Calithera Biosciences Highlights Breadth of Innovative Pipeline at R&D Day

On October 5, 2019 Calithera Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CALA), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing small molecule drugs that target novel and critical metabolic pathways in tumor and cancer-fighting immune cells, reported that it will provide an update on the company’s growing research pipeline of novel therapies in oncology and cystic fibrosis during an R&D day hosted today in New York City (Press release, Calithera Biosciences, OCT 5, 2018, View Source [SID1234535234]).

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Calithera management, including Susan Molineaux, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer and Keith Orford, MD, PhD, Senior Vice President of Clinical Development will discuss progress on Calithera’s clinical and emerging programs. Nizar Tannir, MD, Deputy Department Chair, Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center will discuss the advanced renal cell carcinoma treatment landscape.

"R&D Day is an opportunity to provide additional insight into our clinical development programs, delineate key milestones, and highlight our innovative pipeline," said Susan Molineaux, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Calithera. "In 2019, we plan to report data from our Phase 2 ENTRATA study in renal cell carcinoma. In addition, we and our partner Incyte expect data on INCB001158 to be presented at a medical meeting in the first half of 2019.

Pipeline Highlights

During R&D Day, Calithera will discuss its clinical development pipeline of innovative therapies including:

Two Randomized Phase 2 Combination Trials of CB-839 for the Treatment of Patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma. The ENTRATA trial, a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study of late line patients, will enroll approximately 66 patients to receive either everolimus and CB-839 or everolimus alone. Topline results are expected in 2019. CANTATA is a randomized, global, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial comparing patients treated with cabozantinib and CB-839 to patients treated with cabozantinib alone. This trial will enroll approximately 300 clear cell renal cell carcinoma patients who have previously received one or two prior lines of therapy. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation for CB-839 in combination with cabozantinib for the treatment of this patient population.

CB-839 Phase 1b Cabozantinib Combination Data in Patients with Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma. Updated results of CB-839 in combination with cabozantinib will be presented. In the Phase 1b trial, 12 advanced renal cell carcinoma patients, including 10 clear cell and two papillary patients, were treated with CB-839 plus cabozantinib and were evaluable for response. Patients enrolled in the trial have advanced or metastatic disease and had received a median of three prior treatments, which included tyrosine kinase inhibitors, mTOR inhibitors, and checkpoint inhibitors. One hundred percent of evaluable patients experienced tumor shrinkage and disease control, including five patients who had a partial response and seven patients who had stable disease. In the clear cell patient population, the disease control rate was 100% and the response rate was 50%.

Pfizer collaboration to develop CB-839 in combination with PARP inhibitors and CDK4/6 inhibitors. As part of a clinical collaboration with Pfizer announced today, Calithera will initiate Phase 1/2 clinical studies in the first quarter of 2019. Preclinical data suggest that CB-839 synergizes with CDK4/6 inhibitors by enhancing cell cycle arrest and blocking cancer cell proliferation. CB-839 also synergizes with PARP inhibitors to impair DNA synthesis, enhance DNA damage, and block cancer cell proliferation.

INCB001158 Arginase Inhibitor Immuno-oncology Program. INCB001158 is being evaluated in multiple clinical trials for the treatment of patients with solid tumors both as a monotherapy, and in combination with immunotherapies and chemotherapy. INCB001158 is being developed as part of a collaboration and license agreement with Incyte. Data from INCB001158 is expected to be presented at a medical meeting in the first half of 2019.

CB-280 Arginase Inhibitor for the Treatment of Cystic Fibrosis. Arginase is believed to be critical in the pathology of cystic fibrosis. It impairs production of nitric oxide and generates metabolites of arginine that may impair lung function. CB-280 is an orally administered small molecule inhibitor of arginase. An investigational new drug (IND) application for CB-280 with the U.S. FDA is planned for the first half of 2019.

CB-708 Oral Small Molecule CD73 Inhibitor. The immuno-oncology target CD73 is an enzyme that plays a critical role in the process of ATP conversion to adenosine. An IND application for CB-708, an orally administered small molecule inhibitor of CD73, is planned for 2019. Webcast Information Calithera will host R&D Day today from 8:00 a.m.-10:15 a.m. ET in New York, NY. For those not able to attend, a live webcast that will include audio and slides of the presentation can be accessed through the Investors section of the Company’s website at www.calithera.com. Following the live presentations, a replay of the webcast will be available on the company’s website for at least 90 days

Progenics Reports Results of Phase 2/3 Trial of PSMA PET Imaging Agent PyL for the Detection of Prostate Cancer

On October 5, 2018 Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGNX), an oncology company developing innovative medicines and imaging analysis technology for targeting and treating cancer, reported data from its OSPREY 2301 Study of PyLTM (18F-DCFPyL). PyL is the Company’s PSMA-targeted small molecule PET imaging agent designed to visualize prostate cancer (Press release, Progenics Pharmaceuticals, OCT 5, 2018, View Source [SID1234530641]). In the study, PyL demonstrated high sensitivity in reliably detecting distant metastatic prostate cancer lesions and high specificity in confirming the absence of pelvic lymph node disease. The associated strong positive predictive values (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of PyL imaging in these disease settings indicate its potential high clinical utility.

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Dr. Michael Morris, Associate Professor at Memorial Sloan Kettering, and a lead investigator of the trial said, "These are highly encouraging results in a large, well-controlled and rigorous trial showing PyL has excellent positive and negative predictive value in assessing the distribution of disease in men with high-risk prostate cancer. Furthermore, in men intended to go to surgery, the specificity of PyL was exceedingly good. Taken together, a PyL PET avid lesion is a reliable reflection of histologically proven disease and may provide additional important information to men with prostate cancer and their doctors. That information may provide important guidance in the decision-making for their treatment."

Phase 2/3 Trial Results

The trial examined the diagnostic performance of PSMA-targeted PET imaging agent, PyL, to detect prostate cancer in pelvic lymph nodes in patients with high risk locally advanced prostate cancer (Cohort A) and distant metastases in patients with metastatic or recurrent (Cohort B) prostate cancer. The diagnostic performance of PyL PET imaging in this "gold standard" trial was evaluated against histopathology as the standard of truth. The OSPREY study dosed 385 patients with either high-risk locally advanced prostate cancer (268) or metastatic or recurrent prostate cancer (117). The study’s co-primary endpoints were the assessment of specificity and sensitivity of PyL PET imaging in Cohort A to detect prostate cancer in pelvic lymph nodes in patients scheduled to undergo radical prostatectomy with extended pelvic lymph node dissection. Key secondary endpoints for Cohort A were positive predictive value and negative predictive value. The study also evaluated several key secondary endpoints in Cohort B, including the sensitivity and positive predictive value of PyL PET imaging in detecting metastatic prostate cancer in patients where lesion biopsies (bone, soft tissues, lymph nodes other than pelvic lymph nodes) were feasible.

In the trial, the diagnostic performance of PyL in detecting disease in pelvic lymph nodes (Cohort A) showed a high specificity (96-99% among the three blinded independent readers), meeting the first co-primary endpoint of the trial, with the lower bound of the 95th percent confidence interval (94-96%) exceeding 80%. The sensitivity of 31-42%, did not meet the second co-primary endpoint, as the lower bound of the 95th percentile confidence interval (19-30%) did not exceed the required 40%. The positive predictive value and negative predictive value of pelvic lymph node detection were 78-91% and 81-84%, respectively.

In the metastatic or recurrent prostate cancer setting (Cohort B), PyL exhibited sensitivity of 93-99% and positive predictive value of 81-88% in detecting metastatic lesions. Specificity and negative predictive value were not endpoints specified in the protocol for Cohort B as all men in Cohort B were suspected to have disease.

PyL was very well tolerated. A total of 27 (7%) subjects experienced at least one treatment related adverse event. There were no serious adverse events related to study drug. The most frequent drug related events included dysgeusia (2.1%) and headache (2.1%).

"The data from this trial shows the strength of PyL in prostate cancer detection, and its potential to be highly valuable for disease and treatment monitoring," said Dr. Vivien Wong, Executive Vice President of Development at Progenics. "While specificity and sensitivity are often used to describe diagnostic performance, PPV and NPV are increasingly considered more relevant indicators of actual clinical utility. Following our discussions with FDA, our Phase 3 trial design will use a primary endpoint based on PPV parameters in the biochemical recurrence setting."

"PyL imaging holds great promise in transforming how physicians manage and treat high risk, metastatic, and recurrent prostate cancer," said Mark Baker, Chief Executive Officer of Progenics. "Our data from OSPREY provides strong rationale for continued development, and we look forward to launching our Phase 3 trial by year-end."

Progenics plans to submit the full results from the trial for presentation at a medical meeting.

Progenics Reports Results of Phase 2/3 Trial of PSMA PET Imaging Agent PyL Page 3

About PyL for PET Imaging of Prostate Cancer

PyL (also known as [18F]DCFPyL) is a fluorinated PSMA-targeted Positron Emission Topography ("PET") imaging agent that enables visualization of both bone and soft tissue metastases to determine the presence or absence of recurrent and/or metastatic prostate cancer.

Investor Conference Call

Progenics will host a conference call today at 8:30 AM Eastern Time to discuss the approval. The live and replayed webcast of the call will be available through the Company’s website at www.progenics.com. To participate in the live call by phone, dial (877) 250-8889 (USA) or (720) 545-0001 (international) and enter the passcode 4282148. The replay of the call will be available for 90 days.

About Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the second most common form of cancer affecting men in the United States: an estimated one in seven men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime. The American Cancer Society estimates that each year approximately 161,360 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed and about 26,730 men will die of the disease. Approximately 2.9 million men in the U.S. currently count themselves among prostate cancer survivors.

Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement

On October 5, 2018, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the "Company") entered into an Open Market Sale AgreementSM (the "Sales Agreement") with Jefferies LLC, as sales agent ("Jefferies"), pursuant to which the Company may offer and sell, from time to time, through Jefferies, shares of the Company’s common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $60.0 million (Filing, 8-K, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, OCT 5, 2018, View Source [SID1234530607]). The shares will be offered and sold pursuant to the Company’s shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-226652).

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The Company is not obligated to sell any shares under the Sales Agreement. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Sales Agreement, Jefferies will use commercially reasonable efforts, consistent with its normal sales and trading practices, applicable state and federal law, rules and regulations and the rules of The Nasdaq Global Market, to sell shares from time to time based upon the Company’s instructions, including any price, time or size limits specified by the Company. Under the Sales Agreement, Jefferies may sell shares in privately negotiated transactions, as block transactions or by any other method or payment permitted by law deemed to be an "at-the-market" offering as defined in Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The Company will pay Jefferies a commission of up to 3.0% of the aggregate gross proceeds from each sale of shares, reimburse certain legal fees and disbursements and provide Jefferies with customary indemnification and contribution rights. The Sales Agreement may be terminated by Jefferies or the Company at any time upon notice to the other party.

The foregoing description of the Sales Agreement does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the Sales Agreement, a copy of which is filed as Exhibit 10.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K. The legal opinion of Cooley LLP relating to the shares of common stock being offered pursuant to the Sales Agreement is filed as Exhibit 5.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K.

This Current Report on Form 8-K shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any shares under the Sales Agreement, nor shall there be any sale of such shares in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

Anixa Biosciences to Present at Artificial Intelligence Conference

On October 5, 2018 Anixa Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANIX), a biotechnology company focused on using the body’s immune system to fight cancer, reported that it will present data from its ongoing studies utilizing Cchek, Anixa’s artificial intelligence (AI) driven early cancer detection technology, at the 30th Anniversary AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) Special Conference – Convergence: Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Prediction in Cancer (Press release, Anixa Biosciences, OCT 5, 2018, View Source [SID1234530495]). This AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) special conference will cover the state of research in understanding cancer from incident to early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment using big data and machine learning. The meeting will be held October 14–17, 2018 in Newport, Rhode Island and will attended by global leaders in the intersection of cancer research and artificial intelligence. To receive a copy of the presentation, please email your request to AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper)[email protected] starting October 17, 2018 and include your name, title, and contact information.

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"We are pleased to be presenting our latest data on Cchek at this special Artificial Intelligence conference. This poster will discuss prostate cancer detection, which we have previously announced is our first commercial focus. The data will discuss Cchek’s ability to distinguish between tumor bearing and healthy individuals as well as between tumor bearing and those with benign prostate conditions, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). It is well known that the majority of men (upwards of 85-90%) who get prostate biopsies do not have cancer. The current screening technique, which measures circulating levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA), causes many men to undergo unnecessary biopsies due to its poor accuracy. Our recent Cchek data demonstrates that many of these unneeded biopsies may be avoided. More details of the ongoing study will be available after the presentation," stated Dr. Amit Kumar, President and CEO of Anixa.

American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper)
The American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) (www.aacr.org) is a 501(c)(3) public charity headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. The mission of the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) is to prevent and cure cancer through research, education, communication and collaboration. Through its programs and services, the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) fosters cancer research and related biomedical science; accelerates the dissemination of new research findings among scientists and others dedicated to the conquest of cancer; promotes science education and training; and advances the understanding of cancer causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment throughout the world.

Extension to US of GNS561 Clinical Trial

On October 5, 2018 Genoscience Pharma reported the extension to US of its Phase 1b/2a clinical study with GNS561 in advanced liver cancers (cholangiocarcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma) (Press release, GenoScience, OCT 5, 2018, View Source [SID1234530226]). In October 2017, GNS561 received an IND for an international clinical trial involving up to 50 patients with liver cancer.

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Opened Clinical Centers

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) – New York, USA – enrolled its first liver cancer patient in the ongoing Phase 1b/2a clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of GNS561. MSKCC is one of the five clinical centers participating to patients’ recruitment in our study, with Jules Bordet Institute (Brussels, Belgium), Saint-Joseph Hospital, AP-HP (Paris, France), Croix Rousse Hospital (Lyon, France), Hospitalo-Universitary Center of Grenoble (Grenoble, France).

MSKCC

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center — the world’s oldest and largest private cancer center — has devoted more than 130 years to exceptional patient care, innovative research, and outstanding educational programs.