Abgenix (acquired by Amgen) and Millennium (acquired by Takeda). "Furthermore, Chimera’s initial data in preclinical models provides support for the ability of their GOLD Platform technology to direct the curative potential of CAR-T therapies to treating solid tumors, which continues to be a leading cause of death around the world."

About Chimera’s GOLD Platform Technology

Chimera’s GOLD Platform harnesses programmable, RNA-based gene regulation circuits inherent to immune cells to control CAR-T therapies conditionally armed with therapeutic payloads that target the tumor microenvironment (TME). Chimera applies its proprietary GOLD Platform to engineer potent CAR-T cell therapies for solid tumors that target the immunosuppressive TME, which has historically limited conventional CAR-T therapeutic efficacy. In preclinical studies, the GOLD Platform spatially restricts to the site of solid tumors the delivery of high levels of powerful therapeutic payloads by armed CAR-T cells, weakening the TME and maximizing CAR-T potency. Specifically, Chimera demonstrated in head-to head preclinical experiments with unarmed as well as a constitutively armed IL-12 payload that GOLD-controlled CAR-Ts eliminated xenograft tumors from prostate, pancreas, and triple negative breast cancer cell lines. Chimera’s chimeric receptor engagement-dependent payload delivery approach is designed to prevent toxic, systemic payload exposures that can decrease the therapeutic index of armed CAR-T cells.

Updated ASCO Guidelines Strongly Recommend Use of the Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score® Test in Node-Negative and the Majority of Node-Positive Early-Stage Breast Cancer Patients

On April 28, 2022 Exact Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: EXAS), a leader in advanced cancer diagnostics, reported that recommended use of its Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score test in early-stage breast cancer patients has been expanded by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) in its 2022 Biomarkers for Adjuvant Endocrine and Chemotherapy in Early-Stage Breast Cancer guideline update (Press release, Exact Sciences, APR 28, 2022, View Source [SID1234613188]).i

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The test is now recommended for use in postmenopausal patients with up to three positive axillary lymph nodes and is the only test recommended for use in premenopausal patients with node-negative disease. Importantly, the test is recommended irrespective of clinical risk, and Oncotype DX is the most strongly recommended with the highest evidence quality of all multigene tests included in the guidelines.

"We are pleased that the updated ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) guidelines recognize the strength of the data supporting Oncotype DX and expand the recommended use of the test based on findings from the RxPONDER study," said Rick Baehner, M.D., chief medical officer of Precision Oncology at Exact Sciences. "The Oncotype DX test has been used to guide the treatment decisions for more than one million women around the world, and the updated guidelines provide even greater clarity and confidence to physicians in individualizing the discussion of the risks and benefits of chemotherapy with their patients."

The updated guidelines incorporate results from the RxPONDER trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine.ii The study demonstrated that the test identifies a majority of early-stage breast cancer patients with one to three positive nodes who may be spared chemotherapy. Postmenopausal women with Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score results of 0 to 25 did not show benefit from the addition of chemotherapy to hormone therapy. Premenopausal women with a Recurrence Score result of 0 to 25 received a 2.4% benefit from chemotherapy in terms of distant recurrence at five years.iii

Approximately one-third of patients diagnosed with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer have a tumor that has spread to their lymph nodes.iv The vast majority of these patients currently receive chemotherapy[v] even though approximately 85% of them have Recurrence Score results of 0 to 25.vi In addition, about two out of three early-stage breast cancer patients are postmenopausal.vii

About the Oncotype DX and Oncotype MAP Portfolio of Tests
The Oncotype DX portfolio of breast, colon and prostate cancer tests applies advanced genomic science to reveal the unique biology of a tumor in order to optimize cancer treatment decisions. In breast cancer, the Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score test is the only test that has been shown to predict the likelihood of chemotherapy benefit as well as recurrence in invasive breast cancer. Additionally, the Oncotype DX Breast DCIS Score test predicts the likelihood of recurrence in a pre-invasive form of breast cancer called DCIS. For patients with advanced and metastatic cancer, the company offers the Oncotype MAP Pan-Cancer Tissue test, a rapid, comprehensive tumor profiling panel, which provides results in three to five business days[viii] and allows physicians to understand a patient’s tumor profile and recommend actionable targeted therapies or clinical trials. With more than 1 million patients tested in more than 90 countries, the Oncotype DX tests have redefined personalized medicine by making genomics a critical part of cancer diagnosis and treatment. To learn more about the Oncotype DX and Oncotype MAP tests, visit www.OncotypeIQ.com/