On July 19, 2022 Cartography Biosciences, a precision medicine company creating therapeutics guided by the first-ever comprehensive antigen atlas for immuno-oncology targets, reported that launched with $57 million in initial funding (Press release, Cartography Biosciences, JUL 19, 2022, View Source [SID1234616757]). 8VC led the company’s Series A financing with strong participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), which led Cartography’s seed financing, and Wing VC, which was also a seed investor. The Series A financing was joined by new investors Catalio Capital Management, ARTIS Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, AME Cloud Ventures, the Cancer Research Institute, and Gaingels. The company plans to use the proceeds to advance a pipeline of therapeutics designed to broaden the reach of next-generation cancer therapies, as well as conduct a breadth of discovery programs designed to identify novel, best-in-class target antigens across a range of cancer indications.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Cartography is led by CEO Kevin Parker, Ph.D., who founded the company alongside noted Stanford University physician-scientist-entrepreneurs Ansu Satpathy, M.D., Ph.D., and Howard Chang, M.D., Ph.D., who each head world-renowned genomics laboratories. Cartography’s platform integrates cutting-edge computational and experimental techniques, including single-cell genomics and proteomics, with high-throughput binder discovery capabilities. The company has already profiled millions of cells across thousands of samples from both cancerous and healthy tissue. Their robust, cell-by-cell atlas identifies optimal antigens by predicting both efficacy and off-target effects for binders against that target.

"Immunotherapies can only be as effective as the antigens they target. In order to bring the tremendous potential of immunotherapy to otherwise untreatable cancers, we first need to identify precise antigen targets for those cancers," Parker said. "Cartography is building a platform and atlas to reveal the targets that will most directly benefit patients by analyzing cancers through the lens of antigen expression rather than histology or genetic mutations. We’re pleased to have the backing of world-class investors to support our first-principles approach to the development of precise, effective immunotherapies."

Cartography is using its modality-agnostic antigen profiling platform as a roadmap to create novel immunotherapies by identifying the targets that maximize efficacy while minimizing potentially toxic side effects. With processes driven by advanced computation and genomics workflows, Cartography condenses the timeline from sample intake to novel target discovery to a span of less than 6 months.

"Cartography has developed the most sophisticated methodology in the field of immunotherapy for expanding the reach of cell therapy and next-generation antibody approaches," said David Moskowitz, Ph.D., Principal at 8VC. "The massive strides over the last decade have established effective modalities, and now it is the time to act with urgency to deliver on that promise. In 2021, over 600,000 people succumbed to cancer in the U.S. alone1, while only a small fraction of those patients were eligible for FDA-approved CAR T therapies. Cartography is charting the course for curing the long tail of disease."

"Fueled by the need to improve how cancer is classified and therefore treated, Cartography is generating comprehensive data about target expression across cell types with a level of depth and precision we’ve never previously been able to produce," said Jorge Conde, General Partner at a16z. "It’s an exciting opportunity to bring a focused, data-driven approach to a longstanding biological problem and create powerful therapeutics from a resource that will drive precision medicine development for many years to come."

Cartography’s founding scientific team includes Maxwell Mumbach, Ph.D., Caleb Lareau, Ph.D., and Jeffrey Verboon. The company’s Scientific Advisory Board is led by Carl June, M.D., along with Emma Lundberg, Ph.D., Angela Shen, M.D., M.B.A., and Joseph Fraietta, Ph.D.

"The Cartography team is taking head-on the challenging problem of target selection for immunotherapies in a groundbreaking way that is applicable to many therapeutic modalities," June said. "Given the significant unmet needs we can address by expanding the promise of immunotherapy, I’m excited for the company’s pipeline of therapies to grow and reach patients."

On July 19, 2022 Hoffmann-La Roche reported to invite you to a virtual analyst and investor event on Tuesday, 26 July 2022, to discuss Roche’s Diagnostics Division, in conjunction with the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) Annual Meeting and Clinical Lab Exposition in Chicago, Illinois (July 24-28, 2022) (Press release, Hoffmann-La Roche, JUL 19, 2022, View Source [SID1234616756]). Please note that since the overwhelming majority of registrations was for a virtual participation, it has been decided to switch the event to a virtual format only (no on site event).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

AACC brings together the global leaders in clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics and lab management, and is the largest dedicated exhibition of equipment, instruments and services for clinical laboratories in the world.

The webinar will start with a presentation on the Diagnostics Division and on AACC highlights followed by a Q&A session (live access to the speakers). The presentation slides will be available for download from the IR website at 5:00pm CDT on the day of the event. > click here.

On July 19, 2022 Antengene Corporation Limited ("Antengene" SEHK: 6996.HK), a leading innovative, commercial-stage global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering, developing and commercializing first-in-class and/or best-in-class therapeutics in hematology and oncology, reported that it has entered into a pre-clinical research collaboration with Celularity Inc. (NASDAQ: CELU) (Celularity), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing placental-derived allogeneic cell therapies (Press release, Antengene, JUL 19, 2022, View Source [SID1234616754]). Antengene and Celularity will evaluate the potential therapeutic synergy combining Antengene’s bispecific antibody with Celularity’s cryopreserved human placental hematopoietic stem cell-derived natural killer (NK) cell therapy platform.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Dr. Jay Mei, Antengene’s Founder, Chairman and CEO said, "Evaluating new technologies that may have the potential to improve cancer care, either as monotherapy or in synergistic combination with programs, is essential to Antengene’s mission. After a careful and comprehensive evaluation, Antengene is very pleased to initiate its first research collaboration in the important field of cellular medicine with Celularity."

Dr. Mei continued, "Celularity’s proprietary, novel, allogenic, cryopreserved, off-the-shelf placental-derived cellular medicine platform is very exciting to Antengene. We look forward to collaborating with the company to explore the potential synergies from the combination of Antengene’s bispecific antibody, and Celularity’s investigational NK cell therapy programs, together or in combination with other agents such as antibodies that target tumor associated antigens (TAA). We are hopeful that this collaboration will yield potential new combination therapies that will improve the treatment of patients with hematological and solid tumor cancers."

Dr. Bo Shan, Antengene’s Chief Scientific Officer said, "We are pleased to partner with Celularity’s NK cell platform. The rationale for our collaboration is based on two hypotheses, formed from a foundation of preclinical and clinical research. First, that our bispecific antibody, potentially activating NK cells upon immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) crosslinking in the tumor microenvironment (TME), can synergize with TAA antibodies to enhance the anti-tumor response. Second, that our bispecific antibody may enhance the proliferation of NK cells and increase their persistence in TME."

Robert J. Hariri, M.D., Ph.D., founder, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Celularity, added, "We are excited to enter into this research collaboration with Antengene to forge new therapeutic strategies for both solid tumors and hematological malignancies using our placental-derived cell therapy platform. There is an immense potential for combining two novel approaches to enhance tumor targeting while also enhancing allogeneic NK cell activation and activity within the tumor microenvironment. This strategy may identify novel therapeutic options targeting a wide range of cancers."

On July 19, 2022 Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ: CLSN), a clinical-stage company focused on DNA-based immunotherapy and next-generation vaccines, reported that the Company’s Board of Directors has appointed biopharmaceutical leader Corinne Le Goff, Pharm D, MBA, as President and Chief Executive Officer and Director, effective July 18, 2022 (Press release, Celsion, JUL 19, 2022, View Source [SID1234616753]). Current President and CEO Michael H. Tardugno will continue to serve as Executive Chairman of Celsion’s Board of Directors.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Dr. Le Goff brings decades of global healthcare leadership experience to the Company across a range of therapeutic areas including oncology, vaccines, immunology, CNS and cardio-metabolism. She brings a wealth of experience in developing and launching successful drugs from her tenure at both large, pharmaceutical companies and small, innovative biotech companies.

"On behalf of the Board of Directors and the entire Celsion team, I would like to warmly welcome Corinne to Celsion," said Michael H. Tardugno, Chairman of Celsion’s Board of Directors. "She adds tremendous depth of knowledge and joins us at a key inflection point in our evolution, as we work to rapidly advance our GEN-1 program for the treatment of advanced-stage ovarian cancer and build a proprietary vaccine platform based on our PLACCINE technology. Corinne’s skills and expertise in development and commercialization of therapeutics in oncology and immunology make her uniquely qualified to lead us on the next stage of growth. We look forward to her astute guidance."

Dr. Corinne Le Goff stated, "I am thrilled and honored to join as President and CEO of Celsion at this pivotal point for the Company. Celsion has an impressive portfolio of assets that address substantial unmet needs in the current vaccine and oncology landscapes. I look forward to working together with my new colleagues and the Board to realize upon the tremendous opportunities and efficiently advance these life-improving solutions for patients through clinical development, regulatory approval and commercialization."

Prior to her Celsion appointment, Dr. Corinne Le Goff most recently served as the Chief Commercial Officer of Moderna, was responsible for developing the global presence and capabilities necessary to ensure the global distribution of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. She also led the development of the mRNA platform long-term commercial strategy. Dr. Le Goff joined Moderna from Amgen, where she served as President of the U.S. Business, driving the growth strategy with increased contributions from Repatha and Aimovig. During her nearly 6-year tenure at Amgen, she also served as Senior Vice President of Global Product Strategy & Commercial Innovation and as President of the Europe Region overseeing 48 markets. Dr. Le Goff was actively engaged with the policy community and advocates for innovative, high-quality and affordable healthcare. She represented Amgen as a member of the Healthcare Leadership Council. Prior to joining Amgen, Dr. Le Goff held a number of senior international roles at Roche, including President of Roche France, a major affiliate of the Roche Group, and Global Product Strategy Head of Neuroscience & Rare Diseases. Early in her career, Dr. Le Goff spent 11 years in various leadership roles at Sanofi and Pfizer in the United States.

Dr. Le Goff is currently a Director of Acticor Biotech, of Longboard Pharmaceuticals and of EuroAPI. She also served on the Board of Directors of CFAO, a trading company that operates in Africa, for 6 years until December 2020. Dr. Le Goff earned a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from Rene Descartes University in Paris and an MBA from Sorbonne University and INSEAD. She also holds qualifications from Northwestern University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She received the distinction of being named a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 2014. She holds a U.S. patent, and was recently recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of the women over the age of 50 who are changing the world.

On July 19, 2022 Avista Therapeutics, reported that which recently launched as a spinout of leading health system UPMC, aims to develop innovative gene therapies for rare ophthalmic conditions (Press release, Hoffmann-La Roche, JUL 19, 2022, View Source [SID1234616752]). The new company reported a partnership with Roche to develop novel AAV gene therapy vectors for the eyes.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

The partnership aims to apply Avista’s single-cell adeno-associated virus (AAV) engineering (scAAVengr) platform technology to develop intravitreal AAV capsids matching a capsid profile defined by Roche. Under the terms of the partnership, Roche has the right to evaluate and license novel capsids from Avista, and will be responsible for conducting preclinical, clinical and commercialization activities for gene therapy programs using these novel capsids, which will be distinct from Avista’s internal pipeline.

"We are excited to enter into this collaboration with Roche, a global leader in health care," said Robert Lin, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Avista Therapeutics. "This collaboration will complement our in-house pipeline and will accelerate the delivery of transformative therapies to patients."

Avista will receive an upfront payment of $7.5 million and, if successful, is eligible to receive additional payments during the research phase of the partnership, as well as clinical and sales milestone payments and royalties for resulting products with a total potential deal value that may exceed $1 billion.

Built on the research of leading experts in viral vector development and clinical ophthalmology, Avista was founded by Leah Byrne, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, an expert in AAV vector generation, José-Alain Sahel, M.D., Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who is known worldwide for his expertise in vision restoration techniques, and Paul Sieving, M.D., Ph.D., internationally recognized physician-scientist and former director of the National Eye Institute.

Avista’s computationally guided, in vivo scAAVengr platform leverages a high-throughput approach with built-in quantitative validation of novel cell-specific AAVs, enabling the rapid translation of transformative gene therapies to the clinic for diseases impacting people’s vision. The company will develop a proprietary pipeline built on a toolkit of AAV variants that can target gene delivery to individual retinal cell types.

"Traditional therapies for retinal dystrophies address only symptoms and complications, neglecting the underlying biology of the diseases, and while current vector technologies hold promise, they have been greatly limited in their ability to target key cell types across the retina," added Dr. Lin, who is also a vice president at UPMC Enterprises, the innovation, venture capital and commercialization arm of UPMC. "Avista was founded to solve this problem, and our innovative scAAVengr platform allows us to deliver gene therapy payloads through intravitreal injection to treat a full range of retinal diseases with reduced immunogenicity."

Avista received $10 million in seed funding and years of foundational support from UPMC Enterprises, which invests in translational science with the potential to radically transform health care.

"UPMC is thrilled to support the launch of Avista, a team with unmatched expertise in AAV technology and clinical ophthalmology who are addressing a diverse group of blinding disorders that have a profound impact on patients’ quality of life," said Jeanne Cunicelli, President of UPMC Enterprises. "We believe that Avista is uniquely positioned to address the high unmet medical need in inherited retinal diseases."