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Sirtex Medical and China Grand Pharmaceutical announce successful first administration of SIR-Spheres® Y-90 resin microspheres in China

On October 11, 2021 Sirtex Medical ("Sirtex"), a leading manufacturer of targeted liver cancer therapies, reported that the first procedure of selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) using SIR-Spheres Y-90 resin microspheres in China was successfully performed for a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) on Sept. 28, 2021 (Press release, Sirtex Medical, OCT 11, 2021, View Source [SID1234591087]). The milestone was reached with the support of Sirtex shareholder China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings Limited.

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"This achievement marks a major step forward in our global growth as a company and in our mission to bring effective treatments to patients with cancer," said Kevin R. Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Sirtex. "We are especially excited to advance our efforts in China, given the sizable numbers of colorectal and liver cancer cases in recent years. We thank everyone involved in this accomplishment and look forward to the promising future of SIR-Spheres in China and around the world."

The procedure was performed by Dr. Jiahong Dong and his team at Boao Super Hospital in the Hainan Province. Dr. Jiahong is a world-renowned specialist in hepatobiliary pancreatic surgery and liver transplantation and was elected Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2017.

There are 400,000 new cases of liver cancer in China each year, accounting for more than half of all new cases of liver cancer worldwide. "The successful implementation of the first licensed access to the resin microsphere in the clinical treatment of liver cancer means that China’s liver cancer patients can receive international advanced selective in vivo radiation therapy," said Dr. Jiahong Dong in a press conference held yesterday. "This is a landmark and milestone in the history."

Hainan’s first try, first pilot policy allows global new technologies, new ideas and new products to be implemented through Hainan Hope City. The project of the introduction of SIR-Spheres Y-90 resin microspheres will benefit Chinese patients in China.

In November 2020, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of the People’s Republic of China accepted the Sirtex new drug application (NDA) of SIR-Spheres Y-90 resin microspheres for the treatment of colorectal cancer liver metastases.

Twist Alliance Pan-Cancer Methylation Panel Global Launch Event – A Strategic Collaboration Between AnchorDx and Twist Bioscience for Pan-Cancer Liquid Biopsy

On October 11, 2021 The Twist Alliance Pan-Cancer Methylation Panel (Pan-Cancer Panel), a solution for pan-cancer study including DNA methylation library preparation and targeted enrichment for next-generation sequencing (NGS),reported that it was launched globally on September 24th (US time) (Press release, Twist Bioscience, OCT 11, 2021, View Source;a-strategic-collaboration-between-anchordx-and-twist-bioscience-for-pan-cancer-liquid-biopsy-301396510.html [SID1234591086]). The Pan-Cancer Panel was developed over a two-year period by AnchorDx in collaboration with Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ: TWST).

The Pan-Cancer Panel, coupled the DNA methylation markers that were discovered, curated and validated by AnchorDx from many large-scale clinical studies, with the superior panel design, high-quality DNA synthesis platform and the strict quality control process developed by Twist Bioscience, ensures robust and high-performance output for large-scale screening of patient samples. The panel covers 47 disease entities from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and 31 cancer types, such as lung, breast and colorectal cancers, each is represented by ~1000 informative genomic regions.

"DNA methylation has become an increasingly important biomarker for early cancer detection. The identification of methylation by sequencing has been challenging due to low sensitivity and efficiency and high cost. We developed a unique target enrichment-based approach to make methylation detection significantly better," said Emily Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and Co-founder of Twist Bioscience. "Collaborating with AnchorDx, a leading early cancer detection company, to develop the pan-cancer methylation panel leverages AnchorDx’s expertise in the cancer diagnostics field and enables wider access of the product and platform. We are pleased to bring the Twist Pan-Cancer Methylation Panel to the scientific community."

"The Twist Alliance Pan-Cancer Methylation Panel is a high-performance and cost-effective solution for comprehensive DNA methylation analysis. It shall facilitate basic cancer research and diagnostics development. With the launch of this product, we hope to make our due contribution to the global cancer screening efforts, and look forward to future collaborations with either academics or industries to develop more impactful clinical products." said Dr. Jian-Bing Fan, CEO and Founder of AnchorDx.

AnchorDx and Twist Bioscience signed an agreement to co-market the Twist Alliance Pan-Cancer Methylation Panel globally.

Thermo Fisher Scientific to Hold Earnings Conference Call on Wednesday, October 27, 2021

On October 11, 2021 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO), the world leader in serving science, reported that it will release its financial results for the third quarter 2021 before the market opens on Wednesday, October 27, 2021, and will hold a conference call on the same day at 8:30 a.m. EDT (Press release, Thermo Fisher Scientific, OCT 11, 2021, View Source [SID1234591085]).

During the call, the company will discuss its financial performance, as well as future expectations. To listen, call (833) 714-0931 within the U.S. or (778) 560-2662 outside the U.S. The conference ID is 6971977. You may also listen to the call live on the "Investors" section of our website, www.thermofisher.com. The earnings press release and related information can be found in that section of our website under "Financial Results." A replay of the call will be available under "Webcasts and Presentations" through Friday, November 12, 2021.

Johnson & Johnson to Participate in the Credit Suisse 30th Annual Healthcare Conference

On October 11, 2021 Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) reported that it will participate virtually in the Credit Suisse 30th Annual Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, November 10th (Press release, Johnson & Johnson, OCT 11, 2021, View Source;johnson-to-participate-in-the-credit-suisse-30th-annual-healthcare-conference-301397171.html [SID1234591084]). Ashley McEvoy, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Chairman, Medical Devices will represent the Company in a session scheduled at 11:20 a.m. (Eastern Time) .

This conference call will be available to investors and other interested parties by visiting the Johnson & Johnson website at www.investor.jnj.com.

A webcast and podcast replay will be available approximately 48 hours after the live webcast.

Immunis.AI Reports Results of a Prospective Study of its RNAseq-Based Liquid-Biopsy in Early-Stage Prostate Cancer

On October 11, 2021 Immunis.AI, Inc., an immunogenomics platform company developing noninvasive blood-based tests to optimize patient care, reported the publication of pivotal results from its clinical trial, Evaluation of an RNAseq-based Immunogenomic Liquid Biopsy Approach in Early-Stage Prostate Cancer, in the journal Cells (Press release, ImmunisAI, OCT 11, 2021, View Source [SID1234591083]).

Study findings validate the potential of the company’s proprietary Intelligentia platform to detect early-stage cancer and to stratify risk in men considering active surveillance of prostate cancer. The results also illustrate the potential of the company’s proprietary immunogenomic platform to address screening, treatment decision making, and minimal residual disease detection.

This is the first of three large, prospective studies completed and designed to demonstrate the power of the company’s proprietary Intelligentia platform for early-stage cancer detection and the assessment of disease aggressiveness.

Key Findings:

In this prospective study, the primary objective was to develop and validate a model for the identification of clinically significant prostate cancer. Peripheral blood samples were collected from 1,018 previously undiagnosed men undergoing prostate biopsy and split chronologically into independent training (n=713) and validation (n=305) sets. Whole transcriptome RNA sequencing was performed on isolated phagocytic CD14+ monocytes and non-phagocytic CD2+ lymphocytes and their gene expression levels were used to develop a predictive model that correlates to adverse pathologic features in early stage, clinically localized prostate cancer.

The immunotranscriptomic model, emphasizing both the tumor phagocytosis mechanism and the anti-tumor immune response, combined with clinical risk parameters, yielded an AUC (area under curve) of 0.83 on the independent validation set (n=305).
Notably, considering the average age at diagnosis of prostate cancer is 66, the model was the strongest predictor for adverse pathology in men 60-66 years of age with an AUC of 0.91 in the independent validation set.
Several cancer-related pathways appear to be significantly represented in the model gene set, including hedgehog signaling, epithelial mesenchymal transition, PDL1 and PD1 checkpoint, and transcriptional misregulation in cancer.
"The strong AUC generated in the study demonstrate high sensitivity and negative predictive value," said Dr. Kirk Wojno, Chief Medical Officer of Immunis.AI, "which together support the ability of our Intelligentia platform to deliver actionable information that can help urologists distinguish prostate cancer patients who may safely choose active surveillance from those who are harboring occult aggressive disease requiring immediate intervention."

"Immunis.AI is developing models incorporating both novel disease related biomarkers as well as the body’s immune response to that disease, so that a single blood sample can be bioinformatically assessed for the presence of multiple diseases simultaneously," said Dr. Leander Van Neste, Chief Scientific Officer of Immunis.AI.

"The data provide strong evidence that the Intelligentia platform delivers a combination of sensitivity and specificity for early-stage disease with the flexibility to interrogate multiple cancer types," Van Neste added. "We are encouraged by these results and excited about the potential of our platform for multi-cancer screening."