New NCCN Resource for Understanding Childhood Leukemia

On September 23, 2020 The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) reported the publication of the organization’s first patient and caregiver resource focused on a childhood cancer type (Press release, NCCN, SEP 23, 2020, View Source [SID1234565538]). The brand new NCCN Guidelines for Patients: Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) shares the latest expert advice for treating infants, children, and adolescents with the most common pediatric malignancy. This guidance is intended to enable patients, their parents or guardians, and other caregivers to advocate for the best evidence-based care available. This new source of information is available for free at NCCN.org/patients thanks to support from the NCCN Foundation. The book is endorsed by Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)/Be The Match, CancerFree Kids, The Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley, and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).

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NCCN Guidelines for Patients: Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
"My heart aches for every child, parent, and guardian who experiences an earth-shattering event like a cancer diagnosis," said Patrick Brown, MD, Associate Professor of Oncology and Pediatrics, Director, Pediatric Leukemia Program, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Chair, NCCN Guidelines Panels for Adult and Pediatric ALL. "Thankfully, advances in treating pediatric ALL represent one of the most profound successes in medical history. Nearly 90% of the kids who are diagnosed with this type of leukemia can be cured with inexpensive and widely-available therapies, as explained in these guidelines. Our aim in sharing this information is to prepare people for what they’re facing while also giving them reason to feel hopeful."

NCCN Guidelines for Patients are directly based on the clinical practice versions that inform doctors all over the world of the best way to manage cancer patients. NCCN Guidelines are considered the gold standard for clinical direction and policy in cancer management and are the most thorough and frequently-updated clinical practice guidelines available in any area of medicine. The evidence-based recommendations are formulated by top experts from across the 30 leading cancer centers that are part of NCCN.

The patient guidelines contain the same treatment information, but are written with easy-to-understand wording. They include charts and images, a glossary of medical terms, and suggested questions to ask during appointments. An independent study found them to be among the most trustworthy resources for people seeking online information about cancer.

"We know firsthand how important it is for families to have accurate and trusted information about their child’s treatment plan," said Liz Scott, Executive Director, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. "We are honored to endorse the NCCN Guidelines for Patients: Pediatric ALL. There is so much power and hope in information!"

"We want every child around the world to receive the best-possible cancer care," said Marcie Reeder, MPH, Executive Director, NCCN Foundation. "That’s why it’s important for patients and caregivers to know what their doctors know. Nearly 1 million people visited our patient information website in 2019. I hope they came away with the knowledge and comfort to feel empowered against whatever they might be facing."

The library of NCCN Guidelines for Patients currently contains nearly 50 different books, including recommendations for breast, colon, lung, and prostate cancers. There are also books on supportive care topics like managing cancer-related distress, nausea and vomiting, side-effects from immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, and special considerations for adolescents and young adults across all cancer types. The books are available for free digital download online or via the NCCN Patient Guides for Cancer App. Printed versions are available for a nominal fee at Amazon.com.

Metabolon, Inc. Announces $72 Million in Debt and Equity Financing to Accelerate Advancements in Precision Medicine and Innovative Drug Development Technologies

On September 23, 2020 Metabolon, Inc., the global leader in metabolomics solutions advancing drug development and precision medicine, reported the close on $72 million in combined debt and equity financing (Press release, Metabolon, SEP 23, 2020, View Source [SID1234565537]). This round of financing included Perceptive Advisors as a new participant. EW Healthcare Partners and other existing investors also participated in the financing.

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"We are thrilled by this strong show of support from Perceptive Advisors and our current investors," said Rohan (Ro) Hastie, President and CEO, Metabolon. "I am also extremely excited that some of the company’s earliest investors participated in this round of investment as well. The incremental funding will help accelerate our growth and expand our client base, in addition to helping further our R&D programs in machine learning to enable novel biomarker discovery and expand our precision medicine platform."

Metabolomics, the large-scale study of all small molecules in a biological system, is the only ‘omics technology that provides a current-state functional readout of a biological system. By leveraging the world’s largest proprietary metabolite database, Metabolon can decipher thousands of discrete chemical signals from genetic and non-genetic factors to reveal biological pathways. Metabolon’s technology makes connections where other ‘omics cannot and provides the definitive representation of the phenotype.

The company today also announced the appointment of Robert A. Cascella, Chief Business Leader, Precision Diagnostics, and Executive Vice President of Phillips, as one of three independent members of the Metabolon Board of Directors.

"Rob’s 30-year career in the healthcare industry comprises an impressive track record of value creation and delivering integrated solutions," said Hastie, "We are honored to have his expertise on the board to help lead Metabolon to our next stage of growth."

Cascella joins Todd Schermerhorn, retired senior vice president and chief financial officer of C. R. Bard, Inc, and Jan Lundberg, formerly President of Lilly Labs and head of R&D, as independent board members.

InSysBio announces its collaboration with Genmab

On September 23, 2020 InSysBio, one of the world’s pioneers of Quantitative Systems Pharmacology (QSP) modeling, reported its collaboration with Genmab, an international biotechnology company specializing in the creation and development of differentiated antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer (Press release, InSysBio, SEP 23, 2020, View Source [SID1234565536]).

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Genmab, in partnership with BioNTech, has begun clinical development of an investigational therapy, GEN1042 (DuoBody-CD40x4-1BB), for solid tumors. GEN1042 is a first-in-class bispecific agonistic antibody targeting CD40 and 4-1BB for priming and activation of a tumor-specific immune response. The key aim of InSysBio in this collaboration is to develop a quantitative system pharmacology (QSP) model that allows exploration of the relationships between dose, schedule, and tumor response in patients treated with this novel agent. These advantages of QSP modeling are enabled by the fact that such models are virtual representations of the disease based on experimental data and biological knowledge.

InSysBio’s great expertise in QSP modeling in oncology and immuno-oncology settings, allows to increase the efficiency of new drug development. Moreover, to perform such projects more efficiently InSysBio has developed internal tools and software facilitating the process of model development, several of which will be applied during this project. The Immune Response Template (IRT) is a tool for development of QSP models/platforms of different diseases associated with the immune response in humans. Application of the IRT allows simplification of the model development process by using pre-defined sub-models as building blocks. Another InSysBio tool, the CYTOCON DB, will assist in the estimation of remaining unknown factors and translation of in vitro data to in vivo situations.

Oleg Demin, CEO of InSysBio, highlights: "The project with Genmab represents ideal case for application of QSP modeling approach. The choice of the technique is supported by complexity of biological system, needs in mechanistic understanding of the data available and importance of the project deliverables for the drug development program. Genmab and BioNTech are jointly developing GEN1042 using the DuoBody technology, which is a revolutionary new approach in the oncology treatment. We are proud to be part of this process."

It should be outlined that the project absolutely coincides with InSysBio mission which is to take part in drug development thus bringing hope to patients.

ImmVira Announces US$10 million Strategic Series B Plus Financing with SIIC Capital

On September 23, 2020 ImmVira Group Company, a biotechnology company focused on the development of new generation oncolytic viruses as potential cancer therapeutics reported signing of US$10 million Series B Plus strategic financing (Press release, Immvira, SEP 23, 2020, View Source [SID1234565535]). This round of financing will be exclusively funded by Shanghai Healthcare Capital ("SHC"), managed by SIIC Capital, where Shanghai Pharma is one of the founding strategic cornerstone LPs.

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In August 2020, ImmVira and Shanghai Pharma announced a clinical collaboration and exclusive license agreement for ImmVira’s MVR-T3011 intratumoral oncolytic virus program for the commercialization of novel immunotherapies to treat solid malignant tumors.

"We warmly welcome SHC to be our strategic investor," said Grace Zhou, Chairman and CEO of ImmVira. "This investment further deepens our collaboration in the MVR-T3011 intratumoral program and highlights the commitment from the parties to the program’s commercial success. An investment from one of the country’s leading integrated pharma and healthcare fund is also a promising validation to the approach of using genetically modified oncolytic virus as an effective remedy to treat cancer."

"ImmVira is a leader in providing best-in-class oncolytic virotherapy treatments for patients in need. We are pleased with the progress on the MVR-T3011 intratumoral program and now also take an important stake as a shareholder," said David Liu, CEO of SHC. "In-line with our dedication to promote the bio-pharmaceutical industry in China, we look forward to making strategic investment with best-in-class innovators like ImmVira and would like to expand our portfolio to include more rising life science companies like ImmVira."

ADC Therapeutics Announces Pricing of Public Offering

On September 23, 2020 ADC Therapeutics SA (NYSE:ADCT), a late clinical-stage oncology-focused biotechnology company pioneering the development and commercialization of highly potent and targeted antibody drug conjugates for patients with hematological malignancies and solid tumors, reported the pricing of an upsized public offering of 6,000,000 shares of its common shares at a price of $34.00 per share (Press release, ADC Therapeutics, SEP 23, 2020, View Source [SID1234565534]). The gross proceeds from the offering, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by ADC Therapeutics, are expected to be approximately $204 million. The offering is expected to close on September 28, 2020, subject to customary closing conditions. In addition, certain existing shareholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 900,000 additional common shares. ADC Therapeutics will not receive any proceeds from the sale of such shares by the selling shareholders.

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Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities and Cowen are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. RBC Capital Markets is acting as co-manager for the offering.

The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained, when available, from Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attn: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014 or by email at [email protected]; BofA Securities, Inc., NC1-004-03-43, 200 North College Street, 3rd floor, Charlotte, NC 28255-0001, Attn: Prospectus Department, or by email at [email protected]; or Cowen and Company, LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, Attn: Prospectus Department, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, by telephone at (833) 297-2926 or by email at [email protected].

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with, and declared effective by, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. There is no intention or permission to publicly offer, solicit, sell or advertise, directly or indirectly, any securities of ADC Therapeutics SA, such as the common shares, in or into Switzerland within the meaning of the Swiss Financial Services Act ("FinSA") and these securities will not be listed or admitted to trading on the SIX Swiss Exchange or on any other regulated trading venue (exchange or multilateral trading facility) in Switzerland. Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to these securities, such as the common shares, constitutes or will constitute a prospectus pursuant to the FinSA, and neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the common shares constitutes a prospectus pursuant to the FinSA, and neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the common shares may be publicly distributed or otherwise made publicly available in Switzerland.