Glycotope Presents anti-GlycoTarget Antibodies at the 2023 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Meeting

On November 3, 2023 Glycotope GmbH, a biotechnology company with a proprietary platform technology for developing antibodies against proteins carrying tumor-specific carbohydrate structures, reported that it will present a poster on antibodies that specifically recognize cancer-associated glycoforms of mucin-like proteins at the 2023 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper) Meeting, being held in San Diego, California, United States, between 1-5 November 2023 (Press release, Glycotope, NOV 3, 2023, View Source [SID1234636813]).

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Patrik Kehler, Chief Scientific Officer of Glycotope GmbH commented: "Our platform technology is suitable to target protein/carbohydrate combined epitopes with specific antibodies. We successfully generated two antibodies which target distinct, tumor-specific epitopes on two mucin-like proteins, respectively, comprising a tumor-associated glycan in combination with the specific target protein. Due to this glycan dependency, our antibodies show markedly decreased off-tumor binding which may improve safety for highly potent therapeutic approaches like ADCs, CARs or radiopharmaceutics. We are looking forward to presenting our work at the SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2023 and discussing our approach with leading cancer research experts."

Poster details are as follows:

Abstract: Available here

Download: Available on Nov 3, 9:00 AM PDT – here

Title: Antibodies specifically recognizing cancer-associated glycoforms of mucin-like proteins

Abstract Number: 1462

Session Date and Time: Saturday Nov 4, 2023 9:00 AM – 8:30 PM

Location: Exhibition Hall A

Coherus BioSciences to Participate at Upcoming November Investor Conferences

On November 2, 2023 Coherus BioSciences, Inc. ("Coherus", Nasdaq: CHRS) reported that senior management will participate in the following investor conferences (Press release, Coherus Biosciences, NOV 3, 2023, View Source [SID1234636750]):

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Truist Securities BioPharma Symposium In New York City on Wednesday, November 8, 2023, for 1×1 meetings only.

UBS Biopharma Conference in Miami on Thursday, November 9, 2023, a fireside chat presentation at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time will be webcast.

6th Annual Evercore ISI HealthCONx Conference in Miami on November 28-30, 2023, a fireside chat presentation on November 30th at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time will be webcast.

A live audio webcast and an archive of the presentations from UBS Biopharma and Evercore ISI HealthCONx conferences will be available on the investors’ page of the Coherus website at View Source

LiliumX unveils rebrand as Valink Therapeutics and appointment of new board and executives, after securing $7.8 million in investment

On November 2, 2023 LiliumX, an innovative BioTech start-up focused on the development of next generation antibody-based therapeutics, reported its new brand name, and welcomed three top industry leaders to the business, after securing $7.8 million in investment (Press release, Valink Therapeutics, NOV 2, 2023, View Source [SID1234637645]).

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Established in 2021 by co-founders Arne Scheu and Irsyad Khairil, following their own research into "LEGO" protein technologies when studying at the University of Oxford, LiliumX was initially founded to develop a rapid modular platform that enables the fast and efficient construction of better antibody-based drugs, such as bispecific antibody-drug conjugates (bispecific ADCs).

Following the successful demonstration of its revolutionary approach, which proved its capability to slash the time required for generation of new drug candidates from months to a single day, the advanced BioTech start-up has secured nearly $8 million in investment to drive future innovation – with the seed round led by RV Invest and supporting investors including Hoxton Ventures, SynBioVen, Metaplanet, Acequia Capital, Magnet Ventures, Oxford Angel Fund and Y Combinator (W21).

As such, the company has now rebranded to Valink Therapeutics to represent its transition from a platform-building company to a therapeutics company, and announced plans to work closely with Pharma Partners and companies developing protein-based assets alike to drive the future of antibody-based therapeutics through its modular, Universal Assembly Platform, aptly named: LiliumX.

Fundamental to this progression will be newly appointed board members and business executives, comprising of new CSO, Jose Munoz-Olaya, whose experience in preclinical bispecific antibody discovery and development across F-Star, Adaptate and Takeda strengthen Valink’s’ drug discovery pipeline, Aleksei Zeifman, Board Member of lead investor RV Invest, and new Non-Executive Director, Alexey Lugovskoy, who has over 20 years of experience in drug discovery and early development, guiding multiple oncology, autoimmunity, and fibrosis programs into the clinic. As the CEO of Diagonal, EIR at Atlas Venture, and a Dragonfly, Morphic, Merrimack and Biogen veteran, Alex boasts a proven track record in integrating biology, clinical, regulatory and business insights.

Dr Arne Scheu, co-founder and CEO of Valink Therapeutics confirmed:

"Valink Therapeutics started with a vision to find drugs that were truly novel, combining features to build and screen drug candidates that could treat cancer in synergistic and even unexpected ways. We are now excited to release a modular platform that seamlessly combines multivalency, multispecificity, and drug-conjugation, while rebranding as Valink Therapeutics to signify the extension beyond bispecificity alone, by Valency and Linking of small molecules into antibody-drug conjugates.

We are delighted to enter this next stage of development with the support of our investors, Innovate UK, and new appointments Alex Lugovskoy (NED) and Jose Munoz-Olaya (CSO)."
Aleksei Zeifman added:

"Investment in Valink Therapeutics is a great step towards realization of our vision and strategy of improving patients’ lives through innovation, where its highly differentiated technology platform enables creation and screening of new complex biological drugs, at scale. We’re very excited to see further strengthening of the team with industry veteran Alex Lugovskoy joining the Board of directors and Jose Munoz-Olaya stepping in as a CSO concomitant to the financing round. We’re looking forward to creating new drugs together with the Valink team."
A recently established VC player, RV Invest is focused on supporting highly differentiated technical solutions that can become future standards of care.

Rob Kniaz, Co-Founder of Hoxton Ventures:

"I’m thrilled with the progress of the team so far and believe this will be a truly ground-breaking innovation in getting advanced drugs to market."

Cidara Therapeutics Provides Corporate Update and Reports Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results

On November 2, 2023 Cidara Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDTX), a biotechnology company focused on developing targeted therapies designed to save lives and improve the standard of care for patients facing serious diseases, reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2023 and provided an update on its corporate activities and product pipeline (Press release, Cidara Therapeutics, NOV 2, 2023, View Source [SID1234637013]).

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"We are proud of the recent advancements of both the REZZAYO program as well as our Cloudbreak drug-Fc conjugate (DFC) platform," said Jeffrey Stein, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Cidara. "The US commercial launch of REZZAYO by our partner Melinta as well as the receipt by our ex-US/ex-Japan partner Mundipharma of the positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) demonstrates continued execution of our rezafungin commercial strategy. In addition, we believe the receipt of an Election to Proceed Notice from Janssen for CD388 for the universal prevention of influenza A and B represents a key validation of the significant potential of this clinical program. Finally, the new data on our oncology DFC programs disclosed at our recently held R&D Day indicate that the advantages of the CD388 program for influenza are translating to our Cloudbreak oncology DFC programs."

Dr. Stein continued, "our oncology clinical development strategy is being led by Nicole Davarpanah, M.D., J.D., who recently joined Cidara as Senior Vice President of Translational Research & Development. Nicole is a practicing oncology physician and joins us from Genentech/Roche where she has had substantial cancer-focused product development experience. Looking ahead, we look forward to filing an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) in mid-2024 for CBO421, a potential best-in-class inhibitor of CD73."

Recent Corporate Highlights

Received Positive CHMP Opinion for Rezafungin for the Treatment of Invasive Candidiasis in Adults: In October 2023, Cidara and Mundipharma Medical Company (Mundipharma) announced that the EMA’s CHMP has adopted a positive opinion for rezafungin (rezafungin acetate) for the treatment of invasive candidiasis in adults. The European Commission (EC) will review the CHMP recommendation and is expected to make a final decision on approval by the end of 2023. In October 2023, Melinta Therapeutics, LLC (Melinta) announced receipt from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of both a product-specific J-Code and a new technology add-on payment (NTAP) for REZZAYO. Outside the U.S. and Japan, Cidara’s development and commercial partner is Mundipharma. Although we have shifted our research focus to our proprietary Cloudbreak platform, we continue to execute on the ongoing ReSPECT Phase 3 pivotal clinical trial for the prevention of invasive fungal infections in adult allogeneic blood and marrow transplant recipients. A significant portion of our future royalties and milestones to be received under both Melinta and Mundipharma licensing agreements are tied to the successful completion of the ReSPECT Phase 3 trial.
Received Election to Proceed Notice from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for CD388, which is being developed for the universal prevention of influenza A and B: In September 2023, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Janssen), one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, delivered to Cidara its Election to Proceed Notice for CD388. Responsibility for future development, manufacturing and commercialization activities of CD388 will be assumed by Janssen, which intends to transfer its rights and obligations under the agreement to another entity. Cidara received a $7.0 million milestone payment from Janssen for the election to proceed for CD388 and other influenza DFCs. Under the collaboration agreement, Cidara is eligible to potentially receive an additional $685.0 million in development, regulatory and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalties on worldwide sales.
Hosted R&D Day on Cloudbreak development pipeline: In September 2023, Cidara hosted an R&D Day during which the company provided an update on Phase 2a data for CD388, as well as a detailed overview of the potential role of DFCs in oncology. Cidara provided an update on its Cloudbreak pipeline using its oncology DFCs, as well as insight into clinical development considerations for DFCs, focusing on CD73, chemokine receptors, and multispecific DFCs targeting solid tumors.
Presented at IDWeek 2023: In September 2023, Cidara delivered an oral presentation and two poster presentations highlighting the safety and efficacy of CD388.
Presented at the 25th Annual H.C. Wainwright Global Investment Conference: In September 2023, Dr. Stein participated in the 25th Annual H.C. Wainwright Global Investment Conference.
Appointed Dr. Davarpanah as Senior Vice President of Translational Research & Development: In August 2023, Cidara appointed Dr. Davarpanah to lead the company’s oncology efforts, focusing on the strategy for preclinical, translational, and early clinical development activities to identify and advance drug candidates through human proof-of-concept studies. She has a decade of experience in oncology drug development and joined Cidara from Genentech/Roche where Dr. Davarpanah most recently served as Clinical and Translational Lead in Oncology.
Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results

Revenue totaled $12.7 million and $46.3 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, respectively, compared to $40.7 million and $54.1 million for the same periods in 2022, respectively. Revenue for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 related to the achievement of milestones and ongoing research and development and clinical supply services provided to Mundipharma, Janssen and Melinta, royalty revenue recognized following initiation of the commercial launch of REZZAYO in the U.S. on July 31, 2023, as well as product revenue related to shipment of REZZAYO naked vials to Melinta. Revenue for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 related to the achievement of milestones and ongoing research and development and clinical supply services provided to Mundipharma, Janssen and Melinta, and revenue recognized upon transfer of an intellectual property license to Melinta in August 2022.
Cash and cash equivalents totaled $48.7 million as of September 30, 2023, compared with $32.7 million as of December 31, 2022.
Research and development expenses were $17.3 million and $53.2 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, respectively, compared to $20.0 million and $55.5 million for the same periods in 2022, respectively. The research and development expenses for all periods primarily relate to clinical expenses associated with the rezafungin clinical trials and certain drug manufacturing costs before FDA approval, as well as clinical expenses and drug manufacturing costs associated with the Cloudbreak platform, including CD388 for which Cidara is fully reimbursed under the Janssen Collaboration Agreement.
General and administrative expenses were $3.6 million and $11.2 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, respectively, compared to $5.8 million and $15.1 million for the same periods in 2022, respectively. The general and administrative expenses for all periods primarily relate to consulting, personnel and legal costs.
Net loss for the three months ended September 30, 2023 was $8.2 million, compared to a net income of $15.0 million for the same period in 2022. For the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, net loss was $17.3 million and $16.4 million, respectively.
During the three months ended September 30, 2023, Cidara did not sell shares of common stock pursuant to its at-the-market (ATM) sales agreement.
As of September 30, 2023, Cidara had 90,415,944 shares of common stock outstanding and 2,104,472 shares of Series X Convertible Preferred Stock outstanding, which are convertible into 21,044,720 shares of common stock.

IDRx Presents Preliminary Clinical Data from Ongoing Phase 1 StrateGIST Study at CTOS 2023 Supporting Best-in-Class Potential of IDRX-42 in Patients with GIST

On November 2, 2023 IDRx, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to transforming cancer treatment with purpose-built precision therapies, reported preliminary clinical data from the dose escalation portion of the company’s ongoing Phase 1 StrateGIST study of IDRX-42 in patients with metastatic and/or unresectable gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) who have previously received one or more prior lines of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy (Press release, IDRx, NOV 2, 2023, View Source [SID1234636845]). IDRX-42 is a highly potent, multi-mutation-selective inhibitor of KIT targeting all major classes of primary drivers and resistance mutations in patients with KIT-mutant GIST (including mutations in exons 9, 11, 13 and 17).

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These early data, which demonstrate promising antitumor activity and a favorable safety profile of IDRX-42 in a heavily pre-treated group of patients with advanced GIST after failure of imatinib and other lines of TKI therapies, will be presented by Professor Patrick Schöffski, MD, MPH, head of the Department of General Medical Oncology at the University Hospitals Leuven, in a poster at the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) 2023 Annual Meeting, being held November 1‑4, in Dublin, Ireland.

"Advanced GIST generally carries a poor prognosis after failure of imatinib and new therapies such as IDRX-42, that target key primary activating drivers as well as secondary resistance mutations in KIT, are urgently needed," said Prof. Schöffski. "These preliminary data demonstrate exciting and clinically meaningful antitumor activity in a highly refractory and difficult to treat GIST patient population and warrant the investigation of IDRX-42 in earlier lines of therapy."

"We are highly encouraged by these initial data of IDRX-42, supporting a potentially best-in-class profile to improve the outcomes of patients with GIST in all lines of therapy, which we believe remains one of targeted oncology’s great unmet medical needs," said Ben Auspitz, co-founder and chief executive officer of IDRx. "Importantly, these preliminary data will help guide our discussions with physicians regarding development strategies for IDRX-42 in patients with GIST in early lines of therapy to prevent the emergence of genomically-driven resistance mutations. Early suppression of such resistance mutations in KIT is likely to benefit patients with GIST, versus trying to treat clinically heterogeneous disease in any individual with multiple resistant clones."

Presentation Highlights:

Initial data (October 5, 2023 cut-off date) from the dose escalation portion of the ongoing Phase 1 StrateGIST study include 33 patients (all with KIT-mutant GIST) who received IDRX-42 across doses ranging from 120 mg once daily (QD) to 400 mg twice daily (BID). Patients were heavily pretreated, with a median of 4 prior lines of therapy. 28 patients are evaluable for objective response. Median duration on treatment was 16 weeks and continuing, with 70% (23/33) of patients remaining on treatment at time of data cutoff. Maximum tolerated dose (MTD) has not yet been reached.
Confirmed partial responses (PRs) by modified RECIST have been demonstrated to date in four patients (at 120 mg QD, 400 mg QD, and 600 mg QD [n=2]).
Although an MTD has not yet been reached, a 68% (19/28 patients) clinical benefit rate (confirmed complete response/PR or stable disease ≥16 weeks) was observed across the initial doses studied to date. 4/28 patients are on study for <16 weeks and continuing on study drug.
Tumor shrinkage and confirmed partial responses were observed across all major classes of KIT mutational variants, including both primary driver mutations in exons 9 and 11, and secondary resistance mutations in exons 13 and 17. Additionally, notable reductions in mutant allele fraction were observed in circulating tumor DNA across these classes of KIT variants.
Preliminary pharmacokinetic analyses demonstrate dose-dependent increases in exposure, with a long half-life (approximately 125 hours), and a 5 to 8-fold accumulation between single-dose and steady-state at Cycle 2 (Day 28).
IDRX-42 exhibited a favorable safety and tolerability profile with most adverse events being mild (Grade 1) in severity. Treatment related adverse events included diarrhea (70%), nausea (52%), and vomiting (27%). No safety-related treatment discontinuations have been observed to date. Two events coded as dose-limiting toxicities were reported (Grade 3 syncope at 600 mg QD, and Grade 3 vomiting at 400 mg BID); both patients chose to continue on study with dose reduction and are continuing on treatment for 5 months and 2 months, respectively.
Four dose levels (120, 240, 400 and 600 mg QD) have been cleared to date, and dose escalation continues with accrual to the 800 mg (400 mg BID) cohort ongoing.
Presentation Details:

Title: Phase 1 Study of IDRX-42 in Patients with Advanced Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors Resistant to Prior Systemic Therapy: Early Results
Presenter: Patrick Schöffski, MD, MPH
Abstract Number: P 26
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: CTOS Poster Reception 5:30-6:30 p.m. GMT, Thursday, November 2nd
Location: The Convention Center, Dublin, Ireland

About GIST

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are the most common subtype of soft tissue sarcoma. Approximately 80% of cases arise from gain of function mutations in the KIT receptor tyrosine kinase, driving the malignancy through constitutive activation of aberrant signaling. Resistance mutations in KIT emerge in ~90% of patients treated with imatinib, the current standard of care for GIST. In unresectable or metastatic GIST, clinical benefits from existing treatments can vary by mutation type.

About the StrateGIST Study

StrateGIST1 is an ongoing, open-label, first-in-human Phase 1/1b study designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and preliminary antitumor activity of IDRX-42 in patients with metastatic and/or surgically unresectable GIST after failure of imatinib and other approved drugs. The study is currently enrolling patients with documented pathogenic mutation in KIT or any platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRA) mutation (other than PDGFRA exon 18) at sites in the U.S., Belgium, Germany, and Spain. The Phase 1b portion will include expanded exploratory cohorts based on defined lines of prior TKI therapy.

About IDRX-42

IDRX-42 is a potent, oral, highly selective KIT inhibitor targeting all major categories of activating and resistance mutations in patients with KIT-mutant GIST (including variants in exons 9, 11, 13 and 17). In preclinical studies, IDRX-42 demonstrated superior antitumor activity compared to imatinib, the current first-line of therapy, in GIST human xenograft models expressing mutations in KIT exons 9 and 11. In xenograft models expressing secondary resistance mutations in KIT exon 13 or 17, IDRX-42 treatment resulted in potent and dose-dependent antitumor activity superior to the second-line standard of care agent, sunitinib. IDRX-42 is current being evaluated in a first-in-human Phase 1/1b study.