On April 8, 2021 Volastra Therapeutics reported that Co-founder Samuel Bakhoum, M.D., Ph.D., and Scientific Advisory Board Member David Pellman, M.D., will both deliver plenary presentations at the April session of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2021 (Press release, Volastra Therapeutics, APR 8, 2021, View Source [SID1234577748]).

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The plenary session, titled "Mechanisms, Impact, and Exploitation of Cancer Chromosomal Instability," is dedicated to exploring a key driver of tumor progression. Volastra is building on this groundbreaking work into the biology of chromosomal instability, which will be shared throughout the plenary session, to develop new therapies for metastatic cancer.

"Volastra is at the forefront of identifying novel techniques to measure and modulate chromosomal instability for the future treatment of patients with advanced cancers, and we’re delighted to be sharing the most current insights into this important field with the scientific community," said Charles Hugh-Jones, M.D., Chief Executive Officer at Volastra.

The session will feature four presentations. Dr. Pellman, HHMI Investigator, Professor of Cell Biology and Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, will lead off the plenary session, focusing on the mechanisms driving the rapid evolution of cancer genomes. Dr. Bakhoum, a radiation oncologist and faculty member at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, will follow, presenting on the role of chromosomal instability in tumor evolution.

"We have known about chromosomal instability for decades, but only now do we fully understand its critical role in tumor progression. Its importance to the future of cancer treatment is underscored by AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper)’s decision to devote a leading plenary session to the topic," said Dr. Bakhoum. "I’m honored to be participating in the plenary with leading researchers from around the world, and I’m proud to be translating these insights into groundbreaking drug discovery programs at Volastra."

The plenary session, which will include several discussion periods, will be available as a live stream for registered conference attendees. Presentation details can be found below:

Session PL06: Discovery Science Plenary: Mechanisms, Impact, and Exploitation of Cancer Chromosomal Instability
April 10, 2021
9:30 – 11:30 a.m. ET

On April 8, 2021 Magellan Rx Management, a division of Magellan Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGLN), and Trapelo Health, reported that they are collaborating to champion a more comprehensive, integrated approach to value-based care in the new era of precision oncology treatments (Press release, Magellan Health Services, APR 8, 2021, View Source [SID1234577747]).

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The collaboration combines the unique strengths of the two organizations: Magellan Rx’s comprehensive oncology management solution, and the Trapelo precision-medicine platform that enables fast, precise test and treatment decision support, including test order management, results interpretation and streamlined prior authorizations.

To learn more, listen to an in-depth conversation with leaders from both companies on the Precision Medicine Podcast.

The role of actionable molecular tests is growing significantly in the selection of advanced cancer therapies. The provision of high-quality cancer care requires the appropriate identification of patients to be tested while ensuring the correct tests are ordered for those patients. Accurate interpretation of the test results, based on current medical evidence is crucial. Clinical data is being published at such an unprecedented pace that providers and payers need access to a shared, unbiased decision-support technology.

The Trapelo decision-support platform ensures comprehensive, personalized testing for every cancer patient every time while allowing payers autonomy regarding contracted lab selection. Using Trapelo, oncologists will be able to order the appropriate molecular tests and receive results faster through a simplified and automated prior authorization process. Treatment selection is also streamlined by identifying relevant treatments based on molecular test results, evidence-based guidelines and clinical trials. Trapelo’s patent-pending technology incorporates health plan policy and eliminates unnecessary medical redocumentation to speed approvals for both cancer genomic testing and drug therapy selection.

"We recognize that contemporary oncology care requires changes in the approach to oncology management," said Caroline Carney, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Magellan Health and Magellan Rx Management. "This collaboration allows us to extend the value of the services we can provide to our health plan customers, and strengthens our shared commitment to ensuring that every patient receives the opportunity for the best possible outcome."

This solution will support Magellan Rx Management’s medical pharmacy program which offers comprehensive, patient-focused oncology solutions and cost savings so that payers can deliver true value and improved quality of life. Magellan Rx’s offering includes integrated, flexible interventions that address the many facets of cancer care, such as: guideline-supported prior authorization; drug wastage; personalized dosing; oral oncology management; post-service claim edits; provider network management; specialty formulary solutions; site of service; and holistic patient care management.

"We are delighted to be working with Magellan. This gives us a significant opportunity to advance our vision for a more collaborative approach in oncology that streamlines workflow and eases administrative burden for providers, labs and payers while improving patient access and outcomes," added Clynt Taylor, CEO of Trapelo Health.

On April 8, 2021 NanoString Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: NSTG), a leading provider of life science tools for discovery and translational research, reported the highlights of spatial biology abstracts that will be presented at the 2021 meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper), which will be held virtually from April 10 – 15, 2021 (Press release, NanoString Technologies, APR 8, 2021, View Source [SID1234577746]).

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The GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler (DSP) enables researchers to characterize tissue morphology to rapidly and quantitatively profile RNA and proteins. To date, NanoString and its collaborators have presented DSP data in dozens of abstracts at major scientific meetings and more than 45 peer-reviewed publications, demonstrating DSP’s utility to address a wide range of biological questions in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) and frozen tissues. At AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) 2021, eight abstracts that used GeoMx DSP will be presented during the poster session on Saturday, April 10.

Four of the eight abstracts will be presented by investigators from the GeoMx Breast Cancer Consortium (GBCC), an international network of breast cancer researchers. Their goal is to apply innovative approaches and decipher the spatial context of breast cancer to develop a comprehensive atlas and database of novel biomarkers for the disease.

GBCC Abstracts

Poster 2718: Digital spatial profiling in HER2 positive breast cancer: The road to precision medicine

In this work, the GeoMx DSP was used to profile 71 protein targets and gene expression profiling was done using NanoString’s nCounter PanCancer IO360 assay for primary and metastatic tissues from human epidermal growth factor 2 positive (HER2+) breast cancer (BC) patients. A detailed characterization of carefully chosen immune cold, warm and hot regions of interest (ROI) in the tumor and tumor immune microenvironment of (HER2+) of these samples established that primary tumors had a higher number of immune cells than the metastatic sites. These findings, therefore, suggest that immunotherapy in early-stage BC could be more effective than in advanced BC.

Poster 2701: Molecular profiling to assess the immune response to neoadjuvant SABR in early breast cancer

NanoString’s Human PanCancer immune profiling panel was used to assess the impact of localized radiotherapy to elicit an immune response in primary breast carcinomas before lumpectomy. They analyzed 25 patient samples for low-risk primary breast carcinomas from the SIGNAL 2.0 clinical trial using the GeoMx DSP platform, pre, and post stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). Significant differences were found in the gene expression patterns in the immune microenvironment gene expression patterns and cellular composition after radiotherapy, demonstrating that SBRT treatment indeed evokes an immune response, increasing the innate immune response.

Poster 2698: Spatial gene expression profiling in breast cancer

Transcriptome profiling was performed for a cohort of breast cancer lumpectomies using the Cancer Transcriptomic Atlas (CTA) assay on the GeoMx DSP platform. Analysis of 60 patient samples revealed region-specific heterogeneity in unifocal and multifocal cancer tumors. This study demonstrates and establishes the importance of interactions between immune and tumor cells in the tumor microenvironment and the need to develop a strategy to stratify patients to available targeted therapies.

Poster 2726: Characterization of immune microenvironment and heterogeneity in breast cancer subtypes

In this work, the immune microenvironment of Luminal A, Luminal B, Basal, and HER2 tumor subtypes in a cohort of early breast cancer patients was studied using protein biomarkers. The markers were delineated in a spatial context using the GeoMx DSP. Characterization of the immune microenvironment subtypes provided evidence for potential clinical use for GeoMx DSP in diagnosing and better stratifying breast cancer patients based on spatial heterogeneity in tumor and tumor microenvironment.

Other spatial abstracts

Poster 339: Resistance to trastuzumab is associated with alpha-smooth muscle actin expression in the stroma of patients with HER2+ breast cancer

GeoMx DSP was used to identify biomarkers for resistance to trastuzumab in HER2+ breast cancer. Fifty-eight protein targets were analyzed in three different regions of interest (tumor [PanCK+], leukocyte [CD45+/CD68-], and macrophage [CD68+]) in a cohort of 151 breast cancer patients that received trastuzumab. The study uncovered a-SMA as a potential biomarker to augment the predictive value of the current standard of care HER2 assay and justifies its further validation in the light of the many new HER2 targeted therapies.

Poster 705: SARS-CoV-2 infection of the human heart governs intracardiac innate immune response

Spatial profiling of human post-mortem cardiac samples of SARS-CoV-2 infected myocardium was carried out using NanoString’s Whole Transcriptome Analysis (1,864 genes) panel, along with a matching proteome panel on the GeoMx digital spatial profiler. The purpose of their investigation was to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying cardiac toxicity, a severe cause of morbidity and mortality in patients on DOX therapy. The study showed interesting gender-specific differential gene expression patterns in the myocardium between SARS-CoV-2 infected and control regions of interest. Signatures of enhanced innate and acquired immune signaling, apoptosis and autophagy, chromatin remodeling, reduced DNA repair, and reduced oxidoreductase activity were all observed in regions of infection. Additionally, DOX-induced increase in the expression of TMPSS2 and cathepsins A, B, and F, clearly indicated enhanced SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility in the myocardium, thus placing cancer patients on DOX therapy at increased risk of cardiac damage.

Poster 2731: Cell-type deconvolution of African American breast tumors reveals spatial heterogeneity of the immune microenvironment

Researchers at the University of Chicago carried out spatial gene expression analysis within localized segments of TNBC tumors from a cohort of self-reported African American patients in the Chicago Multi-Ethnic Breast Cancer Study (ChiMEC). Regions of interest for spatial characterization of tumor and tumor microenvironment using the GeoMx DSP Cancer Transcriptome Atlas assay were manually selected based on the specific morphologies. The 1,825 genes interrogated in the CTA assay provided a granular understanding of the immune landscape’s heterogeneity within tumors.

Poster 2771: Comprehensive analysis of immuno oncology markers in the tumor microenvironment of solid tumor samples using GeoMxTM digital spatial profiler (DSP) and MultiOmyxTM hyperplexed immunofluorescence (IF)

This study describes a multi-faceted highly multiplexed tissue analysis of critical Immuno oncology (IO) protein markers in a pan-cancer cohort of up to 35 FFPE samples originating from breast, head, and neck, prostate, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), endometrial and colorectal indications using NanoString human IO panel on GeoMx DSP in combination with a complementary MultiOmyx Hyperplexed Immunofluorescence (IF) assay. The spatial and quantitative data outputs from DSP nCounter system and cell classification information from the MultiOmyx assay provided the researchers an ability not only to characterize the immunophenotypes but also to visualize the spatial distribution of tumor-infiltrating immune cells at a single-cell resolution within the TME.

Spotlight Theaters at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper)

NanoString will be hosting two spotlight theaters during AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) 2021. The first spotlight theater presentation is April 11 from 1:00-2:00 pm EDT, featuring Joseph Beechem, Ph.D., senior vice president of R&D and chief scientific officer for NanoString, with an overview of the latest developments in spatial biology, True spatial genomics: Measuring the transcriptome in regions, cell and sub-cellular compartments. Dr. Beechem will explain spatial technologies’ evolution and their applications from multi-cell to single-cell and subcellular resolution, using the GeoMx DSP and the company’s Spatial Molecular Imager.

The second NanoString spotlight theater is Tuesday, April 13, from 11:00-12:00 pm EDT, and is entitled: New Approaches for Cellular Therapies: Technology Symposium Featuring the GeoMx DSP and nCounter CAR-T Characterization. This panel will include three speakers, Dr. Ryan Golden, Resident Physician in Clinical Pathology, Carl June Lab, University of Pennsylvania; Dr. Marco Ruella, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; and Ghamdan Al-Eryani, Ph.D. Student, Tumor Progression Group from the Garvan Institute. Each speaker will discuss new approaches to CAR-T characterization using the spatially-resolved and bulk RNA analysis, from understanding resistance in CART immunotherapy in lymphoma to TCR diversity in melanoma.

NanoString has launched a Technology Access Program (TAP) for the recently announced single and subcellular Spatial Molecular Imager to complement the existing TAP program for GeoMx. Under the program, customers can submit tissue samples to NanoString for analysis using the spatial profiling platforms and receive a complete data package. Researchers interested in participating in NanoString’s Technology Access Program should contact the company at [email protected].

On April 8, 2021 Poseida Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: PSTX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company utilizing proprietary genetic engineering platform technologies to create cell and gene therapeutics with the capacity to cure, reported that the Company will participate in the following upcoming virtual investor conferences (Press release, Poseida Therapeutics, APR 8, 2021, View Source [SID1234577745]):

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Raymond James Cell Therapy for Oncology Symposium
Start-up to Scale-up: A Discussion on Manufacturing of Off The Shelf Cell Based Therapy
Panel discussion with Poseida CEO Eric Ostertag, MD, PhD
Thursday, April 22, 2021
9:00am ET

7th Annual Truist Securities 2021 Life Sciences Summit
Fireside Chat with Poseida CEO Eric Ostertag, MD, PhD
Wednesday, May 5, 2021
3:30pm ET

Webcasts will be available on the Investors & Media Section of the Poseida website, www.poseida.com. An archived replay of each webcast will be available for approximately 30 days following each presentation.

On April 8, 2021 Sesen Bio (Nasdaq: SESN), a late-stage clinical company developing targeted fusion protein therapeutics for the treatment of patients with cancer, reported it will be featured as a presenting company at the Canaccord Genuity "Horizons in Oncology" virtual conference on April 15, 2021 (Press release, Sesen Bio, APR 8, 2021, View Source [SID1234577744]). Sesen Bio will be represented by Dr. Thomas Cannell, President and CEO of Sesen Bio, who will provide a regulatory and commercial readiness update, and by Dr. Michael Jewett, FRCSC, FACS, a member of Sesen Bio’s CEO Medical advisory board, who will provide clinical insights on the Company’s lead product candidate, Vicineum, for the treatment of BCG-unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

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Michael A. S. Jewett, MD, FRCSC, FACS is a renowned Oncologist who is internationally recognized for his life-saving innovations in surgical oncology, his advocacy of patient-centered clinical care, and his contributions to research in the field of bladder cancer. Dr. Jewett is currently a professor in the Departments of Surgical Oncology and Surgery (Urology) at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network and the University of Toronto. A graduate of Queen’s University, Faculty of Medicine, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where BCG for bladder cancer was first prescribed, Dr. Jewett completed his Urology training at the University of Toronto, Canada and Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Jewett has played a prominent role in national and international consensus statements, including as a committee chair for the International Consultation on Bladder Tumors in 2004 Consensus. He has appeared before the FDA as an expert including the presentation that led to the historic approval of BCG for NMIBC. Dr. Jewett has published more than 400 peer-reviewed papers, mostly in Uro-oncology and in technology assessment and medical informatics. Dr Jewett was a member of the inaugural Medical Advisory Board of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN). He is an Honorary Member of the American Urological Association (AUA) and the European Association of Urology (EAU) and has been a visiting professor in more than 40 institutions and associations. In December 2020, Dr. Jewett was appointed to the Order of Canada based on his achievements listed above, among others. Dr. Jewett is a paid consultant to Sesen Bio and served as a clinical investigator for the Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials of Vicineum for NMIBC.

Event: Canaccord Genuity "Horizons in Oncology" Virtual Conference
Date: April 15, 2021
Time: 9:00 – 10:00 AM ET
To participate in the event please contact your Canaccord Genuity representative.

About Vicineum

Vicineum, a locally administered fusion protein, is Sesen Bio’s lead product candidate being developed for the treatment of BCG-unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Vicineum is comprised of a recombinant fusion protein that targets epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) antigens on the surface of tumor cells to deliver a potent protein payload, Pseudomonas Exotoxin A. Vicineum is constructed with a stable, genetically engineered peptide tether to ensure the payload remains attached until it is internalized by the cancer cell, which is believed to decrease the risk of toxicity to healthy tissues, thereby improving its safety. In prior clinical trials conducted by Sesen Bio, EpCAM has been shown to be overexpressed in NMIBC cells with minimal to no EpCAM expression observed on normal bladder cells. Sesen Bio is currently in the follow-up stage of a Phase 3 registration trial in the US for the treatment of BCG-unresponsive NMIBC. In February 2021, the FDA accepted for filing the Company’s BLA for Vicineum for the treatment of BCG-unresponsive NMIBC and granted the application Priority Review with a PDUFA date of August 18, 2021. Additionally, Sesen Bio believes that cancer cell-killing properties of Vicineum promote an anti-tumor immune response that may potentially combine well with immuno-oncology drugs, such as checkpoint inhibitors. For this reason, the activity of Vicineum in BCG-unresponsive NMIBC is also being explored at the US National Cancer Institute in combination with AstraZeneca’s immune checkpoint inhibitor durvalumab.