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Bracco Imaging Expands Portfolio of Personalized Diagnostics With the Acquisition of Blue Earth Diagnostics

On June 27, 2019 Bracco Imaging S.p.A., a global leader in diagnostic imaging, reported that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Blue Earth Diagnostics, a molecular imaging company based in Oxford, UK (Press release, Bracco, JUN 27, 2019, View Source [SID1234537282]). Subject to customary closing conditions, completion of the transaction is expected in Q3 of this calendar year.

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Bracco Imaging will acquire all outstanding shares of privately-held Blue Earth Diagnostics for the equity value of $ 450 million, plus closing adjustment estimated at $25 million, from leading healthcare company Syncona and Blue Earth Diagnostics’ management team. Upon closing of the transaction, Blue Earth Diagnostics will be a subsidiary of Bracco Imaging, led by its current leadership team and will retain the well-established Blue Earth Diagnostics name. Blue Earth Diagnostics employs approximately 100 people and is expected to generate revenues of $ 140M in the year to September 2019, primarily in the US.

The first novel PET molecular imaging agent developed by Blue Earth Diagnostics is Axumin (F18-fluciclovine) injection approved in the United States (US) and the European Union for PET imaging in men with suspected recurrent prostate cancer based on elevated prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels following prior treatment. The company’s pipeline includes innovative Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA)-targeted radiohybrid ("rh") agents, which are a clinical-stage, investigational class of theranostic compounds, with potential applications in both the imaging and treatment of prostate cancer.[1]

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, with an estimated number of more than 170 thousand new cases in 2019 in the US.[2] While most cases of primary prostate cancer can be treated successfully, the cancer will recur in up to one third of cases and in a third of those recurrences, patients develop distant metastases leading to a fatal outcome[3]. In two separate studies which evaluated the utility of Axumin (F18-fluciclovine) PET/CT in providing physicians with actionable information for the management of men with recurrent prostate cancer, the intended management plan was changed for approximately 60% of the study subjects, based on the results of the Axumin PET/CT scan.[4]

F18-fluciclovine has a broad range of other potential applications in cancer imaging and Blue Earth Diagnostics is investigating the molecule for other cancers including in neuro-oncology.

"Blue Earth Diagnostics’ innovative products and pipeline will significantly enhance Bracco Imaging’s portfolio in precision medicine and personalized diagnostics, while expanding our range of nuclear oncology imaging solutions in the Urology segment and other specialties," said Fulvio Renoldi Bracco, Chief Executive Officer, Bracco Imaging. "We are thrilled to welcome to Bracco this world class team with exceptional product development and commercialization expertise."

"The acquisition of Blue Earth Diagnostics by Bracco Imaging is a validation of the proven success of Axumin in prostate cancer, its potential uses beyond prostate cancer, and the PSMA pipeline under development," said Dr. Jonathan Allis, D.Phil., Chief Executive Officer, Blue Earth Diagnostics. "Bracco Imaging’s global footprint and clinical research and marketing support will enable us to further leverage our high-value platform for innovative radiopharmaceuticals to inform clinical management and guide care for cancer patients around the world."

J.P. Morgan is acting as Exclusive Financial Adviser to Bracco and as sole Underwriter of the financing for its [$450 million] acquisition of Blue Earth Diagnostics Ltd from Syncona Ltd. Santa Maria Law Firm and Greenberg Traurig acted as legal advisors.

bridgebio pharma announces pricing of its initial public offering

On June 26, 2019 BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. ("BridgeBio") reported the pricing of its initial public offering of 20,500,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $17.00 per share, above the range of $14.00 to $16.00 (Press release, BridgeBio, JUN 26, 2019, View Source [SID1234576265]). In addition, BridgeBio has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 3,075,000 additional shares of its common stock. The shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on June 27, 2019, under the ticker symbol "BBIO" and the offering is expected to close on July 1, 2019, subject to customary closing conditions.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Jefferies LLC, SVB Leerink LLC, KKR Capital Markets LLC, Piper Jaffray & Co., Mizuho Securities USA LLC, BMO Capital Markets Corp. and Raymond James & Associates, Inc. are acting as book-running managers for the offering.

A registration statement relating to the securities being sold in this offering has been filed with and was declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on June 26, 2019. This offering is being made only by means of a written prospectus. Copies of the final prospectus may be obtained, when available, from the office of J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Attention: Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, telephone: 1-866-803-9204 or by emailing [email protected]; Goldman, Sachs & Co., Attention: Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, telephone: 1-866-471-2526 or by emailing [email protected]; Jefferies LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Prospectus Department, 520 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, telephone: 1-877-547-6340, or by emailing [email protected]; or SVB Leerink LLC, Attention: Syndicate Department, One Federal Street, 37th Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 01220, telephone: 1-800-808-7525, ext. 6132, or by emailing [email protected].

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

VACCIBODY ANNOUNCES STRONG NEOANTIGEN-SPECIFIC T CELL RESPONSES INDUCED IN CANCER PATIENTS WITH LOW MUTATIONAL BURDEN AFTER VB10.NEO VACCINATION

On June 26, 2019 Vaccibody AS reported strong immunogenicity data from the neoantigen cancer vaccine clinical trial VB N-01 (Press release, Vaccibody, JUN 26, 2019, View Source [SID1234537300]). Immunogenicity was assessed in two patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and two patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) after treatment with a VB10.NEO in combination with checkpoint inhibitor therapy as per protocol. Before VB10.NEO vaccination, these patients had been treated with the checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab for 12-32 months with stable disease as best response. One patient was progressing at start of vaccination. All patients had low tumour mutational burden ranging from 1.7-3.2 mutations/Mb. The top 20 neoepitopes predicted by Vaccibody’s proprietary NeoSELECTTM algorithm was selected for each of the fully personalized VB10.NEO neoantigen vaccines. Immunogenicity to each individual neoepitope has so far been assessed after 3 to 6 vaccinations of VB10.NEO by an in vitro stimulated IFN-γ ELISpot. Strong T cell responses were observed in all these first four patients tested. T cell responses were significantly increased in post-vaccination samples towards 63% of the neoepitopes. The response to the vaccine was very solid with an average increase of more than 1200 SFU per million PBMC which is on average a 250-fold increase from baseline. The breadth and the strength increased with number of vaccinations. An amplification of existing neoepitope-specific T cells as well as de novo responses were observed in all patients.

Agnete Fredriksen President and CSO of Vaccibody, commented: We are very pleased to see the strong T cell responses observed in all of the first four patients at the initial assessments. We are excited to see that the vaccine was able to induce so strong T cell responses even in the patients with a history of many lines of previous treatment and no objective response to long-term treatment with anti-PD-1. All these first patients had low tumour mutational burden (TMB) leaving the number of mutations limited for selection of immunogenic neoepitopes, hence we believe the high percentage of the neoantigen-specific immune responses observed substantiates Vaccibody’s unique neoepitope prediction method and delivery mechanism. We are very intrigued by the de novo responses induced by the vaccine. The baseline responses and hence the number of de novo responses were surprisingly different between the patients assessed so far and we are looking forward to characterizing the T cells in more detail and follow the clinical responses in these patients

Ziopharm Oncology Completes Enrollment of Controlled IL-12 plus Opdivo® (nivolumab) Phase 1 Combination Trial in Brain Cancer

On June 26, 2019 Ziopharm Oncology, Inc. ("Ziopharm" or "the Company") (Nasdaq:ZIOP) reported completion of enrollment of the third cohort of a phase 1 clinical trial evaluating Controlled IL-12 (Ad-RTS-hIL-12 plus veledimex, Ad+V), in combination with the PD-1 inhibitor OPDIVO (nivolumab) for the treatment of recurrent or progressive glioblastoma multiforme (rGBM) in adults (Press release, Ziopharm, JUN 26, 2019, View Source [SID1234537296]).

Investigators from this multi-center trial, conducted at Northwestern University in Chicago, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, have indicated interest in expanding the study and the Company now expects to enroll additional patients at the highest dosing level, subject to final agreement by the Data and Safety Monitoring Board.

"We are pleased to complete enrollment of the dose escalation of Ad-RTS-hIL-12 + veledimex and nivolumab and explore the potential to expand this combination trial to further enrich our clinical experience," said Laurence Cooper, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Ziopharm. "The enthusiasm for combining PD-1 inhibitors with IL-12 in the current study is evident, and we also look forward to initiating a phase 2 trial with Ad-RTS-hIL-12 plus veledimex and cemiplimab in the coming days."

Ziopharm’s Controlled IL-12 platform is an investigational gene therapy designed to induce and control the production of human interleukin 12 (hIL-12) a master-regulator of the immune system. In the setting of rGBM, the Company is leveraging the anti-tumor effects for Controlled IL-12 as monotherapy by combining with PD-1 inhibitors. Previously reported data from serial biopsies in patients with rGBM revealed that Controlled IL-12 results in sustained influx of T cells and upregulation of PD-1 expression, providing a compelling rationale for this combination. Initial phase 1 data from this trial were presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) on June 2, 2019, showing Controlled IL-12 can be combined with PD-1 inhibitor OPDIVO and the initial data were consistent with immune mediated anti-tumor effects with a favorable safety profile.

Ziopharm anticipates reporting on further data from this combination trial (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03636477) at medical meetings later this year and into 2020.

About Ad-RTS-hIL-12 plus veledimex

The Company has treated more than 100 patients, including more than 75 patients with rGBM, with Ad-RTS-hIL-12 plus veledimex and administered more than 1,300 doses of veledimex across three types of solid tumors, building a significant safety profile, mechanistic dataset and evidence of anti-tumor effects.

At the 2018 annual meeting of the Society for Neuro-Oncology, Ziopharm presented data from its phase 1 dose-escalation trial showing that Controlled IL-12 (Ad-RTS-hIL-12 plus veledimex) had a positive survival benefit, with 15 patients who received 20mg veledimex reaching 12.7 months median overall survival (mOS) at a mean follow up of 13.1 months. A subset of these patients (n=6) who received low-dose steroids (20mg or less of dexamethasone cumulatively over 15 days while receiving veledimex) had mOS of 17.8 months compared to 6.4 months mOS for patients (n=9) who received more than 20mg of dexamethasone during the same period. The survival data from patients who received the preferred dosing regimen of Controlled IL-12 with 20mg veledimex and low-dose steroids compare favorably to a benchmark mOS of 6 to 9 months for patients with rGBM that serves as historical control.

In February, the Company announced that it rapidly completed enrollment and treated 36 additional patients at 20mg veledimex dosing in less than six months in a substudy (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03679754) to expand a phase 1 trial evaluating its Controlled IL-12 platform as a monotherapy for the treatment of rGBM. A majority (75%) of patients enrolled in the substudy were treated with low-dose steroids. At ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) 2019, the Company presented data which confirmed that local, regulated IL-12 production using Ad+V in subjects with rGBM rapidly and safely activates the immune system, with adverse reactions consistent and predictable to those seen in prior studies, and promptly reversible upon discontinuation of veledimex. Mean follow-up was 3.7 months.

About Ad-RTS-hIL-12 plus veledimex in combination with PD-1 inhibitors

In this ongoing phase 1 trial to evaluate Controlled IL-12 in combination with the PD-1 inhibitor OPDIVO (nivolumab) (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03636477), the Company reported initial data and observations at the 2019 ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting earlier this month. With a mean follow-up of 4.5 months, the Cytoindex (an emerging biomarker) improved compared with Ad+V as monotherapy lending support that the combination may lead to improved overall survival. Data from the first two cohorts evaluated increasing doses of PD-1 inhibitor revealed a similar safety profile as Ad+V monotherapy. Adverse reactions from the first two cohorts were manageable and reversible without synergistic toxicities, while adverse reactions during follow-on nivolumab dosing were consistent with reports for PD-1 inhibition. More than two-thirds of the patients in the study received low-dose steroids.

The Company expects to begin a phase 2 trial to evaluate Ad-RTS-hIL-12 plus veledimex in combination with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ PD-1 antibody Libtayo (cemiplimab-rwlc) in the coming days.

FDA Fast Track Designation

In April 2019, Ziopharm announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had granted Fast Track designation for the Company’s Controlled IL-12 program for the treatment of rGBM in adults. The Fast Track program is designed to facilitate the expedited development and review of drugs that are intended to treat serious or life-threatening conditions and demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs.

Learn more about Controlled IL-12 online at View Source

Varian Announces Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2019 Earnings Release Date

On June 26, 2019 Varian (NYSE: VAR) reported its third quarter fiscal year 2019 earnings release date (Press release, Varian Medical Systems, JUN 26, 2019, View Source [SID1234537294]).

The Company will report results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2019 after market close on Wednesday, July 24, 2019. The news release will be followed by a teleconference available to all interested at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time. To access the teleconference call and replay:

Teleconference: Access from within the U.S. by dialing 1-877-869-3847, and from outside the U.S. by dialing 1-201-689-8261.

Replay: Access from within the U.S. by dialing 1-877-660-6853 and from outside the U.S. by dialing 1-201-612-7415, and enter conference ID 13691935. The teleconference replay will be available until 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Friday, July 26, 2019.

Webcast: To access the live webcast and replay, visit the company website at: www.varian.com/investors and click on the link for Third Quarter Earnings Results.

For automatic e-mail alerts regarding Varian news and events, investors can subscribe on the company website: View Source