On December 8, 2022 Crown Bioscience, Inc and ERS Genomics Limited (‘ERS’) reported that it has signed a global license agreement for access to the foundational CRISPR/Cas9 patent portfolio held by ERS, which provides the company full license to operate globally using CRISPR/Cas9 for gene editing (Press release, Crown Bioscience, DEC 8, 2022, View Source [SID1234624911]).

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Eric Rhodes, CEO at ERS Genomics
Eric Rhodes, CEO at ERS Genomics
Michael Prosser, Chief Business Officer at Crown Bioscience
Michael Prosser, Chief Business Officer at Crown Bioscience
Crown Bioscience Logo
Crown Bioscience Logo
Crown Bioscience is a global contract research organization (CRO) supporting drug discovery and development for oncology, immuno-oncology, and immune-mediated inflammatory diseases by providing innovative preclinical and translational services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

ERS holds an exclusive worldwide license from co-founder and 2020 Nobel Prize winner Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier for the foundational intellectual property covering CRISPR/Cas9 for use as a research platform. ERS Genomics holds over 100 patents worldwide.

The agreement between ERS and Crown Bioscience comes as the industry marks ten years since Charpentier published the study that saw CRISPR-Cas9 repurposed as a gene editing system that paved the way for the suite of technologies now known as CRISPR, transforming the life sciences sector and revolutionizing how scientists work with DNA and RNA.

With this new agreement, Crown Bioscience will expand its gene editing capabilities and investigate the prospect of gene editing in 3D patient-derived tumor organoid models. The agreement also allows the company to develop additional unique and relevant preclinical tools in 3D for higher throughput screens, with the option to add matched in vivo models downstream for translational studies.

"Expanding our current offering provides more innovative drug discovery solutions for our customers," commented Mike Prosser, Chief Business Officer at Crown Bioscience. "We see tremendous potential for using CRISPR gene editing to enhance and manipulate cells and potentially patient derived organoids in both 2D and 3D."

Eric Rhodes, CEO at ERS added: "CRISPR continues to see ever broader use in revolutionizing biotechnology. We are excited to engage with Crown Bioscience and see the technology used in even more cutting-edge applications. Their use of CRISPR to edit cells involved in organoid development is brilliant and we’re always keen to support novel explorations of CRISPR potential."

Financial details of the agreement are not being disclosed.

On December 7, 2022 RIGImmune Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of RNA immunotherapeutics, reported new funding support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance the company’s RNA stem loop therapeutics platform for the treatment and adjuvancy of respiratory illnesses caused by RNA viruses (Press release, RIGImmune, DEC 7, 2022, View Source [SID1234627363]). RIGImmune is one of the first development companies to receive an Accelerator Program-Related Investment ("PRI") from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Strategic Investment Fund. This new funding is additional to a Gates Foundation grant award that RIGImmune received last year to initiate its work in targeting its stem loop molecules for influenza to create broad spectrum host targeted antivirals.

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"This new program-related investment from the Gates Foundation will enable RIGImmune to accelerate our efforts to develop effective treatments and potential vaccine adjuvants for influenza and other respiratory disease caused by RNA viruses," said Susan Sobolov, Ph.D., president of RIGImmune Inc. "RIGImmune will be further advancing its goals to develop RIG-I agonists that are highly effective, pan-antiviral, and with targeted intranasal delivery that have the potential to prevent transmission. With the support of the Gates Foundation, we desire to bring effective treatments and adjuvants to patients around the globe who suffer from debilitating respiratory diseases."

RIGImmune, with support from the Gates Foundation, is working toward a goal of developing an intranasal antiviral that can be distributed globally and have immense impact on improving the health in developing countries. Existing direct-acting antiviral drugs are only marginally effective in patients with serious disease and the emergence of multiple viral variants. There is a significant and urgent unmet global medical need for the development of broad-spectrum antivirals against respiratory viruses. RIGImmune’s novel class of host-targeted stem-loop RNA (SLR) therapeutics that harness the body’s innate and adaptive immunity for antiviral defense were developed in the labs of Yale HHMI professors Dr. Anna Marie Pyle and Dr. Akiko Iwasaki. With the Yale license agreement, RIGImmune has been building on their foundational work to advance RIG-101 in IND-enabling activities for the potential treatment of influenza and adjuvancy with the conventional and selected mRNA influenza vaccines in development.

RIGImmune recently completed an agreement with Yale University for an exclusive license to certain Intellectual Property related to the stem loop RNAs developed through the collaborative research conducted at Yale by Drs. Pyle and Iwasaki, including the recently published PCT covering the use of RIGImmune’s SLR therapeutics in respiratory infections caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.

On December 7, 2022 Philogen reported its attendance at JP Morgan 2023 (Press release, Philogen, DEC 7, 2022, View Source [SID1234625358]).

Prof. Dr. Dario Neri, CEO and CSO of Philogen, and Dr. Emanuele Puca, Investor Relations and Business Development, will be available for meeting to explore novel collaboration opportunities.

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On December 7, 2022 Philogen reported its attendance at World ADC2023 in London (Press release, Philogen, DEC 7, 2022, View Source [SID1234625357]). Dr. Samuele Cazzamalli (Head of Small Molecule Therapeutics at Philochem) is giving a lecture on the 14th of March 2023 entitled "Enhancing the Therapeutic Index of ADCs to Penetrate Solid Tumours: Pan-Tumoral Small Molecule-Drug Conjugates Targeting Fibroblast Activation Protein in Solid Lesions"

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Dr. Andrea Galbiati (Research Scientist at Philochem) is giving a lecture on the 13th of March 2023 entitled "Outlining FAP-Targeted Small Molecule Conjugates for the Delivery of Biocidal Radionuclides to the Tumour Microenvironment"

On December 7, 2022, NovAccess Global Inc. ("NovAccess" or the "company"), entered into a securities purchase agreement (the "SPA") with 1800 Diagonal Lending LLC ("1800 Diagonal Lending") and issued a convertible promissory note in the original principal amount of $55,000 (the "note") to 1800 Diagonal Lending pursuant to the SPA (Filing, 8-K, NovAccess Global, DEC 7, 2022, View Source [SID1234625218]). The loan funded on December 13, 2022. NovAccess will use the proceeds of the loan for general working capital purposes.

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NovAccess provided typical representations and agreed to standard covenants pursuant to the SPA. The SPA does not include any financial covenants.

The note bears interest at 8% a year and is due on December 7, 2023. NovAccess may prepay the note upon payment of a prepayment penalty ranging from 15-25% of the amount outstanding on the note when prepaid. Under the terms of the note, NovAccess may not sell a significant portion of its assets without the approval of 1800 Diagonal Lending, must comply with the company’s reporting requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and must maintain the listing of the company’s common stock on the OTCQB Market or other exchange. NovAccess’ failure to comply with any of these covenants, among other matters, would constitute an event of default. Upon an event of default, the note will bear interest at 22% and 1800 Diagonal Lending will be entitled to its costs of collection.

Beginning on June 5, 2023, 1800 Diagonal Lending may convert the amount outstanding under the note into shares of NovAccess common stock at a conversion price equal to 65% of the average of the three lowest trading prices of the stock during the fifteen trading days before the conversion date.

The SPA and note are filed as exhibits to this Current Report on Form 8-K. The descriptions above are qualified in their entirety by reference to the full text of these documents.