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Sapience Therapeutics to Present at Guggenheim Healthcare Talks, 2022 Oncology Conference

On February 3, 2022 Sapience Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of peptide therapeutics to address difficult-to-treat cancers, reported that the company will present at the Guggenheim Healthcare Talks, 2022 Oncology Conference, taking place virtually February 9-February 11, 2022 (Press release, Sapience Therapeutics, FEB 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234607720]).

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Dr. Barry Kappel, CEO and President of Sapience, will present a company overview on Friday February 11th, at 11:30 am ET. Sapience management will also participate in one-on-one meetings with investors during the conference.

Synthekine Doses First Patient in Phase 1 Clinical Trial of IL-2 Partial Agonist, STK-012, for Treatment of Solid Tumors

On February 3, 2022 Synthekine Inc., an engineered cytokine therapeutics company, reported the dosing of the first patient in a Phase 1a/1b clinical trial of its IL-2 partial agonist, STK-012, for the treatment of solid tumors. STK-012 is designed as an alpha/beta-biased IL-2 partial agonist to selectively stimulate antigen-activated T cells, which are associated with potent anti-tumor activity, and avoid stimulation of toxicity causing immune cells, such as natural killer cells (Press release, Synthekine, FEB 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234607716]).

"We are proud to begin this year with the important milestone of dosing the first patient in our Phase 1 trial of STK-012," said Debanjan Ray, chief executive officer of Synthekine. "STK-012 is a highly differentiated IL-2 partial agonist tuned to expand the therapeutic index of IL-2 by biasing towards efficacy driving antigen-activated T cells and away from toxicity causing lymphocytes, such as natural killer (NK) cells. STK-012 is the first program from our broad portfolio of biased cytokines to enter the clinic, and its rapid progress into clinical investigation further highlights our team’s tremendous ability to execute efficiently and move our pipeline forward."

Aldesleukin (recombinant IL-2) has shown to be active in certain cancers, but its use is limited due to life threatening toxicities such as capillary leak syndrome (CLS). Synthekine presented preclinical data at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) 2021 demonstrating a mouse surrogate of STK-012 achieved superior tumor regression compared to both wild-type mouse IL-2 and a non-alpha-IL-2 agent, representing a different approach to biasing IL-2. In toxicity models, the mouse surrogate of STK-012, unlike these same comparators, was well tolerated and did not induce CLS. In non-human primate studies, STK-012 avoided lymphopenia, NK cell activation and CLS induction, which was observed with both aldesleukin and a non-alpha-IL-2 agent.

The Phase 1a/1b clinical trial is an open-label, multi-center study enrolling patients with advanced solid tumors. The dose escalation portion of the study will evaluate STK-012 both as a monotherapy and in combination with pembrolizumab. Following completion of the dose escalation, Synthekine will initiate expansion cohorts with STK-012. For additional information about the trial, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov using the identifier NCT05098132.

Sierra Oncology Announces Full Exercise of Underwriters’ Option to Purchase Additional Shares

On February 3, 2022 Sierra Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: SRRA), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to delivering targeted therapies for rare cancers, reported that the underwriters of its previously announced underwritten public offering exercised in full their option to purchase 750,000 additional shares of common stock at a price of $27.00 per share, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions (Press release, Sierra Oncology, FEB 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234607719]). With this exercise, the aggregate gross proceeds to Sierra Oncology from the offering were approximately $155.3 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses. The offering of the additional 750,000 shares closed on February 3, 2022. Sierra Oncology intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to prepare for potential commercialization of momelotinib, clinical development of its other product candidates, research, clinical and process development and manufacturing of its product candidates, working capital, and capital expenditures and other general corporate purposes.

Jefferies and Cantor acted as the joint book-running managers and representatives of the underwriters for the offering. LifeSci Capital, Oppenheimer & Co. and H.C. Wainwright & Co. acted as lead managers for the offering.

A shelf registration statement on Form S-3 relating to the securities offered in the public offering described above was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 5, 2021 and declared effective by the SEC on November 12, 2021. A final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering have been filed with the SEC and are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Copies of the final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus may also be obtained by contacting Jefferies LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Prospectus Department, 520 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, by telephone at (877) 821-7388, or by email at [email protected]; or Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Attention: Capital Markets, 499 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10022, or by e-mail at [email protected].

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities being offered, nor shall there be any sale of the securities being offered in any state or other jurisdiction in 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.

Gilead Sciences to Present at Upcoming Investor Conferences

On February 3, 2022 Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) reported that its executives will be speaking at the following investor conferences (Press release, Gilead Sciences, FEB 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234607718]):

SVB Leerink Annual Global Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, February 16 at 2:20pm ET

Raymond James Annual Institutional Investors Conference on Tuesday, March 8 at 1:05pm ET

Cowen Annual Health Care Conference on Wednesday, March 9 at 10:30am ET

The live webcasts can be accessed at the company’s investors page at investors.gilead.com. The replays will be available for at least 30 days following the presentation.

Kriya Announces the Appointment of Ma’an Muhsin, M.D., as President and Chief Medical Officer of Its Oncology Therapeutic Area Division

On February 3, 2022 Kriya Therapeutics, Inc., a fully integrated company pioneering novel technologies and therapeutics in gene therapy, reported that it has appointed Ma’an Muhsin, M.D., as President and Chief Medical Officer of Kriya Oncology, the company’s oncology therapeutic area division (Press release, Kriya Therapeutics, FEB 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234607717]). Dr. Muhsin will lead overall strategic, development, and partnership activities to accelerate and expand Kriya’s portfolio of transformative gene therapies for cancers of high unmet need.

"Ma’an brings a wealth of experience in the development of novel oncology therapies across a number of modalities," said Shankar Ramaswamy, M.D., Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kriya. "He is uniquely positioned to accelerate the expansion and clinical translation of our growing pipeline of gene therapies that can be combined with existing and emerging standards of care in oncology. We are keen to bring forward in vivo gene therapy as a new modality to treat cancer, and Ma’an is a leader with an exceptional track record that will help us achieve this goal."

Dr. Muhsin previously served as Chief Medical Officer at Medicenna Therapeutics where he designed and executed clinical trials of the company’s solid tumor programs. Prior to joining Medicenna, he served as Medical Lead, Oncology Clinical Development for Nektar Therapeutics where he oversaw the progression of the PIVOT-12 and REVEAL clinical studies for metastatic melanoma and advanced and local solid tumors, respectively. Dr. Muhsin has held roles of increasing responsibility at HUYA Bioscience International where he served as the Senior Vice President, Oncology Clinical Development, and at Halozyme Therapeutics where he served as Senior Medical Director, Oncology Clinical Development. He also worked in the U.S. Army Combat Support Hospitals (CSH) and held other positions within the Medical Brigade and the Medical Command under the United States Department of Defense (DoD). Dr. Muhsin completed his medical education at the Baghdad University School of Medicine and completed postgraduate education in oncology drug development at Tufts University Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD).

"I am excited to join Kriya and look forward to advancing its promising portfolio of gene therapies in oncology," said Dr. Muhsin. "While the management of cancer has come a long way in the last decade, I believe in the potential to further enhance the treatment of patients with the incorporation of rationally engineered gene therapies that can transform treatment paradigms for a wide array of cancers. I look forward to leveraging Kriya’s fully-integrated gene therapy engine to deliver a pipeline of novel medicines with the potential to significantly impact the lives of cancer patients."