On September 6, 2021 The lOR Institute of Oncology Research reported that The American Society of Hematology (ASH) (Free ASH Whitepaper) – the world’s leading association in the field of hematology – has awarded Dr. Adalgisa Condoluci, a researcher at the IOR, with the "ASH Global Research Award 2021" (Press release, The lOR Institute of Oncology Research, SEP 6, 2021, View Source [SID1234587272]). Dr. Condoluci is one of the twelve researchers selected for this honor, which aims to support research projects conducted by young researchers outside the United States and Canada.

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"The recipients of the ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper) Global Research Award will conduct important research that will help increase hematology capacity in their home countries", said Martin S. Tallman, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and President of the 2021 ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper). The researchers selected for this year represent ten countries: Australia, Brazil, China, India, Italy, Nigeria, Portugal, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

The research project of the IOR investigates the use of the so-called liquid biopsy to improve long-term therapeutic results in patients with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are treatments that are normally used in these patients and able to cure the tumor the majority of cases. However, in a small percentage of patients, the disease relapses, and in a similar percentage of cases, patients develop serious cardio-pulmonary complications or even secondary tumors after several years as a result of the treatment toxicity. On these bases, current research aims to find ways to avoid these serious late complications and to improve the percentage of cured patients.

To date, two indicators seem useful to avoid adding radiotherapy to patients who have responded well to chemotherapy. The first one is represented by PET (positron tomography), which is capable of quantifying the quality and speed of the response to chemotherapy. The second tool is represented by the so-called liquid biopsy, which allows demonstrating the presence of even minute quantities of gene material released by tumor cells in patients’ blood. In Hodgkin lymphomas, the persistence of this tumor-gene material at the end of chemotherapy or its reappearance months or years later indicates the need for complementary treatment, and therefore the use of radiotherapy. Otherwise, radiotherapy can be spared, thus decreasing the toxicity of the entire treatment.

A very accurate diagnostic test that demonstrates the presence of this tumor-gene material in the blood was developed by the experimental hematology group of the Oncology Research Institute (IOR) in Bellinzona, led by Prof. Davide Rossi. Dr. Condoluci will now apply this methodology to patients enrolled in a multicenter study, which is currently ongoing in 40 European centers. Thanks to this study, it will be possible to definitively demonstrate the usefulness of these two indicators to spare radiotherapy for most patients with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma.

On September 6, 2021 Philogen S.p.A., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on antibody-and small molecule-based targeted therapeutics, reported that it will announce its Interim Results for the six month ended 30th June 2021 following a Board of Director’s meeting to be held on Tuesday 28th September 2021 (Press release, Philogen, SEP 6, 2021, View Source [SID1234587271]).

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Prof. Dr. Dario Neri, Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Laura Baldi, Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Christian Lizak, and Dr. Emanuele Puca will host a virtual briefing for sell-side analysts at 12:00 ET / 17:00 BST / 18:00 CEST on September 29, 2021.

For more details or to attend the virtual briefing, please contact [email protected].

On September 6, 2021 ERYTECH Pharma (Nasdaq & Euronext: ERYP), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies by encapsulating therapeutic drug substances inside red blood cells, reported that its CEO, Gil Beyen, will present at the H.C. Wainwright 23rd Annual Global Investment Conference (Press release, ERYtech Pharma, SEP 6, 2021, https://erytech.com/erytech-to-present-at-the-h-c-wainwright-23rd-annual-global-investment-conference/ [SID1234587270]). The Conference will be held virtually with all participants joining remotely from September 13th – 15th, 2021.

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On September 6, 2021 TB Alliance reported that it has granted global pharma major Lupin Limited (Lupin), a non-exclusive license to manufacture the anti-TB drug pretomanid as part of the three-drug "BPaL" regimen (Press release, Lupin, SEP 6, 2021, View Source [SID1234587269]). Lupin intends to commercialize the anti-tuberculosis (TB) medicine in approximately 140 countries and territories, including many of the highest TB burden countries around the world.

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"TB Alliance is committed to ensure its products are widely available and affordable to those who need them," said Mel Spigelman, President and CEO, TB Alliance. "Partnering with Lupin, a well-established manufacturer with experience delivering high quality TB therapies, will help further enable widespread access to our novel regimen while promoting a competitive market to drive affordability."

Nilesh Gupta, Managing Director, Lupin added, "As a global leader in anti-TB medicines, Lupin is committed to enhancing access to bridge unmet needs in countries where it is needed the most. This collaboration with TB Alliance leverages our strength and expertise to contribute to better global health."
"Tuberculosis is one of humanity’s oldest, deadliest, and most persistent diseases. Lupin is the largest supplier of first-line anti-TB drugs in the world, and we are excited to partner with TB Alliance to help bring new therapies for highly drug-resistant TB to reach individuals and countries where access to these medicines is so urgently needed," said Naresh Gupta, President API Plus, Lupin.

About Tuberculosis
TB, in all forms, must be treated with a combination of drugs; the most drug-sensitive forms of TB are typically treated for six months using four anti-TB drugs. An estimated 1.5 million people died of TB in 2020, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), although the precise numbers are not known and recent research suggests that TB could have killed as much as half a million more people in that same year.

Drug-resistant TB develops when the long, complex, decades-old TB drug regimen is improperly administered, or when people with TB stop taking their medicines before the disease has been fully eradicated from their body—highlighting the urgent need to develop better and shorter treatment regimens. Once a drug-resistant strain has developed, it can be transmitted directly to others through the air, just like drug-sensitive TB. There are over half a million cases of drug-resistant TB each year and its spread undermines efforts to control the TB pandemic.

On September 6, 2021 Selvita, one of the largest preclinical contract research organizations in Europe, reported that it had received a grant funding of 1 M EUR to create a novel technological platform which will accelerate the drug discovery process (Press release, Selvita, SEP 6, 2021, View Source;utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=selvita-will-develop-a-platform-to-produce-focused-libraries-of-bioactive-compounds-with-the-use-of-machine-learning-and-ai-methods [SID1234587267]). The grant came from the National Centre of Research and Development with a total of 1.7 M EUR dedicated to the project. The project will enable Company to implement new services for biotech and pharma clients.

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The aim of the project is to significantly improve the early stages of the drug discovery process, leading to the identification of the first active substance which will undergo further development. Usually, this is done by searching large libraries of randomly selected chemicals, which are mostly inactive and not novel. This, however, results in a low probability of finding a compound with the desired biological profile worth pursuing further. It is also a very time-consuming and expensive process. In order to mitigate these problems, Selvita will create a service platform, called ProBiAI, that will use much smaller libraries of compounds with targeted biological properties using novel structures. This platform will integrate structure design, parallel synthesis and automatic compound purification, all of which will be optimized using artificial intelligence methods. What distinguishes this type of libraries is a much greater probability of identifying biologically active substances with better patentability, faster and cheaper.

Development of innovative compounds with therapeutic potential and a good IP position, which can be executed within an optimal time and budget, is one of the greatest challenges that biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are currently facing. The aim of our project is to optimize the initial stages of the drug discovery process, including the design of compound structures with therapeutic potential, as well as the effective synthesis and purification of the designed target compound libraries.

To achieve our goal, we intend to create a platform that integrates the design of structures and the planning of parallel synthesis and automatic purification, based on the available scientific data, using artificial intelligence methods. Our platform will not only help to accelerate the process of discovering new drugs but will also increase the likelihood of discovering effective therapies, which may be of particular interest to our clients – comments Mirosława Zydroń, PhD Eng, Member of the Management Board and Director of the Chemistry Department at Selvita S.A.