On July 20, 2021 Junshi Biosciences (HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180), a leading innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies, reported that the company has established a joint venture with Immorna, a fast-growing biotechnology company focusing on the process development and optimization of mRNA and delivery vehicles and the research and development of new nucleic acid drugs, to develop and commercialize new drugs for the global market in the fields of cancer, infectious diseases, rare diseases, and other diseases, based on the mRNA technology and other technology platforms (Press release, Shanghai Junshi Bioscience, JUL 20, 2021, View Source [SID1234585313]).

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!

Immorna’s unique mRNA construction and established versatile process platform are suitable for the development of self-replicating mRNA as well as conventional non-replicating mRNA products, enabling the construction of a customized form of mRNA molecule for a specific disease. In terms of delivery vehicles, Immorna has developed several nanoliposome particles (LNP) suitable for different administration methods and has technical capabilities in the field of research and development of new non-LNP delivery vehicles.

Under the terms of the agreement, Junshi Biosciences will inject at most 799 million RMB in cash into the joint venture. The initial investment is 200 million RMB, of which 50 million RMB will be used to subscribe to 50% of the registered capital of the joint venture. Immorna will invest in the joint venture company with intellectual property rights involved in the mRNA technology platform. The 50 million RMB in the estimated asset value of the platform will be used to subscribe to other 50% of the registered capital of the joint venture company.

"As the mRNA Technology Platform gradually matures, its potential in a variety of fields—including infectious diseases, cancer, rare diseases, and other diseases—has become increasingly evident," says Dr. Ning Li, Chief Executive Officer of Junshi Biosciences. "This is highly consistent with the therapeutic areas covered by Junshi Biosciences’ R&D pipeline and our desire to explore the next generation of innovative therapeutics. Immorna has a wealth of experience and expertise in mRNA industrialization. We look forward to working together to develop more revolutionary therapeutics for patients worldwide through our mRNA Technology Platform with domestic intellectual property rights and promote public health on a global scale."

"Immorna is very pleased to reach a strategic collaboration agreement with Junshi Biosciences, under which a joint venture company has been created," says Dr. Zihao Wang, Chief Executive Officer of Immorna Therapeutics. "We are very confident that this new entity will allow us to take advantage of each other’s core competency, quickly and efficiently utilize the versatile mRNA platform technology in immunotherapy and infectious disease prevention, and continue our search for new directions of the application."

On July 20, 2021 Imago BioSciences, Inc. ("Imago") (NASDAQ: IMGO), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company discovering new medicines for the treatment of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), reported the closing of $134.4 million in gross proceeds from its previously announced initial public offering and $20.0 million in gross proceeds from its concurrent private placement (Press release, Imago BioSciences, JUL 20, 2021, View Source [SID1234584970]).

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 initial public offering of 8,400,000 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $16.00 per share resulted in aggregate gross proceeds to Imago of $134.4 million, before deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and offering expenses. All of the shares in the initial public offering were offered by Imago.

Imago’s common stock is now listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "IMGO".

Jefferies, Cowen, Stifel and Guggenheim Securities acted as joint book-running managers for the offering.

A registration statement relating to the securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and became effective on July 15, 2021. The offering of these securities is being made only by means of a prospectus, copies of which may be obtained from: Jefferies LLC, 520 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, or by email at [email protected] or by phone at 877-821-7388; or Cowen and Company, LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, Attn: Prospectus Department, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, by telephone at (833) 297-2926 or by email at [email protected]; or Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Attention: Syndicate, One Montgomery Street, Suite 3700, San Francisco, CA 94104, or by telephone at (415) 364-2720, or by email at [email protected]; or Guggenheim Securities, LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Department, 330 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10017, by telephone at (212) 518-9544 or by email at [email protected].

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.

On July 20, 2021 Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) reported that the company’s PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx assay is now labeled for expanded use in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the European Union (Press release, Agilent, JUL 20, 2021, View Source [SID1234584988]). PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx can now be used as an aid in identifying NSCLC patients with tumor PD-L1 expression of Tumor Proportion Score (TPS) ≥ 50% for treatment with Libtayo (cemiplimab). This announcement underscores Agilent’s continuing commitment to the development of IHC-based diagnostics for cancer therapy.

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!

"This further demonstrates Agilent’s commitment to partnering with leading pharmaceutical companies to develop IHC-based diagnostics for targeted cancer therapy."

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death overall and the 2nd most commonly diagnosed cancer in Europe.1 NSCLC makes up approximately 85% of all lung cancer cases.2 In Europe, the average five-year survival rate for lung cancer is less than 20%.3

"This expanded indication for PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx will enable pathologists in Europe to identify patients with NSCLC who may be eligible for treatment with Libtayo," said Sam Raha, president of Agilent’s Diagnostics and Genomics Group. "This further demonstrates Agilent’s commitment to partnering with leading pharmaceutical companies to develop IHC-based diagnostics for targeted cancer therapy."

Anti-PD-1 immunotherapies such as Libtayo offer new treatment options for patients with advanced NSCLC.4 Sanofi and Regeneron developed Libtayo and partnered with Agilent for the use of PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx to evaluate PD-L1 expression in patients in the pivotal EMPOWER-Lung 1 (Study 1624) clinical trial.4

Libtayo is a fully-human monoclonal antibody targeting the immune checkpoint receptor PD-1 on T-cells. By binding to PD-1, Libtayo has been shown to block cancer cells from using the PD-1 pathway to suppress T-cell activation.4

On July 20, 2021 Shanghai Junshi Bio reported that formed a mRNA Joint Venture with Hangzhou’s Immorna to develop new drugs for cancer, plus infectious and rare diseases (Press release, Shanghai Junshi Bioscience, JUL 20, 2021, View Source [SID1234585126]). Initially, the JV will have a value of $16 million with Junshi contributing half of that in cash and Immora adding in its mRNA IP for the other half. Junshi, a company best known for developing the first domestically developed PD-1 drug approved in China, said it would invest up to $123 million in the JV. Immorna focuses on process development and optimization of mRNA and delivery vehicles along with R&D of novel nucleic acid drugs.

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!

On July 20, 2021 IMV Inc. ("IMV" or the "Corporation") (NASDAQ: IMV; TSX: IMV), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology corporation, reported the closing of its previously-announced underwritten public offering (the "Offering") of 14,285,714 units (the "Units") at a price to the public of US$1.75 per Unit, for aggregate gross proceeds to the Corporation of approximately US$25 million, before deducting underwriting commissions and Offering expenses and excluding any proceeds the Corporation may receive from the exercise of the underlying warrants (Press release, IMV, JUL 20, 2021, View Source [SID1234584971]). Each Unit is comprised of one common share and three-quarters of one common share purchase warrant (each whole common share purchase warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one common share at a price of US$2.10 per common share, subject to adjustment in certain events, until July 20, 2026. If the warrants are fully exercised it will represent approximately $22.5M of additional gross proceeds.

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 Corporation intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering to continue the clinical development of maveropepimut-S (DPX-Survivac) in diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), breast cancer, ovarian cancer, bladder cancer and microsatellite instability high (MSI-H), start the clinical development of a new product, DPX-SurMAGE, in bladder cancer, continue the development of its proprietary drug delivery platform (DPX) and for general corporate purposes.

Wells Fargo Securities and Cantor acted as joint book-running managers for the Offering. BTIG acted as lead manager and iA Private Wealth acted as co-manager.

The Offering was made pursuant to a U.S. registration statement on Form F-10, declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on October 16, 2020 (the "Registration Statement"), and the Corporation’s Canadian final short form base shelf prospectus dated June 26, 2020, as amended on October 15, 2020 (collectively, the "Base Prospectus"). A preliminary prospectus supplement dated July 14, 2021 relating to the Offering has been filed with the securities commissions in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, and with the SEC in the United States, and a final prospectus supplement dated July 15, 2021 relating to the Offering (the "Supplement") was filed with the securities commissions in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, and with the SEC in the United States. The Supplement and the accompanying Base Prospectus contain important detailed information about the Offering. The Supplement and the accompanying Base Prospectus can be found for free on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Copies of the Supplement and accompanying Base Prospectus may also be obtained in the United States from Wells Fargo Securities, Attn: Equity Syndicate Department, 500 West 33rd Street, New York, NY 10001, by telephone at (800) 326-5897, or by email at [email protected] or from Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Attn: Capital Markets, 499 Park Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, New York 10022 or by email at [email protected], or in Canada from Wells Fargo Securities Canada, Ltd., 22 Adelaide Street West, Suite 2200, Toronto, ON, M5H 4E3, Attn: Akshay Pattni, email: [email protected] or from Cantor Fitzgerald Canada Corporation, Attn: Equity Capital Markets, 181 University Avenue, Suite 1500, Toronto, ON, M5H 3M7, email: [email protected].

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any province, state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such province, state or jurisdiction.