On August 26, 2020 Freenome, a privately held biotechnology company that has pioneered a comprehensive multiomics platform for early cancer detection with a routine blood draw, reported an oversubscribed $270 million Series C financing, bringing the company’s total financing to over $500 million since the company’s launch (Press release, Freenome, AUG 26, 2020, View Source [SID1234564042]). The proceeds will be used to accelerate the PREEMPT CRC clinical trial for Freenome’s blood test for colorectal cancer screening and precancerous lesion detection, advance a pipeline of blood tests for both the early detection and early intervention of additional cancers, and continue building the company’s proprietary multiomics platform. PREEMPT CRC is an FDA registrational study launched in May 2020 to support approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the first front-line blood test to help the 45 million people who are currently not up-to-date on colorectal cancer screening guidelines in the U.S.

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The Series C financing was led by new investor Bain Capital Life Sciences and existing investor Perceptive Advisors. They were joined by a group of other new investors, including Fidelity Management & Research Company, LLC, Janus Henderson Investors, Farallon Capital Management, Rock Springs Capital, Cormorant Asset Management, EcoR1 Capital, LLC, Catalio Capital Management, and the Colorectal Cancer Alliance. Freenome’s existing investors also participated in the financing, including RA Capital Management, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., American Cancer Society’s BrightEdge Ventures, Sands Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, DCVC, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Novartis, Polaris Partners, Roche Venture Fund, Soleus Capital, and Section 32.

Freenome CEO Gabriel Otte stated, "We are delighted to have Bain Capital Life Sciences and Perceptive Advisors as lead investors, and thank all of our new and existing investors for their ongoing confidence in Freenome and our mission to improve accessibility and adherence to cancer screening. We are moving closer every day to a world where cancer can be detected early or even in a precancerous state and ultimately save many lives."

Jeffrey Schwartz, a Managing Director at Bain Capital Life Sciences said, "Freenome’s innovative approach to detecting cancer early, when it is most treatable, is on the leading edge of the liquid biopsy field with features that are advanced and differentiated for cancer screening. The platform’s ability to detect a range of cancer types is compelling and we look forward to working with the company as it continues its growth."

The financing accelerates Freenome’s efforts to expand its platform to create a portfolio of industry-leading blood tests for multiple cancers. The company’s platform, with capabilities to characterize tumor and immune signatures, enables a differentiated and comprehensive blood testing technology for early cancer detection. With a comprehensive multiomics approach – analyzing large, complex biological datasets – Freenome’s platform integrates technologies applying genomics, transcriptomics, methylomics, and proteomics with advanced computational biology and machine learning techniques to understand multiple signatures for early cancer detection.

Ellen Hukkelhoven, Ph.D., a Managing Director at Perceptive Capital noted, "Freenome is at an exciting inflection point as it moves its first product through pivotal testing, and we see future opportunities on the horizon to expand its platform to create blood-based screening tests for a range of additional cancers. There is so much untapped potential to bring advanced technology to improve cancer screening and to make testing more accessible and cancer more preventable." Concurrent with the Series C financing, Dr. Hukkelhoven will join the Freenome Board of Directors.

Freenome CFO William Quirk commented, "This funding will allow us to execute on our business plans by accelerating the registrational study for our blood test for colorectal cancer screening toward approval, reimbursement, and commercialization while, at the same time, advancing our pipeline of blood tests for screening other cancers. We are well positioned for Freenome’s next stage of growth, leveraging the full potential of our novel multiomics platform as a disruptive technology for cancer screening."

On August 26, 2020 Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) reported that it will participate in two upcoming virtual investor conferences (Press release, Boston Scientific, AUG 26, 2020, View Source [SID1234564037]).

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On September 9, 2020, Mike Mahoney, chairman and chief executive officer, and Susie Lisa, vice president, Investor Relations, will participate in a 30-minute question-and-answer session with the host analyst at the Wells Fargo 2020 Virtual Healthcare Conference. The session will begin at approximately 9:20 a.m. EDT.

On September 16, 2020, Mike Mahoney, Dan Brennan, executive vice president and chief financial officer, and Susie Lisa will participate in a 30-minute question-and-answer session with the host analyst at the Morgan Stanley Virtual 18th Annual Global Healthcare Conference. The session will begin at approximately 8:00 a.m. EDT.

A live webcast and replay of the webcast for each event will be accessible at investors.bostonscientific.comView Source The replay will be available beginning approximately one hour following the completion of each event.

On August 26, 2020 Kinnate Biopharma Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of small molecule kinase inhibitors for difficult-to-treat, genomically-defined cancers, reported that it has raised $98 million in a Series C financing (Press release, Kinnate Biopharma, AUG 26, 2020, View Source [SID1234564036]). The financing was led by RA Capital Management with participation from additional new investors: Viking Global Investors; Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners; Fidelity Management & Research Company, LLC; Janus Henderson Investors; Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company); Boxer Capital of Tavistock Group; Logos Capital; and an investment fund associated with SVB Leerink. Existing investors Foresite Capital, OrbiMed, Nextech Invest, and Vida Ventures also participated in the round. In December 2019, Kinnate closed a $74.5 million Series B financing.

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"In just over two years, Kinnate has built a proprietary pipeline of kinase inhibitors from the ground up, and this significant financing positions us to advance at least one of our lead product candidates into clinical development in the first half of next year," said Nima Farzan, CEO of Kinnate. "We are pleased to expand our syndicate of world-class healthcare investors during this exciting time of growth for the company. Their expertise will be invaluable as we execute on our vision of increasing the availability of targeted therapies for the many cancer patients who currently lack access to effective precision medicines."

Through its deep expertise in structure-based drug discovery, translational research, and patient-driven precision medicine, Kinnate has developed a wholly owned kinase inhibitor portfolio of new targeted therapy candidates that aim to help patients who are non-responders or express resistance to currently available precision medicines. The company’s lead preclinical programs include small molecule inhibitors targeting specific classes of BRAF kinase mutations (Class II and Class III mutations) and FGFR2 or FGFR3 alterations that aim to overcome resistance commonly limiting the efficacy of existing therapies. The company is also advancing a number of other research programs. To help advance these programs, Kinnate is working with leaders at experienced precision medicine cancer centers including Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

"The rapid advancement of genomic technologies has enabled the identification of many more people who may benefit from genomically-targeted therapies. However, because of non-response or resistance mutations, many fail to benefit from these potentially life-saving medicines," said Peter Kolchinsky, PhD, managing partner at RA Capital Management. "We are proud to support the Kinnate team and see tremendous potential for their lead programs to significantly increase the number of people who could benefit from targeted precision oncology therapeutics."

On August 26, 2020 Genprex, Inc. ("Genprex" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: GNPX), a clinical-stage gene therapy company developing potentially life-changing technologies for patients with cancer and diabetes, reported that it will be presenting at the LD 500 Virtual Investor Conference on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 at 1:20 p.m. ET. Rodney Varner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Genprex, will present virtually to an online audience (Press release, Genprex, AUG 26, 2020, View Source [SID1234564035]).

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Mr. Varner will deliver a Company overview and provide updates on its product pipeline, including its lead drug candidate, GPX-001, which received Fast Track Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in combination with AstraZeneca’s Tagrisso in late stage lung cancer patients with EGFR mutations whose tumors progress on Tagrisso. Mr. Varner will also provide an overview of the Company’s preclinical diabetes gene therapy candidate that may have the potential to cure Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

The presentation will be webcast live and available for replay on the LD 500 conference website here and via the investor relations section of the company’s website at Genprex.com.

Event: The LD 500 Virtual Conference

Presentation Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Presentation Time: 1:20 p.m. ET – Track 2

Registration Link: https://ld-micro-conference.events.issuerdirect.com/

Webcast Link: https://bit.ly/31b1i20

The LD 500 will take place September 1-4, 2020 and will feature some of the most prominent companies in the micro-cap world, alongside interviews and keynotes with small-cap leaders.

View Genprex’s LD 500 profile here: https://bit.ly/2CHzOrt

On August 26, 2020 Novartis reported that, at primary analysis, the Phase III ASCEMBL study met its primary endpoint of statistically significant superiority in major molecular response (MMR) rate at 24 weeks for asciminib (ABL001) vs. bosutinib1 (Press release, Novartis, AUG 26, 2020, View Source [SID1234564031]). The study evaluates asciminib – a novel investigational treatment specifically targeting the ABL myristoyl pocket (STAMP) – in adult patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (Ph+ CML-CP) previously treated with two or more tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKIs)1. Patients with failure or intolerance to the most recently administered TKI therapy were included in the trial1.

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"Our ability to treat patients with TKIs changed CML care forever. However, the risk of disease progression is a reality for many patients – especially those who experience resistance to sequential TKI therapy or those who cannot adhere to treatment due to the daily impact of intolerable side effects16," said John Tsai, MD, Head of Global Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer, Novartis. "We are incredibly grateful to the patients and investigators around the world who participated in this study. These results with asciminib are a testament to our commitment to further transform CML care – this time through STAMP inhibition, by exploiting a natural regulatory mechanism of the ABL kinase."

Data from the ASCEMBL trial will be submitted for presentation at an upcoming medical meeting, and results will be shared with regulatory authorities. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation for asciminib.

Findings from earlier studies of asciminib were presented during past annual meetings of the European Hematology Association (EHA) (Free EHA Whitepaper), and some details can be found here13,14.

About asciminib (ABL001)
Asciminib (ABL001) is an investigational treatment specifically targeting the ABL myristoyl pocket (STAMP). As a STAMP inhibitor, asciminib may help address tyrosine-kinase inhibitor (TKI)-resistance and intolerance in later treatment lines of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)8-14, and it is being studied in several clinical trials in hopes of helping patients across multiple treatment lines of CML7,10,11,13-15,17.

About ASCEMBL
ASCEMBL is a Phase III, multicenter, open-label, randomized study comparing the oral investigational treatment asciminib (ABL001) versus bosutinib in patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (Ph+ CML-CP) previously treated with two or more tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKIs)1. Patients with failure or intolerance to the most recently administered TKI therapy were included in the trial1.

About Novartis Commitment to CML
Our ongoing research in Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CML) has helped transform the disease from a fatal leukemia to a chronic condition in most patients. Novartis maintains an unwavering commitment to scientific innovation and access to care for patients worldwide. As an organization committed to patients, Novartis continues to reimagine CML care by pursuing ambitious goals with courage, passion and commitment for the global CML community.