On July 13, 2021 Evrys Bio, a biotech company developing Next Gen Antivirals, reported the company was awarded a $34.3 million contract from the Department of Defense (DOD) to develop a drug, simultaneously effective against multiple high-risk viral agents (Press release, Evrys Bio, JUL 13, 2021, View Source [SID1234644911]). The proposed drug intends to improve disease survival after exposure to one or more viruses from three families: alphaviruses, arenaviruses and filoviruses. Evrys Bio’s broad-spectrum antiviral technology is based on the discovery that certain human proteins, called sirtuins, normally defend the human (host) cell from being invaded by pathogens. The novel drug will target the human SIRT-2 protein.

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 DOD’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Chem Bio Technologies, Vaccines and Therapeutics Division executed an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement with Evrys for this effort. The milestone-based agreement anticipates five years of development from drug-prototype identification to proof-of-concept and regulatory filings.

"EVRYS stands for the Company’s vision to ultimately address every virus," said Lillian Chiang, PhD, CEO, Evrys Bio. "This DTRA collaboration addresses highly lethal viral infection and extends our pipeline that already includes developing products to treat pan-respiratory, pan-hepatic, and pan-opportunistic viral infections."

On July 13, 2021 Astellas Pharma Inc. (President and CEO: Kenji Yasukawa, Ph.D., "Astellas") reported that it has been named to the FTSE4Good Index Series for 10 consecutive years, as a company that is performing excellent initiatives in the areas of ESG [environmental (E), social (S), governance (G)] (Press release, Astellas, JUL 13, 2021, View Source [SID1234584802]).

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!

Astellas has conducted various activities based on the thought that Astellas’ contribution to the sustainability of society means the realization its philosophy. These sustained activities led Astellas to recognize and to be selected in such for a decade.

In the year ended 31 March 2021, Astellas reviewed its past activities and formulated its basic sustainability policy, which aims to improve the sustainability of both the global society and Astellas with the ESG in mind, instead of the conventional CSR-Based management. Astellas is working to further conducte its sustainability activities and expand its information disclosure*1.

Astellas has set "Deepen our Engagement in Sustainability" as one of its new strategic goals in its Corporate Strategic Plan 2021*2. In addition to implementing "Value Protection" which is an initiative to comply with regulations and meet the requirements from the global society, Astellas will further strengthen "Value Creation" activities to provide its patients’ access to innovative therapeutics and take proactive measures to conserve the global environment.

Besides the FTSE4Good Index Series, Astellas also has been named to all ESG investment indices selected by the Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan. These are the FTSE Blossom Japan Index, the MSCI Japan ESG Select Leaders Index, the MSCI Japan Empowering Women Index (WIN), and the S&P/JPX Carbon Efficient Index.

Astellas will continue to work under its basic policy of sustainability, which is to improve the sustainability of both the global society and Astellas while keeping ESG in mind.

On July 13, 2021 Guardant Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: GH), a leading precision oncology company, reported it will report financial results for the second quarter 2021 after market close on Thursday, August 5, 2021 (Press release, Guardant Health, JUL 13, 2021, View Source [SID1234584820]). Company management will be webcasting a corresponding conference call beginning at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time / 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

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!

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 July 13, 2021 Bicycle Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ: BCYC), a biotechnology company pioneering a new and differentiated class of therapeutics based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle) technology, reported that Ionis Pharmaceuticals has exercised its option and entered into an exclusive worldwide license and collaboration agreement for tissue-targeted delivery of oligonucleotide therapeutics using Bicycles with high affinity to the transferrin receptor (TfR1) (Press release, Bicycle Therapeutics, JUL 13, 2021, View Source [SID1234584803]).

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!

Ionis had an option for an exclusive license under the terms of a December 2020 evaluation and option agreement. The agreement granted Ionis the right to evaluate tissue-targeting TfR1 binding Bicycles as vehicles to deliver oligonucleotide therapeutics to specific organ systems and an option to obtain an exclusive license at the end of the evaluation period.

Bicycle receives a total of $45 million upfront, which includes a license fee, an option fee, and an $11 million equity investment. Bicycle is also eligible to receive development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments and royalties for each program developed under the collaboration.

"This agreement stems from a highly successful collaboration with Ionis that began earlier in the year, during which Bicycles were shown to selectively deliver oligonucleotide payloads into TfR1-expressing tissue," said Kevin Lee, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Bicycle Therapeutics. "These data build upon our own work, and that of our partners, which have shown Bicycles targeted to tumor antigens can rapidly and selectively deliver a variety of payloads into solid tumors. This tissue-targeting payload-delivery capability is facilitated by the unique nature of Bicycles that inherently enables the conjugation of a diverse range of molecular cargos without impacting the pharmacology of the target. We believe Bicycles have the potential to become the targeting technology of choice for the development of precision medicines."

Bicycle has identified binders that it believes to be the first small molecules to target TfR1 with high specificity without modifying TfR1’s natural function. These binders present broad conjugation potential across multiple payloads, thereby resulting in the potential to treat diseases in multiple therapeutic areas, including those of the skeletal and cardiac muscles and of the central nervous system. Bicycle is currently also collaborating with the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) to advance potential TfR1 Bicycles for treating dementia.

Under the terms of the license and collaboration agreement, Ionis and Bicycle will collaborate to develop a pipeline of oligonucleotide therapeutic product candidates delivered using the tissue-targeting TfR1 Bicycle technology, while Bicycle retains the rights to use TfR1 Bicycles for all non-oligonucleotide therapeutic purposes, including within its existing collaboration with DDF targeting dementia.

On July 13, 2021 NeuroLogica Corp. reported that its state-of-the-art, OmniTom Elite with Photon Counting Detector (PCD) technology will be piloted by Massachusetts General Hospital, bringing multi-energy computed tomography (CT) imaging to the patient’s point-of-care (Press release, Massachusetts General Hospital, JUL 13, 2021, View Source [SID1234584821]).

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!

OmniTom Elite CT system is intended to be used for CT applications. We have added the ability to upgrade the OmniTom Elite system with PCD.

Photon counting is a next generation CT technology that sorts the different energies of X-rays after they have passed through the scan field. The multiple sets of CT data are acquired at the same time with configurable energy thresholds. This could potentially mean more accurate visualization and segmentation of bone, blood clots, plaque, hemorrhage, and intracranial tumor in critical intensive care unit (ICU) patients when in use with the OmniTom Elite scanner. As well, PCD has the potential to fundamentally change the use of injected contrast agents that highlight blood vessels by collecting high signal even at low contrast agent dosage. PCD provides the ability to capture CT data in multiple energy bands that can provide information on material composition of different tissues and contrast media. The OmniTom Elite with PCD is an important advancement in CT technology and was designed in house by the NeuroLogica research and development team in Danvers, Massachusetts, in collaboration with Samsung.

"Since the advent of point-of-care CT in 2004 by NeuroLogica, we have always known that point-of-care imaging can improve patient outcomes and increase the likelihood of a better post-traumatic quality of life," said David Webster, Chief Operating Officer of NeuroLogica. "With the introduction of Photon Counting to the OmniTom Elite platform, we hope to expand the diagnostic possibilities of computed tomography at the patient’s bedside."

Pending FDA 510(k) clearance of this technology, Massachusetts General Hospital will pilot test the OmniTom Elite with PCD to monitor post-trauma and post-surgical patients.

"We are excited about our collaboration with NeuroLogica," said Raj Gupta, MD, PhD, Director, Ultra-High-Resolution Volume CT Lab, Massachusetts General Hospital. "This will be the first time where multi-spectral imaging will be used inside of the intensive care unit. We are particularly interested in how this technology can help guide patient care decisions through quantitative image analysis."

The OmniTom Elite’s ability to provide versatile, real-time mobile imaging enables healthcare providers to administer point-of-care CT to critical patients without the need to transport them to a separate department. The mobile unit will decrease the time it takes to diagnose and initiate treatment for patients in the ICU. During the pilot of the OmniTom Elite with PCD, Massachusetts General Hospital will guide best practices and evaluate use cases for the novel system.