On June 30, 2022 Onxeo S.A. (Euronext Growth Paris: ALONX, Nasdaq First North Copenhagen: ONXEO), hereafter "Onxeo" or the "Company", a clinical-stage biotechnology company specializing in the development of innovative drugs targeting tumor DNA Damage Response (DDR), reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the initial IND for its first-in-class drug candidate AsiDNA (Press release, Onxeo, JUN 30, 2022, View Source [SID1234616410]). This is the first US IND Onxeo filed since the US team came on board in April 2022.

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This FDA decision enables the Company to initiate a Phase 1b/2 multicenter, basket trial to assess the safety and efficacy of AsiDNA in combination with the PARP inhibitor Olaparib in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer, breast cancer and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who have demonstrated progression on previous PARP inhibitor therapy. The Company plans to initiate the trial in the second half of 2022 at 3-5 potential clinical sites across the United States.

"I am very proud that our team has been able to file and obtain FDA clearance of its first US IND in a very short period. We are now ready to start our first clinical trial with AsiDNA in the US, with the full support of our clinical and regulatory teams," said Dr. Shefali Agarwal, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors and CEO. "We believe that our drug candidate has the potential to meaningfully impact the lives of patients with recurrent solid tumors who have progressed on an initial treatment with a PARP inhibitor. This is consistent with the preclinical findings of AsiDNA, which increased our understanding of its potential against acquired resistance to PARP inhibitors and which formed the basis for our first-in-human study."

On June 30, 2022 Umoja Biopharma, Inc., an immuno-oncology company pioneering off-the-shelf, integrated therapeutics that reprogram immune cells in vivo to treat patients with solid and hematologic malignancies, reported that the company will participate in two Hanson Wade summits taking place in July in Boston (Press release, Umoja Biopharma, JUN 30, 2022, View Source [SID1234616411]). Details can be found below.

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In Vivo Engineering of Therapeutic Cells Summit held July 12-14, 2022

Umoja’s participation will begin on July 13:

Participation: Panel
Title: Applying In Vivo CAR-T Cell Therapy for Oncology and Beyond
Umoja Speaker: Shon Green, Ph.D., Senior Director, Translational R&D (In-Vivo)
Details: The panel will address how in vivo CAR T-cell therapy obviates current ex vivo bottlenecks including access, efficacy, and toxicity as well as achieving transient versus longer-term effects for different indications.
Time: 12:30 PM ET

Participation: Poster
Title: Preclinical development of UB-VV100, a novel platform for in vivo engineering of therapeutic anti-CD19 CAR T cells
Umoja Speaker: Susana Hernandez Lopez, Scientist
Time: 3:00 PM ET

Umoja’s participation will continue July 14:

Participation: Fireside Chat
Title: In Vivo Engineering of Therapeutic Cells as the Future of Cell and Gene Therapy
Umoja Speaker: Andy Scharenberg, M.D., Co-founder and CEO
Details: The fireside chat will evaluate what has inspired the industry to move from ex vivo to in vivo therapies, outline the advantages and opportunities that in vivo cell and gene therapies offer over current generations, and discuss the next steps to streamline pre-clinical development to fast-track in vivo therapies to the clinic.
Time: 9:15 AM ET

Participation: Oral Presentation
Title: In Vivo Approaches to Generate CAR T Cells Engineered to Mediate Durable Antitumor Responses
Umoja Speaker: Ryan Larson, Ph.D., Vice President, Head of Immunology
Details: The presentation will cover how manufacturing complexities limit patient access to autologous CAR T-cell products, the ability of Umoja’s VivoVec off-the-shelf lentiviral vector platform to enable efficient generation of functional CAR T-cells in vivo, and how the approach can be applied to target both hematological and solid tumor cancers.
Time: 11:30 AM ET

iPSC Manufacturing Summit from July 26-28, 2022

Umoja’s participation will begin on July 28:

Participation: Oral Presentation
Title: Engineering iPSCs with Synthetic Receptors to Drive Differentiation Compatible with Scale-Up
Umoja Speaker: Teisha Rowland, Ph.D., Principal Scientist, iPSC Team Lead
Details: The presentation will cover how iPSCs can more efficiently be differentiated into functional, persistent immune cell types by genetically engineering iPSCs to express a synthetic cytokine receptor, how differentiation can be performed in suspension to make it compatible with efficient scale-up production, and how the overall approach may be used in a manufacturing setting to drive high-purity immune cell production.
Time: 11:45 AM ET

On June 30, 2022 Kazia Therapeutics Limited (NASDAQ: KZIA; ASX: KZA), an oncology-focused drug development company, reported an update on recent progress with its two pipeline assets, paxalisib and EVT801, and on recent corporate financing activity (Press release, Kazia Therapeutics, JUN 30, 2022, View Source [SID1234616396]).

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Key Points

EVT801 phase I study protocol has cleared third dose level and is recruiting well.

GBM AGILE pivotal study has opened in France, the fourth country to commence recruitment to the paxalisib arm.

Phase I study of paxalisib in combination with radiotherapy for treatment of brain metastases at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has been accepted for presentation at an upcoming academic conference in Q3 CY2022.

ATM financing facility has realized gross proceeds of US$ 2,956,036 for the period ending June 2022, at an average price of $6.08 (approximately AU$ 0.88 per share).

Kazia CEO, Dr James Garner, commented, "Despite a challenging first half equity market for biotech companies, Kazia has continued to make good progress. The GBM AGILE pivotal study is progressing well, and appears on track for data in 2H CY2023, as anticipated. We have been pleased in the first half to see new data presented and milestones delivered from several projects, and we expect that pace to continue and increase during the second half."

EVT801 Phase I Study

The phase I study of EVT801 in patients with advanced cancer continues to recruit well. The drug has recently completed the third of a potential eight dose levels and is anticipated to open recruitment to the fourth dose cohort in the near future. To date, the drug appears generally well-tolerated. Depending on how many dose cohorts are required to establish a maximum tolerated dose (MTD), interim data from the study is anticipated in 2H CY2022 or 1H CY2023.

GBM AGILE

More than forty sites are currently open to the paxalisib arm of GBM AGILE. The first site to commence recruitment to the paxalisib arm in France opened in June 2022, making France the fourth country to join the study, alongside the United States, Canada, and Switzerland.

In January 2022, the Global Coalition for Adaptive Research (GCAR), the sponsor of GBM AGILE, stated that over a thousand patients had been screened to the study, with enrolment rates approximating 0.75 to 1.00 patients per site per month, which is around four times higher than would generally be expected in a clinical study of glioblastoma.

Kazia continues to work closely with GCAR and Simcere Pharmaceutical to open the study in China. Public health measures in some Chinese cities relating to the ongoing COVID pandemic have had a modest impact on operational activities, but it is currently anticipated that the study will open in China during 3Q CY2022.

Paxalisib in Brain Metastases

In June 2022, the company announced that a multi-drug, genomically-guided study in brain metastases run by the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology had seen the paxalisib arm graduate to an expansion cohort in patients with breast cancer brain metastases, having seen positive efficacy signals in the initial exploratory cohort. Paxalisib continues to recruit to the exploratory cohort in two other patient subgroups.

Interim data from a phase I study of paxalisib in combination with radiotherapy for patients with brain metastases run by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has been accepted for an oral presentation at an upcoming international conference in Q3 CY2022. Kazia looks forward to sharing data from this presentation as soon as it is available.

Financing

In May 2022, Kazia established a NASDAQ-based at-the-market financing facility with Oppenheimer and Company. For the period ending June 30, 2022, the company has issued 486,281 American Depository Shares (ADSs) under this facility, at an average price of $6.08, for total gross proceeds of US$ 2,956,036 (approximately AU$ 4,256,691). Of note, these shares have been issued at no discount, with no warrant coverage, and with transaction fees approximately half of those associated with traditional financing.

On June 30, 2022, Propanc Biopharma, Inc. (the "Company") reported that entered into a securities purchase agreement (the "Purchase Agreement") with 1800 DIAGONAL LENDING LLC ("Diagonal"), pursuant to which Diagonal purchased a convertible promissory note (the "Note") from the Company in the aggregate principal amount of $105,000, such principal and the interest thereon convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at the option of Diagonal (Filing, 8-K, Propanc, JUN 30, 2022, View Source [SID1234616538]). The transaction contemplated by the Purchase Agreement is expected to close on or about July 8, 2022. The Company intends to use the net proceeds ($101,250) from the Note for general working capital purposes.

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The maturity date of the Note is June 30, 2023 (the "Maturity Date"). The Note shall bear interest at a rate of 8% per annum, which interest may be paid by the Company to Diagonal in shares of common stock, but shall not be payable until the Note becomes payable, whether at the Maturity Date or upon acceleration or by prepayment, as described below. Diagonal has the option to convert all or any amount of the principal face amount of the Note, beginning on the date which is one hundred eighty (180) days following the date of this Note and ending on the later of: (i) the Maturity Date and (ii) the date of payment of the Default Amount (as defined below), each in respect of the remaining outstanding amount of this Note, to convert all or any part of the outstanding and unpaid amount of this Note into common stock at the then-applicable conversion price. The conversion price for the Note shall be equal to the Variable Conversion Price (as defined herein) (subject to equitable adjustments for stock splits, stock dividends or rights offerings by the Company relating to the Company’s securities or the securities of any subsidiary of the Company, combinations, recapitalization, reclassifications, extraordinary distributions and similar events). The "Variable Conversion Price" shall mean 65% multiplied by the Market Price (as defined herein) (representing a discount rate of 35%). "Market Price" means the average of the lowest three (3) Trading Prices (as defined below) for the common stock during the ten (10) Trading Day period ending on the latest complete Trading Day (as defined below) prior to the conversion date. "Trading Price" means, for any security as of any date, the closing bid price on the OTCQB, OTCQX, Pink Sheets electronic quotation system or applicable trading market (the "OTC") as reported by a reliable reporting service designated by Diagonal (i.e. Bloomberg) or, if the OTC is not the principal trading market for such security, the closing bid price of such security on the principal securities exchange or trading market where such security is listed or traded or, if no closing bid price of such security is available in any of the foregoing manners, the average of the closing bid prices of any market makers for such security that are listed in the "pink sheets". "Trading Day" shall mean any day on which the common stock is tradable for any period on the OTC, or on the principal securities exchange or other securities market on which the common stock is then being traded. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Diagonal shall be restricted from effecting a conversion if such conversion, along with other shares of the Company’s common stock beneficially owned by Diagonal and its affiliates, exceeds 4.99% of the outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock.

The Note may be prepaid until 180 days from the issuance date. If the Note is prepaid within 60 days of the issuance date, then the prepayment premium shall be 110% of the face amount plus any accrued interest, if prepaid after 60 days from the issuance date, but less than 91 days from the issuance date, then the prepayment premium shall be 115% of the face amount plus any accrued interest, if prepaid after 90 days from the issuance date, but less than 121 days from the issuance date, then the prepayment premium shall be 120% of the face amount plus any accrued interest, if prepaid after 120 days from the issuance date, but less than 151 days from the issuance date, then the prepayment premium shall be 125% of the face amount plus any accrued interest, and if prepaid after 150 days from the issuance date, but less than 181 days from the issuance date, then the prepayment premium shall be 129% of the face amount plus any accrued interest. So long as the Note is outstanding, the Company covenants not to, without prior written consent from Diagonal, sell, lease or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of its assets outside the ordinary course of business which would render the Company a "shell company" as such term is defined in Rule 144.

Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, the Company paid Diagonal’s legal fees and due diligence expenses in the aggregate amount of $3,750.

Other than as described above, the Note contains certain events of default, including failure to timely issue shares upon receipt of a notice of conversion, as well as certain customary events of default, including, among others, breach of covenants, representations or warranties, insolvency, bankruptcy, liquidation and failure by the Company to pay the principal and interest due under the Note. Additional events of default shall include, among others: (i) failure to reserve at least five times the number of shares issuable upon full conversion of the Note; (ii) bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization or liquidation proceedings or other proceedings, voluntary or involuntary, for relief under any bankruptcy law or any law for the relief of debtors shall be instituted by or against the Company or any subsidiary of the Company; provided, that in the event such event is triggered without the Company’s consent, the Company shall have sixty (60) days after such event is triggered to discharge such event, (iii) the Company’s failure to maintain the listing of the common stock on at least one of the OTC markets (which specifically includes the quotation platforms maintained by the OTC Markets Group) or an equivalent replacement exchange, the Nasdaq National Market, the Nasdaq Small Cap Market, the New York Stock Exchange, or the American Stock Exchange, (iv) The restatement of any financial statements filed by the Company with the SEC at any time after 180 days after the issuance date for any date or period until this note is no longer outstanding, if the result of such restatement would, by comparison to the un-restated financial statement, have reasonably constituted a material adverse effect on the rights of Diagonal with respect to this note or the Purchase Agreement, and (v) the Company’s failure to comply with its reporting requirements of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"), and/or the Company ceases to be subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act.

In the event that the Company fails to deliver to Diagonal shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of principal or interest under the Note within three business days of a notice of conversion by Diagonal, the Company shall incur a penalty of $1,000 per day, provided, however, that such fee shall not be due if the failure to deliver the shares is a result of a third party such as the transfer agent.

Upon the occurrence and during the continuation of certain events of default, the Note will become immediately due and payable and the Company will pay Diagonal in full satisfaction of its obligations in the Note an amount equal to 150% of an amount equal to the then outstanding principal amount of the Note plus any interest accrued upon such event of default or prior events of default (the "Default Amount").

The Note was issued, and any shares to be issued pursuant to any conversion of the Note shall be issued in a private placement in reliance upon an exemption from registration provided by Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act and/or Regulation D promulgated thereunder.

The foregoing description of the Note and the Purchase Agreement does not purport to be complete and is qualified in their entirety by reference to the full text of the Note and the Purchase Agreement, which are filed as Exhibits 4.1 and 10.1, respectively, to this Current Report on Form 8-K and are incorporated herein by reference.

On June 30, 2022 PureTech Health plc (Nasdaq: PRTC, LSE: PRTC) ("PureTech" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company dedicated to discovering, developing and commercializing highly differentiated medicines for devastating diseases, reported the initiation of a clinical study of LYT-100 (deupirfenidone), PureTech’s wholly-owned therapeutic candidate for the potential treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), to support its registration-enabling package (Press release, PureTech Health, JUN 30, 2022, View Source [SID1234616397]). LYT-100 is a selectively deuterated form of pirfenidone. Pirfenidone is a proven therapy for IPF, a devastating condition where the favorable tolerability, safety and potentially higher exposure of LYT-100 could have an important impact on patient adherence and outcomes.

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"The initiation of this study is supported by substantial clinical data demonstrating favorable safety and tolerability of LYT-100," said Julie Krop, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of PureTech. "The unique profile of LYT-100, coupled with the established efficacy of pirfenidone, has the potential to significantly improve care for these patients. We believe that enabling patients to stay on a therapeutic dose longer – even at a dose with comparable exposure to the FDA-approved dose of pirfenidone – has the potential to drive better efficacy. In addition, achieving higher exposure levels than the FDA-approved dose of pirfenidone has the potential to offer even better efficacy, which is our rationale for pursuing a higher dose of LYT-100 in this study. We are excited to be taking this important step towards our goal of helping patients with this devastating condition."

IPF is a chronic orphan condition that causes progressive scarring of the lungs, and approximately 130,000 people in the U.S. are living with the disease. The prognosis of IPF is poor, with the median survival after diagnosis generally estimated at two to five years. Pirfenidone is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for IPF, yet there are serious limitations to pirfenidone’s clinical use, primarily due to severe gastrointestinal (GI)-related tolerability issues.1,2

"Pirfenidone has proven efficacy to slow the decline in lung function in patients with IPF. However, many patients with IPF who start pirfenidone have side effects that cause them to either discontinue therapy or reduce their dose," said Kevin Flaherty, M.D., Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan specializing in IPF and other interstitial lung diseases and an advisor to PureTech. "I am excited by the safety and tolerability data generated to date with LYT-100, particularly the most recent data demonstrating how well-tolerated it was in a relatively sick, older patient population with multiple comorbidities, as I believe it could represent great potential in patients with IPF."

LYT-100 is designed to retain the potent and clinically validated anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory activity of pirfenidone but has demonstrated a highly differentiated pharmacokinetic (PK) profile that has translated into improved tolerability in PureTech’s ongoing clinical development program. To date, LYT-100 has been studied in more than 400 subjects and demonstrated a favorable safety and tolerability profile. In a crossover study in healthy older adults with similar median age to patients with IPF, PureTech showed that approximately 50% fewer subjects experienced GI-related adverse events (AEs) with LYT-100 compared with pirfenidone (17.4% vs. 34.0%) and substantially fewer subjects experienced AEs with LYT-100 vs. pirfenidone. PureTech also recently showed that LYT-100 can be safely dosed with a higher total drug exposure than the currently approved dose of pirfenidone, which could translate into improved efficacy over pirfenidone.

The global, randomized, placebo-controlled registration-enabling study is designed to evaluate the efficacy, tolerability, safety and dosing regimen of LYT-100 to help inform the study design for a potential pivotal study and to assess the relative efficacy of LYT-100 compared to pirfenidone. A total of approximately 240 patients will be randomized 1:1:1:1 to receive either one of two dose levels of LYT-100, the FDA-approved dose of pirfenidone, or a placebo. One of the LYT-100 arms will evaluate 550 mg three times a day (TID) of LYT-100, which has previously demonstrated the comparable exposure as the currently approved dose of pirfenidone (801 mg TID), and the other arm will evaluate an 825 mg TID dose of LYT-100, which has demonstrated higher exposure than the currently approved dose of pirfenidone with the potential for improved efficacy. The primary objective of the study is to demonstrate a statistically significant and clinically meaningful difference in the slope of decline in a measure of lung function, Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), in the LYT-100 treatment arms compared to placebo over 6 months. The study will also evaluate safety, tolerability and the slope of FVC decline in the LYT-100 treatment arms compared to pirfenidone, though this analysis is not powered to demonstrate strict non-inferiority. FVC is an established measure of pulmonary function in IPF and has served as the basis for FDA approval of the currently marketed treatments for IPF. Topline results from the study are expected by the end of 2023.

Advancement of LYT-200 Clinical Program

PureTech’s LYT-200 program is also progressing through clinical development. Following the completion of the monotherapy dose escalation portion of the Phase 1 program, PureTech has begun to evaluate weekly doses of LYT-200 and will soon begin to enroll patients in cohorts designed to evaluate LYT-200 in combination with chemotherapy or an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody. Results from the single agent cohorts are expected by the end of 2022, and results from the combination cohorts are expected in 2023.

LYT-200 is a fully human IgG4 monoclonal antibody (mAb) designed to inhibit the activity of galectin-9, a key molecule expressed by tumors and immune cells and shown in preclinical models to suppress the immune system from recognizing and destroying cancer cells. The primary objective of the Phase 1 portion of the ongoing adaptive Phase 1/2 study is to assess the safety and tolerability of escalating doses of LYT-200 in order to identify an appropriate dose and dosing interval to carry forward into the Phase 2 portion of the trial. Six cohorts were treated with escalating, bi-monthly doses from 0.2-16 mg/kg, and no dose limiting toxicities were reported to date.

Additionally, compelling preclinical data have been generated with LYT-200 in leukemia models, which will be submitted for presentation in a scientific forum. Based on these data, PureTech plans to initiate a study of LYT-200 as a single agent in leukemia patients by the end of 2022.

"We are very pleased with the progress of our Phase 1 evaluation of LYT-200, which has demonstrated favorable safety and tolerability as a single agent at all doses studied to date without any dose limiting toxicities," said Aleksandra Filipovic, M.D., Ph.D., Head of Oncology at PureTech. "We look forward to the continued evaluation of this novel therapy as a potential treatment for metastatic solid tumors as well as the initiation of clinical studies in leukemia."

About LYT-100

LYT-100 is one of seven therapeutic candidates within PureTech’s Wholly Owned Pipeline. It is a selectively deuterated form of pirfenidone that is designed to retain the potent and clinically-validated anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory activity of pirfenidone with a differentiated pharmacokinetic profile that has translated into favorable tolerability, as supported by data from multiple human clinical studies. LYT-100 is being advanced for the potential treatment of conditions involving inflammation and fibrosis, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and breast cancer-related, upper limb secondary lymphedema. PureTech is also exploring the potential evaluation of LYT-100 in other inflammatory and fibrotic conditions such as myocardial and other organ system fibrosis based on the strength of existing clinical data around the use of pirfenidone in these indications.

About LYT-200

LYT-200 is a fully human IgG4 monoclonal antibody targeting a foundational immunosuppressive protein, galectin-9, for the potential treatment of solid tumors, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, colorectal cancer and cholangiocarcinoma, that are difficult to treat and have poor survival rates. PureTech has presented preclinical data demonstrating high expression of galectin-9 across breast cancer, pancreatic and cholangiocarcinoma samples and found that the highest levels of galectin-9 correlated with shorter time to disease relapse and poor survival. These data suggest that galectin-9 could be significant both as a therapeutic target for a range of cancers and as a cancer biomarker. Preclinical animal and patient-derived organoid tumor models also showed the potential efficacy of LYT-200 and the importance of galectin-9 as a target. LYT-200 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 adaptive design trial.