On May 19, 2022 Inceptor Bio, a biotechnology company advancing cell therapies for difficult-to-treat cancers, reported the closing of a $37 million Series A financing led by Kineticos Ventures (Press release, Inceptor Bio, MAY 19, 2022, View Source [SID1234614862]).

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Proceeds from the Series A financing will be used to advance Inceptor Bio’s CAR-T lead program to a Phase I clinical trial and continue development of its CAR-M and CAR-NK platforms. Additionally, proceeds will support completion of Inceptor Bio’s Advanced Manufacturing Platform (AMP+) facility, a 29,000 square foot, state-of-the-art cell and gene therapy GMP manufacturing site located in Gainesville, Florida.

Inceptor Bio’s CAR-T, CAR-M, and CAR-NK platforms are at the center of a diversified portfolio of cell therapies focused on novel mechanisms that enhance cell performance in the tumor microenvironment. Novel technologies include a co-stimulatory domain M83, proprietary TMax manufacturing process, the K62 platform, which increases the phagocytic capabilities of macrophages and supports a M1 anti-tumor phenotype, and a differentiated iPSC technology.

"We are grateful for the continued support of Kineticos Ventures and our life sciences investors," said Shailesh Maingi, Founder and CEO of Inceptor Bio. "We have a simple strategy at Inceptor Bio. We’re advancing novel CAR-T, CAR-M and CAR-NK platforms into the clinic, securing our supply through AMP+, and building a leading team of scientists and engineers in order to improve treatment options for patients with difficult-to-cancers."

"This Series A funding allows us to focus on advancing our lead CAR-T program into the clinic while continuing to advance our other exciting cell therapy platforms," said Mike Nicholson, Ph.D., President and Chief Operating Officer of Inceptor Bio. "Our programs address serious challenges in the cell therapy arena, and fully realizing the potential of these therapies requires significant capital. We are grateful for the support of this incredible group of investors."

"Investing in early life sciences companies with promising pipelines like Inceptor Bio is at the heart of what we do," said Frank Lis, President of Kineticos Ventures. "With an expert team and a scalable manufacturing facility, Inceptor Bio is well positioned to advance next-generation cell therapy technologies to address difficult-to-treat cancers."

On May 19, 2022 Be Biopharma, Inc. ("Be Bio") and National Resilience, Inc. (Resilience) reported a strategic collaboration to advance initial programs in Be Bio’s rare disease pipeline. Be Bio’s proprietary engineered B Cell Medicines (BeCM) platform is harnessing the power of the human B cell to create a new class of autologous and allogeneic cellular medicines that durably and redosably produce therapeutic proteins in vivo without toxic pre-conditioning (Press release, Be Biopharma, MAY 19, 2022, View Source [SID1234614878]).

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The two companies are investing to drive innovation and reliability in cell therapy manufacturing, a critical success factor for broad and meaningful patient impact. As part of this unique partnership, Resilience will dedicate personnel solely to produce and supply Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)-grade viral vector and cell therapy drug product for the initial programs in Be Bio’s rare disease pipeline. Through a creative cost and risk-sharing model, Resilience will be responsible for manufacturing costs and receive potential future milestones and royalties.

"Over the past year, Be Bio has built a strong foundation with our BeCM platform, pipeline, team, and recent $130 million financing. Manufacturing is critical to rapidly progress our BeCMs to the clinic and we have built non-GMP manufacturing capabilities in our Cambridge facility. This deal allows us to drive GMP manufacturing with an outstanding partner, and in a capital efficient manner," said Joanne Smith-Farrell, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Be Bio. "Resilience’s broad manufacturing capabilities, strong collaborative spirit and dedicated resources to our platform, make them an ideal partner for our BeCM programs."

Resilience will lead clinical GMP manufacturing of both the viral vector and the cell therapy drug product for Be Bio’s initial rare disease programs to support first-in-human clinical trials. Resilience will apply its pioneering bioprocessing solutions and network of cell therapy sites, including facilities in Research Triangle Park, NC, Philadelphia, PA, Waltham, MA and Marlborough, MA to conduct the work.

"This collaboration shows our excitement for the promising science of Be Bio’s proprietary BeCM platforms, and our confidence in their expertise to deliver transformative cell therapies," said Rahul Singhvi, Sc.D., Chief Executive Officer of Resilience. "By working alongside Be Bio early in the drug development process, we aim to accelerate the development of their B cell medicines with the potential to unlock a pipeline of product candidates across a variety of serious diseases."

About B Cells – A New Class of Cellular Medicines

Imagine what could "Be?" In nature, a single B cell engrafts in the bone marrow and can produce thousands of proteins per second at constant levels over decades. B cells are nature’s exquisite medicine factories, manufacturing proteins to fight disease and maintain health. Unleashing the power of B cells is driving a new class of cellular medicines – Engineered B Cell Medicines (BeCM). BeCMs have the potential to be durable, allogeneic, redosable and administered without toxic conditioning. The promise of BeCMs could transform therapeutic biologics with broad application — across protein classes, patient populations and therapeutic areas.

On May 19, 2022 Avenge Bio, Inc. ("Avenge" or the "Company"), a biotechnology company developing the LOCOcyte immunotherapy platform for the precision administration of potent immune effector molecules to treat solid tumors, reported that two abstracts were selected for presentation as posters at the 25th Annual American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) (Free ASGCT Whitepaper) Meeting on May 17 and 18, 2022 (Press release, Avenge Bio, MAY 19, 2022, View Source;cell-therapy-asgct-annual-meeting-301551364.html [SID1234614895]).

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"We are excited to present additional preclinical data that support our lead development program, AVB-001, as we advance towards filing an IND in Q2 2022 and a Phase 1 clinical trial in ovarian cancer in 2H 2022," said Douglas Carlson, Chief Operating and Financial Officer. "In addition, we continue to build a robust data set for AVB-001, a novel immunotherapy, in malignant pleural mesothelioma. All of our development programs leverage Avenge’s LOCOcyte platform to deliver proprietary encapsulated engineered human cells to the local tumor environment."

Details on Avenge’s presentations at ASGTC are as follows:

Poster Title: Tumor Adjacent IL-2 Cytokine Factories for Eradication of Various Solid Tumor in Mice Through Cytotoxic T-cell Activation with Safe and Predictable Dosing in Non-human Primates.
Abstract #: 657
Date and Time: May 17, 2022, 5:30pm-6:30pm ET

Poster Title: Evaluation of Implantable Cytokine Factories in Combination with Checkpoint Inhibitors for Eradication of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM) Tumors in Mice.
Abstract #: 1097
Date and Time: May 18, 2022, 5:30pm-6:30pm ET

The posters will be available on the Presentations and Publications section of www.avengebio.com following the conference.

On May 19, 2022 Scandion Oncology (Scandion) reported its interim report for Q1 2022 (Press release, Scandion Oncology, MAY 19, 2022, View Source;interim-report-q1-2022,c3570190 [SID1234614846]). The following is taken from the report.

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Bo Rode Hansen, President and CEO, comments

"It is with pleasure that we report on our activities for the first quarter of 2022. It has been a good start to the year with solid operations, continued execution of our strategy and implemen­tation of our plans. I am looking at a company "punching above its weight" in several ways."

On January 12, Scandion Oncology announced that Mads Kronborg, bringing more than a decade of corporate communication and investor relations expe­rience in the global life-science industry, will now help plan and drive its external communication as Head of External Communication.
On January 18, Scandion Oncology announced that data with the Company’s lead compound SCO-101 as combination therapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer was accepted for poster presentation at the ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.
On February 2, Scandion Oncology announced approval from the German and Spanish regulatory authorities to expand part 2 of the CORIST Phase II study to Germany and Spain.
Highlights after the end of the period

On May 11, Scandion Oncology enhances manage­ment and clinical development function with appoint­ment of global executive as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Alfredo Zurlo brings decades of experience from clinical development in oncology.
The interim report Q1 2022 is available on the Company’s website: www.scandiononcology.com.

Today at 10:00, Scandion Oncology’s executive management will host a webcast and conference call presenting the results and a company update.

At the end of the presentation there will be a Q&A session.

Access to the event can be obtained as follows:

REPLAY access:

Webcast replay will be available at www.scandiononcology.com in the Investors section and at www.financialhearings.com

The information was provided by the contact person above for publication on May 19, 2022, at 08.30 CET.

On May 19, 2022 Genprex, Inc. ("Genprex" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: GNPX), a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing therapies for patients with cancer and diabetes, reported that its President and Chief Executive Officer, Rodney Varner, will be providing a virtual overview of the Company’s gene therapies for cancer and diabetes to investors at the following conference in May 2022 (Press release, Genprex, MAY 19, 2022, View Source [SID1234614863]).

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Event: H.C. Wainwright Global Investment Conference (Virtual and In-Person)

Conference Dates: May 23-26, 2022

Virtual Presentation Date: Available on-demand within the virtual platform for all delegates beginning May 24 at 7 a.m. ET

Presenter: Rodney Varner, Genprex’s President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Varner will deliver an overview of the Company’s pioneering gene therapies for cancer and diabetes and will be available for virtual one-on-one meetings with investors through the H.C. Wainwright conference platform