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CANBRIDGE ACQUIRES LICENSE FOR APOGENIX’S APG101 ONCO-IMMUNOTHERAPY IN GLIOBLASTOMA FOR CHINA

On July 15, 2015 CANbridge Life Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing Western drug candidates in China and North Asia, reported that it has entered into an exclusive license agreement with privately-held immuno-oncology company, Apogenix (www.apogenix.com) to develop, manufacture and commercialize Apogenix’s lead product, APG101 in glioblastoma multiforme in China, Macao, and Hong Kong, with options for other indications (Press release, CANbridge Life Sciences, JUL 15, 2015, View Source [SID:1234510070]). APG101 is a fully human fusion protein that inhibits the CD95 ligand, a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily. By blocking the CD95 ligand, APG101 restores the immune response against tumors and inhibits invasive tumor cell growth. APG101 showed an improved overall survival benefit in patients with relapsed glioblastoma in a Phase II trial conducted in Europe. Additionally, the trial showed that glioblastoma patients with a certain biomarker associated with the CD95 ligand experienced the greatest benefit from treatment with APG101. Apogenix is developing a companion diagnostic test to identify those patients most likely to benefit from APG101 treatment. APG101 is also in a Phase I trial for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) in Europe. Under the terms of the agreement, Apogenix will receive upfront and milestone payments, as well as royalty payments, at tiered, double-digit royalty rates following commercial launch of APG101 in China.

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"Development of this targeted therapeutic fits the CANbridge mission of bringing promising Western treatments to China and other Asian territories, where patients’ severe medical needs are going unmet," said James Xue, CANbridge Chairman and CEO. "The mortality rate of malignant glioma is one of the top ten among all cancers in China. With very limited treatment options, the outcomes for Chinese patients are even more grim than in the West. The potential to develop a targeted immuno-oncology product represents a tremendous advance for glioblastoma treatment in China."

"The licensing agreement with CANbridge represents an important milestone in our goal to develop and commercialize our immuno-oncology compound APG101 as a new therapy for difficult-to-treat tumor indications on an international level," said Thomas Hoeger, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Apogenix. "We are delighted to have found a strong and committed partner with a seasoned management team and extensive drug development expertise in these important Asian markets. We look forward to working with CANbridge to obtain approval for APG101 in China, Macao, and Hong Kong, so we can provide patients suffering from glioblastoma with a novel, much-needed therapeutic option as soon as possible."

"The CANbridge and Apogenix missions and cultures are perfectly aligned, which bodes well for the success of this partnership," said Henri Termeer, CANbridge’s Advisor and former Chairman and CEO of Genzyme Corporation. "Each company is dedicated to bringing forth treatments in their respective markets for patients with few options. Together, CANbridge and Apogenix can move this exciting program forward more effectively than either could alone in China."

"Glioblastoma multiforme is a very serious disease with limited therapeutic options at present. Based upon the data already generated by Apogenix, I am very excited about the possibility of APG101 to greatly improve clinical outcomes in patients with glioblastoma multiforme," said Mark Goldberg, MD. Medical Advisor to CANbridge and practicing hematologist and oncologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Provectus Biopharmaceuticals, Sinopharm-China State Institute of Pharmaceutical Industry and Sinopharm A-Think Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd Continue Search for Agreement on PV-10 Use in China

On July 15, 2015 Provectus Biopharmaceuticals reported that it continues to work with Sinopharm-China State Institute of Pharmaceutical Industry and Sinopharm A-Think Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd to reach an agreement on PV-10 use in China (Press release, Provectus Pharmaceuticals, JUL 15, 2015, http://www.pvct.com/pressrelease.html?article=20150715.1 [SID:1234506347]).

Discussions continue with the frame of reference established in the original Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, signed last year and extended since the passing of the original deadline. The original MOU was signed in August 2014, and, since then, the parties have sought to enter into a definitive licensing agreement, subject to additional negotiation, due diligence, and any required regulatory and corporate approvals.

Since the signing of the MOU, management of Provectus and senior personnel at Sinopharm-CSIPI and Sinopharm A-THINK have held numerous conference calls, have met face-to-face in both China and the US, and Chinese scientists on staff at Sinopharm have discussed in person PV-10 and its clinical results with the lead investigators at St. Luke’s University Hospital and Health Network and Moffitt Cancer Center.

Dr. Zhidan Jia , Chief Executive Officer of Sinopharm A-THINK, stated, "We continue to work closely with Provectus to arrive at an agreement which defines the terms of our collaboration in bringing PV-10 to the Chinese Market. We hope to come to terms in the near future."

Advanced Radiotherapy Treatments Planned Using Varian’s RapidPlan Commence in Australia

On July 15, 2015 Varian Medical Systems reported a 71-year-old prostate cancer patient has become the first patient in Australia to receive radiotherapy treatments using RapidPlan knowledge-based planning from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) (Press release, InfiMed, JUL 15, 2015, View Source [SID:1234506338]). The pioneering treatment was carried out at Radiation Oncology Queensland (ROQ) in Cairns.

"The treatment was planned both conventionally and using RapidPlan and we were comfortable that for this case RapidPlan produced a better treatment plan," says Kenton Thompson, ROQ’s head of radiation therapy services. "Using this approach, we are able to produce the same quality in a fraction of the time it takes to plan conventionally. The objective is to produce optimal plans with the best trade-off between sparing the organs at risk and covering the target and this is where knowledge-based planning can really help. RapidPlan helps to ensure that all plans are of the same high quality."

RapidPlan is a comprehensive tool within Varian’s Eclipse treatment planning system that may be used to plan all types of advanced radiotherapy techniques including intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), RapidArc radiotherapy, and stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR). It enables users to draw from a library of ‘best-case’ plans to speed up the often time-consuming planning process and to optimize quality. In this way, such knowledge-based planning can allow future patients to benefit from the knowledge gained from past patients. In this case, clinicians at ROQ selected a prostate treatment model developed by Washington University in St. Louis.

"Historically, assessing plan quality has been more of a subjective process dependent on the skills and experience of the reviewer," said chief radiation therapist Mark Jones. "We want consistency across our sites and RapidPlan enables us to implement the same quality to benefit all of our patients. Through auditing and benchmarking, RapidPlan can be utilized as part of a continuing quality assurance program for treatment planning."

Since the first treatment, a second patient at Cairns has already commenced treatments after being planned with RapidPlan, and a similar approach is now being introduced at a second ROQ site in Toowoomba. Treatments at these ROQ hospitals are delivered using Varian linear accelerators.

"We are pleased to see such an eminent oncology center as ROQ introducing RapidPlan into the clinical workflow," said Stuart Hamilton, Varian’s regional sales director. "RapidPlan does for radiotherapy planning what our RapidArc system did for radiotherapy treatments by enhancing the speed, quality and accessibility of advanced treatments."

Argos Therapeutics Announces Completion of Patient Enrollment in Pivotal Phase 3 ADAPT Clinical Trial of AGS-003

On July 15, 2015 Argos Therapeutics reported the pivotal phase 3 ADAPT clinical trial of AGS-003 in combination with standard targeted therapy for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) has reached its enrollment goal of at least 450 randomized patients (Press release, Argos Therapeutics, JUL 15, 2015, View Source [SID:1234506335]).

"Strong partnerships and coordination across our global study base to identify eligible patients and collect tumor samples have led to successful enrollment for the largest clinical trial ever conducted in patients with newly diagnosed, unfavorable risk, synchronous metastatic RCC," said ADAPT trial co-principal investigator and lead medical oncologist Dr. Robert Figlin, the Steven Spielberg Family chair in hematology oncology and professor of medicine and biomedical sciences at the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute. "With enough patients screened with successful tumor collection to meet and exceed our target of 450 randomized patients, we look forward to shifting our full attention to the treatment phase of the study and expected data readouts in 2016."

AGS-003 is an autologous dendritic-cell based immunotherapy designed to induce a memory T-cell response specific to each patient’s unique tumor antigens. It is produced using a small sample from a patient’s own tumor and dendritic cells derived from a leukapheresis procedure. In an open-label phase 2 study, treatment with AGS-003 plus sunitinib yielded a median overall survival of more than 30 months in newly diagnosed, unfavorable risk mRCC patients.

To qualify for the ADAPT trial, patients were required to be good candidates for standard surgery and targeted drug therapy. During the enrollment process approximately 55 percent of patients who consented for tumor collection and screening for the treatment phase of the trial were found to be ineligible for treatment because of non-clear cell histology, lack of suitability to initiate standard targeted drug therapy, poor performance status, poor prognosis after surgery, a lack of evaluable metastatic disease, or other factors.

"By concluding enrollment in the ADAPT trial, we have reached an exciting milestone by demonstrating the ability to rapidly screen and collect tumor samples for more than 1,000 newly diagnosed metastatic RCC patients over the course of approximately two years," said ADAPT trial co-principal investigator and lead urologic oncologist Dr. Christopher Wood, professor of urology and deputy chairman of the department of urology, division of surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. "This would not have been possible without a strong multidisciplinary collaboration among urologists and oncologists, which positions us well to advance our evaluation of AGS-003 in addition to standard treatment through trial completion."

"The ADAPT trial is focused on a population with significant unmet needs as the expected median survival based upon International mRCC Database Consortium (IMDC) benchmarks is approximately 15 months after diagnosis, even with standard surgery and approved targeted therapies," said Doug Plessinger, vice president of clinical and medical affairs for Argos Therapeutics. "We continue to believe that the combination of standard treatment with our personalized immunotherapy has the potential to bring new hope to mRCC patients, and we look forward to the next interim data review from the ADAPT trial in the first part of 2016."

About the Arcelis Technology Platform

Arcelis is a fully personalized immunotherapy technology that captures mutated and variant antigens that are specific to each patient’s disease. It is designed to overcome immunosuppression by producing a durable memory T-cell response without adjuvants that may be associated with toxicity. The technology is potentially applicable to a wide range of different cancers, and is designed to overcome many of the manufacturing and commercialization challenges that have impeded other personalized cancer immunotherapies. The Arcelis process uses only a small tumor or blood sample and the patient’s own dendritic cells, which are collected and optimized following a single leukapheresis procedure. The proprietary process uses RNA isolated from the patient’s disease sample to program dendritic cells to target disease specific antigens. The activated, antigen-loaded dendritic cells are then formulated into the patient’s plasma and administered via intradermal injection.

Radius Health Today Announced Preclinical Data for Its Investigational Drug RAD1901 in Combination With CDK and mTOR Inhibitors

On July 15, 2015 Radius Health reported that early but promising preclinical data show that its investigational drug RAD1901, in combination with CDK4/6 inhibitors, such as Pfizer’s palbociclib and mTOR inhibitors, such as Novartis’ everolimus, was effective in shrinking tumors (Press release, Radius, JUL 15, 2015, View Source [SID:1234506343]).

In breast cancer models using patient derived xenografts with either wild type or mutant ESR1, treatment with RAD 1901 resulted in marked tumor growth inhibition, but the combination of RAD1901 with either agent, palbociclib or everolimus, showed anti-tumor activity that was significantly greater than either agent alone. RAD1901 is being evaluated at high doses as a Selective Estrogen Receptor Degrader (SERD) for potential use in metastatic breast cancer.

In addition to this preclinical study, Radius has also recently completed a pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamic study in healthy volunteers. In total, 52 subjects were treated with doses between 200 mg and 1000mg for up to 7 days. Preliminary data suggested that all doses were generally well tolerated. A subset of subjects received baseline and FES-PET after 7 days to evaluate ER signal attenuation, and we expect to report the final results of this study in the third quarter of this year.

Separately, an abstract titled "RAD1901: a novel, orally bioavailable selective estrogen receptor degrader that demonstrates antitumor activity in breast cancer xenograft models" of the preclinical characterization, anti-tumor activity and therapeutic potential of investigational drug RAD1901 in breast cancer has been published in the online journal Anti-Cancer Drugs, and can be found at View Source

"These data provide Radius with important insights to evaluate multiple options including combination therapies as we seek to accelerate the next phases of our clinical development program for RAD1901 in metastatic breast cancer," said Robert E. Ward, President and CEO of Radius Health.

Radius is currently screening and enrolling patients in a Phase 1 multicenter, open-label, two-part, dose-escalation study of the investigational drug RAD1901 in postmenopausal women with advanced estrogen receptor positive and HER2-negative breast cancer. The study is designed to determine the recommended Phase 2 dose of RAD1901, and includes a preliminary evaluation of the potential anti-tumor effects. Following the determination of an optimal dose, Radius plans to initiate trials in a larger expansion cohort to evaluate the potential role of the investigational drug RAD1901 in combination with currently available therapies.

About the Investigational Drug RAD1901

Radius is developing the investigational drug RAD1901 as a potential treatment for estrogen positive (ER+) cancers, like breast, ovarian or endometrial cancer. Currently, Radius is focusing its clinical research activities in breast cancer. The National Cancer Institute estimates that approximately 70% of breast cancers are ER+ and may grow in response to exposure to estrogen. Endocrine therapy is intended to block the estrogen signal or reduce the production of estrogen. More information about breast cancer and endocrine therapy may be found on the National Cancer Institute website View Source

RAD1901 is an investigational, non-steroidal small molecule that is designed to selectively bind and degrade the ER. RAD1901 has demonstrated potent anti-tumor activity in xenograft models of ER+ breast cancer in preclinical testing and complete suppression of the FES-PET signal after six days of dosing in a maximum tolerated dose clinical study. In preclinical models thus far, RAD1901 has shown good tissue selectivity, does not appear to stimulate the uterine endometrium, and appears to protect against bone loss in an ovariectomy-induced osteopenia rat model. In addition, we believe that RAD1901 also has the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. In vitro, treatment of human breast cancer cell lines with the investigational drug RAD1901 resulted in degradation of the ER and inhibition of both basal and estradiol-stimulated proliferation.

Radius has begun a Phase 1 multicenter, open-label, two-part, dose-escalation study of the investigational drug RAD1901 in postmenopausal women with advanced estrogen receptor positive and HER2-negative breast cancer. The study is designed to determine the recommended Phase 2 dose of RAD1901, and includes a preliminary evaluation of the potential anti-tumor effects. The incidence of dose limiting toxicities will be assessed during the first 28 days. Tumor response will be evaluated in patients with measurable or evaluable disease, using RECISTv1.1 guidelines every 8 weeks until the date of first documented progression or date of death from any cause, whichever comes first, assessed up to 12 months of treatment. Plasma concentrations of RAD1901 will be assessed every 28 days for up to 12 months of treatment. The details of the Phase 1 study of RAD1901 are posted on www.clinicaltrials.gov.

Radius is also developing RAD1901 at lower doses as a Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator (SERM) , for the potential treatment of vasomotor symptoms. Historically, hormone replacement therapy ("HRT") with estrogen or progesterone was considered the most efficacious approach to relieving menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes. However, because of the concerns about the potential long‑term risks and contraindications associated with HRT, Radius believes a significant need exists for new therapeutic treatment options to treat vasomotor symptoms. In a Phase 2 proof of concept study, RAD1901 at lower doses demonstrated a reduction in the frequency and severity of moderate and severe hot flashes. Radius intends to commence a Phase 2b trial in vasomotor symptoms in the second half of 2015.