On June 25, 2021 Prescient Therapeutics reported that it will now proceed to its next phase of research at the world-leading Peter Mac cancer research centre (Press release, Prescient Therapeutics, JUN 25, 2021, View Source;utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=prescient-equips-car-t-cells-with-cancer-fighting-binders-in-manufacturing-milestone [SID1234584324]).

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Clinical stage oncology company Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX) has announced another crucial step forward in the development of its CAR-T cancer treatment solutions.

The company confirmed that manufacturing is complete for a range of binders which target multiple cancers.

The work was carried out by a leading US manufacturer, and their construction successfully incorporated SpyTag – a central requirement for covalent binding to immune cells as part of Prescient’s proprietary OmniCAR system.

Concurrently, Prescient has also taken delivery of lentiviral vectors that will be used to produce CAR-T cells expressing SpyCatcher.

"Together, the SpyTagged binders and CAR-T cells expressing SpyCatcher form the basis for the unique, modular OmniCAR platform," Prescient said.

Next-gen OmniCAR solution
Prescient’s OmniCAR platform is being developed as a market-leading solution in the field of CAR-T (Chimeric antigen receptor T-cells) – the engineering of the immune system’s T-cells to target specific proteins.

Before the T-cells can attack cancerous cells, they need to be matched with a targeting ligand, also known as a binder.

The activated T-cell can then be controlled to target and kill tumours on-demand.

In that context, the successful development of the SpyTag binding mechanism is a "crucial milestone" in Prescient’s OmniCAR treatment pathway, said CEO Steven Yatomi-Clarke.

The binders work against a range of cancer targets, including acute leukemia, breast cancer and glioblastoma multiforme – an aggressive form of cancer that usually begins in the brain.

"Successfully producing binders will enable our research team to produce CAR-T cells for our three in-house programs," Yatomi-Clarke said.

"We are also pleased to have timely delivery of lentiviral vectors, which is rate-limiting in manufacturing CAR-Ts and have proven to be a bottleneck for many developers."

Along with those key manufacturing developments, the company’s research team at the world-renowned Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne has also advanced all the relevant preparatory work for the next phase of OmniCAR development.

"The delivery of the binders and vectors now enables the team to progress the development of our in-house next-generation cell therapies," Yatomi-Clarke said.

The OmniCAR program is being built by Prescient in its capacity as the global licence holder for the technology, which was developed by leading research teams at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oxford.

Along with the program itself, to develop improved treatment solutions for different forms of cancer, Prescient is also building an OmniCAR platform that will allow it to license the technology for collaborations and partnerships.

In the wake of its exciting updates on the delivery of binders and lentiviral vectors, Prescient will be holding an online briefing for shareholders at 11am on Thursday, July 1.

This article was developed in collaboration with Prescient Therapeutics, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

On June 25, 2021 Alliance HealthCare Services, Inc. ("Alliance"), a leading national provider of radiology and oncology solutions to hospitals, health systems and physician groups, reported that it has entered into an agreement to be acquired for $820 million by Akumin Inc. (NASDAQ/TSX: AKU), a premier provider of freestanding outpatient radiology services in the U.S (Press release, Alliance HealthCare Services, JUN 25, 2021, View Source [SID1234584374]). The closing of the transaction is expected in third quarter of 2021, subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and other customary closing conditions.

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Upon the closing of the transaction, the combined company will offer the most comprehensive radiology and oncology solutions to patients in the U.S., operating in 46 states, with more than 1,000 hospital and health system customers, 154 independent outpatient radiology centers and 34 radiation therapy centers. The combined company expects to have over 4,000 team members serving more than two million radiology and oncology patient visits annually.

"Bringing together the best of both organizations for the benefit of our patients, partners and customers is truly exciting," said Rhonda Longmore-Grund, President and CEO of Alliance. "Alliance brings an over 30-year history of successful radiology and oncology partnerships with hospitals, health systems and physicians; and Akumin has built and continues to grow its premier outpatient imaging practice. Together we will offer patients and customers profound value unlike any other healthcare solutions company – and we can’t wait to get started."

"We have always said Akumin’s vision is to drive patient-centered innovation, service delivery standardization, and exceptional healthcare value, all in an outpatient care setting," said Riadh Zine, President and CEO of Akumin. "The acquisition of Alliance is transformative in a changing healthcare ecosystem that continues to shift toward outpatient, price-transparent, value-based care. There’s no other organization that has the complement of attributes we will offer together as outpatient healthcare services experts, in particular with Alliance’s longstanding hospital and health system relationships and Akumin’s freestanding operational expertise."

"We thank the Alliance team for five years of partnership, and we look forward to the success we know Akumin and Alliance will achieve as a combined organization," said Qisen Huang, Chairman and Founder of Tahoe Investment Group. Tahoe has been majority owner of Alliance since 2016 and will on closing transition to a minority ownership position in the newly combined, publicly traded entity.

The acquisition has been facilitated for Alliance with the assistance of Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. and SVB Leerink LLC, as financial advisors, and Ropes & Gray LLP and Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, as legal advisors. Stikeman Elliott LLP and McDermott Will & Emery LLP acted as legal advisors, and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as financial advisors, to Akumin.

On June 25, 2021 Alphageneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Alphageneron" or the "Company"), a privately-held clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing autologous and allogeneic Natural Killer (NK) cellular and antibody therapeutics reported that Robert Brooks, JD, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Alphageneron, will participate in the ROTH Healthcare Private Company Forum to be hosted virtually on Monday, June 28, 2021 (Press release, Alphageneron Pharmaceuticals, JUN 25, 2021, View Source [SID1234584647]).

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Alphageneron’s CEO, Robert Brooks will speak on the Cancer Panel 2, entitled "Natural Killer Cell Approaches To Eradicate Tumors," as one of the presenting companies on the panel with "proof of concept" data utilizing NK cells against solid tumors. Mr. Brooks, will discuss a prior completed Phase IIa Clinical Trial with Advanced non-small lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, receiving autologous Hsp70 targeted NK Cell therapy (ENKASTIM), after radio-chemotherapy, in Germany. The Company is planning a Phase IIa Clinical Combination Trial with Advanced NSCLC patients receiving ENKASTIM and PD (L)-1 checkpoint inhibitors, after Standard of Care, in the United States. Alphageneron is also planning a Phase I clinical Combination trial with Metastatic Colorectal cancer with allogeneic donor genetically edited NK cell therapy, (ANKASTIM) in the United States.

Date: Monday January 28, 2021
Time: 12pm-1pm EDT

On June 25, 2021 Cambridge start-up Lucida Medical has reported that it has joined the Edison Accelerator, a programme designed by GE Healthcare in partnership with innovation organisation Wayra UK, to support early-stage and technologically advanced businesses developing AI applications for healthcare (Press release, GE Healthcare, JUN 25, 2021, View Source [SID1234584375]).

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Participation in the Edison Accelerator programme is a major advance towards Lucida Medical’s goal to disrupt the cancer diagnostic pathway with technology that finds prostate cancer more accurately by analysing MRI, enabling radiologists to save time and patients to receive the best possible diagnosis and treatment.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in Europe, Africa and North and South America, with 1.4 million diagnosed worldwide each year and 375,000 deaths. Earlier and better detection saves lives.

The Edison Accelerator creates a collaborative environment for start-ups, research centres, hospitals, clinicians and large corporations across the EMEA region. It aims to foster open innovation and digital transformation of healthcare.

Lucida Medical was invited to join the Edison Accelerator programme for its pioneering work in helping identify prostate cancer and its exceptional development team led by Prof Evis Sala and Dr Antony Rix, both highly experienced in artificial intelligence, or AI, medical technology.

In joining the Edison Accelerator programme, Lucida Medical will:

Receive mentoring on problem validation, business, regulatory and clinical validation, and deployment.
Participate in joint pilots between start-up and healthcare partners.
Access support in customer discovery and product validation.
Access support in adapting, integrating and launching solutions on the Edison marketplace.
Access GE Healthcare global commercial force and customers in various markets.
Receive support for clinical studies and regulatory preparation in target geographies.
Catherine Estrampes, President and CEO, Europe, Middle East & Africa, GE Healthcare, said: "The future of innovation will be about working across silos and collaborating across the healthcare ecosystem, including start-ups, research centres, hospitals and clinicians. The Edison Accelerator brings together leading technology providers, developers and academic institutions under a single, connected ecosystem to create real impact from the bottom line to better patient outcomes."

Dr Antony Rix, CEO and Co-founder, said: "That Lucida Medical has been chosen to join the prestigious Edison Accelerator programme is both a demonstration of confidence in the technology and our team. This development comes soon after our Prostate Intelligence technology received a CE mark. The support of GE Healthcare and Wayra will help us develop further our technology and access new partners and markets."

Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer Prof Evis Sala, Professor of Oncological Imaging at the University of Cambridge, said: "We are tremendously excited by our ability to support radiologists to detect cancer accurately and early. The Edison Accelerator programme will now help us bring our technology into clinical use."

XTX Ventures, the venture capital arm of XTX Markets, provided Lucida Medical with early-stage investment capital from a group of investors in March 2021.

On June 25, 2021 InnoCare (HKEX: 09969), a leading biopharmaceutical company focusing on cancer and autoimmune diseases, reported that China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has approved the initiation of a Phase I clinical trial of ICP-033, the Company’s novel RTK (Receptor Tyrosine Kinase) inhibitor and its sixth innovative drug to enter clinical development (Press release, InnoCare Pharma, JUN 25, 2021, View Source [SID1234584376]).

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As a novel multi-target RTK inhibitor, ICP-033 is designed to selectively inhibit discoid domain receptor 1/2 (DDR1/2), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2/3 (VEGFR 2 /3) and platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR α/β). Through multiple synergistic mechanisms targeting endothelial cells, pericytes and stroma, ICP-033 can potentially inhibit angiogenesis and tumor cell invasion, normalize abnormal blood vessels, and reverse the immunosuppressive state of the tumor microenvironment for improved anti-tumor effects.

Dr. Jasmine Cui, the Co-founder, Chairwoman and CEO of InnnoCare, said, "ICP-033 is our second drug approved for clinical trial this year, and it will further enrich our product pipeline in the field of solid tumors and potentially provide another treatment option for cancer patients worldwide."

ICP-033 will be used potentially as monotherapy and/or in combination with immunotherapy and other targeted therapy drugs to treat liver cancer, renal cell carcinoma, colorectal cancer and other solid tumors.