On March 1, 2021 FogPharma, a biopharmaceutical company pioneering a new class of precision medicines potentially applicable to all therapeutic targets, including those previously considered "undruggable", reported the Company’s $107 million Series C financing (Press release, FogPharma, MAR 1, 2021, View Source [SID1234575868]). The financing was led by venBio Partners, with participation from new investors Cormorant Asset Management, Farallon Capital Management, Invus, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.; HBM Healthcare Investments, Casdin Capital, and PagsGroup. Existing investors, including GV, 6 Dimensions Capital, Deerfield Management and Blue Pool Capital also participated in the oversubscribed round.

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FogPharma’s proprietary hyperstabilized α-helical peptides (Helicon peptides) are a new class of therapeutics that combine the targeting strength and specificity of antibodies with the broad tissue distribution, intracellular target engagement and oral dosing optionality of small molecules. The Company’s Helicon peptide drug discovery engine integrates directed evolution, proprietary helix hyperstabilization chemistry, highly multiplexed drug optimization technology, artificial intelligence including deep learning and machine learning, structure-based drug discovery, and multiscale manufacturing to rapidly discover Helicon peptide therapeutics against important, previously intractable targets with broad applicability to virtually all disease areas.

"Helicon peptides are a next-generation class of therapeutics that holds the potential to revolutionize medicine by making all or nearly all targets druggable. Achieving this long-standing goal of the entire pharmaceutical industry makes it possible for disease biology alone to determine which targets get drugged," said Gregory Verdine, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of FogPharma. "We are pleased to have the support of such an elite group of life sciences investors who share in our vision and mission to fundamentally redirect the future course of medicine by drugging the most notorious and previously untouchable drivers of serious human disease. We are excited to bring forward at an ever-increasing pace and scale first-in-class programs that tackle the most recalcitrant and prevalent drivers of human cancer."

Proceeds from the Series C financing will allow FogPharma to advance its lead, only-in-class Helicon peptides aimed at addressing substantial cancer patient populations into clinical development, including:

The Company’s first-and-only-in-class direct β-catenin inhibitor. Dysregulation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway has been shown to occur in at least 20% of all human cancers, with the true patient population likely being higher. FogPharma’s lead antagonist has been shown to surgically disrupt the interaction of β-catenin with its downstream transcription factor, TCF, and thereby disrupt signal transmission thorough the oncogenic arm of the Wnt pathway.
A first-in-class YAP/TAZ-blocker TEAD antagonist, which is the only molecule presently in development that binds the fully activated form of TEAD. The YAP/TAZ-TEAD interface is part of the hippo pathway, where dysregulation has also been shown to occur in many cancers.
In association with the financing, Corey Goodman, Ph.D., managing partner of venBio Partners, has joined the FogPharma Board of Directors as Chairman.

"The vast majority of human proteins remain beyond the reach of small molecule and antibody-based approaches, and new modalities such as FogPharma’s Helicon peptides are urgently needed," said Dr. Goodman. "I am excited by the potential of FogPharma’s lead programs targeting significant cancer populations, and I look forward to contributing to the Company’s future growth and success."

With the completion of the Series C financing, FogPharma has raised more than $180 million from leading life science investors since its founding in 2016.

On March 1, 2021 BiomX Inc. (NYSE American: PHGE), a clinical-stage company developing both natural and engineered phage therapies that target specific pathogenic bacteria, reported that Jonathan Solomon, Chief Executive Officer, will participate in two upcoming virtual investor conferences (Press release, BiomX, MAR 1, 2021, View Source [SID1234575867]).

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Presentation Details:

Event: Chardan’s 3rd Annual Microbiome Medicines Summit
Date: Monday, March 8, 2021
Time: 10:45 AM EST

Event: H.C. Wainwright Global Life Sciences Conference
Date: Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Time: On-demand beginning at 7:00 AM EST

Live webcasts from the Chardan and H.C. Wainwright presentations will be accessible through the Investors section of the Company’s website at ir.biomx.com/news-events/ir-calendar. Following the events, the webcasts will be archived on the BiomX website.

On March 1, 2021 Orion Corporation reported that it has on 1 March 2021 transferred altogether 99,768 Orion Corporation B shares held by the company as a share reward for earning periods 2018–2020 and 2019–2020 to the persons belonging to the Share-based Incentive Plan of the Orion Group (Press release, Orion , MAR 1, 2021, View Source [SID1234575866]). The transfer is based on the authorisation by the Annual General Meeting of 26 March 2019.

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The price per share of the transferred shares is EUR 34.1055, which is the volume weighted average quotation of the Orion Corporation B share on 1 March 2021. Accordingly, the total transaction price of the transferred shares is EUR 3,402,637.52.

After the share transfer, the total number of own B shares held by Orion Corporation is 571,314.

On March 1, 2021 OncoSec Medical Incorporated (NASDAQ:ONCS) (the "Company" or "OncoSec"), a late-stage biotechnology company focused on cytokine-based intratumoral immunotherapies, reported the publication of research demonstrating the ability of its lead candidate TAVO (tavokinogene telseplasmid), a DNA-based interleukin-12 (IL-12), to activate tumor antigen specific antitumor immunity in patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) in the peer-reviewed medical journal Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) (Press release, OncoSec Medical, MAR 1, 2021, View Source [SID1234575865]). The manuscript by Melinda L. Telli, M.D. et al. is titled, "Intratumoral plasmid IL-12 expands CD8+ T cells and induces a CXCR3 gene signature in triple-negative breast tumors that sensitizes patients to anti-PD-1 therapy," and is available online.

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Key findings from the article include:

TAVO treatment induced expression of a CXCR3 gene signature (CXCR3-GS), which was associated with enhanced antigen presentation, T cell infiltration and expansion, and PD-1/PD-L1 expression in mouse models.
Assessment of pre- and post-treatment tissue from patients confirmed enrichment of CXCR3-GS in tumors that exhibited an enhancement of CD8+ T cell infiltration following treatment with TAVO.
One patient who was previously unresponsive to anti-PD-L1 therapy exhibited an increased CXCR3-GS after TAVO treatment, and subsequently demonstrated a significant clinical response after receiving additional anti-PD-1 therapy.
"TNBC is an aggressive disease with limited therapeutic options, as only a subset of patients benefits from antibodies targeting PD-1/PD-L1," said Dr. Telli, Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine. "The published results demonstrate TAVO’s potential to positively impact immunogenicity, providing mechanistic insights as well as a strong rationale to combine with chemokines and checkpoint inhibitors."

Herbert Kim Lyerly, M.D., George Barth Geller Distinguished Professor of Immunology at Duke University and Director on OncoSec’s Board of Directors, added, "The published results add to the growing body of evidence indicating TAVO’s potential to activate the immune system in patients with cancer who are refractory to available treatments."

About TAVO
OncoSec’s gene therapy technology combines TAVO (tavokinogene telseplasmid), a DNA plasmid-based interleukin-12 (IL-12), with an intra-tumoral electroporation gene delivery platform to achieve endogenous IL-12 production in the tumor microenvironment that enables the immune system to target and attack tumors throughout the body. TAVO has demonstrated a local and systemic anti-tumor response in several clinical trials, including the pivotal Phase 2b trial KEYNOTE-695 for metastatic melanoma and the KEYNOTE-890 Phase 2 trial in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). TAVO has received both Orphan Drug and Fast-Track Designation by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for the treatment of metastatic melanoma.

On March 1, 2021 Kadmon Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:KDMN) reported the appointment of Simon Cooper, MBBS, as Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, effective March 1, 2021 (Press release, Kadmon, MAR 1, 2021, View Source [SID1234575864]). In this role, Dr. Cooper will oversee the Company’s medical and clinical activities relating to the potential regulatory approval of belumosudil for chronic graft-versus-host disease and lead the Company’s clinical team to advance the development of additional product candidates.

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Dr. Cooper succeeds John Ryan, M.D., Ph.D., who will remain with the Company and transition to the role of Executive Medical Director, Clinical and Regulatory Development, where he will continue to advise on clinical, regulatory and medical affairs.

"Dr. Cooper brings more than 23 years of successful clinical expertise to Kadmon, having served in leadership roles in the development and approval of several immunologic therapies," said Harlan W. Waksal, M.D., President and CEO of Kadmon. "Dr. Cooper is a leader with a proven track record of managing high-performing, cross-functional teams. We believe that his involvement in multiple pharmaceutical product approvals and subsequent commercial launches will be invaluable to Kadmon as we prepare for our potential launch of belumosudil, if approved, and continue to ramp up additional pipeline progress."

Dr. Cooper’s background in immunology-focused biological drug development is marked by several key leadership roles spanning the ranks of major pharmaceutical corporations, capped off with his most recent role as Chief Medical Officer of Anokion, a private biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for autoimmune diseases. Dr. Cooper joined Anokion in January 2019 from AbbVie, where he most recently served as Asset Strategy Leader with responsibility for the development of SKYRIZI (risankizumab), an anti-IL-23 antibody, across multiple indications. Prior to joining AbbVie, Dr. Cooper was Vice President, Global Project Head, Immunology and Inflammation at Sanofi, where he was involved in the development of KEVZARA (sarilumab), an IL-6R antibody approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). He played a key role in its worldwide submission in RA and was a lead contributor in the product’s global launch. Earlier in his career, Dr. Cooper was Global Program Medical Director at Novartis, Executive Director, Clinical Research for Human Genome Sciences (now part of GlaxoSmithKline), and Clinical Science Leader at Roche. In these roles, he was instrumental in the development and approvals for BENLYSTA (belimumab), COSENTYX (secukinumab) and RITUXAN (rituximab). He earned his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne Medical School, United Kingdom (UK) before completing his higher medical training at Oxford University (UK).