On May 31, 2022 ConferMED, one of the nation’s leading eConsult companies, reported that it has been awarded a $2.3M grant from the Quest Diagnostics Foundation (Press release, Quest Diagnostics, MAY 31, 2022, View Source [SID1234615401]). The grant will enable ConferMED to enhance its eConsults platform and to provide specialty eConsults to medical providers at Federally Qualified Health Centers in five regions across the U.S.: Dade County, FL; Cook County, IL; Baltimore County, MD; Harris County, TX and Suffolk County, MA.

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ConferMED eConsults address the growing challenge of limited access to specialty care and high costs when patients are referred to providers outside primary care. Using the ConferMED eConsult platform, specialists are able to review cases accurately and quickly with front line providers and provide input and develop the optimal care plan for patients. This process improves chronic disease outcomes, reduces unnecessary emergency room visits and hospital admissions, and prevents long-term complications.

The Quest Diagnostics Foundation, as part of the Quest for Health Equity (Q4HE) initiative, is providing a grant to ConferMED to address a leading cause of health inequity: lack of access to specialty care. Q4HE is a multi-year initiative of Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) and the Quest Diagnostics Foundation focused on providing a combination of donated testing services, education programs, partnerships, and funding to support initiatives to close the gap in healthcare disparities in underserved communities.

Mark Masselli, chair of the ConferMED board and CEO/President of Community Health Center, Inc., commented, "We applaud the Quest Foundation and its Quest for Health Equity initiative for recognizing and generously supporting the need for specialty eConsults for patients living in medically underserved communities. The collaboration between Quest and ConferMED is groundbreaking and will significantly advance the cause of health equity in key locations across the U.S."

Through the grant, ConferMED also will help health centers and specialists with eConsult implementation and integration in addition to providing enhanced technology and interoperability to ensure ease of use for front line providers and staff. "Access to specialty eConsults is more important than ever as the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the health inequities for patients in the underserved communities primarily served by community health centers," says ConferMED President and Founder Daren Anderson, MD. "Fewer barriers to specialty care means better patient outcomes and ultimately a healthier community. We are thrilled to be deepening our relationship with Quest to support this work."

"We are proud of this important collaboration with ConferMED that will improve access to critical specialty care services in under-resourced communities," said Ruth Clements, President of the Quest Diagnostics Foundation. "We believe that these services will improve health outcomes and support wellness, which is more important than ever after many have deferred care due to the pandemic."

On May 31, 2022 Clarity Pharmaceuticals (ASX: CU6) ("Clarity"), a clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company developing next-generation products to address the growing needs in oncology, reported the acquisition of a targeted nanobody platform to its Discovery pipeline (Press release, Clarity Pharmaceuticals, MAY 31, 2022, View Source [SID1234615238]). The intellectual property, including a provisional patent and know-how, has been acquired from leading nanotechnology researcher Dr Kurt Gehlsen, who developed the technology for a maximum consideration of 400,000 options over Clarity Pharmaceuticals shares with a strike price of $1.40 together with cash consideration of up to US$250,000. Both the cash consideration and options are subject to certain provisions that relate to the achievement of development milestones for new products. In addition, Dr Gehlsen has joined the Company as a consultant to help drive the new nanobody program forward within Clarity.

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Nanobodies are attractive targeting molecules which can be engineered to bind to a wide range of cancers. The nanobody platform allows the development of high affinity products suitable for targeting receptors specific to cancer cells. By only targeting cancer cells and not healthy cells, this approach aims to kill cancer cells while limiting the side effects elsewhere in the body.

The nanobody platform adds exciting new opportunities to Clarity’s Targeted Copper Theranostics (TCTs) Discovery pipeline. Dr Gehlsen will work with Clarity’s R&D team to combine the platform with the Company’s proprietary SAR Technology and advance it from the lab, through preclinical studies and into clinical development.

Dr Gehlsen commented, "Clarity’s proprietary SAR Technology is ideally positioned to fully exploit the benefits of the nanobody platform. In combination with copper-64 for imaging and copper-67 for therapy, we are hoping to achieve high accuracy and high precision of the nanobody-based targeted radiopharmaceuticals for the diagnosis and treatment of a range of cancers. I look forward to working together with the Clarity team on progressing this technology through the preclinical studies and into clinical development".

Clarity’s Executive Chairman, Dr Alan Taylor, commented, "Clarity has always built its TCT products from the ground up, and the addition of targeted theranostic (diagnostic and therapeutic) nanobodies directed to novel cancer targets in combination with our proprietary SAR Technology is a logical step for our platform. The introduction of the nanobody platform solidifies Clarity as a pioneering developer of next-generation radiopharmaceuticals and will launch a new class of Targeted Copper Theranostics to our development pipeline, aiming to make the safest and most effective treatments to address unmet clinical needs in the large oncology market in a scalable and sustainable manner. We are excited to now have additional capability to develop further cutting-edge theranostics with Dr Gehlsen’s nanobody platform and streamline their development into clinical trials."

Dr Gehlsen’s academic experience is focused on cancer research and he held positions as an Associate Professor at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, as an Associate Staff Scientist at the California Institute for Biological Research and as Founder, Vice President (VP) and Chief Operating Officer at the La Jolla Institute for Experimental Medicine. Dr Gehlsen has published over 140 manuscripts, book chapters and meeting abstracts and has over 100 patents and patent applications.

Previously, he was VP and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at Research Corporation Technologies, Inc. (RCT) Tucson, AZ., an investment and development company focused on early-stage technologies in the life sciences. He was Senior VP, Development and CSO at Maxim Pharmaceuticals, a public biopharmaceutical company that developed and launched Ceplene, the first immune counter-suppression therapeutic as a remission maintenance therapy for acute myeloid leukaemia. Dr Gehlsen was also Director of Research in the Experimental Medicine Division of Pharmacia, AB., Sweden, and La Jolla, CA, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Associate at the Sanford Prebys Burnham Institute.

This announcement has been authorised for release by the Executive Chairman.

On May 31, 2022 Fresenius reported that PEMEtrexed for injection, a drug used to treat adult patients with lung cancer and malignant pleural mesothelioma, is now available from Fresenius Kabi in the United States (Press release, Fresenius, MAY 31, 2022, View Source [SID1234615260]). This is the newest addition to the company’s portfolio of generic IV oncology products – the largest such portfolio in the U.S.

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On May 31, 2022 Cyteir Therapeutics, Inc. ("Cyteir") (Nasdaq: CYT), a company focused on the discovery and development of next-generation synthetically lethal therapies for cancer, reported that Markus Renschler, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer will participate in a presentation at the 2022 Jefferies Healthcare Conference (Press release, Cyteir Therapeutics, MAY 31, 2022, View Source [SID1234615277]). The meeting is being held in person in New York City on Friday, June 10, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. ET.

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A live webcast of the presentation will be available in the Investors & Media section of the Cyteir website at www.cyteir.com. A webcast replay will also be available on the website shortly after conclusion of the event for 30 days.

On May 31, 2022 OneCellDx and Genetics Institute of America reported that they have signed a memorandum of understanding for a diagnostics commercialization agreement for the OneCellDx OncoPredikt HRD Assay (Press release, Genetics Institute of America, MAY 31, 2022, View Source [SID1234615295]). Genetics Institute of America will create a laboratory developed test (LDT) based on OneCellDx’s proprietary AI Enabled Algorithm and assay . The OncoPredikt assay identifies Homologous Recombination Deficiency (HRD) in cancer patients with quicker turnaround times and lower costs.

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Current HRD prediction tests are expensive, time-consuming, require multi-technique processes, and often have sample QC rejection due to low DNA quantity. OneCellDx has developed a proprietary AI-enabled tool to predict key genomic signatures. Genetics Institute of America will run a validation study in its CAP Accredited, CLIA certified facility and launch the laboratory developed test upon successful completion and acceptance of the study.

"Our team of scientists and engineers have developed a uniquely impactful solution and are very excited to partner with the team at Genetics Institute of America in bringing OncoPredikt HRD to market," said Mohan Uttarwar, Co-founder and CEO of OneCellDx.

"The ability to positively impact patients’ lives is one of the missions of Genetics Institute of America. Bringing the OncoPredikt HRD test to market will help in accelerating the development of novel pharmaceuticals, improving the care of thousands of patients," said Holly Magliochetti, CEO and Founder of Genetics Institute of America.

OneCellDx will present a poster session on OncoPredikt HRD at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper), June 3-7, 2022, Chicago. Genetics Institute of America and OneCellDx will launch the LDT through HRD Pharma Development programs.