On February 23, 2021 With continued growth in its portfolio of life science companies, Paragon Biosciences reported the appointment of Jordan Dubow, M.D., as chief medical officer (Press release, Paragon Biosciences, FEB 23, 2021, View Source [SID1234575497]). Dr. Dubow is responsible for identifying and evaluating innovation opportunities utilizing his clinical and regulatory expertise and providing guidance to Paragon’s seven portfolio companies. Headquartered in Chicago, Paragon Biosciences is a life science innovator that creates, invests in and builds life science companies in biopharmaceuticals, cell and gene therapy and synthetic biology utilizing artificial intelligence.

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"At Paragon Biosciences, our mission of solving complex human and societal challenges requires the assembling of top-tier talent," said Jeff Aronin, founder, chairman and CEO, Paragon Biosciences. "With the addition of Jordan to our team of remarkable innovators, Paragon continues to accelerate the development of novel therapies and life science breakthroughs."

Prior to joining Paragon, Dr. Dubow was the chief medical officer at Avadel Pharmaceuticals. He also was vice president of CNS Therapeutic Strategy at Esteve Pharmaceuticals, responsible for evaluating in-licensing candidates and provided regulatory and clinical support for its development pipeline. Dr. Dubow served as vice president of clinical and medical affairs at Clintrex. He has held leadership positions at Cynapsus Therapeutics and started his pharmaceutical career at AbbVie as a medical director in neuroscience clinical development. He has played a pivotal role on nine new drug applications (NDAs) in the U.S. as well as numerous NDAs in Europe, Japan, Canada, and Australia.

Dr. Dubow began his career as an academic board-certified neurologist focusing on Parkinson’s disease and vascular neurology. He completed medical school and a neurology residency at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, a movement disorders fellowship at a Northwestern University-affiliated hospital and a vascular neurology fellowship at New York Presbyterian/Weil Cornell Medical Center.

"With the numerous promising studies underway at its portfolio companies, Paragon Biosciences continues to make impressive strides to help people with high unmet medical needs," said Jordan Dubow, M.D., chief medical officer, Paragon Biosciences. "My work at Paragon Biosciences has the potential to positively impact people and the world we live in. It is incredible to have a supporting role with this life science innovator."

On February 23, 2021 Teon Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing small molecules that inhibit the immunosuppressive and cancer-promoting signaling pathways, reported the completion of a $30M Series A financing (Press release, Teon Therapeutics, FEB 23, 2021, View Source [SID1234575496]). The financing was led by Oceanpine Capital with participation from additional new investors Oriza Ventures, Lifespan Investments, and former Gilead senior executives. All existing investors also participated in the financing round including Northern Light Venture Capital, Kaitai Capital and Oriental Fortune Capital. The funds will be used to advance the company’s lead A2BR-selective antagonist TT-702 into the clinic as well as to build the company’s pipeline.

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"This oversubscribed financing, during these uncertain times, validates the potential of our pipeline and reflects the confidence in our leadership team to deliver value for patients and investors. In collaboration with Cancer Research UK, we will advance our A2BR-selective antagonist TT-702 into the clinic later this year, and we will also strive to extend our unique portfolio." said Lina Yao, MD, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Teon. "We are grateful for the continued support of our existing investors and are excited to welcome our new investors during this exciting time of growth and innovation for Teon. Their expertise will be invaluable as we execute on our vision to improve the lives of cancer patients across the world."

"The rapid development of Teon’s next generation of immunotherapies has been very impressive." said Dave Chenn, Founder, CEO and Managing Partner at Oceanpine Capital. "Teon’s GPCR-focused portfolio is differentiated from other immuno-oncology approaches as evidenced by targeting both immune and cancer cells. We look forward to working with this experienced team and other investors to advance a unique class of cancer immunotherapies into the clinic."

"We are thrilled for our continued partnership with Teon," said Feng Deng, Founding Managing Partner at Northern Light Venture Capital. "We have strong confidence in Teon’s experienced team and world-class GPCR experts and looking forward to working closely together to rapidly develop and expand its pipeline of novel therapies so that it can benefit as many cancer patients as quickly as possible."

On February 23, 2021 AIkido Pharma Inc. (Nasdaq: AIKI) ("AIkido" or the "Company") reported that the underwriter of its previously announced bought deal offering of common stock has partially exercised its option to purchase an additional 7,030,927 shares of common stock at a price to the public of $1.60 per share (Press release, AIkido Pharma, FEB 23, 2021, View Source [SID1234575495]). After giving effect to the exercise of option to purchase additional shares, the total number of shares sold by AIkido in the bought deal offering increased to 53,905,927 shares and gross proceeds increased to approximately $86.2 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses.

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H.C. Wainwright & Co. acted as the sole book-running manager for the offering.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for working capital and general corporate purposes.

The shares of common stock described above were offered pursuant to the registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-238172), as amended, previously filed with and subsequently declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on June 18, 2020. A final prospectus relating to the offering has been filed with the SEC and is available on the SEC’s website at View Source Electronic copies of the final prospectus relating to this offering may be obtained by contacting H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC, 430 Park Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York, New York 10022, by email at [email protected] or by telephone at 646-975-6996.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities 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.

On February 23, 2021 The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) reported a collaboration with AstraZeneca to fund over $900,000 in research grants focused on understanding resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR TKIs) and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), including therapeutic approaches to overcome these mechanisms, as well as biomarkers of immune-mediated adverse events (Press release, AstraZeneca, FEB 23, 2021, View Source [SID1234575494]).

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Lung cancer is currently the number one cause of cancer death both in the U.S. and globally among both men and women. An estimated 625 new cases are diagnosed in the U.S. every day. As research funding grows, new treatments become available and survival rates improve. Promising new treatment options exist including targeted therapies and immunotherapies. Certain patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may benefit from targeted therapies which interfere with specific molecules involved in the growth and progression of cancer. For example, patients with EGFR mutation positive NSCLC can frequently benefit from treatment with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Despite clinical improvement with these therapies, acquired resistance invariably develops and insights into the mechanisms of resistance are needed as well as approaches to overcome and/or prevent resistance.

Over $900,000 in Research Grants Focused on Resistance to EGFR Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs) and Immunotherapies

ICIs, which function by enhancing the body’s immune response against cancer, have also led to profound improvements in the treatment of both locally advanced and metastatic NSCLC. Sustained clinical benefit of ICIs is not uniformly observed, however, and biological insights and biomarkers are needed to better guide patient selection to maximize their therapeutic benefit.

This collaboration seeks to support research studies that focus on understanding mechanisms of primary and acquired resistance to 3rd generation EGFR TKIs, and to identify more effective approaches to predict response and recurrence in patients treated with ICIs in locally advanced NSCLC. This collaboration will also promote advancing scientific knowledge in early stage and resectable NSCLC, including identification of predictive biomarkers of disease recurrence.

"LCRF is honored to continue its fifteen-year legacy of identifying and supporting outstanding lung cancer research projects over the years. We are excited to partner with AstraZeneca, who continues to be a generous supporter of our mission," said Katerina Politi, PhD, Chair, LCRF Scientific Advisory Board. "The specific focus of this grant program is to study treatment resistance and how that resistance may be overcome or prevented, addressing this very important issue that affects many lung cancer patients undergoing treatment."

On February 23, 2021 Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc (Nasdaq: JAZZ) reported that the company will webcast its corporate presentation at the Cowen 41st Annual Healthcare conference (Press release, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, FEB 23, 2021, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jazz-pharmaceuticals-announces-participation-at-cowen-41st-annual-healthcare-conference-301232868.html [SID1234575493]).

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Bruce Cozadd, chairman and chief executive officer, will provide an overview of the company and a business and financial update on Tuesday, March 2, 2021, at 12:50 p.m. EST / 5:50 p.m. GMT.

A live audio webcast of each presentation may be accessed from the Investors section of the Jazz Pharmaceuticals website at www.jazzpharmaceuticals.com. Please connect to the website prior to the start of each presentation to ensure adequate time for any software downloads that may be necessary to listen to the webcast.

An archive of each webcast will be available for at least one week following each presentation on the Investors section of the company’s website at www.jazzpharmaceuticals.com.