On January 31, 2023 AB Science SA (Euronext – FR0010557264 – AB) reported that it has received payment of €6.0 million as the second tranche of a €15 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) (Press release, AB Science, JAN 31, 2023, View Source [SID1234626658]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

As previously announced [1], the agreement signed with the EIB provides a financing in two tranches of EUR 6.0 million and a third tranche of EUR 3.0 million, each subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions precedent, which have been satisfied for the first two tranches. Each tranche is accompanied by the issue of warrants, the number of which is calculated in relation to a reference price of 14 euros according to the following formula : Number of warrants = Amount of the tranche / (14 x m) with m = 3.7 for tranche 2. AB Science has already announced the drawdown of the first tranche for EUR 6.0 million.

The second tranche, also of EUR 6.0 million, has a maturity of five years and is therefore repayable in January2028. It carries a capitalized annual interest rate of 7.0% and the issuance of 115,830 warrants, each giving the right to subscribe to one ordinary share of AB Science at 14.0 euros for 15 years. These warrants represent 0.22% of the current capital of the Company (if they were to be exercised in their entirety).

The EIB also has a put option at intrinsic value (i.e. the difference between the stock market price and the exercise price) allowing it to require the Company to repurchase all or part of the warrants then exercisable but not yet exercised, under certain circumstances (for example in the event of a change of control or at the reimbursement date of the first tranche). In addition, the Company has a right of first refusal to redeem any warrants offered for sale to a third party, subject to certain exceptions.

On the basis of 115,830 new shares of the Company that could be issued upon exercise of all of these warrants, the Company could potentially receive gross proceeds amounting to 1,621,620 euros. There is no guarantee that the EIB will exercise all or part of the warrants or that the Company will receive any proceeds from the exercise of these warrants.

On January 30, 2023 Hervor Therapeutics reported the company received HV-101 IND clearance for Phase I/II Clinical Trial from NMPA (Press release, Hervor Therapeutics, JAN 30, 2023, View Source [SID1234638949]). HV-101 is an process-optimized, autologous unmodified Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) product fully developed at Hervor. Comparing to conventional TIL product, HV-101 has significant more percentage of stem-progenitor T cells and better functionality.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

In the coming phase I/II clinical study, the company will investigate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary Efficacy of HV-101 for patients with recurrent or metastatic solid tumors.

On January 30, 2023 NEC reported its Consolidated Financial Results for the Nine-month Period Ended December 31, 2022 (Press release, NEC, JAN 30, 2023, View Source [SID1234632909]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

On January 30, 2023 University of Chicago reported that the George Shultz Innovation Fund (GSIF), managed by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, recently selected Riptide Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical startup led by University of Chicago and Northwestern University researchers, as a Fall 2022 cohort award winner (Press release, University of Chicago, JAN 30, 2023, View Source [SID1234632030]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

The company, launched in November 2021, aims to develop a therapeutic platform that helps make the body more responsive to cancer treatments. Grant Frost leads the startup and acts as its chief scientist. The team includes Steve Kron, professor of molecular genetics and cell biology at UChicago, and Karl Scheidt, professor of chemistry and pharmacology at Northwestern University.

"We are elated that the GSIF committee sees the potential in our therapeutic approach," said Frost. "This award provides Riptide with traction that should catalyze further investment towards our immediate drug development and future patient impact goals."

Riptide’s technology builds off a 2009 Nobel Prize-winning discovery that identified the enzyme telomerase, a crucial component of cancer biology. Telomerase, which isn’t expressed in healthy cells, allows cancer cells to replicate indefinitely, making them in essence immortal. Scientists heralded this discovery as a route for curing cancer. If they could find a way to target the enzyme and turn this mechanism off, the disease would stop progressing and existing cancer cells would simply die off.

Achieving this aim in clinic, though, has proven difficult – long-term inhibition of telomerase was shown to be toxic and wasn’t effective in more advanced cancers. Knowing this, the team at Riptide has taken a different approach towards realizing the potential of telomerase as a cancer drug target. Their focus dials in on telomerase’s role in cancer’s resistance to therapy.

First, the chemistry team at Northwestern designed a potent synthetic molecule called RTTX401, that is based off a naturally occurring telomerase inhibitor that uses a distinct mechanism of action compared to past drug development efforts. Next, the cancer biology team at UChicago used the new inhibitor not as a treatment on its own, but to sensitize tumors to existing therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy. With this approach, the team not only saw significant improvement to radiation response in mice models, but also the activation of the immune system against the tumors.

"Our inhibitors plus radiation effectively destroyed the tumors," said Scheidt. "We think this development of turning telomerase into an immuno-oncology target could have wide-ranging impact in cancer treatment."

The company, which has participated in numerous Polsky Center programs including I-Corps and Compass, is looking to partner with investors to begin preclinical development of its telomerase inhibitor, and then eventually move to testing in clinical trials.

"While we are hopeful that treating cancer patients with telomerase inhibitors to sensitize their tumors to radiation will be found safe and then shown to be effective, there will still be much more to do," said Kron. "However, it may not be long before physicians can offer this as an alternative to patients unlikely to benefit from current immunotherapy."

Riptide Therapeutics joins Alnair Therapeutics as the Fall 2022 GSIF cohort winners. Both will receive a $175,000 investment from the Fund.

During the GSIF process, teams received guidance and dedicated support from the Polsky Center, business experts, an advisory committee, and student Innovation Fund Associates who are training in venture capitalism.

"The GSIF is a venture-philanthropy fund, managed as an evergreen impact fund," said Ozge Guney Altay, director of Investment Strategy for Polsky Deep Tech Ventures. "Our mission and our challenge are one and the same: identify investment opportunities that not only generate significant financial returns, but also create lasting impact for humankind. We believe in all the companies that engage with us and are proud to have the opportunity to support them on their journeys."

To date, the Fund has invested $9 million in 94 companies that have gone on to raise $412 million in follow-on funding. Companies launched with the fund’s support include Onchilles Pharma, ExplORer Surgical, ClostraBio, Esya Labs, and Super.tech.

On January 1, 2023 The George Shultz Innovation Fund (GSIF), managed by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, reported that it recently selected oncology startup Alnair Therapeutics as a Fall 2022 cohort award winner (Press release, University of Chicago, JAN 30, 2023, View Source [SID1234632028]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

The company, launched in September 2022, aims to develop a platform technology that improves the delivery of drugs to difficult-to-treat cancers. Xiaoyang Wu, associate professor of cancer research and stem cell biology at the University of Chicago, leads the startup.

Wu has a team of advisors from the Polsky Compass Deep Tech Accelerator that includes Anh Nguyen, Booth’11, vice president and R&D therapeutic head at Asklepios BioPharmaceutical; Aziz Alam, senior director of regulatory affairs at Kinnate Biopharma; and Sanjeev Thohan, senior vice president of nonclinical development at Alterome Therapeutics.

"We are extremely grateful to Polsky and to the Innovation Fund for their continued support bringing this technology to the next stage," Wu said. "The connections they enable and the expertise they provide are truly essential to the success of our development program."

Wu’s drug delivery platform addresses a major issue in cancer treatment. Currently, less than 1 percent of administered cancer drugs gets to the tumor site, and when they do, they’re not at a sufficient concentration to have an effect. This may result in cancer relapse and recurrence.

To overcome this, Wu uses a hallmark of cancer metabolism known as the "Warburg effect" to better target tumors and deliver drugs at effective levels.

"Uniquely, cancer cells run on lactate as a fuel source, and these levels of lactic acid are orders of magnitude higher than in healthy cells," he explains. "Our platform carries and delivers drugs directly to cancers by targeting the higher lactate levels within the tumor microenvironment. Further, to tailor drug delivery, it allows you to tune a threshold for when you want to release the cancer drug, at lower or higher lactate concentrations."

The first-in-class drug delivery platform is designed to work with many of today’s treatments, including oncolytic, targeted, immune and hormone therapies. Numerous preclinical trials have demonstrated significant increases in both tumor targeting and drug penetration, resulting in improved survival.

"We have done preclinical studies in mouse models that have shown significant improvement in survival," Wu said. "For instance, in triple negative breast cancer – an aggressive cancer with fewer treatment options that makes up about 15 percent of all breast cancers – we saw rates of survival 3.5 times versus conventional therapy. Even if we get a fraction of this benefit in future studies, it’s exceedingly promising."

Wu, who has also participated in Polsky’s Compass program, is looking to partner with investors to begin preclinical development of the platform, and then eventually move to a Phase 1 clinical trial.

Alnair Therapeutics joins Riptide Therapeutics as the Fall 2022 GSIF cohort winners. Both will receive a $175,000 investment from the Fund.

During the GSIF process, teams received guidance and dedicated support from the Polsky Center, business experts, an advisory committee, and student Innovation Fund Associates who are training in venture capitalism.

"The GSIF is a venture-philanthropy fund, managed as an evergreen impact fund," said Ozge Guney Altay, director of investment strategy for Polsky Deep Tech Ventures. "Our mission and our challenge are one and the same: identify investment opportunities that not only generate significant financial returns, but also create lasting impact for humankind. We believe in all the companies that engage with us and are proud to have the opportunity to support them on their journeys."

To date, the Fund has invested $9 million in 94 companies that have gone on to raise $412 million in follow-on funding. Companies launched with the fund’s support include Onchilles Pharma, ExplORer Surgical, ClostraBio, Esya Labs and Super.Tech.