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Alder BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. Announces Closing of Public Offering and Private Placement of Common Stock and Exercise in Full of Option to Purchase Additional Shares

On March 4, 2019 Alder BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALDR), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of migraine, reported the closing of its previously announced underwritten public offering of 13,000,000 shares of common stock, including 1,695,652 shares sold pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise in full of their option to purchase additional shares, at a public offering price of $11.50 per share (Press release, Alder Biopharmaceuticals, MAR 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234533964]).

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Concurrent with the public offering, Alder sold, in a private placement exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), 1,739,130 shares of common stock to certain institutional and other accredited investors affiliated with or managed by Redmile Group, LLC at a sale price equal to $11.50 per share.

The gross proceeds to Alder from the public offering and concurrent private placement, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions, placement agent fees, and offering expenses payable by Alder, were approximately $169.5 million. Alder intends to use the net proceeds from the public offering and the concurrent private placement, together with other available funds, for the commercialization of eptinezumab up to and through launch and the manufacture of commercial supply for eptinezumab, and may also use net proceeds for future eptinezumab clinical trials, the development of ALD1910 and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

J.P. Morgan, SVB Leerink and Wells Fargo Securities acted as joint book-running managers for the public offering. RBC Capital Markets acted as co-manager for the public offering.

A shelf registration statement relating to the public offering was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and was effective on filing on February 23, 2017. A prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus related to the public offering have been filed with the SEC and are available on the SEC’s website, located at www.sec.gov. Copies of the final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to the public offering may be obtained from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, or by telephone at (866) 803-9204, or by email at [email protected]; from SVB Leerink LLC, Attention: Syndicate Department, One Federal Street, 37th Floor, Boston, MA 02110, or by phone at (800) 808-7525, ext. 6132, or by email at [email protected]; or from Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Department, 375 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10152 at (800) 326-5897 or email a request to [email protected].

The shares of common stock sold in the concurrent private placement have not been registered under the Securities Act or under any state securities laws and, unless so registered may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws.

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.

Horizon Pharma plc Announces Proposed Public Offering of Ordinary Shares

On March 4, 2019 Horizon Pharma plc (Nasdaq: HZNP) reported that it is offering to sell $300,000,000 of its ordinary shares in an underwritten public offering (Press release, Horizon Pharma, MAR 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234533961]). The Company also expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $45,000,000 of ordinary shares in the public offering solely to cover over-allotments.

Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Cowen are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering, together with cash on hand, to redeem or repay approximately $550 million of outstanding debt, consisting of a portion of the outstanding principal amount of term loans under the Company’s Credit Agreement and a portion of the outstanding principal amount of the Company’s 6.625% Senior Notes due 2023, as well as to pay the related premiums, accrued interest and fees and expenses associated with the planned redemption or repayment.

A registration statement relating to the ordinary shares described above was previously filed with and became effective by rule of the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). A preliminary prospectus supplement related to the offering will be filed with the SEC and will be available on the SEC’s website located at View Source Copies of the preliminary prospectus supplement and related prospectus, when available, may be obtained by contacting Citigroup Global Markets Inc., c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, by email at [email protected] or by phone at 800-831-9146; Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014, Attention: Prospectus Department; Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, c/o: Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, by email at [email protected] or by phone at 866-471-2526; or Cowen and Company, LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Services, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY, 11717, Attn: Prospectus Department or by phone at 631-274-2806.

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

Anixa Biosciences to Present Cchek™ Technology and Data at the Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference

On March 4, 2019 Anixa Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANIX), a biotechnology company focused on using the body’s immune system to fight cancer, reported that it will present its Cchek artificial intelligence (AI) based liquid biopsy for the early detection of cancer technology and its most recent data in an oral presentation at the 26th International Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference (Press release, Anixa Biosciences, MAR 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234533952]). Cchek utilizes flow cytometry of white blood cells and AI to identify tumor-bearing patients. Dr. Kumar, President and CEO of Anixa, will make his presentation at 12:15 pm on March 14, 2019. The symposium in which the presentation will be made is focused on early cancer detection (View Source).

"The Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference is one of the largest commercial conferences addressing the latest advances in biotechnology, diagnostics and life sciences," said Dr. Kumar. "I am pleased to be telling people about our technology, how it works, and the latest performance data on the detection of prostate cancer, breast cancer and several other types of cancer. This is a timely conference as we approach the commercial launch of our Cchek Prostate Cancer Confirmation test later this year."

Aptose Biosciences and CrystalGenomics Announce Issuance of Australian Patent for CG-806

On March 4, 2019 Aptose Biosciences Inc. ("Aptose" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: APTO, TSX: APS), reported that the Australian Patent Office ("APO") has issued Australian Patent No. 2013371146 for CG-806, a first-in-class, highly potent oral small molecule being developed for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), B cell and other hematologic malignancies (Press release, Aptose Biosciences, MAR 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234533947]). The granted patent claims various compounds, including the CG-806 compound, pharmaceutical compositions comprising the CG-806 compound, and uses for the treatment of various diseases, such as lymphoma or leukemia. The patent is expected to provide protection until December of 2033.

About CG-806

CG-806 is an oral, first-in-class pan-FLT3/pan-BTK multi-cluster kinase inhibitor. This small molecule, in-licensed from CrystalGenomics Inc. in Seoul, South Korea, demonstrates potent inhibition of wild type and all mutant forms of FLT3 (including internal tandem duplication, or ITD, and mutations of the receptor tyrosine kinase domain and gatekeeper region), cures animals of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) tumors in the absence of toxicity in murine xenograft models, and represents a potential best-in-class therapeutic for patients with AML. Likewise, CG-806 demonstrates potent, non-covalent inhibition of the wild type and Cys481Ser (C481S) mutant forms of the BTK enzyme, as well as other oncogenic kinase pathways operative in B cell malignancies, suggesting CG-806 may be developed for various B cell malignancy patients (including CLL, MCL, DLBCL and others) that are resistant/refractory/intolerant to covalent BTK inhibitors. Because CG-806 targets key kinases/pathways operative in malignancies derived from the bone marrow, it is in development for B cell cancers and AML.

About CrystalGenomics

CrystalGenomics, Inc. is a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company focused in the structure-based drug discovery and development of novel therapeutics in unmet medical need areas of inflammation, oncology, and infectious disease. In addition to several drug programs in the R&D pipeline, the Company has an osteoarthritis drug on the market and, has recently added manufacturing and commercialization capabilities through multiple acquisitions. For more information, please visit: www.cgxinc.com or www.crystalgenomics.com. CrystalGenomics, Inc. is listed on KOSDAQ (083790).

Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: XBIO) Announces Agreement to Acquire Innovative CAR T Technology Platform

On March 4, 2019 Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: XBIO) ("Xenetic" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, research and development of next-generation biologic drugs and novel orphan oncology therapeutics, reported its agreement to acquire the novel CAR T ("Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell") platform technology, called "XCART," a proximity-based screening platform capable of identifying CAR constructs that can target patient-specific tumor neoantigens, with a demonstrated proof of mechanism in B-cell Non-Hodgkin lymphomas (Press release, Xenetic Biosciences, MAR 4, 2019, View Source [SID1234533946]). The XCART technology, developed by The Scripps Research Institute ("Scripps") in collaboration with the Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, is believed to have the potential to significantly enhance the safety and efficacy of cell therapy for B-cell lymphomas by generating patient- and tumor-specific CAR T cells. The acquisition is subject to conditions typical for a transaction of this kind, including appropriate stockholder approvals, and is expected to close in the first half of 2019.

"This acquisition is a transformative step in the strategic evolution of Xenetic," commented Jeffrey Eisenberg, Chief Executive Officer of Xenetic. "With this novel and differentiated CAR T technology, we are now positioned in a field that is at the forefront in the development of new oncology therapeutics, which we believe will drive significant value for shareholders. The XCART platform was designed to target personalized, patient-specific tumor neoantigens and has demonstrated promising preclinical data in an area of significant unmet medical need. Our R&D efforts will focus initially on leveraging the XCART platform to develop cell-based therapeutics for the treatment of B-cell Non-Hodgkin lymphomas, an initial global market opportunity estimated to exceed $5 billion per year."*

The XCART technology platform was designed by its originators to utilize an established screening technique to identify peptide ligands that bind specifically to the unique B-cell receptor ("BCR") on the surface of an individual patient’s malignant tumor cells. The peptide is then inserted into the antigen-binding domain of a CAR, and a subsequent transduction/transfection process is used to engineer the patient’s T cells into a CAR T format which redirects the patient’s T cells to attack the tumor. Essentially, the XCART screening platform is the inverse of a typical CAR T screening protocol wherein libraries of highly specific antibody domains are screened against a given target. In the case of XCART screening, the target is itself an antibody domain, and hence highly specific by its nature. The XCART technology creates the possibility of personalized treatment of lymphomas utilizing a CAR with an antigen-binding domain that should only recognize, and only be recognized by, the unique BCR of a particular patient’s B-cell lymphoma.

Matthew John Frigault, M.D., a member of Xenetic’s Scientific Advisory Board and medical oncologist in the Hematologic Malignancy Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Assistant Director of the Cellular Therapy Service, and Instructor at Harvard Medical School commented, "Adoptive cell therapy, and CAR T in particular, has been an area of great interest in recent years, and an area that I have built my career around. There are a number of CAR T products in development and the existing therapies can be highly efficacious, but not all patients respond, and the side effects can be frequent and serious, even life threatening."

An expected result for XCART is limited off-tumor toxicities, such as B-cell aplasia. Xenetic’s clinical development program will seek to confirm the early preclinical results, and to demonstrate a more attractive safety profile than existing therapies.

Under the terms of the transaction, Xenetic will acquire all outstanding shares of Hesperix S.A., a newly-formed Swiss entity to which all XCART owners and inventors other than Scripps have assigned their rights to XCART, and will exclusively license Scripps’ rights in the technology, in exchange for an aggregate 7,500,000 shares of Xenetic common stock.