On February 1, 2022 Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) reported that the company’s Board of Directors has declared an increase of 2.8% in the company’s quarterly cash dividend, beginning in the first quarter of 2022 (Press release, Gilead Sciences, FEB 1, 2022, View Source [SID1234607586]). The increase will result in a quarterly dividend of $0.73 per share of common stock. The dividend is payable on March 30, 2022, to stockholders of record at the close of business on March 15, 2022. Future dividends will be subject to Board approval.

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On February 1, 2022 Abcam plc ("Abcam", "Company", "Group") (AIM: ABC; Nasdaq: ABCM), a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, reported that the following trading update ahead of reporting its financial results in March (Press release, Abcam, FEB 1, 2022, View Source [SID1234607554]):

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The Group expects to report total revenues for the 12 months ended 31 December 2021 of approximately £315 million, representing growth of over 22% on a constant exchange rate (CER) basis and 17% on a reported basis (12 months to 31 December 2020: £269.3 million). This figure includes a contribution of approximately £2.5 million of incremental revenue1 from BioVision following the acquisition’s completion on 27 October 2021.

Revenue growth continues to be driven by demand for the Company’s proprietary products, with in-house catalogue sales up approximately 37% CER on an organic basis (43% including BioVision), together with a continued recovery in global lab activity. Whilst risks related to the pandemic remain – as evidenced by the emergence of the Omicron variant in late 2021 – data indicates that, while not yet returning to pre-covid levels, overall lab activity continued to increase through 2021.

The Group has continued to build capabilities, invest in innovation and implement its multi-year growth strategy throughout the period. Overall, we anticipate adjusted operating profits will be reported in line with the board’s expectations for the period and we remain on track to achieve our financial goals for the five year plan ending in 2024.

Following the change in the Company’s financial year end to 31 December, full results for the 18 month period ended 31 December 2021 will be released on 14 March 2022. In order to aid comparison, pro forma information for the 12 month periods ended 31 December 2021 and 31 December 2020 will also be provided.

Alan Hirzel, CEO of Abcam commented:

"2021 was a year of significant innovation and growth in proteomic tools and discovery. I thank our customers for trusting Abcam as their preferred partner and our global colleagues for their unwavering dedication to customer needs and aspirations. Together, we are building a durable enterprise that is making a difference in the pace and social impact of discovery. I am confident in our progress toward our 2024 business goals and I look forward to providing the full update in March."

1 Incremental revenue excludes sales of BioVision products through Abcam channels

This announcement contains inside information which is disclosed in accordance with the Market Abuse Regulation.

On February 1, 2022 SELLAS Life Sciences Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SLS) ("SELLAS’’ or the "Company"), a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel cancer immunotherapies for a broad range of indications, reported the completion of enrollment in the Phase 1/2 clinical trial of the Company’s lead asset, galinpepimut-S (GPS), in combination with Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), in second or third line Wilms Tumor-1 (WT1)(+) relapsed or refractory metastatic ovarian cancer (Press release, Sellas Life Sciences, FEB 1, 2022, View Source [SID1234607571]). The endpoints of the study include safety, overall response rate, progression-free survival, overall survival and immune response correlates. The clinical trial is being conducted under a Clinical Trial Collaboration and Supply Agreement with Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J. USA (known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada).

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The total expected enrolled and evaluable number of patients is 17. Data from 15 patients will be examined by mid-2022, with final data analysis for all evaluable patients expected by the end of 2022. SELLAS and Merck will jointly perform applicable analyses of the study, including survival, immune-biological and any other analyses of interest, to assess the safety and efficacy profile of the combination of GPS and pembrolizumab in this difficult-to-treat metastatic ovarian cancer indication.

"Completion of enrollment is an important milestone as we work diligently to evaluate a much-needed therapeutic treatment option for second or third line relapsed or refractory metastatic ovarian cancer patients," said Angelos Stergiou, MD, ScD. h.c., President and Chief Executive Officer of SELLAS. "Our ability to complete enrollment timely, especially given the challenges related to COVID, is a tremendous accomplishment. We greatly appreciate the level of commitment Merck has given to this collaboration and are deeply grateful to all patients and their families, as well as investigators and study staff involved."

About Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer is one of the most common gynecologic malignancies and the fifth most frequent cause of cancer death in women in the United States. Over 22,000 cases are diagnosed annually, resulting in an estimated 15,500 deaths per year. The majority of patients have widespread disease at presentation, and the five-year survival for the advanced-stage disease remains less than 30 percent. Combining GPS with the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab, which beneficially and profoundly alters the tumor microenvironment (TME), is hypothesized to increase the proportion of patients who develop an immune response against their cancer and potentially improve their clinical outcome over pembrolizumab monotherapy, without the burden of additional toxicities in macroscopically measurable malignancies.

On February 1, 2022 Guardant Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: GH), a leading precision oncology company, reported it will report financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2021 after market close on Wednesday, February 23, 2022 (Press release, Guardant Health, FEB 1, 2022, View Source [SID1234607587]). Company management will be webcasting a corresponding conference call beginning at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time / 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

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Live audio of the webcast will be available on the "Investors" section of the company website at: www.guardanthealth.com. The webcast will be archived and available for replay after the event.

On February 1, 2022 The Management Board and Supervisory Board of 4SC AG (FSE Prime Standard: VSC) reported that as a result of a review of more recent clinical data 4SC discontinues the development program for domatinostat, an orally administered small molecule class I selective HDAC inhibitor (Press release, 4SC, FEB 1, 2022, View Source [SID1234608076]).

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4SC will now focus its resources completely on resminostat and on seeing an outcome to the ongoing pivotal RESMAIN study in CTCL and prepare for its commercialization in case of positive data. 4SC continues to be well funded and expects to have sufficient cash in-hand to obtain topline results from the RESMAIN study.

Jason Loveridge, Ph.D., CEO of 4SC commented: "As a company, we understand that developing new medicines for patients suffering from malignant diseases is an important, but difficult undertaking. Accordingly, we continually evaluate our development programs as data emerge to support prudent decisions that provide the greatest potential to create value for both patients and our shareholders.

It is of course disappointing that we have decided to discontinue development of domatinostat, including all currently ongoing clinical studies. The preclinical data we generated for the candidate were very persuasive, but the clinical information now available, and which will be published in due course, indicates that domatinostat is unlikely to provide value to patients, physicians, or shareholders. We thank the investigators, the patients, and support staff who have participated in this important research program and will now focus our resources on resminostat and expect to reach an outcome for our pivotal study in CTCL as planned in 2023."