On July 9, 2021 Tempest Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: TPST), a clinical-stage oncology company developing potentially first-in-class therapeutics that combine both targeted and immune-mediated mechanisms, reported that Sam Whiting, M.D., Ph.D., chief medical officer, will participate in a webcast panel titled "Developing Therapies for the Next Immuno-Oncology Targets" at the William Blair 2021 Biotech Focus Conference on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 at 2:10 p.m. ET (Press release, Tempest Therapeutics, JUL 9, 2021, View Source [SID1234585167]).

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To access the live or archived recording of the discussion, please visit the investor section of the Tempest website at View Source

On July 8, 2021 Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: NBIX) reported that Kyle Gano, Chief Business Development and Strategy Officer, will participate in a neuropsychology-focused panel discussion at the William Blair Biotech Focus Conference at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday July 15, 2021 (Press release, Neurocrine Biosciences, JUL 8, 2021, View Source [SID1234584700]).

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The live presentation will be webcast and may be accessed on the Company’s website under Investors at www.neurocrine.com. A replay of the presentation will be available on the website approximately one hour after the conclusion of the events and will be archived for approximately one month.

On July 8, 2021 Kezar Life Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: KZR), a clinical-stage biotechnology company discovering and developing breakthrough treatments for immune-mediated and oncologic disorders, reported its Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Christopher Kirk, will participate in the "Novel Targets for Autoimmune Diseases" panel discussion at William Blair’s Biotech Focus Conference on Thursday, July 15, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. ET (Press release, Kezar Life Sciences, JUL 8, 2021, View Source [SID1234584716]).

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A live webcast of the panel may be accessed at the "Events & Presentations" section of Kezar’s website at View Source Kezar Life Sciences will maintain an archived replay of the webcast on its website for 90 days after the conference.

On July 8, 2021 Rakuten Medical, Inc. (Rakuten Medical) reported that data from a phase I, single-center, open-label study of RM-1929 photoimmunotherapy in Japanese patients with recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (rHNSCC) was accepted for publication in the International Journal of Clinical Oncology and published on June 24, 2021 (Press release, Rakuten Medical, JUL 8, 2021, View Source [SID1234584732]).

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The manuscript describes the design of a Phase I study, where patients were given a single fixed dose (640 mg/m²) of RM-1929, an anti-EGFR antibody cetuximab conjugated with a light-activatable dye (IRDye700DX), and a fixed light treatment dose (50 J/cm² for superficial illumination; 100 J/cm fiber diffuser length for interstitial illumination) in Japan. The study was designed to evaluate the safety, tumor response (modified RECIST v1.1 by central radiology review), pharmacokinetics, and immunogenicity administered in subjects with rHNSCC.

The data concluded that RM-1929 photoimmunotherapy showed a manageable safety profile in rHNSCC – and showed tumor response in the heavily pre-treated patient population was clinically meaningful and warranted further investigation.

RM-1929 is a first-in-class drug developed on the Illuminox platform based on photoimmunotherapy and received conditional marketing approval in Japan from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in September 2020.

A paper of full text is available at View Source

*RM-1929 and ASP-1929 are analogous. Extensive physiochemical studies show that they have comparable physical and chemical properties.

On July 8, 2021 F-star Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSTX) ("F-star" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing next generation bispecific immunotherapies to transform the lives of patients with cancer, reported that it has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with AstraZeneca plc (NASDAQ: AZN) ("AstraZeneca"), under which AstraZeneca will receive global rights to research, develop and commercialize next generation Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING) inhibitor compounds (Press release, AstraZeneca, JUL 8, 2021, View Source [SID1234584767]).

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Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca is granted exclusive access to F-star’s novel preclinical STING inhibitors. AstraZeneca will be responsible for all future research, development and commercialization of the STING inhibitor compounds, and F-star will retain rights to all STING agonists, currently in clinical development for patients with cancer.

Neil Brewis, Chief Scientific Officer of F-star, said, "We are excited to announce this agreement with AstraZeneca to develop these promising drug candidates. STING inhibitors offer enormous potential for new treatments, as STING is known to play a role in activating the innate immune system across a range of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. We are confident that AstraZeneca can maximize the value of these discovery stage compounds to benefit patients."

Maria Belvisi, Senior Vice President and Head of Research and Early Development, Respiratory & Immunology, BioPharmaceuticals R&D of AstraZeneca, said, "As part of our bold ambition to develop therapeutic options for patients across immune mediated diseases I am delighted to announce this agreement with F-star to explore novel STING inhibitors. We look forward to advancing our discovery efforts in these areas of high unmet medical need."

F-star is eligible to receive upfront and near-term payments of up to $12 million. In addition, F-star will be eligible for development and sales milestone payments of over $300 million, as well as single digit percentage royalty payments. Payments received by F-star are subject to a contingent value rights agreement (CVR 2), under which a percentage will be payable to stockholders of F-star that were previously stockholders of Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Spring Bank") prior to the business combination between F-star and Spring Bank.