On December 6, 2021 Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (NasdaqGS: SPPI), a biopharmaceutical company focused on novel and targeted oncology therapies, reported that it has submitted its New Drug Application (NDA) for poziotinib to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in patients with previously treated locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with HER2 exon 20 insertion mutations (Press release, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, DEC 6, 2021, View Source [SID1234596498]). The NDA submission is based on the positive results of Cohort 2 from the ZENITH20 clinical trial, which assessed the safety and efficacy of poziotinib. The product has received Fast Track designation and there is currently no treatment specifically approved by the FDA for this indication.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

"The NDA submission for poziotinib marks an important step in achieving a first treatment for patients with HER2 exon 20 insertion mutations in lung cancer," said Joe Turgeon, President and CEO of Spectrum Pharmaceuticals. "I want to thank the patients, investigators and our internal staff who have passionately worked to achieve this important milestone in an area of high unmet medical need."

ZENITH20 Cohort 2 Clinical Results Summary

Results for Cohort 2 of the ZENITH20 clinical trial have been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (November 29, 2021), and can be accessed by clicking here.

Cohort 2 enrolled 90 patients who received an oral once daily dose of 16 mg of poziotinib. The intent-to-treat analysis demonstrated a confirmed objective response rate (ORR) of 27.8% (95% Confidence Interval (CI), 18.9%-38.2%). The observed lower bound of 18.9% exceeded the pre-specified lower bound of 17%. The median duration of response was 5.1 months and the median progression free survival was 5.5 months. In this cohort, 87% of patients had drug interruptions with 11 patients (12%) permanently discontinuing due to adverse events. 13 patients (14%) had treatment-related serious adverse events. As previously announced, the company had a successful pre-NDA meeting with the FDA which resulted in an agreement to submit an NDA for poziotinib. During the meeting, Spectrum confirmed with the FDA that Cohort 2 data could serve as the basis of an NDA submission. The company will continue to work with the FDA as appropriate, while the agency conducts its review.

About the ZENITH20 Clinical Trial

The ZENITH20 study consists of seven cohorts of NSCLC patients. Cohorts 1 (EGFR) and 2 (HER2) in previously treated NSCLC patients with exon 20 mutations and Cohort 3 (EGFR) in first-line patients have completed enrollment. Cohort 4 (HER2) in first-line NSCLC patients with exon 20 mutations is still enrolling patients. Cohorts 1- 4 are each independently powered for a pre-specified statistical hypothesis and the primary endpoint is objective response rate (ORR). Cohort 5 includes previously treated or treatment-naïve NSCLC patients with EGFR or HER2 exon 20 insertion mutations. Cohort 6 includes NSCLC patients with classical EGFR mutations who progressed while on treatment with first-line osimertinib and developed an additional EGFR mutation. Cohort 7 includes NSCLC patients with a variety of less common mutations in EGFR or HER2 exons 18-21 or the extracellular or transmembrane domains.

December 6, 2021 Guardant Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: GH), a leading precision oncology company, reported it will present new data demonstrating the benefits of using the Guardant360 liquid biopsy test to help guide targeted therapy options for patients with advanced breast cancer at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) on December 7-11 (Press release, Guardant Health, DEC 6, 2021, View Source [SID1234596514]). These studies were based on data from the GuardantINFORM real-world clinical genomic platform, which features extensive de-identified genomic data and aggregated commercial payer claims from advanced cancer patients who received the Guardant360 liquid biopsy assay.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Data from one study (Abstract P5-13-29) confirmed that patients with BRCA1/2 reversion mutations, thought to cause acquired therapeutic resistance, experienced worse survival outcomes when treated with a PARP inhibitor as compared to patients without reversion mutations. The study also validates recent advancements in homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) assessment in the Guardant360 lab developed test (LDT), detecting additional inactivating alterations in BRCA1/2, including copy number loss and large genomic rearrangements. These data further demonstrate the Guardant360 test’s ability to reliably identify patients with advanced breast cancer who are most likely to benefit from PARP inhibitor treatment.

Another study (Abstract P1-18-07) using the GuardantINFORM platform demonstrated that, for advanced breast cancer patients with PIK3CA mutations identified using the Guardant360 liquid biopsy and subsequently treated with alpelisib, there was no significant difference in treatment outcomes regardless of whether they had clonal or subclonal PIK3CA mutations. This suggests patients with these mutations may benefit from alpelisib targeted therapy irrespective of mutation clonality.

"These studies further support the tremendous value that our Guardant360 liquid biopsy test and GuardantINFORM real-world clinical genomic platform bring to physicians, and most importantly the patients they treat," said Helmy Eltoukhy, Guardant Health Co-CEO. "Guardant360 identifies mutations driving the cancer, which enables the physician to match a patient with the right precision therapy without the need for a tissue biopsy, which can be difficult and time-consuming, potentially delaying treatment for patients with advanced breast cancer."

Full List of Guardant Health Presentations:

Analytical and clinical validation of a ctDNA assay for detecting copy number loss and structural rearrangement variants contributing to homologous recombination and repair (HRR) deficiency (Abstract Number: P5-13-29)
Impact of PIK3CA mutation (PIK3CA-mt) clonality on alpelisib (ALP) activity based on real-world evidence (RWE) following liquid biopsy testing (Abstract Number: P1-18-07)
SOLTI-1903 HOPE: Real-world clinical practice study to assess the impact of using genomic data on the next treatment decision making-choice in patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer in Spain (Abstract Number: OT2-06-01)
Early changes in circulating tumor DNA and its effect on clinical outcomes in patients with advanced breast cancer receiving the CDK4/6 inhibitor palbociclib: Genotyping results from POLARIS (Abstract Number: P1-18-05)
The full abstracts can be found at the official SABCS website here.

About the Guardant360 Liquid Biopsy Test

The Guardant360 liquid biopsy test is part of the market leading Guardant360 portfolio that offers oncologists end-to-end testing solutions from treatment selection to treatment response monitoring. Since it was first introduced, the Guardant360 liquid biopsy test has become widely accepted for blood-based comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) with more than 250 peer-reviewed publications including over 60 clinical outcomes studies. It has been trusted by more than 9,000 oncologists with more than 200,000 tests performed to date.

About GuardantINFORM

The GuardantINFORM clinical-genomic platform is intended to help accelerate research and development of the next generation of cancer therapeutics by offering biopharma partners an in-silico platform that combines de-identified longitudinal clinical information and genomic data collected from the Guardant360 liquid biopsy test. With data from more than 160,000 patients diagnosed with locally advanced and metastatic cancers, this robust dataset offers real-world insights into anti-cancer therapy use in the clinic, tumor evolution, and treatment resistance throughout each patient’s treatment journey for many advanced solid tumor cancers, including non-small cell lung, breast, colon, and prostate.

On December 6, 2021 Recursion (NASDAQ: RXRX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company decoding biology to radically improve lives by industrializing drug discovery, development and beyond through disruptive innovation, reported expansion of the company’s existing strategic collaboration in fibrosis with Bayer AG (Press release, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, DEC 6, 2021, View Source [SID1234596535]). The expanded collaboration will include Recursion’s powerful inferential search capabilities based on its growing maps of human cellular biology, giving Bayer the ability to further accelerate the work already underway in expanding the universe of novel fibrotic hypotheses. Recursion and Bayer may now work on more than a dozen programs in total of relevance to fibrotic disease. All projects will remain subject to the previously agreed upon economics, where each potential program could generate more than $100 million in commercial milestone payments plus royalties on future sales.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Inferential search enables Recursion to materially expand the depth and breadth of the drug discovery space in a more efficient fashion – reducing time and costs to better operationalize the process. In the expanded collaboration, the company will leverage the Recursion Map, a collection of actionable scientific insights derived from the application of machine learning solutions on massive relatable datasets, to explore hundreds of billions of biological relationships that span whole-genome genetic perturbations, hundreds of soluble factors, and hundreds of thousands of pharmacological perturbations. Inferred relationships of interest will be validated in Recursion’s wet-labs and digital vivariums to rapidly advance therapeutic hypotheses and generate data which is fed back into Recursion’s Operating System to improve future predictions.

"Our collaborations are centered around the goal of delivering better drugs to patients faster than we could on our own," said Recursion Co-Founder & CEO Chris Gibson, PhD. "At Recursion, we believe inferential search is the future of drug discovery and have made key advances in this space. We have a deep respect for and trust in our colleagues at Bayer and are looking forward to including these new tools in our collaboration and potentially expanding the number of programs we go after together – all for the benefit of patients."

"The speed and scale of progress made in a short period of time on a number of fibrotic disease models with our collaborators at Recursion has been impressive," said Philip Larsen, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Research and Early Development at Bayer. "Fibrotic diseases are an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. We look forward to the continued collaboration and adding inferential search to further accelerate our mission to deliver transformative therapies for patients with fibrotic diseases of the lung, kidney, heart and more."

Recursion first deployed inferential search internally in July 2020 within the oncology space. In early 2021, Recursion transitioned nearly all new internal discovery efforts to use inferential search. Based on progress achieved to date, Recursion has demonstrated that a program can advance from inference to in vivo validation in less than six months. Through the collaboration expansion, Recursion will bring this powerful new technology to Bayer in order to accelerate and expand the ongoing work the teams have undertaken together in fibrosis.

On December 6, 2021 HUTCHMED (China) Limited ("HUTCHMED") (Nasdaq/AIM: HCM; HKEX: 13) today announces that it has completed patient enrollment of FRESCO-2, a Phase III registration study of fruquintinib, an investigational treatment for the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer ("CRC") in the U.S., Europe, Japan and Australia. The enrollment goal was reached on December 2, 2021 (Press release, Hutchison China MediTech, DEC 6, 2021, View Source [SID1234596462]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

FRESCO-2 is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial being conducted in patients with metastatic CRC. The primary endpoint of the study is overall survival ("OS"). This large Phase III trial enrolled patients in over 150 sites in 14 countries. Additional details of the study may be found at clinicaltrials.gov, using identifier NCT04322539.

Dr. Marek Kania, EVP, Managing Director and Chief Medical Officer of HUTCHMED International Corporation, said, "HUTCHMED continues to execute on developing novel oncology medicines for patients worldwide despite the backdrop of the global pandemic. We would like to thank investigators, patients and their families for taking part in this study and we look forward to seeing the results of this study in patients with metastatic CRC, where there is a high unmet need for new treatment options."

Topline results from the FRESCO-2 trial are expected to be reported in the second half of 2022 when the event-driven primary endpoint, OS, is mature. If positive, HUTCHMED would initiate plans to apply for marketing authorization of fruquintinib by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"), the European Medicines Agency ("EMA") and the Japanese Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency ("PMDA"). The U.S. FDA granted Fast Track Designation for the development of fruquintinib for the treatment of patients with metastatic CRC in June 2020. Clinical data from the completed Phase III FRESCO study in Chinese patients, additional supporting studies in CRC and this FRESCO-2 global study, if positive, could support a future U.S. FDA New Drug Application ("NDA") for the treatment of patients with advanced metastatic CRC (third-line and later). The FRESCO-2 study design was also reviewed and endorsed by the EMA and PMDA.

HUTCHMED retains all commercial rights to fruquintinib outside of China. In China, where fruquintinib is marketed under the brand name ELUNATE, HUTCHMED is partnered with Eli Lilly and Company and is responsible for development and execution of all on-the-ground medical detailing, promotion and local and regional marketing. Fruquintinib is not approved for use outside of China.

About CRC
CRC is a cancer that starts in either the colon or rectum. CRC is the third most common cancer worldwide, estimated to have caused more than 915,000 deaths in 2020.[2] In the U.S., an estimated 150,000 people will have been diagnosed with CRC and 53,000 people will have died from CRC in 2021.[3] In Europe, CRC is the second most common cancer, with an estimated 507,000 new cases and 240,000 deaths in 2020.2 In Japan, CRC is the most common cancer, with an estimated 147,000 new cases and 59,000 deaths in 2020.2

About Fruquintinib
Fruquintinib is a highly selective and potent oral inhibitor of VEGFR-1, -2 and -3. VEGFR inhibitors play a pivotal role in blocking tumor angiogenesis. Fruquintinib was designed to improve kinase selectivity to minimize off-target toxicities, improve tolerability and provide more consistent target coverage. The generally good tolerability in patients to date, along with fruquintinib’s low potential for drug-drug interaction based on preclinical assessment, suggests that it may also be highly suitable for combinations with other anti-cancer therapies.

About Fruquintinib Approval in China
Metastatic colorectal cancer in China: Fruquintinib was approved for marketing by the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in September 2018 and commercially launched in China in late November 2018 under the brand name ELUNATE. It was included in the China National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) in January 2020. ELUNATE is indicated for the treatment of patients with metastatic CRC who have been previously treated with fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin and irinotecan, including those who have previously received anti-VEGF therapy and/or anti-EGFR therapy (RAS wild type). Results of the FRESCO study1, a Phase III pivotal registration trial of fruquintinib in 416 patients with metastatic CRC in China, were published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA, in June 2018 (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT02314819).

About Fruquintinib Development Beyond CRC Monotherapy
The safety and efficacy of fruquintinib for the following investigational uses have not been established and there is no guarantee that it will receive health authority approval or become commercially available in any country for the uses being investigated:

Gastric Cancer ("GC") in China: In October 2017, HUTCHMED initiated the FRUTIGA study, a randomized, double-blind, Phase III trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of fruquintinib combined with paclitaxel for second-line treatment of advanced gastric or esophagogastric junction ("GEJ") adenocarcinoma. The trial is designed to enroll patients who did not respond to first-line standard chemotherapy. Subjects receive either fruquintinib combined with paclitaxel or placebo combined with paclitaxel. Patients are randomized at a 1:1 ratio and stratified according to factors such as stomach vs. GEJ tumor type and performance status. The primary efficacy endpoint is OS. Secondary efficacy endpoints include progression-free survival (as defined by RECIST 1.1), objective response rate, disease control rate, duration of response, and quality-of-life score (EORTC QLQ-C30, version 3.0). Biomarkers related to the antitumor activity of fruquintinib will also be explored (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT03223376). In June 2020, HUTCHMED completed a planned interim data review. Based on the preset criteria, the Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) recommended that the trial continue.

Immunotherapy combinations: HUTCHMED has entered into collaboration agreements to evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of fruquintinib in combination with PD-1 monoclonal antibodies, including with tislelizumab (BGB-A317, developed by BeiGene, Ltd) and sintilimab (IBI308, developed by Innovent Biologics, Inc. and marketed as TYVYT in China).

Metastatic breast and endometrial cancers in the U.S.: HUTCHMED initiated this open-label, multi-center, non-randomized, Phase Ib/II study in the U.S. to assess the safety and efficacy of fruquintinib in combination with tislelizumab in patients with advanced, refractory triple negative breast cancer ("TNBC") and endometrial cancer ("EMC"). This study is being conducted to investigate if the addition of fruquintinib can potentially induce activity to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in TNBC and EMC. Additional details of the study may be found at clinicaltrials.gov, using identifier NCT04577963. Safety and preliminary efficacy of fruquintinib were demonstrated in advanced solid tumors, including TNBC, in a Phase I study conducted in China (NCT01645215) and a Phase I/Ib study is ongoing in the United States (NCT03251378).

Gastric, colorectal and non-small cell lung cancers in China & Korea: BeiGene, Ltd. initiated this open-label, multi-center, Phase II study to assess the safety and efficacy of fruquintinib in combination with tislelizumab in patients with advanced or metastatic, unresectable GC, CRC or non-small cell lung cancer ("NSCLC"). Additional details of the study may be found at clinicaltrials.gov, using identifier NCT04716634.

Solid tumors in China: HUTCHMED initiated this open-label, multi-center, non-randomized, Phase II study to assess the safety and efficacy of fruquintinib in combination with sintilimab in patients with advanced cervical cancer, EMC, GC, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), NSCLC or renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Additional details of the study may be found at clinicaltrials.gov, using identifier NCT03903705. Preliminary results of certain cohorts were presented at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) and the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting (CSCO).

On December 6, 2021 Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) reported that it completed the repurchase of Roche shares that had been held by Novartis. On 4 November 2021, Roche and Novartis had announced this repurchase (Press release, Hoffmann-La Roche, DEC 6, 2021, View Source [SID1234596483]). The Extraordinary General Meeting of Roche Holding Ltd passed the resolutions required for the repurchase and the capital reduction on 26 November 2021. In accordance with the respective resolution of the Extraordinary General Meeting of 26 November 2021, the 53,309,000 shares have now been repurchased by Roche and the corresponding consideration has been transferred to Novartis. The repurchased shares will be cancelled upon completion of the corresponding procedure.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Christoph Franz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Roche: "With this transaction, we regain full strategic flexibility without compromising our operational scope of action. Rating agencies have confirmed the high quality of our ratings. On the basis of an unchanged dividend policy, all holders of Roche equity securities will benefit from the repurchase and the resolved capital reduction by cancellation of the repurchased shares and the earnings accretion resulting therefrom."

As previously announced, the transaction does not change the communicated outlook for the full year. Roche expects a mid-single-digit sales growth at constant exchange rates. Core EPS growth at constant exchange rates is targeted to be broadly in line with sales growth. Furthermore, Roche is aiming at increasing the dividend in Swiss francs also for 2021.