On April 4, 2024 NanoString Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of life science tools for discovery and translational research, reported that it will present at the 2024 meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research studies delving into metastatic brain tumors, triple-negative breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and dozens of other vital research areas. The conference will be held in San Diego, April 5-10, 2024 (Press release, NanoString Technologies, APR 4, 2024, View Source [SID1234641805]).

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NanoString and its customers will showcase 110 posters and highlight its products in three oral presentations focusing on unique biological insights generated with its platforms. The abstracts that will be featured include 14 studies exploring spatial biology using the CosMx Spatial Molecular Imager (SMI), 46 studies powered by GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler (DSP), and 59 studies exploring gene expression using the nCounter Analysis System.

"NanoString customers are using the highest plex protein and RNA spatial biology panels commercially available on cancer patient samples, making fundamental discoveries and answering key questions about patient response to advanced cancer therapies utilized today. These research contributions are changing our understanding of the underlying biology driving tumor growth and metastases, greatly accelerating the development of new therapeutic approaches," said Joseph Beechem, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Research and Development, NanoString Technologies. "The spatial biology revolution has arrived! These new biological insights will help the field evolve from treating cancer to curing cancer."

Nanostring Product Showcase in Theater B, April 9, 10:00-11:00 AM PT

Dr. Beechem will present NanoString’s spatial biology roadmap and highlight recent advancements in a talk entitled "Highest-Plex Spatial Multi-Omics – Eliminating the Blind Spots in Your Research." He will be joined by Arutha Kulasinghe, Ph. D. Senior Research Fellow and Leader of the Clinical-oMx Lab at the University of Queensland, who will speak on "Uncoupling pathways involved in immunotherapy resistance: insights from deep tissue profiling."
Oral presentations:

Sunday, April 7, 4:20-4:35 PM PT – Golnaz Morad, Ph. D., from MD Anderson Cancer Center will present, "Digital spatial profiling of metastatic brain tumors reveals association of the tumor microbiome with immune alterations in the tumor microenvironment." This study investigated the role of distinct microbial communities in metastatic brain tumors through metagenomic sequencing of stool and saliva samples, 16S rRNA gene sequencing of tumor samples and spatial transcriptome and proteome analysis using NanoString platforms. The spatially resolved NanoString work was able to unequivocally resolve intracellular versus extracellular bacterial signals, greatly expanding our understanding of the innate-immune mediated anti-bacterial response within the tumor microenvironment.
Monday, April 8, 4:05-4:20 PM PT – Jingyi Cao, Ph. D from Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School will present, "Therapy-associated remodeling of pancreatic cancer revealed by single-cell spatial transcriptomics and optimal transport analysis." This study utilizes high-plex single-cell spatial molecular imaging (NanoString’s CosMx 1K Cell Characterization Panel) to dissect treatment-remodeled multicellular neighborhoods and malignant-stroma cell interactions in primary resected human pancreatic cancer. It revealed IL-6 family signaling as a potential inducer of chemoresistance.
Tuesday, April 9, 3:50-4:05 PM PT – Isobelle Wall, Kings College London, will present, "Spatial transcriptomics delineates tumor heterogeneity in NACT triple-negative breast cancer." This study utilizes spatial transcriptomics to investigate the histological and molecular heterogeneity of triple-negative breast cancer pre- and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy. It revealed potential chemo-resistant properties and spatially distinct immune cell compositions associated with treatment response.
NanoString team members will welcome customers at booth 331.

On April 4, 2024 Egle Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on advancing the next generation of regulatory T cell-focused therapies for oncology and auto-immunity, reported that it will present a poster at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) 2024 being held on April 5-10, 2024 (Press release, Egle Therapeutics, APR 4, 2024, View Source [SID1234641804]).

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In the poster, entitled "EGL-001 is a novel immunocytokine designed to specifically target and disarm T regulatory cells in the tumor microenvironment".

Egle scientists present evidence that EGL-001, a CTLA-4 targeted IL-2 dominant negative mutein, selectively binds to T regulatory (Treg) cells and inhibits Treg IL-2 signaling.

The resulting reduction of Treg frequencies and functionality, as observed in ex vivo human tumor cultures and in vivo mouse models, promotes effector T cell responses. Accordingly, EGL-001 induces anti-tumor responses in combination with anti-PD-1 treatment in mouse models.

EGL-001 is the first drug candidate to emerge from Egle’s discovery platform, and it’s being developed for treatment of advanced solid tumors and to restore responsiveness to PD-1 inhibition.

Session Category: Immunology; Session Title: Immune Modulation with Cytokines; Session Date and Time: Tuesday Apr 9, 2024 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM; Location: Poster Section 4; Poster Board Number: 23 Published Abstract Number: 4079

On April 4, 2024 Arcellx, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACLX), a biotechnology company reimagining cell therapy through the development of innovative immunotherapies for patients with cancer and other incurable diseases, reported that management will participate in a fireside chat at the 23rd Annual Needham Virtual Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, April 10, at 12:45 p.m. ET (Press release, Arcellx, APR 4, 2024, View Source [SID1234641803]).

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A live webcast of this discussion will be accessible from Arcellx’s website at www.arcellx.com in the Investors section. A replay of the webcast will be archived and available for 30 days following the event.

On April 4, 2024 Medivir AB (Nasdaq Stockholm: MVIR) reported that the Annual Report for 2023 now is available at the company’s website: www.medivir.com (Press release, Medivir, APR 4, 2024, View Source [SID1234641801]).

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In the fall of 2023, very promising data from the ongoing phase 1b/2a study with Medivir’s spearhead project fostrox in combination with Lenvima were presented. The combination has shown continued improved clinical benefit in patients with advanced primary liver cancer (HCC) and at ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper)-GI in January 2024, data were presented showing further increases in the proportion of patients achieving a clinically relevant reduction in their liver tumor and patients staying on treatment longer with stopped tumor growth. This attracted very strong interest and the data has improved further in the first quarter of 2024.

The clear clinical benefit and great medical need present an opportunity to accelerate the clinical development of fostrox with the ambition of becoming the first approved pharmaceutical therapy for the second-line treatment of HCC, a market worth ~$2.5 billion annually. These efforts to bring fostrox closer to potentially accelerated approval are Medivir’s absolute focus in the continued clinical development. In addition to fostrox, which is carried out by the company, several of the projects that Medivir has licensed out to partners will also enter the clinical phase in 2024.

This and much more can be found in Medivir’s Annual Report 2023, published today at the website;

View Source

On April 4, 2024 Caris Discovery, the therapeutic research arm of Caris Life Sciences (Caris), the leading next-generation AI TechBio company and precision medicine pioneer, reported a multi-year strategic partnership with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which operates its healthcare business as EMD Serono in the U.S. and Canada, to accelerate the discovery and development of first-in-class antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) for cancer patients (Press release, Caris Life Sciences, APR 4, 2024, View Source [SID1234641800]).

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"We are thrilled to join forces with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, to discover targets with the first-in-class potential to advance the next wave of transformational ADC therapeutics," said Brian Lamon, PhD, Chief Business Officer of Caris. "This partnership adds to our portfolio of external pipeline programs and is a strong validation of our highly differentiated, orthogonal multi-omics approach to discovering truly novel targets that may be harnessed to eradicate tumors."

Under the terms of the agreement, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, will provide Caris with an upfront payment as well as research funding. In addition, Caris will be eligible for discovery, development, regulatory and sales-based milestone payments that may total up to $1.4 billion along with tiered royalties. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany will receive an exclusive global license to develop, manufacture and commercialize ADC therapeutics for selected targets.

"We are dedicated to addressing high unmet needs across multiple cancer types," said Paul Lyne, Global Head of Research Unit Oncology for the Healthcare business sector of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. "Through close collaboration with Caris, utilizing their unique discovery platform, we complement our internal ADC capabilities to develop novel first-in-class ADCs and ultimately strengthen our potential to expand our oncology portfolio."

Caris Discovery leverages the scale of Caris’ core molecular profiling business to discover novel, druggable targets that would be otherwise inaccessible through more traditional approaches. Through the convergence of its proprietary ADAPT Biotargeting platform, a contemporaneous patient tissue repository, a suite of sophisticated AI and machine learning capabilities, and its dedicated 59,000 square foot discovery research laboratory, Caris Discovery aims to identify and validate new therapeutic targets that can be harnessed by its biopharma partners to develop the next generation of oncology therapies. Under this partnership, targets discovered and validated by Caris can be pursued by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany will be responsible for the preclinical and clinical research, as well as the development and commercialization of drug candidates emanating from these programs.

"Caris Discovery is uncovering novel unexplored targets in patient populations where precision therapeutics have yet to be developed," said Milan Radovich, PhD, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Caris. "We are proud to be working closely with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, to bring new therapeutic options to cancer patients together."