On May 14, 2018 Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCPH), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on addressing key mechanisms of tumor drug resistance, reported that members of the management team will present at the following upcoming investor conferences (Press release, Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, MAY 14, 2018, View Source [SID1234526560]):

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UBS Global Healthcare Conference on Monday, May 21, 2018 at 8:30 AM ET. The conference is being held at the Grand Hyatt New York in New York City.
Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference on Thursday, June 7, 2018 at 1:30 PM ET. The conference is being held at the Grand Hyatt New York in New York City.
A live webcast of the events will be available on the "Events and Presentations" page in the "Investors" section of the Company’s website at View Source A replay of the webcasts will be archived on the Company’s website for 90 days following the presentation.

On May 14, 2018 Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTLA), a leading genome editing company focused on developing curative therapeutics using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, reported new scientific advisors in immuno-oncology and autoimmunity (Press release, Intellia Therapeutics, MAY 14, 2018, View Source [SID1234526584]). The advisors hail from prestigious international institutions and collectively have both scientific and clinical expertise in cell therapies in these areas.

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"The advisors we’ve assembled include researchers and physicians who are luminaries in their fields," said Intellia President and Chief Executive Officer John Leonard, M.D. "Pursuing both in vivo and ex vivo pipelines, Intellia has a broad spectrum approach to genome editing in a variety of therapeutic applications using our CRISPR/Cas9 technology. We look forward to working alongside these experts and benefiting from their deep experience and insight, to drive development of our wholly owned ex vivo programs in immuno-oncology and autoimmunity."

The following scientific leaders and clinicians are Intellia’s advisors on ex vivo cell therapy in immuno-oncology:

Evren Alici, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor and group leader, hematology, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

Chiara Bonini, M.D., Ph.D., full professor, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele; deputy director, Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases, Ospedale San Raffaele; and head, Experimental Hematology Unit, Ospedale San Raffaele, Italy

Daniel DeAngelo, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, and director, clinical and translational research, adult leukemia, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, United States

Saar Gill, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine, Center for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania, United States

Johanna Olweus, M.D., Ph.D., full professor and head, Department of Cancer Immunology, University of Oslo, and director, K.G. Jebsen Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, Norway

E. John Wherry, Ph.D., Richard and Barbara Schiffrin President’s Distinguished Professor of Microbiology, and director, Institute for Immunology, University of Pennsylvania, United States

Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker, Ph.D., professor and chair, Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, and senior scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Canada
These experts are Intellia’s advisors on ex vivo cell therapy in autoimmunity:

Laurence Turka, M.D., chief scientific officer, Rheos Medicines; deputy director, Immune Tolerance Network; and professor of surgery and medicine (part-time), Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States

Kathryn Wood, D.Phil., F.Med.Sci., emeritus professor of immunology, Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

On May 14, 2018 CStone Pharmaceuticals (CStone) reported dosing of the first patient in a Phase I clinical trial in Australia for CS1003, an investigational anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) monoclonal antibody (mAb) (Press release, CStone Pharmaceauticals, MAY 14, 2018, View Source [SID1234526640]). The open-label, first-in-human (FIH) study is initiated at Scientia Clinical Research Ltd in Australia and will investigate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of CS1003 in patients with advanced solid tumors.

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"We are excited to announce initiation of clinical development for PD-1 inhibitor CS1003, our second pipeline candidate to enter Phase I studies in Australia after the CTLA-4 mAb CS1002 within one month," said Dr. Frank Jiang, Chief Executive Officer at CStone. "CS1003 is cross-reactive with human and mouse PD-1 which enables quick pre-clinical proof of concept experiments in combination with novel targets, leading to global first-in-combination potential. Because of this unique feature, CS1003 is critical to CStone’s combination strategy in cancer immunotherapy."

The launch of clinical studies for CS1003 is a key milestone for CStone, which now has three important checkpoint inhibitors for cancer therapy under clinical development. Alongside CS1001 (PD-L1) and CS1002 (CTLA-4), CS1003 will provide the backbone for CStone’s pipeline development of oncology combination therapies.

As noted by Dr. Jason Yang, Chief Medical Officer of CStone, "In preclinical studies, CS1003 demonstrated high affinity and selectivity for PD-1, as well as synergistic anti-tumor effects with multiple small-molecule drugs in animal models. The launch of this clinical program will allow us to gather important safety and efficacy data on CS1003. This will lay the foundation for future development of this molecule, in particular as the basis of combination therapies."

"We are excited to be enrolling our first patient treated with CS1003 and are hopeful that this novel immunotherapy drug will add to the available therapeutic options for advanced-stage tumors, either by itself or in combination with other drugs," said Dr. Charlotte Lemech, MBBS, BSc, FRACP, MD, lead investigator for this trial at Scientia Clinical Research Ltd.

The Phase Ia/Ib study includes a dose-escalation stage followed by a dose-expansion stage. Additional information on the trial can be found here.

About CS1003 and the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway

CS1003 is a humanized anti-PD-1 IgG4 monoclonal antibody developed by CStone using an internationally leading hybridoma platform. CS1003 has shown good tolerability and efficacy profile in preclinical in vivo studies.

PD-1, or programmed death-1, is an inhibitory checkpoint receptor expressed on T cells. Under normal circumstances, it binds with its ligands, programmed death ligand-1 or ligand 2 (PD-L1/PD-L2), inhibiting T cell and cytokine activation, serving to dampen the immune response in order to prevent damage to healthy tissues. However, studies have shown that PD-L1 can be abundantly expressed on the surface of many solid tumors as well as hematological malignancies. Cancer cells can therefore make use of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway to successfully avoid immune system recognition and attack. Targeting of the PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint by anti-tumor drugs can block the "tumor immune evasion mechanism" and restore anti-cancer immune ability in patients.

Currently, there are two anti-PD-1 antibodies approved globally: Opdivo (nivolumab) from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Keytruda (pembrolizumab) from Merck, Sharp & Dohme. Unlike other anti-PD-1 mAbs, CS1003 recognizes both human and murine PD-1, providing a unique competitive advantage during efficacy testing in syngeneic mouse tumor models particularly for development of effective combination therapies.

On May 14, 2018 Immatics, a leading company in the field of cancer immunotherapy, reported the appointment of Stephen Eck, M.D., Ph.D. as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at Immatics US, Inc. (Houston, Texas), effective immediately (Press release, Immatics Biotechnologies, MAY 14, 2018, View Source [SID1234569553]).

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Stephen Eck is a hematologist and oncologist with more than 25 years experience in academia and industry. He began his professional career at the University of Pennsylvania where he was Director of the Gene Therapy Program, and has since held a number of leaderships roles in oncology drug and biomarker development at prominent pharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining Immatics, Stephen Eck served as Vice President and Global Head of Oncology Medical Sciences at Astellas Pharma, and previously held senior roles at Pfizer and Eli Lilly.

Dr. Harpreet Singh, CEO and President of Immatics US, said: "Stephen’s appointment will further strengthen our cell therapy programs and global development capabilities. He brings significant experience in both early and late-stage development, as well as new drug approvals, in oncology and cancer immunotherapies, which will be invaluable to us as we progress our clinical and pre-clinical programs."

Dr. Stephen Eck, Chief Medical Officer of Immatics US, said: "Immatics has truly impressed me as having one of the most innovative approaches in immuno-oncology. I am thrilled to be joining the Company at this very exciting time in its history, and as T-cell therapies move to become more widely used in cancer therapeutics. Immatics’ unique approach gets at the root cause of prior failures in the treatment of solid cancers by addressing novel, highly-specific cancer targets and mobilizing billions of activated T cells against these."

Whilst at Astellas Pharma, Stephen Eck worked closely with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, a key collaborator of Immatics, on a number of clinical trials, joint collaborations and external advisory committees. Notably, he is a member of MD Anderson’s Moon Shots Program advisory board. Additionally, he is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Personalized Medicine Coalition. Stephen Eck has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University and an M.D. degree from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine."

On May 14, 2018 Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON), a leader in the engineering and industrialization of biology to improve the quality of life and health of the planet, reported Lt. General (Ret.) Thomas P. Bostick, PhD, PE, Dist.M. ASCE, NAE, Intrexon’s Chief Operating Officer, and Thomas E. Shrader, PhD, CFA, Vice President, Communications and Strategy, will participate in a fireside chat session at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2018 Healthcare Conference at Encore at the Wynn, Las Vegas, Nevada on Tuesday, May 15th, at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time (Press release, Intrexon, MAY 14, 2018, View Source [SID1234526562]).

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