On December 9, 2021 M2GEN, a bioinformatics company accelerating discoveries in oncology research through superior data and analytics, reported it is partnering with Microsoft to advance and scale its unique data-driven solutions for the discovery, research and development of new oncology therapies (Press release, M2Gen, DEC 9, 2021, View Source [SID1234596723]). The collaboration brings together Microsoft’s healthcare-focused technologies and M2GEN’s scientific capabilities, including its industry-leading clinico-genomics database, enabling oncology researchers to unlock the future of cancer therapeutics.

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Big data, advanced analytics, and machine learning/AI have the potential to power innovation in the life sciences, but this potential can only be realized through high-quality data collection, healthcare expertise and technological innovation. M2GEN is positioned to meet this potential as the technological hub of the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN), a growing alliance of 18 leading National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated cancer centers. Since 2014, M2GEN has collected a world-class dataset comprised of tumor and germline genomic data matched with longitudinal, lifetime-consented clinical data from over 300,000 patients. In that time, M2GEN has transformed this dataset into a vital tool that frictionlessly delivers complex oncology data and analytics solutions to researchers in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and academia, leading to breakthroughs in oncology science that can improve cancer patient care.

M2GEN will collaborate with Microsoft to quickly and meaningfully enhance this tool into a scaled platform that leverages Azure Synapse Analytics with Microsoft Azure Healthcare APIs to enable broad and deep clinico-genomic analysis capabilities and services. The platform will be built on the foundation of Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 and Azure Purview, the unified data governance solution. Microsoft’s engineers will work side-by-side with M2GEN’s top-tier technology team led by Chief Technology Officer Wilf Russell, who brings over 30 years of software industry building and leadership experience. Working alongside the M2GEN team will give Microsoft key insights to help inform product features and influence roadmap decisions that are key to M2GEN and the industry’s needs.

"The M2GEN team, with its diverse background in oncology research, bioinformatics and technology, is dedicated to providing, data-driven solutions for oncology drug discovery and development. Our collaboration with Microsoft will allow us to scale these efforts, as they are providing access to advanced tools to power every part of the data cycle," said Jim Gabriele, President and Chief Executive Officer of M2GEN. "Microsoft’s commitment to life science and its superior technologies make them a partner of choice for M2GEN. Together, our two companies will accelerate the impact of data and analytics on personalized cancer care for patients."

"At Microsoft, we have long recognized the tremendous opportunity for advanced computational data to improve global health outcomes for all patients in need," said Tom McGuinness, Corporate Vice President for Global Healthcare & Life Sciences at Microsoft. "M2GEN has taken the first step, assembling an extensive cancer dataset that has already fueled important breakthroughs in precision oncology. We look forward to working with M2GEN to produce meaningful solutions for oncology researchers."

On December 8, 2021 Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE AMERICAN: ATNM) ("Actinium" or the "Company"), a leader in the development of targeted radiotherapies for patients with unmet needs reported its participation in the Targeted Radiopharmaceuticals Summit being held virtually December 7 – 9, 2021 (Press release, Actinium Pharmaceuticals, DEC 8, 2021, View Source [SID1234596585]). The Targeted Radiopharmaceuticals Summit brings together experts and thought leaders in the field with the goal to achieve meaningful clinical efficacy with theragnostic radionuclide therapies in a mono and combinatorial setting & deliver a robust, cGMP compliant manufacturing supply chain. Representatives from Actinium’s R&D and Clinical Development teams have been invited to participate as expert speakers in two panel presentations during the Targeted Radiopharmaceuticals Summit. The panel details are as follows:

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Panel: Review of the Last 12 Months of Development of Alpha Emitting Therapies

Session: Next Generation Alpha Emitter Based Therapeutics

Actinium Expert Speaker: Helen Kotanides, Ph.D., Vice President, Translational Research and Preclinical Development

Date and Time: December 9, 2021, 5:30 pm CET, 11:30 am EST

Panel: High Dose – Low Dose Therapeutic Strategy: Tailoring the Dose of Radiopharmaceuticals for Opportunity and Outcomes

Session: Optimizing Treatment Regimens

Actinium Expert Speaker: Mary Chen, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President, Clinical Development

Date and Time: December 9, 2021, 6:30 pm CET, 12:30 pm EST

Learn more about the Targeted Radiopharmaceuticals Summit at www.targeted-radiopharma.com.

On December 8, 2021 Onxeo S.A. (Euronext Growth Paris: ALONX, First North Copenhagen: ONXEO), ("Onxeo" or "the Company"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company specializing in the development of innovative drugs targeting tumor DNA Damage response (DDR), reported the presentation of new preclinical data confirming the differentiated antitumoral properties of AsiDNA, its first-in-class DNA Damage Response (DDR) inhibitor, in poster and oral sessions during the EACR-AstraZeneca Virtual Conference organized by the European Association for Cancer Research and AstraZeneca on the theme of "Drug Tolerant Persister Cells" (7-8 December, 2021) (Press release, Onxeo, DEC 8, 2021, View Source [SID1234596601]).

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Several studies have shown that a small population of tumor cells, treated by targeted therapies, evade cell death by entering a reversible dormancy state known as the Drug-tolerant persister (DTP) state. These DTP cells are identified as major source of targeted therapy failures, thus leading to cancer relapse.

The data presented by Onxeo show that the addition of AsiDNA to targeted therapies prevents the regrowth of the DTP cells, thereby completely and irreversibly abolishing the emergence of resistance in tumor cells. The Company first discovered this unique property of AsiDNA in combination with PARPi (see Poster at AAC virtual meeting 2020). The most recent preclinical studies presented at EACR-AstraZeneca Virtual Conference, confirmed the prevention of resistance in other relevant tumor models where AsiDNA was combined with targeted therapies such as KRASi and EGFRi.

Judith Greciet, Chief Executive Officer of Onxeo, stated: "As already demonstrated in our previous studies, drug-tolerant persister cells are a well-established cause of resistance to targeted therapies such as TKIs and PARPi. Our new data provide further evidence that these cells are a major source of resistance to different cancer treatments, and that AsiDNA could be a therapeutic strategy of choice to specifically address this therapy failure. From a medical perspective, this is a major achievement as it paves the way for multiple combination strategies with our leading drug candidate in order to abolish tumor resistance. We are pleased that our pioneering approach has gained strong interest of the international medical and research community at the EACR-AstraZeneca Virtual Conference."

On December 8, 2021 McKesson Corporation (NYSE: MCK) reported that it will host an Investor Day beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET, where executive leadership will provide an overview of the company’s progress towards its goal of delivering sustainable growth and details around the company’s long-term financial outlook (Press release, McKesson, DEC 8, 2021, View Source [SID1234596621]).

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The Investor Day event will showcase how McKesson will deliver long-term growth:

Highlighting significant progress in executing against its priorities by focusing on people and culture, sustainable core growth, streamlining the portfolio, and expanding its oncology and biopharma services ecosystems. The success is evidenced by its strong financial performance and outstanding operational excellence.
Reaffirming its commitment to the growth pillars of oncology and biopharma services. The company’s differentiated set of assets and capabilities uniquely positions the company to win in these growing markets and improve the health outcomes of patients.
Providing a financial overview and long-term outlook that highlights the focus on shareholder value creation and supports a compelling investment thesis.
Increasing fiscal 2022 Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share guidance range to $22.35 to $22.95, from the previous range of $21.95 to $22.55, to reflect an additional $0.40 related to the U.S. government’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution program.
Announcing a new $4.0 billion increase to the share repurchase program authorized by the Board of Directors.
"We are excited to share our vision and strategy with the investment community. As we focus on the next chapter of growth and innovation, McKesson will leverage the breadth and depth of its core growth to further develop and build differentiated oncology and biopharma services ecosystems," said Brian Tyler, chief executive officer. "We remain committed to delivering superior shareholder returns through sustainable earnings growth and a disciplined approach to capital deployment."

Webcast and Presentations

The video webcast will be available live from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at investor.mckesson.com/events-and-presentations. After the event, the archived video webcast will be available on McKesson’s Investor Relations website, along with the company’s slide presentation, at investor.mckesson.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measure

This press release includes a forecast of Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share, which is not a financial measure calculated in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The company is unable to provide a quantitative reconciliation of this forward-looking Non-GAAP measure to the equivalent forward-looking GAAP measure without unreasonable effort, because the company does not forecast GAAP earnings per share and cannot reliably forecast LIFO inventory-related adjustments, certain litigation loss and gain contingencies, restructuring, impairment and related charges, and other adjustments, which are difficult to predict and estimate. These items are inherently uncertain and depend on various factors, many of which are beyond the company’s control, and as such, any associated estimate and its impact on GAAP performance could vary materially. Refer to investor.mckesson.com and the company’s slide presentation noted above for definitions and explanations of the Company’s Non-GAAP financial measures.

On December 8, 2021 Almac Diagnostic Services, a member of the Almac Group, reported that its unique software driven solution for gene expression data analysis – claraT – has assisted oncology researchers at The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (US) and Queen’s University Belfast (UK) in the study of brain and breast cancers (Press release, Almac, DEC 8, 2021, View Source [SID1234596586]). The studies, recently published in the MDPI Cancer Journal and the British Journal of Cancer, have the potential to lead to better therapeutic outcomes for patients.

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The research teams, led by Dr Analiz Rodriguez at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Dr Stuart McIntosh at Queen’s University Belfast, cite use of Almac’s claraT report as a key method used to uncover new findings in their oncology studies.

Almac’s claraT report assists in the analysis of gene expression data by classifying the most biologically relevant gene expression signatures into a comprehensive easy-to-interpret report that covers all 10 Hallmarks of Cancer.

In Dr Analiz Rodriguez’s study, claraT was utilised as a method to facilitate the molecular profiling of brain metastases. Together with other genomic and transcriptomic tools, claraT helped identify novel molecular subtypes and new drivers of brain cancer progression in parallel to novel drug targets. These findings have been published in the MDPI Cancer Journal.

Dr Rodriguez said "We are grateful for the Almac Group’s claraT platform as it allowed us to evaluate hundreds of gene expression signatures and single gene targets that correlated to the Hallmarks of Cancer. Transcriptome data can be difficult to analyze, especially in our heterogenous dataset which included brain metastases samples from various primary cancer subtypes. The claraT software solution immensely simplified our workflow and helped us identify a novel subgroup of brain metastases which warrants further investigation."

Dr McIntosh’s study at Queen’s University Belfast demonstrated that the Almac DNA-damage immune-response (DDIR) assay could be used to identify a group of breast cancer patients more likely to benefit from DNA damaging chemotherapy prior to surgery. The team then used transcriptome profiling and the claraT report to demonstrate that patients with low baseline immune signalling or "cold" tumours could be immune primed through the prior use of DNA damaging chemotherapy, potentially sensitizing these tumours to immune checkpoint therapy. Taken together, these results could help refine the treatment of breast cancer patients and lead to better therapeutic outcomes. These results have been published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Dr McIntosh said "The increasing use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer has great potential to benefit patients, but there is a real need for validated biomarkers to identify those patients who will benefit from it. Furthermore, although there is increasing interest in the use of immune checkpoint therapies in breast cancer, we still don’t know which patients are likely to respond, nor what the best accompanying chemotherapeutic regimen is to sensitise patients to these. The use of Almac’s claraT report in our study has given us a valuable insight into the underlying biology of breast tumours before and during neoadjuvant chemotherapy, allowing us the potential to develop studies with a sound scientific rationale to further improve outcomes for these women."

Professor Richard Kennedy, Global VP and Medical Director, Almac Diagnostic Services stated: "We are delighted to be able to equip leading cancer researchers like Professor Rodriguez and Dr McIntosh with a valuable gene expression analysis platform which has supported the identification of exciting new data in their studies. We congratulate them and their teams on their recent publications and look forward to seeing how their studies progress towards new therapeutic interventions in both brain and breast cancer."

To see the current list of publications, posters and presentations that Almac’s claraT report has assisted research institutions with. Please see: View Source