On April 4, 2022 Kuraray Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Hitoshi Kawahara; hereinafter "Kuraray" or the "Company") reported that it has been included in the FTSE Blossom Japan Sector Relative Index designed by the global index provider FTSE Russell (Press release, Kuraray, APR 4, 2022, View Source [SID1234611379]).

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Kuraray has been included on a continuous basis in the following ESG (environmental, social and governance) investment indexes: the FTSE4Good Index Series and FTSE Blossom Japan Index designed by FTSE Russell; the MSCI Japan ESG Select Leaders Index and MSCI Japan Empowering Women Index (WIN) developed by U.S. company, MSCI Inc.; and the S&P/JPX Carbon Efficient Index. Kuraray has now also been included in the FTSE Blossom Japan Sector Relative Index, making it a constituent of all of the ESG investment indexes for Japanese stocks adopted by Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF).

In line with its corporate mission statement, "For people and the planet—to achieve what no one else can," the Kuraray Group will remain committed to strengthening corporate governance while also working to solve social issues and help improve natural and living environments through its business activities.

The five ESG Indexes for Japanese stocks employed by the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF):
1. FTSE Blossom Japan Index
An investment index designed by FTSE Russell, a wholly owned subsidiary of London Stock Exchange Group. This index comprises Japanese corporations that meet high ESG performance standards.
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2. FTSE Blossom Japan Sector Relative Index
An investment index designed by FTSE Russell, a wholly owned subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group. This index reflects the performance of Japanese corporations that demonstrate strong Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices relative to their sector. In addition, to encourage the transition to a low-carbon economy, for companies with especially high greenhouse gas emissions, only companies whose improvement initiatives have been evaluated using TPI Management Quality Score are included.
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3. MSCI Japan ESG Select Leaders Index
An index comprising companies in each sector that achieve high ESG ratings selected from constituents of the underlying MSCI Japan IMI Top 700 Index.
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4. MSCI Japan Empowering Women Index (WIN)
An index comprising companies drawn from the MSCI Japan IMI Top 700 Index that exhibit high gender diversity within their sector. Constituent selection is based on a gender diversity scoring system developed by MSCI.
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5. S&P/JPX Carbon Efficient Index
An index with S&P Dow Jones Indices’ TOPIX (Tokyo Stock Price Index) as its universe, that weights constituents according to environmental information disclosure status and carbon efficiency standards.
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On April 3, 2022 JW Therapeutics (HKEx: 2126), an independent, innovative biotechnology company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing cell immunotherapy products, reported that the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of China granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Carteyva (relmacabtagene autoleucel injection) in patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) (Press release, JW Therapeutics, APR 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234611376]). Carteyva is an anti-CD19 autologous chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell immunotherapy product independently developed by JW Therapeutics.

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The Breakthrough Therapy Designation was supported by the results from the clinical study of Carteyva in relapsed or refractory MCL (r/r MCL), which aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of Carteyva in adults with r/r MCL in China. This is the first clinical result obtained in Chinese patients.

MCL is a non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which is highly aggressive and can’t be cured by the currently approved therapies1. About 80% to 90% of MCL patients were diagnosed at the advanced stage and with poor prognoses2. Despite a few novel mechanism-of-action drugs such as Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors (BTKi) have improved outcomes for patients living with this disease, subsets of patients with aggressive disease biology or multiply relapsed disease continue to experience relatively poor outcomes with these currently available therapies. There are still urgent unmet medical needs to develop additional active therapeutic agents for the treatment of r/r MCL.

References

1. The consensus of the diagnosis and treatment of mantle cell lymphoma in China (2016 version) .Chin J Hematol.2016, 37(9):735-741.

2. Herrmann A, Hoster E, Zwingers T, et al. Improvement of Overall Survival in Advanced Stage Mantle Cell Lymphoma[J]. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2009, 27(4):511-518.

About Relmacabtagene Autoleucel Injection (trade name: Carteyva)

Relmacabtagene autoleucel injection (abbreviated as relma-cel, trade name: Carteyva) is an autologous anti-CD19 CAR-T cell immunotherapy product independently developed by JW Therapeutics based on a CAR-T cell process platform of Juno Therapeutics (a Bristol Myers Squibb company). Being the first product of JW Therapeutics, relma-cel was approved by the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in September 2021 for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma after two or more lines of systemic therapy, making it the first CAR-T product approved as Category 1 biologics product in China. Currently, it is the only CAR-T product in China that has been simultaneously included in the National Significant New Drug Development Program, granted priority review and breakthrough therapy designations.

About JWCAR029-005 Study (NCT04718883)

This is a phase II, open-label, single-arm, multicenter study which aims to assess the efficacy and safety of Carteyva in adults with r/r MCL in China. This is the first clinical study to evaluate such novel therapy in Chinese MCL patients. The study will be conformance with the Chinese clinical practices and will truly reveal the efficacy and safety data in Chinese patients.

This study will enroll a total of 59 r/r MCL patients either relapsed or refractory to second-line or more line regimens. Prior therapies must include an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, anthracycline- or bendamustine-containing chemotherapy, and BTK inhibitor therapy. These patients will be followed up for long-term survival in 2 years or above.

The study is currently ongoing. Preliminary clinical data found Carteyva providing outstanding efficacy and good safety profile for r/r MCL patients. In particular, Carteyva provided clear therapeutic benefits to patient refractory or relapsed to BTK inhibitor therapy.

On April 3, 2022 Kintor Pharmaceutical Limited (Kintor Pharma, HKEX: 9939), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing innovative small molecules and biological therapeutics, reported two poster presentations at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2022, including proxalutamide to treat COVID-19 and a c-Myc Degrader to treat blood cancer and small cell lung cancers (SCLC) (Press release, Suzhou Kintor Pharmaceuticals, APR 3, 2022, View Source [SID1234611375]). This year’s AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) annual meeting will be held in the city of New Orleans, United States, on April 8-13, 2022.

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E-Poster
Mechanisms of action (MOA) for proxalutamide, an androgen receptor (AR) antagonist, for the treatment of mild, moderate and severe COVID-19 patients

Abstract#: 5274

Session Title: COVID-19 and Cancer

Session Time: April 8, 2022, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

Abstract Link: View Source!/10517/presentation/18533

Discovery and evaluation of GT19630, a c-Myc/GSPT1 cereblon E3 ligase modulator(CELMoD) , for targeting Myc-driven blood cancers and small cell lung cancers(SCLC)

Abstract#: 5479

Session Title: Small Molecule Therapeutic Agents

Session Time: April 8, 2022, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

Abstract Link: View Source!/10517/presentation/18624

Please refer to the website of AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) for more details.

On April 2, 2022 Epsilogen Ltd. reported that it has raised £30.8 million (US$41.5 million) in an oversubscribed series B, after its lead immunoglobulin E (IgE) program delivered positive results in a phase I in advanced solid tumors (Press release, Epsilogen, APR 2, 2022, View Source [SID1234611331]). The money is to fund a phase Ib trial of the product, Mov18 IgE – the first and only IgE antibody to have made it to the clinic – in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

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On April 1, 2022 Nykode Therapeutics Presented the Corporate Presentaiton (Presentation, Nykode Therapeutics, APR 1, 2022, View Source [SID1234611373])

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