On March 22, 2018 Rheos Medicines, Inc. was launched with $60 million in Series A financing backed by Third Rock Ventures, LLC. Rheos is pioneering immunometabolism as a novel approach to tune metabolic pathways in immune cells to treat disease (Press release, Rheos Medicines, MAR 22, 2018, View Source [SID1234532790]). The company will translate recent breakthroughs in the understanding of immune cell metabolism to develop precision medicines for immune-mediated diseases.

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 number of patients with immune-mediated diseases is large and growing in Western society, with an estimated 7-10 percent of the population with autoimmune diseases1 and 5-7 percent of the population with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.2 Despite recent advances in treatment, there remains a significant unmet need. Understanding how variations in immune cell metabolism underlie patient heterogeneity provides an opportunity to bring precision treatments to patients.

New, in-depth understanding of immune cell physiology based upon research by leading academic scientists, including Rheos’s founders, points to cellular metabolism as a key driver of immune cell response. Rheos’s product engine takes a fundamentally novel approach to immune-mediated diseases by encompassing the full range of immune cells and their functions, and how they are regulated by cellular metabolism. In addition, by identifying new therapeutic targets and related biomarkers, the Rheos engine will address patient heterogeneity inherent to many immune-mediated diseases.

"The emerging field of immunometabolism offers a tremendous opportunity to set a higher standard for how immune-mediated diseases are treated. This opens an opportunity for Rheos to direct our medicines to a new aspect of disease pathogenesis by targeting the underlying cellular metabolism of immune cells," said Abbie Celniker, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Rheos. "By building on the discoveries of our founders, Rheos is developing a biomarker and drug discovery engine that will allow us to address disease biology and patient variability by ‘tuning’ immune cells in select patient populations with precision medicines."

Rheos Product Engine and Pipeline

Rheos has developed a product engine that offers unprecedented insight into the drivers of immune-mediated diseases by characterizing how different immune cell types impact disease progression in different patient subpopulations. By simultaneously identifying new drug targets and characterizing biomarkers of disease, the Rheos product engine enables a precision medicine approach to treatment of immune-mediated diseases. Using the latest technological advances– including DNA sequencing, transcriptional and metabolomic profiling – along with incorporating primary patient samples, the Rheos product engine is an integrated immune cell metabolism and physiology platform.

Central to this product engine is a proprietary Immune Cell Encyclopedia (ICE), which maps the metabolic pathways used by different types of immune cells to regulate their fate and function in disease and in health. The initial focus of Rheos’s product pipeline is on therapeutics that target CD4 and CD8 T cell subtypes, which are involved in diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, vitiligo and in immuno-oncology applications. These immune cell subtypes are critical to disease pathogenesis, and Rheos’s product engine is providing insight into how these cells drive immune response in disease.

"I have firsthand experience treating patients with immune-mediated diseases based on my years in clinical practice, and it is exhilarating to apply the wealth of expertise and technology at Rheos to create new treatments and address these patient needs," said Larry Turka, MD, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Rheos. "I am excited to work with the talented team at Rheos and use our product engine to translate the powerful science of immunometabolism into the reality of new treatments that can make a lasting difference for the millions of patients with immune-mediated diseases."

Expert team of immunometabolism scientists and immune disease clinicians

The Rheos leadership team includes recognized leaders in immunometabolism, target discovery, translational medicine and company building. Company leaders include Abbie Celniker, PhD, interim Chief Executive Officer; Cary Pfeffer, MD, interim Chief Business Officer; Laurence Turka, MD, Chief Scientific Officer; Edward Driggers, PhD, Chief Technology Officer; Ryan Cohlhepp, PharmD, Senior Vice President, R&D Strategy and Operations; Brian Albrecht, PhD, Vice President, Drug Discovery; and Hozefa Bandukwala, PhD, Senior Director, Head of Discovery Biology.

Rheos’s internal team is working alongside a founding team of leading scientists whose discoveries opened the field of immunometabolism and clinicians with deep understanding of immune-mediated diseases. The company’s scientific founders are:

Richard Flavell, PhD, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology, Yale University; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Flavell is a world-renowned immunologist who pioneered the use of transgenic mouse models to study autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Richard is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine (USA), and a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Edward Pearce, PhD, Senior Group Leader, Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics; Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg. Edward Pearce is a pioneer in understanding how macrophage and dendritic cell metabolism influences the function of those cells.
Erika Pearce, PhD, Director, Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics. Erika Pearce is a world leader in T cell metabolism and understanding how different metabolic pathways tune T cell function and fitness.
Ken Smith, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Head of the Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge. Smith is an international expert in identifying biomarkers which predict prognosis in patients with autoimmune disease.
William St. Clair, MD, Professor of Medicine and Immunology, Duke University Medical Center. Dr. St. Clair is a former President of the American College of Rheumatology, he has extensive experience in translational immunology and the design and implementation of trials in autoimmune diseases.
Laurence Turka, MD, CSO, Rheos Medicines. Turka is former President of the American Society of Transplantation, a leader in the fields of T cell costimulation and regulatory T cell biology. Prior to joining Rheos, Laurence was the Harold and Ellen Danser Professor of Surgery and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

On March 22, 2018 MorphoSys AG (FSE: MOR; Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX; OTC: MPSYY) reported that it filed a Registration Statement on Form F-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed offering of ordinary shares in the form of American Depositary Shares ("ADSs") in the United States (Press release, MorphoSys, MAR 22, 2018, View Source [SID1234556339]). The final number of ADSs to be offered and the price for the offering have not yet been determined.

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!

MorphoSys’s ordinary shares are listed on the Prime Standard Segment in Frankfurt, Germany. Application has been made to list the ADSs to be offered in the proposed offering on the Nasdaq Global Market in the United States under the ticker symbol "MOR".

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Leerink Partners LLC, are acting as lead book-running managers, and Berenberg Capital Markets, LLC and JMP Securities LLC are acting as co-managers for the proposed ADS offering.

A Registration Statement relating to these securities has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. The securities may not be sold, nor may offers to buy be accepted, prior to the time the Registration Statement becomes effective.

The securities referred to in this release are to be offered only by means of a prospectus. A copy of the preliminary prospectus, when available, can be obtained from Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, telephone: 1-866-471-2526, facsimile: 1-212-902-9316 or by e-mailing [email protected]; J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717, telephone: 1-866-803-9204; Leerink Partners LLC, Attention: Syndicate Department, One Federal Street, 37th Floor, Boston, MA 02110, by telephone at 1-800-808-7525, ext. 6132, or by emailing [email protected].

This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

On March 22, 2018 Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, TecDAX) reported that Evotec and Apeiron Biologics have entered into a research collaboration with the objective of developing immunomodulatory lead compounds for the treatment of cancer (Press release, Evotec, MAR 22, 2018, View Source;announcements/press-releases/p/evotec-and-apeiron-biologics-announce-collaboration-on-cancer-immunotherapy-5107 [SID1234525396]). Apeiron Biologics will contribute in vitro and in vivo pharmacology expertise to this collaboration while Evotec will be responsible for medicinal chemistry as well as chemical proteomics. The collaboration is based on the successful outcome of a phenotypic high throughput screen previously commissioned by Apeiron Biologics to Evotec.

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!

Dr Mario Polywka, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec, commented: ‘We look forward to continue working with Apeiron on this important project. The collaboration highlights the strength of Evotec’s phenotypic screening capabilities to identify novel mechanisms and hits in important therapeutic areas.’

Dr Hans Loibner, Chief Executive Officer of Apeiron Biologics, added: ‘We were excited about the outcome of the primary screen and look forward to refining the hit compounds in this collaboration applying our immunological know-how. There is no doubt that immunomodulatory compounds like these carry huge therapeutic and commercial potential.’

No financial details are disclosed.

ABOUT APEIRON Biologics AG
Apeiron is a mostly privately financed biotech company in Vienna that develops immunological/biological therapies against cancer. Its portfolio consists of five clinical projects (lead in phase III) as well as some preclinical approaches. The most advanced project APN311 is an antibody to treat the pediatric cancer neuroblastoma. The immunocytokine hu14.18-IL2 (APN301) is being developed clinically in neuroblastoma as well as in melanoma. Moreover, recombinant human superoxide dismutase is in clinical development, notably in a topical liposomal formulation (APN201) as a potent anti-inflammatory tissue-protective biologic. Two complementary approaches are pursued (APN401, APN411) that stimulate immune cells in a novel way to treat cancer more effectively. The recombinant human Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (GSK2586881, previously APN01) was licensed out to GlaxoSmithKline in early 2010 and is currently investigated in a phase II trial in patients suffering from acute lung injury. Apeiron started operations in 2006 and has 23 employees as of today.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS – Information set forth in this press release contains forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the judgement of Evotec as of the date of this report. Such forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, and which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in our expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

On March 22, 2018 Array BioPharma Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRY) reported that detailed results of its pivotal Phase 3 COLUMBUS trial for the treatment of patients with BRAF-mutant advanced, unresectable or metastatic melanoma were published in The Lancet Oncology (Press release, Array BioPharma, MAR 22, 2018, View Source;p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2339334 [SID1234524945]). In the analysis of the primary endpoint, the median progression-free survival (mPFS) for patients treated with the combination of encorafenib, 450 mg daily, plus binimetinib, 45 mg twice daily (COMBO450) was 14.9 months versus 7.3 months for patients treated with vemurafenib, 960 mg twice daily [hazard ratio (HR) 0.54, 95% CI 0.41–0.71; p<0.0001].

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 manuscript entitled "Encorafenib plus binimetinib versus vemurafenib or encorafenib in patients with BRAF-mutant melanoma (COLUMBUS): a multicentre, open-label, randomised phase 3 trial," was published online on March 21, 2018. Array previously announced top line results from this study in September 2016.

"A median progression-free survival of nearly 15 months with the combination of encorafenib and binimetinib is clinically meaningful for patients with advanced BRAF-mutant metastatic melanoma," said Keith T. Flaherty, M.D., Director of the Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. "Further, a median overall survival of 33.6 months, compared to 16.9 months with vemurafenib monotherapy (HR of 0.61, 95% CI 0.47-0.79, p<0.001), a secondary endpoint not included in this publication, was recently announced. This further supplements the published data and shows that the combination of encorafenib and binimetinib may become a promising new therapy for patients with advanced BRAF-mutant metastatic melanoma."

As previously reported, the combination of encorafenib and binimetinib was generally well-tolerated. The median duration of treatment was 51.2 weeks (27.1-79.7) for encorafenib and 50.6 weeks (26.1-79.7) for binimetinib. The median dose intensity was 100% (93-100) of planned doses of encorafenib and 99.6% (80-100) of planned doses of binimetinib. The most common Grade 3/4 adverse events (AEs) seen in more than 5% of patients were increased gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) 9% (18/192 patients), increased creatine phosphokinase 7% (13), and hypertension 6% (11) in the encorafenib plus binimetinib group.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently reviewing the New Drug Applications to support use of the combination of encorafenib and binimetinib for the treatment of patients with BRAF-mutant advanced, unresectable or metastatic melanoma. The FDA set a target action date under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) of June 30, 2018 for both applications. In addition, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the Swiss Medicines Agency (Swissmedic) and the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), are reviewing the Marketing Authorization Applications for encorafenib and binimetinib.

An update from the COLUMBUS trial will be presented at an upcoming medical congress.

About Melanoma
Metastatic melanoma is the most serious and life-threatening type of skin cancer and is associated with low survival rates. [1, 2] There are about 200,000 new cases of melanoma diagnosed worldwide each year, approximately half of which have BRAF mutations, a key target in the treatment of metastatic melanoma. [1, 3, 4]

About COLUMBUS
The COLUMBUS trial, (NCT01909453), is a two-part, international, randomized, open label Phase 3 trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of the combination of encorafenib and binimetinib compared to vemurafenib and encorafenib monotherapy in 921 patients with locally advanced, unresectable or metastatic melanoma with BRAFV600 mutation. Prior immunotherapy treatment was allowed. Over 200 sites across North America, Europe, South America, Africa, Asia and Australia participated in the trial. Patients were randomized into two parts:

In Part 1, 577 patients were randomized 1:1:1 to receive COMBO450, encorafenib, 300 mg daily (ENCO 300), or vemurafenib, 960 mg twice daily alone. The dose of encorafenib in the combination arm is 50% higher than the single agent maximum tolerated dose of 300 mg. A higher dose of encorafenib was possible due to improved tolerability when combined with binimetinib. The primary endpoint for the COLUMBUS trial was an mPFS comparison of the COMBO450 arm versus vemurafenib. mPFS is determined based on tumor assessment (RECIST version 1.1 criteria) by a Blinded Independent Central Review (BICR). Secondary endpoints include a comparison of the mPFS of COMBO450 arm to that of ENCO300 and a comparison of overall survival (OS) in patients treated in the COMBO450 arm to that of vemurafenib alone. Results from Part 1 of the COLUMBUS trial previously presented at the 2016 Society for Melanoma Research Annual Congress, showed that COMBO450 more than doubled mPFS in patients with advanced BRAF-mutant melanoma, with a mPFS of 14.9 months compared with 7.3 months observed with vemurafenib [HR 0.54, (95% CI 0.41-0.71, p<0.0001)]. In the secondary mPFS comparison of COMBO450 to ENCO300, ENCO300 demonstrated a mPFS of 9.6 months [HR 0.75, (95% CI 0.56-1.00, p=0.051)].
In Part 2, 344 patients were randomized 3:1 to receive encorafenib 300 mg plus binimetinib 45 mg twice daily (COMBO300) or ENCO300. Part 2 was designed to provide additional data to help evaluate the contribution of binimetinib to the combination of encorafenib and binimetinib.
As the secondary endpoint comparison of mPFS between the COMBO450 arm and ENCO300 arm in Part 1 did not achieve statistical significance, the protocol specified analysis of OS is descriptive.

About Encorafenib and Binimetinib
BRAF and MEK are key protein kinases in the MAPK signaling pathway (RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK). Research has shown this pathway regulates several key cellular activities including proliferation, differentiation, survival and angiogenesis. Inappropriate activation of proteins in this pathway has been shown to occur in many cancers including melanoma and colorectal cancer. Encorafenib is a late-stage small molecule BRAF inhibitor and binimetinib is a late-stage small molecule MEK inhibitor, both of which target key enzymes in this pathway. Encorafenib and binimetinib are being studied in clinical trials in advanced cancer patients, including the Phase 3 BEACON CRC trial and the Phase 3 COLUMBUS trial.

Array BioPharma has exclusive rights to encorafenib and binimetinib in the U.S. and Canada. Array has granted Ono Pharmaceutical exclusive rights to commercialize both products in Japan and South Korea and Pierre Fabre exclusive rights to commercialize both products in all other countries, including Europe, Asia and Latin America. Encorafenib and binimetinib are investigational medicines and are not currently approved in any country.

On March 22, 2018 AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV), a global research and development-based biopharmaceutical company, reported that after consulting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it will not seek accelerated approval for Rova-T in third-line relapsed/refractory (R/R) small cell lung cancer (SCLC) based on magnitude of effect across multiple parameters in this single-arm study (Press release, AbbVie, MAR 22, 2018, View Source [SID1234525398]).

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!

"We continue to believe Rova-T has potential for patients with small cell lung cancer and other DLL3-expressing cancers," said Mike Severino, M.D., executive vice president of research and development and chief scientific officer, AbbVie. "Although the results from the study were not what we hoped for, we look forward to receiving data from the ongoing Phase 3 studies in the first- and second-line settings and remain committed to developing Rova-T for the treatment of patients with small cell lung cancer."
Summary of Investigator Assessed Best Overall Response Rate, Independent Review Committee (IRC) Assessed Objective Response Rate, Duration of Response and Overall Survival in Third-Line SCLC Patients with High DLL3 Expression (N = 177)*

*Data represent 74 percent of the TRINITY study population with high DLL3 expression
a Best overall response is defined as a subject with a response of complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) at any time prior to receiving any subsequent anticancer therapy.
b Objective response is defined as a subject with a response of complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) prior to receiving any subsequent anticancer therapy, with confirmation of CR or PR at least 4 weeks (28 days) from the initial determination per RECIST v1.1.
­­c Based on Kaplan-Meier estimate.

In the study, the most common treatment-emergent adverse events were fatigue (38 percent), photosensitivity reaction (36 percent), pleural effusion (32 percent), edema peripheral (31 percent), decreased appetite (30 percent), nausea (26 percent), dyspnea (25 percent), thrombocytopenia (25 percent), constipation (22 percent), vomiting (17 percent), anemia (17 percent), hypoalbuminemia (16 percent), and cough (16 percent). Grade three and higher severe toxicities ≥ 5 percent were thrombocytopenia (11 percent), photosensitivity reaction (7 percent) and pleural effusion (5 percent)
.
About the Phase 2 TRINITY Study
TRINITY is a multicenter, open-label, single-arm, Phase 2 study of Rova-T in DLL3-expressing small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) disease after receiving at least two previous regimens, including at least one platinum-based regimen. The primary objective was to investigate the efficacy of Rova-T as third-line and later treatment for R/R DLL3-expressing SCLC. Secondary objectives included assessment of safety and tolerability, pharmacokinetics, RECIST-assessed progression-free survival, duration of response and clinical benefit rate.

About Rovalpituzumab Tesirine (Rova-T)
Rova-T is an investigational antibody-drug conjugate targeting the cancer-stem cell-associated delta-like protein 3 (DLL3)[1], which is expressed in more than 80 percent of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patient tumors, where it is prevalent on tumor cells, including cancer stem cells, but not present in healthy tissue.[2] Rova-T combines a targeted antibody that delivers a cytotoxic agent directly to the DLL3-expressing cancer cells while minimizing toxicity to healthy cells. Rova-T is under investigation as a third-line treatment in SCLC.[2] The expression of DLL3 suggests Rova-T may be useful across multiple tumor types, including metastatic melanoma, glioblastoma multiforme and some prostate, pancreatic and colorectal cancers.[2]
Rova-T is an investigational compound and its efficacy and safety have not been established by the FDA or any other health authority.