On June 17, 2021 BeiGene, Ltd. (NASDAQ: BGNE; HKEX: 06160), a global biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing innovative medicines worldwide, reported that the first patient was dosed in the global Phase 3 AdvanTIG-302 trial of BeiGene’s investigational anti-TIGIT antibody ociperlimab (BGB-A1217) in combination with its anti-PD-1 antibody tislelizumab, for the first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced, unresectable, or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors exhibit high PD-L1 expression and do not harbor EGFR-sensitizing mutations or ALK translocations(Press release, BeiGene, JUN 17, 2021, View Source [SID1234584106]). This marks the initiation of the first Phase 3 clinical trial in the planned global pivotal program for ociperlimab.

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"Ociperlimab is a potent anti-TIGIT antibody with intact Fc function, which we believe to be critical for the anti-tumor activities of TIGIT antibodies. Ociperlimab is our fourth internally discovered molecule entering the pivotal stage of clinical development, and now one of the most advanced anti-TIGIT antibodies in development globally. We intend to explore the potential use of ociperlimab in additional settings and indications in our late-stage development program," commented Yong (Ben) Ben, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Immuno-Oncology, at BeiGene. "We hope that the AdvanTIG-302 trial will support a new and improved chemotherapy-free regimen for a significant portion of first-line patients with NSCLC and potentially other cancer patients with unmet needs."

AdvanTIG-302 Trial of Ociperlimab in Combination with Tislelizumab in NSCLC

AdvanTIG-302 is a randomized, double-blind, multicenter, global Phase 3 clinical trial (NCT04746924), expected to enroll approximately 605 treatment-naïve patients with locally advanced, unresectable, or metastatic NSCLC whose tumors exhibit high PD-L1 expression and do not harbor EGFR-sensitizing mutations or ALK translocations in the United States, Australia and other countries and regions across the globe. Patients will be randomized to receive ociperlimab and tislelizumab combination treatment, pembrolizumab, or tislelizumab alone. The primary endpoints of the trial are progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in the intention-to-treat (ITT) population; secondary endpoints include safety and other efficacy endpoints.

For more information about the trial, patients and physicians should email BeiGene at [email protected].

About Ociperlimab (BGB-A1217)

Ociperlimab (BGB-A1217) is an investigational humanized IgG 1 monoclonal antibody discovered and being developed globally by BeiGene. An immune checkpoint molecule, BGB-A1217 is one of the most advanced anti-TIGIT antibodies in development with intact Fc function.

Targeting TIGIT provides a potential mechanism to rescue immune cells (e.g., T cells, NK cells, and dendritic cells) from the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, to induce an efficient antitumor immune response. The TIGIT pathway has been understood to cooperate with PD-1 to maximize the suppression of effector tumor infiltrating immune cells as well as to promote resistance to anti-PD-1 therapy. TIGIT represents a promising target with the potential to significantly improve and/or extend the therapeutic benefit of anti-PD-1 therapy to a greater number of patients.

Ociperlimab is currently being investigated in combination with tislelizumab in multiple ongoing trials, including:

AdvanTIG-302: Phase 3 trial in untreated non-small cell lung cancer (NCT04746924);
AdvanTIG-202: Phase 2 trial in metastatic cervical cancer (NCT04693234);
AdvanTIG-203: Phase 2 trial in advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (NCT04732494); and
Phase 1b trial in advanced solid tumors (NCT04047862).
About Tislelizumab

Tislelizumab (BGB-A317) is a humanized IgG4 anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody specifically designed to minimize binding to FcγR on macrophages. In pre-clinical studies, binding to FcγR on macrophages has been shown to compromise the anti-tumor activity of PD-1 antibodies through activation of antibody-dependent macrophage-mediated killing of T effector cells. Tislelizumab is the first drug from BeiGene’s immuno-oncology biologics program and is being developed internationally as a monotherapy and in combination with other therapies for the treatment of a broad array of both solid tumor and hematologic cancers.

The China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has granted tislelizumab approval in three indications, including full approval for first-line treatment of patients with advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in combination with chemotherapy; and conditional approval for the treatment of patients with classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cHL) who received at least two prior therapies and for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) with PD-L1 high expression whose disease progressed during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy or within 12 months of neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatment with platinum-containing chemotherapy. Full approval for these indications is contingent upon results from ongoing randomized, controlled confirmatory clinical trials.

In addition, four supplemental Biologics License Applications for tislelizumab have been accepted by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the NMPA and are under review for first-line treatment of patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC in combination with chemotherapy, for second- or third-line treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC who progressed on prior platinum-based chemotherapy, for patients with previously treated unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, and for the treatment of patients with previously treated, locally advanced unresectable or metastatic microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR) solid tumors.

BeiGene has initiated or completed 17 potentially registration-enabling clinical trials in China and globally, including 13 Phase 3 trials and four pivotal Phase 2 trials.

In January 2021, BeiGene and Novartis entered into a collaboration and license agreement granting Novartis rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize tislelizumab in North America, Europe, and Japan.

Tislelizumab is not approved for use outside of China.

About the Tislelizumab Clinical Program

Clinical trials of tislelizumab include:

Phase 3 trial comparing tislelizumab with docetaxel in the second- or third-line setting in patients with NSCLC (NCT03358875);
Phase 3 trial comparing tislelizumab to salvage chemotherapy in patients with relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin Lymphoma (cHL; NCT04486391);
Phase 3 trial in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (NCT03967977);
Phase 3 trial of tislelizumab in combination with chemotherapy versus chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with advanced squamous NSCLC (NCT03594747);
Phase 3 trial of tislelizumab in combination with chemotherapy versus chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC (NCT03663205);
Phase 3 trial of tislelizumab in combination with platinum-based doublet chemotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment for patients with NSCLC (NCT04379635);
Phase 3 trial of tislelizumab combined with platinum and etoposide versus placebo combined with platinum and etoposide in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (NCT04005716);
Phase 3 trial comparing tislelizumab with sorafenib as first-line treatment for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC; NCT03412773);
Phase 2 trial in patients with previously treated unresectable HCC (NCT03419897);
Phase 2 trial in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial bladder cancer (NCT04004221);
Phase 3 trial comparing tislelizumab with chemotherapy as second-line treatment for patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC; NCT03430843);
Phase 3 trial of tislelizumab in combination with chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with ESCC (NCT03783442);
Phase 3 trial of tislelizumab versus placebo in combination with chemoradiotherapy in patients with localized ESCC (NCT03957590);
Phase 3 trial of tislelizumab combined with chemotherapy versus placebo combined with chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with gastric cancer (NCT03777657);
Phase 2 trial of tislelizumab in patients with relapsed or refractory cHL (NCT03209973);
Phase 2 trial in patients with MSI-H/dMMR solid tumors (NCT03736889); and
Phase 3 trial of tislelizumab combined with chemotherapy versus placebo combined with chemotherapy as first-line treatment in patients with nasopharyngeal cancer (NCT03924986).

On June 17, 2021 KIYATEC, Inc. reported the publication of new peer-reviewed data that establishes clinically meaningful prediction of patient-specific responses to standard of care therapy, prior to treatment, in newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM) and other high-grade glioma (HGG) patients (Press release, KIYATEC, JUN 17, 2021, View Source [SID1234584163]). The results, the interim data analysis of the company’s 3D-PREDICT clinical study, were published June 16, 2021 in Neuro-Oncology Advances1, an open access clinical journal.

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A goal of the study, which continues to enroll, was for the test’s prospective, patient-specific response prediction to achieve statistical significance for predictive accuracy. The 3D-PREDICT study met this goal early, at its interim data analysis, an achievement that is uncommon for innovations in oncology. For clinicians and payors, the publication establishes the successful analytical validation and early clinical validation of KIYATEC’s 3D Predict Glioma assay.

The recent bipartisan resolution passed by the US Senate designating July 21, 2021 as Glioblastoma Awareness Day highlights the severity of this aggressive brain cancer. Fewer than 10% of patients survive longer than five years. Pharmaceutical and clinical efforts have only resulted in modest increases in overall survival since the disease was first described in the 1920s. Today, most newly diagnosed patients receive the same treatment regimen (radiation therapy and temozolomide), presenting an opportunity to improve care through shifting the paradigm toward individualized medicine for HGG treatment.

KIYATEC’s test results accurately identified the patients as future temozolomide responders or future non-responders prior to the initiation of drug treatment. The future responder group had a statistically significant 6-month comparative increase in overall survival. Since test results are available only seven days after surgery, this creates an opportunity to improve outcomes for each predicted non-responder by providing the possibility of patient-specific treatment strategies. In the future, KIYATEC’s results may also prove useful to improve outcomes for each predicted responder through patient-specific combination strategies.

Successful response-prediction for newly diagnosed patients follows the company’s previous success with predicting treatment response in recurrent high-grade glioma patients. In December 2020, KIYATEC announced a clinical case series demonstrating that use of their test doubled these patients’ median time to progression over what would be expected without use of the test. In addition, the earlier announcement demonstrated successful clinical use of the targeted agent dabrafenib in two patients that were not identified by genetic sequencing. By identifying successful response to drugs that would have been missed by today’s testing, KIYATEC’s results expanded the successful treatment options for these patients.

"Decision making in our framework is based on patient-specific evidence, embodying truly personalized medicine. Evidence of response before the first dose is administered creates options that were not previously available when it comes to treatment," said Matthew Gevaert, PhD, CEO of KIYATEC.

Versus other approaches, tests developed using KIYATEC’s 3D ex vivo cell culture platform demonstrate increased biological fidelity, which was first reported in 2019 in ovarian cancer. In newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients, KIYATEC’s test prospectively and accurately predicted response to first-line chemotherapy with 89% accuracy. The new GBM results now establish comparable predictive accuracy in two solid tumors, with eight additional cancers in the company’s pipeline.

On June 17, 2021 Biodesix, Inc. (Nasdaq: BDSX), a leading data-driven diagnostic solutions company, reported in partnership with Seer, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEER), a life sciences company commercializing a disruptive new platform for proteomics, a webinar to present the newest trends in proteomics for biomarker discovery and translational research(Press release, Biodesix, JUN 17, 2021, View Source [SID1234584107]). The webinar entitled "A New Era in Precision Medicine – Uncovering the Depth & Breadth of the Plasma Proteome with Novel Proteomic Technologies" will be presented by Robert Georgantas, III, PhD, Senior Vice President, Research and Translational Science at Biodesix and Daniel Hornburg, PhD, Principal Scientist from Seer. The webinar is scheduled at 11:00 am ET, Tuesday June 22, 2021 and participants are encouraged to REGISTER HERE.

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Proteomics is the next frontier in biomarker and translational research with new emerging technologies that are enabling researchers to see deeper and broader into the plasma proteome than ever before. Biodesix is a recognized leader in profiling patients’ immune response to all cancer types using blood-based solutions that combine proteomic and genomic insights with a proprietary AI analytics platform.

The webinar will include an overview of Seer’s Proteograph Product Suite, which uses proprietary engineered nanoparticles to survey plasma proteins, allowing researchers to identify and quantitate proteins across the dynamic range of the proteome. Additionally, learnings will be shared on how the Seer Proteograph Product Suite will help define the biological underpinnings of tests created by Biodesix and how it is being integrated into the Biodesix mass spectrometry-based workflows for biopharmaceutical and academic research.

On June 17, 2021 Rakuten Medical, Inc. (HQ: San Mateo, Calif.; Chairman and CEO: Hiroshi Mikitani; hereinafter "Rakuten Medical") and Shimadzu Corporation (HQ: Kyoto, Japan; President and CEO: Teruhisa Ueda; hereinafter "Shimadzu") reported a joint development and commercialization agreement to advance a medical device for use on the Illuminox platform (Press release, Rakuten Medical, JUN 17, 2021, View Source [SID1234584143]). This partnership will allow for the development of a medical device using optical measurement technologies to support cancer treatment by photoimmunotherapy.

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Therapies developed on the Illuminox platform involve administering a targeting moiety conjugated with one or more dyes, which is illuminated by light at a specific wavelength. Light illumination of the targeted cells transiently excites the drug, and pre-clinical data have shown this excitation elicits rapid and selective necrosis of targeted cells through a biophysical process.

Based on this agreement, both companies will use their expertise to work toward the joint development of technology that will allow visualization, measurement, and recording of the reaction of the dye to light illumination in real-time. This will allow for optimization of light irradiation depending on the tumor. Both companies will cooperate to aim for commercialization of the medical device using the technology on a worldwide basis.

Rakuten Medical is developing therapies on its Illuminox platform, an investigational treatment platform based on a cancer therapy called photoimmunotherapy developed by Dr. Kobayashi and team from the National Cancer Institute in the United States. In September 2020, Rakuten Medical announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Rakuten Medical Japan K.K. received conditional marketing approval in Japan from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for ASP-1929 Photoimmunotherapy and a laser light device to treat unresectable locally advanced or recurrent head and neck cancer, and began commercialization in January 2021. Shimadzu is focusing on creating innovative products and services, which combine analytical measurements with diagnostic imaging in the healthcare field. Utilizing its measurement technologies, Shimadzu has worked with cancer institutes in both USA and Japan for the development of photoimmunotherapy at the pre-clinical stage.

On June 17, 2021 Biodesix, Inc. (Nasdaq: BDSX), a leading data-driven diagnostic solutions company, reported in partnership with Seer, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEER), a life sciences company commercializing a disruptive new platform for proteomics, a webinar to present the newest trends in proteomics for biomarker discovery and translational research (Press release, Biodesix, JUN 17, 2021, View Source [SID1234584164]). The webinar entitled "A New Era in Precision Medicine – Uncovering the Depth & Breadth of the Plasma Proteome with Novel Proteomic Technologies" will be presented by Robert Georgantas, III, PhD, Senior Vice President, Research and Translational Science at Biodesix and Daniel Hornburg, PhD, Principal Scientist from Seer. The webinar is scheduled at 11:00 am ET, Tuesday June 22, 2021 and participants are encouraged to REGISTER HERE.

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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

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Proteomics is the next frontier in biomarker and translational research with new emerging technologies that are enabling researchers to see deeper and broader into the plasma proteome than ever before. Biodesix is a recognized leader in profiling patients’ immune response to all cancer types using blood-based solutions that combine proteomic and genomic insights with a proprietary AI analytics platform.

The webinar will include an overview of Seer’s Proteograph Product Suite, which uses proprietary engineered nanoparticles to survey plasma proteins, allowing researchers to identify and quantitate proteins across the dynamic range of the proteome. Additionally, learnings will be shared on how the Seer Proteograph Product Suite will help define the biological underpinnings of tests created by Biodesix and how it is being integrated into the Biodesix mass spectrometry-based workflows for biopharmaceutical and academic research.