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Surface Oncology to Host Analyst and Investor Day on November 18, 2019 in New York City

On October 7, 2019 Surface Oncology (Nasdaq: SURF), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing next-generation immunotherapies that target the tumor microenvironment, reported that the company will host its inaugural Analyst and Investor Day on Monday, November 18, 2019, at the Nasdaq Marketsite, 4 Times Square, 10th Floor, New York, NY (Press release, Surface Oncology, OCT 7, 2019, View Source [SID1234540079]).

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Formal presentations will take place from 8:00 a.m-11:00 a.m. ET, followed by questions and answers from the full panel of presenters. Presentations will cover a variety of topics, including:

Corporate overview and strategic update: Jeff Goater, chief executive officer of Surface Oncology

Keynote presentation by Dr. E. John Wherry: Emerging trends in T cell exhaustion and immunotherapy of cancer

Overview and update of SRF617, a novel, potential best-in-class anti-CD39 antibody: Robert Ross, M.D., chief medical officer of Surface Oncology

CD39 is an enzyme critical to both the production of immunosuppressive adenosine and the breakdown of pro-inflammatory adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Overview and update of SRF388, a first-in-class antibody targeting IL-27: Vito Palombella, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Surface Oncology

IL-27 is an immunosuppressive cytokine involved in resolving T cell mediated inflammation. Elevated levels of IL-27 and IL-27 induced gene expression signatures have been identified in certain types of cancer.

Introduction to Surface’s first natural killer (NK) cell targeting program, SRF813, a highly differentiated approach to targeting CD112R: Pamela Holland, Ph.D., vice president of biology at Surface Oncology

CD112R is a recently identified immune checkpoint protein that contributes to both T cell and NK cell suppression through its role as an inhibitory receptor. Blockade of CD112R promotes antitumor responses through innate and adaptive arms of the immune system.

A live webcast of the Analyst and Investor Day will be available on the Surface Oncology website at View Source

About Dr. John Wherry:

E. John Wherry, Ph.D., is the Richard and Barbara Schiffrin President’s Distinguished Professor, chair of the Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, and director of the Penn Institute for Immunology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the co-director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Penn, as well as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Surface Oncology. His research has focused on T cell exhaustion in chronic viral infections and cancer. His work has defined the developmental biology and molecular regulation of

T cell exhaustion, role of checkpoints including PD-1, LAG-3 and others and significantly informed the development of immunotherapies for human cancer.

Sorrento Therapeutics Announces $25 Million Registered Direct Offering

On October 7, 2019 Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SRNE, "Sorrento"), a clinical stage, antibody-centric biopharmaceutical company developing new therapies to turn malignant cancers into manageable and possibly curable diseases, reported that it has entered into definitive agreements with several healthcare-focused institutional investors for the purchase in a registered direct offering of 10,869,566 shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase up to 10,869,566 shares of its common stock, at a combined purchase price of $2.30 per share and related warrant (Press release, Sorrento Therapeutics, OCT 7, 2019, View Source [SID1234540078]). The offering is expected to close on or about October 9, 2019, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

H.C. Wainwright & Co. is acting as the exclusive placement agent for the offering.

The warrants have an exercise price of $2.40 per share of common stock, will be exercisable immediately upon issuance and will expire seven years from the issuance date.

The gross proceeds of the offering are expected to be approximately $25 million, before deducting the placement agent’s fees and other estimated offering expenses. Sorrento currently intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for the continued clinical development of its RTX and CD38 CAR-T programs and general research and development, working capital and general corporate purposes.

The securities described above are being offered by Sorrento pursuant to a "shelf" registration on Form S-3 (File No. 333-221443) previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on November 9, 2017, amended on December 1, 2017 and declared effective by the SEC on December 6, 2017. The offering of the securities will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement that forms a part of the registration statement. A final prospectus supplement and accompanying base prospectus relating to the securities being offered will be filed with the SEC. Electronic copies of the final prospectus supplement and accompanying base prospectus may be obtained, when available, on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or by contacting H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC at 430 Park Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10022, by phone at 646-975-6996 or e-mail at [email protected].

This press 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 state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

Context Therapeutics and Wisconsin Oncology Network (WON) to Evaluate Apristor Combination Therapy for Women with Advanced Breast Cancer

On October 7, 2019 Context Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to advancing treatments for hormone driven cancers, reported a Phase 2 clinical collaboration with the Wisconsin Oncology Network (Press release, Context Therapeutics, OCT 7, 2019, View Source [SID1234540077]). This clinical collaboration will evaluate whether the addition of Apristor to the antiestrogen, fulvestrant, can enhance outcomes for patients with metastatic breast cancer whose cancer has progressed on prior therapies.

The Phase 2 trial will assess the combination of the progesterone receptor antagonist, Apristor (onapristone ER) plus the antiestrogen, Faslodex (fulvestrant), in up to 40 patients who have ER+,PR+, and HER2- tumors and who have received prior antiestrogen (aromatase inhibitor) plus CDK4/6 inhibitor treatment. The primary endpoint will be overall response rate (ORR), which is the proportion of patients who have either a complete or partial response. To further characterize the activity of Apristor, secondary endpoints will include duration of response, clinical benefit rate, and progression-free survival (PFS). In addition, this study will evaluate the safety and pharmacological profile of the combination in these patients, as well as biomarker and functional imaging analyses to explore predictive factors of response to complete hormone blockade. This data will support Context’s ongoing Phase 2 studies and help design a future Phase 3 trial.

20191007 WON Announcement.jpg
"Currently, there are limited therapeutic options to treat hormone driven breast cancer in the advanced setting. Recent preclinical findings in models of antiestrogen and/or CDK4/6 inhibitor resistance give us reason to believe that Apristor when combined with an antiestrogen can provide complete hormone blockade and help women with ER+,PR+,HER2- breast cancers," said Martin Lehr, CEO of Context Therapeutics. "We are humbled by the enthusiasm and support of Wisconsin Oncology Network (WON), coordinated out of the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer center, a leading breast cancer clinical consortium in the Midwest. The skill and scale of WON, under the leadership of Drs. Ruth O’Regan, Ryan Mattison, and Kari Wisinski, gives our company tremendous confidence that WON will maximize patient access to this important trial."

The study will be coordinated by the Study Chair, Dr. Sailaja Kamaraju, an Associate Professor of Medical Oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and study’s Primary Investigator, Dr. Kari Wisinski, Associate Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center. Final study design and other details will be announced upon enrollment of the first patient, expected in early 2020.

"The majority of breast cancer patients have hormone driven breast cancer. The hormones estrogen and progesterone drive breast cancer progression in those patients, but antiestrogens are the only antihormonal therapy available to clinicians. Therefore, treatment of those patients to date has consisted of antiestrogens alone or in combination with agents, including CDK4/6 inhibitors, that enhance the antitumor activity of antiestrogens. Given the broad use of antiestrogens, antiestrogen resistance is now a major clinical challenge," said Dr. Kamaraju. "We believe that a progesterone receptor antagonist has the potential to address antiestrogen resistance, which we believe will lead to better outcomes for patients. This study, run in parallel with other Apristor breast cancer studies, including a window of opportunity (neoadjuvant) study at SOLTI and a first line (1L) biochemical recurrence study at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, will provide clinicians with a complete picture of how Apristor works in advanced ER+,PR+,HER2- breast cancer and inform the design of a future Phase 3 trial."

About Hormone Driven Breast Cancer
Hormone receptor positive (HR+) breast cancer is the most common form of breast cancer and accounts for more than 70% of all breast cancers. Metastatic HR+ cancer is usually treated with antiestrogen therapies first that help stop tumor growth. For many patients, antiestrogen therapy becomes ineffective over time and the cancer becomes resistant to antiestrogen therapy. In this recurrent setting, progesterone receptor has emerged as a prominent resistance mechanism. It is estimated that there are over 750,000 patients with recurrent disease worldwide.

Qurient sets up joint firm with Nobel chemistry prize winner

On October 4, 2019 Qurient reported the company has established a joint venture with Professors Robert Huber, a researcher at Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1988, and Michael Hamacher of the Lead Discovery Center (LDC) (Press release, QLi5 Therapeutics, OCT 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234654541]).

Both Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie and LDC are based in Germany.

The joint venture will develop anticancer drugs and immunotherapy using proteasome inhibition technology, Qurient said in a press release on Friday.

Proteasome is a complex of protease involved in cancer cell growth. One of the most well-known treatments that use proteasome is Takeda’s Velcade. The drug is a blockbuster drug with 5 trillion won ($4.1 billion) in sales in 2018. Takeda acquired the drug from Millennium pharmaceuticals, a U.S. firm, for about 10 trillion won in 2008.

Qurient had been consulting with Max-Planck-Institut and LDC to secure their proteasome inhibition technology and agreed with the two German institutions to acquire the technology at the current optimizing stage. As the company has managed to set up a joint venture firm with the two institutes, it expects to accelerate research using the underlying technologies and development capabilities of the Max-Planck-Institut and LDC.

Qurient will be the major shareholder of the joint venture, while Max-Planck-Institut, LDC and Professor Huber will invest in the company as shareholders.

"The company has increased its chance of success as both the German research institutes and Professor Huber will participate in future research and development as shareholders of the joint venture," Qurient CEO Nam Ki-yean said.

October 2019 Investor Presentation

On October 4, 2019 Advaxis presented the corporate presentation (Presentation, Advaxis, OCT 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234552244]).