On September 6, 2021 The lOR Institute of Oncology Research reported that The American Society of Hematology (ASH) (Free ASH Whitepaper) – the world’s leading association in the field of hematology – has awarded Dr. Adalgisa Condoluci, a researcher at the IOR, with the "ASH Global Research Award 2021" (Press release, The lOR Institute of Oncology Research, SEP 6, 2021, View Source [SID1234587272]). Dr. Condoluci is one of the twelve researchers selected for this honor, which aims to support research projects conducted by young researchers outside the United States and Canada.

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"The recipients of the ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper) Global Research Award will conduct important research that will help increase hematology capacity in their home countries", said Martin S. Tallman, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and President of the 2021 ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper). The researchers selected for this year represent ten countries: Australia, Brazil, China, India, Italy, Nigeria, Portugal, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

The research project of the IOR investigates the use of the so-called liquid biopsy to improve long-term therapeutic results in patients with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are treatments that are normally used in these patients and able to cure the tumor the majority of cases. However, in a small percentage of patients, the disease relapses, and in a similar percentage of cases, patients develop serious cardio-pulmonary complications or even secondary tumors after several years as a result of the treatment toxicity. On these bases, current research aims to find ways to avoid these serious late complications and to improve the percentage of cured patients.

To date, two indicators seem useful to avoid adding radiotherapy to patients who have responded well to chemotherapy. The first one is represented by PET (positron tomography), which is capable of quantifying the quality and speed of the response to chemotherapy. The second tool is represented by the so-called liquid biopsy, which allows demonstrating the presence of even minute quantities of gene material released by tumor cells in patients’ blood. In Hodgkin lymphomas, the persistence of this tumor-gene material at the end of chemotherapy or its reappearance months or years later indicates the need for complementary treatment, and therefore the use of radiotherapy. Otherwise, radiotherapy can be spared, thus decreasing the toxicity of the entire treatment.

A very accurate diagnostic test that demonstrates the presence of this tumor-gene material in the blood was developed by the experimental hematology group of the Oncology Research Institute (IOR) in Bellinzona, led by Prof. Davide Rossi. Dr. Condoluci will now apply this methodology to patients enrolled in a multicenter study, which is currently ongoing in 40 European centers. Thanks to this study, it will be possible to definitively demonstrate the usefulness of these two indicators to spare radiotherapy for most patients with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma.

On September 6, 2021 Alliance Pharma plc (AIM: APH), the international healthcare group, reported that it will announce its results for the six months ended 30 June 2021 on Tuesday 21 September 2021 (Press release, Alliance Pharma, SEP 6, 2021, View Source;aph-/rns/notification-of-half-year-results/202109060700077459K/ [SID1234587273]).

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A link to a recorded presentation of the half year results, by Peter Butterfield, Chief Executive Officer, and Andrew Franklin, Chief Financial Officer, will be included in the results announcement.

The recorded presentation will also be made available at the investor section of Alliance’s website, View Source .

A Q&A call for analysts will be held at 10.00am on the day of the results, 21 September 2021; analysts who require joining details should contact Buchanan at [email protected] .

For any further information, please contact Buchanan at the details below.

On September 6, 2021 Median Technologies (Paris:ALMDT) (ALMDT:PA) reported that outstanding performance based on a large-scale lung cancer screening (LCS) patient cohort to characterize malignant vs benign lung nodules based on a deep learning algorithm on low-dose chest computed tomography (Press release, MEDIAN Technologies, SEP 6, 2021, View Source [SID1234587275]). Median plans to demonstrate how the potential of its iBiopsy AI powered Computer Aided Diagnosis (CADx) product for LCS could significantly impact the accuracy, consistency, and adoption of LCS worldwide. The Median Technologies iBiopsy Lung Cancer Development Plan was launched in February 2021, as part of the Company’s strategic positioning in early-stage disease diagnosis.

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Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer globally, with an estimate of 1.8m deaths, accounting for 25% of all cancer deaths in 2018. This is largely due to late-stage diagnosis of the disease associated with poor 5-year survival. Major international studies have shown that LDCT lung cancer screening can reduce mortality by 44% (NELSON Trial, 2018). Despite being included in US screening guidelines and the increased adoption by the medical community, screening efforts still suffer from low rates of adoption. The low patient enrollment is commonly attributed to the difficulty to characterize malignant from benign nodules leading to high rates of false positives, unnecessary follow up procedures and raising concerns on the economic viability of screening programs.

The study was based on a cohort of 1,696 patients from the National Lung Screening Trial cases (NLST) consisting of a total of 15,608 lung nodules. The training set was based on 1,224 patients with 11,392 nodules and the test set was based on 472 patients having a total of 4,216 nodules.

The performance of iBiopsy CADx for the characterization of lung nodules shows an AUC of 0.991 and an outstanding sensitivity of 95.2% for a specificity of 95.7% and is a major progress for Lung Cancer Screening worldwide.

"We have achieved an outstanding performance with our innovative deep learning algorithm for lung nodule characterization. This promising and powerful digital biomarker could have a profound impact on lung cancer screening and help to dramatically reduce the 1.8m lung cancer deaths per year by diagnosing lung cancer patients at a stage that could save their lives.", highlights Fredrik Brag, CEO and founder of Median. "Our plan in the coming months is to perform an additional large-scale study for an end-to-end lung cancer screening digital biomarker. Results of this study including both nodule detection (CADe) and characterization (CADx) are expected in Q4, 2021", Brag added.

Median’s AI digital biomarker could significantly contribute to eliminate barriers to widespread LCS adoption. It could have a huge impact on saving patients’ lives for the deadliest form of cancers as well as providing substantial savings by eliminating unnecessary healthcare spendings.

About iBiopsy: iBiopsy is based on the most advanced technologies in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science (DS), benefiting from Median’s expertise in medical image processing. iBiopsy targets the development of AI digital biomarkers, to be used in several indications for which there are unmet needs regarding early diagnosis, prognosis and treatment selection in the context of precision medicine. iBiopsy currently focuses on Lung Cancer, Liver Cancer (HCC) and Liver Disease (NASH)

Since 2020, Median’s iBiopsy development program has been supported by the European Investment Bank (EIB) through a financial loan of €35 million under the Juncker Plan, the European Fund for Strategic Investments for research and innovation projects developed by companies with high growth potential.

On September 5, 2021 Kintor Pharmaceutical Limited ("Kintor Pharma," HKEX: 9939), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing innovative small molecule and biological therapeutics, reported that the company’s stock has been included in the Hong Kong Stock Connect program (the "Hong Kong Stock Connect"), effective September 6, 2021 (Press release, Suzhou Kintor Pharmaceuticals, SEP 5, 2021, View Source [SID1234587262]).

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Dr. Youzhi Tong, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Kintor Pharma, commented, "We are excited to be included in the Hong Kong Stock Connect. Since Kintor Pharma was officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on May 22, 2020, the company’s development has received long-term support from investors. We expect that the inclusion in the Stock Connect program will facilitate further expansion of our investor base and enhance the liquidity of our stock. We continue to advance the progress of our research and development, clinical operations, and commercialization efforts to innovate therapeutics for patients with unmet medical needs, help advance human health, and maximize value for our shareholders."

On September 5, 2021 GeneQuantum Healthcare (Suzhou) Co.,Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "GeneQuantum") and BrighGene Biomedical (Suzhou) Co.,Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "BrighGene ") reported that it signed a co-development agreement for antibody immune agonist conjugate (AIAC), GQ1007 (Press release, GeneQuantum Healthcare, SEP 5, 2021, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/genequantum-and-brighgene-sign-agreement-for-development-of-antibody-immune-agonist-conjugates-301369524.html [SID1234587263]).

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GQ1007 is a new type of antibody-drug conjugate. It is an antibody conjugated to a potent immune agonist. In recent years, immunotherapeutic antibody drugs targeting PD-1 and PD-L1 (representing immune checkpoint inhibitors) have revolutionized cancer therapy. Even though the superior efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment has shown great benefit, many cancer patients do not respond to such treatment. These non-responsive tumors are referred to as "cold" tumors. Compared with other immunotherapies, such as anti-PD1 / PD-L1 and anti-CD40 etc., GQ1007 not only can precisely reach tumor site but also enhance innate and adaptive immune responses. It activates dendritic cells and macrophagesand increases T cell infiltration into tumor tissue through immune agonists, thus "cold" tumors becomes "hot" tumors and immune system is mobilized to suppress tumors. Ultimately, GQ 1007 achieves strong and lasting anti-tumor effect, overcomes the low response rate of PD-1 antibody in immunotherapy, and has great clinical value and market potential.

Dr. Paul Song, Chief Scientific Officer of GeneQuantum comments: "BrighGene has extensive experience in small molecule drug development, they hold a unique and competitive advantage in TLR7/8 agonists. We are incredibly pleased to work with R&D team led by Dr. Jiandong Yuan, CEO of BrightGene. By working together, we expect to achieve IND filing for GQ 1007 soon."

Dr. Gang Qin, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer comments: "Seamless integration of small molecule platform of BrighGene and iLDC technology platform of GeneQuantum will enhance our R&D capability for world competitive innovation conjugates, this collaboration fully demonstrate high effectivity of resource and expertise integration among China biomedical companies, which significantly improve new drug development. Based on our in-house iLDC technology, GeneQuantum continues to establish in-depth collaborations with domestic and international biopharmaceutical companies to develop more innovative drugs."

Dr. Jiandong Yuan, CEO of BrightGene, comments, "GeneQuantum’s enzymatic site-specific conjugation technology and unique linker technology effectively improve current issues of chemical conjugation, such as high heterogeneity, low stability, narrow treatment windowand difficult manufacturing challenges for ADC drug products. Linker stability is extremely important in the field of antibody immune agonist conjugates. GeneQuantum’s unique stable linker technology can decrease or even avoid random shedding of immune agonists in circulation and significantly reduce the likelihood of general (non-specific) immune activation, it ensures this AIAC molecule with best-in-class potential. BrighGene and GeneQuantum will keep close collaboration relationship, fully leverage our individual core strengths to develop more globally competitive first-in-class or best-in-class drugs in near future."