On March 20, 2019 Vaxart, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing oral recombinant vaccines that are administered by tablet rather than by injection, reported the closing of its previously announced registered direct offering of 1,200,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $2.50 per share (Press release, Vaxart, MAR 20, 2019, View Source [SID1234534511]). Total gross proceeds from the offering were $3.0 million, before deducting placement agent fees and estimated offering expenses.

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H.C. Wainwright & Co. acted as the exclusive lead placement agent for the offering. Brookline Capital Markets, a division of CIM Securities, LLC, acted as the co-placement agent for the offering.

The securities described above were offered by Vaxart pursuant to a registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-228910) previously filed with and subsequently declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 15, 2019. A prospectus supplement and accompanying base prospectus relating to the shares of common stock offered were filed with the SEC on March 20, 2019. Copies of the prospectus supplement and accompanying base prospectus may be obtained on the SEC’s website at View Source or by contacting H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC at 430 Park Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10022, by phone at 646-975-6996 or e-mail at [email protected].

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

On March 20, 2019 Affibody AB and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) reported a partnership to co-develop ABY-039 for rare Immunoglobulin G (IgG)-mediated autoimmune diseases (Press release, Affibody, MAR 20, 2019, View Source [SID1234575709]).

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Agreement provides opportunity to expand Alexion’s clinical-stage anti-FcRn portfolio with ABY-039
Affibody to receive $25 million upfront payment with potential for additional milestone-dependent and royalty payments, and option for U.S. co-promote
Affibody’s technology offers potential for extended half-life compared to other anti-FcRn therapies and low volume subcutaneous administration
Currently in Phase 1 development, ABY-039 is a bivalent antibody-mimetic that targets the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn). ABY-039 has been specifically designed to combine Affibody’s protein therapeutics platform (Affibody molecules) and Albumod technology to achieve a long half-life, which, along with its small size provides the potential for less frequent, convenient, at-home subcutaneous administration.

"We believe there is significant opportunity to transform patient care with FcRn-targeted therapies and are thrilled to add a second clinical-stage anti-FcRn medicine to our pipeline with this collaboration," said John Orloff, M.D., Executive Vice President and Head of Research & Development at Alexion. "While clinical development is still early, we are excited by ABY-039’s potential to be an optimal subcutaneous therapy across a number of IgG-mediated diseases, providing patients with the possibility of a convenient self-administered treatment option."

"ABY-039 offers an innovative and novel approach to treating IgG-mediated diseases. Its rapid onset, sustained response, long half-life and potential for low volume administration hold great promise as a self-administered subcutaneous anti-FcRn therapy of choice," said David Bejker, Chief Executive Officer of Affibody. "We look forward to building our partnership with Alexion and leveraging their significant development and commercial experience to accelerate the development of ABY-039. This collaboration is another key step in the evolution of our company that is aligned with our key strategic objectives."

ABY-039 is being evaluated in a Phase 1 study in healthy volunteers. This adaptive, double-blind, placebo-controlled study is evaluating the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of ABY-039 and will aid in dose selection for future studies. The companies are assessing potential indications for future development.

Under the terms of the agreement, Alexion will provide Affibody with an upfront payment of $25 million, with the potential for additional development- and sales-based milestones of up to $625 million and tiered low double-digit royalty payments. Alexion will lead joint clinical development of ABY-039 and commercialization activities. Affibody has the option to co-promote ABY-039 in the U.S. and will lead clinical development for an undisclosed indication.

The companies expect to close the transaction in the second quarter of 2019, subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.

Alexion will discuss the partnership further during Alexion’s Investor Day event and webcast on March 20, 2019.

About FcRn

Antibodies play an important role in a healthy body’s defense by fighting infections from bacteria and other invaders. In autoimmune diseases, however, the body mistakenly attacks itself through the production of pathogenic (disease-causing) antibodies of the Immunoglobulin G (IgG) subtype. Neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) rescues IgGs from lysosomal degradation by binding them to endosomes and returning them to the bloodstream. This helps prolong the half-life of IgG. In healthy individuals, this function contributes to a normal immune response. In many autoimmune conditions, however, FcRn prevents lysosomal degradation of pathogenic IgGs associated with driving the disease. Therefore, blocking the FcRn-IgG interaction has the potential to drive degradation of IgG within cells and rapidly reduce circulating pathogenic IgG.

About ABY-039

ABY-039 is a novel anti-FcRn antibody-mimetic, which has been specifically designed to utilize the advantages of Affibody’s technology platform to differentiate from competing antibody and Fc-based approaches. ABY-039 is a small protein ligand (~19 kDa, approximately an eighth of the size of an antibody) and has an in vivo half-life exceeding that of antibody-based approaches.

On March 20, 2019 Innate Pharma (the "Company" – Euronext Paris: FR0010331421 – IPH) reported its consolidated financial results for the year ended December 31, 2018. The consolidated financial statements are attached to this press release (Press release, Innate Pharma, MAR 20, 2019, View Source [SID1234534495]).

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"2018 was a remarkable year for Innate during which two of our lead programs, monalizumab and IPH4102, demonstrated promising efficacy in their lead indications. In addition to this, the transformational deal signed with AstraZeneca not only validates our novel science and clinical development expertise, but accelerates the transition of Innate Pharma to become a fully-integrated biotech company," commented Mondher Mahjoubi, Chief Executive Officer of Innate Pharma. "The acquisition of FDA-approved Lumoxiti for third line Hairy Cell Leukemia patients complements our proprietary pipeline of promising assets. The planned commercial infrastructure in the US will not only provide Innate with the necessary footprint to support the continued roll-out of this product, but will also be leveraged for potential future products such as IPH4102. We are pleased to welcome Jennifer Butler to our leadership team as the US General Manager who will lead the strategy, operations, and hiring of talent in the US. In 2019, we are committed to executing a smooth commercial transition, expanding our presence in the US and will continue to secure financial resources to invest in our science to discover and develop novel therapeutics for oncology patients."

A conference call will be held today at 2:00pm (CEST)
Management Participants: Mondher Mahjoubi, CEO, Laure-Helene Mercier, CFO, Pierre Dodion, CMO, and Jennifer Butler, US General Manager

Dial in numbers:

France and International: +33 (0)1 72 72 74 03 US only: +1 646 722 4916

PIN code: 45649727#

The presentation will be made available on the Company’s website 30 minutes before the conference begins.

A replay will be available on Innate Pharma’s website after the conference call.

Financial highlights for 2018:
The key elements*** are as follows:

Cash, cash equivalents and financial assets amounting to €202.7m (million euros) as of December 31, 2018 (€176.6m as of December 31, 2017), including non-current financial instruments (€35.2m). This follows the receipt in October of €102.9m as a first tranche of the agreement signed with AstraZeneca in October 2018.
At the same date, the financial liabilities amounted to €4.5m (€5.9m as of December 31, 2017).
Revenue and other income amounting to €94,0m (€36.2m in 2017). This figure mainly results from licensing revenue (€79.9m) and from research tax credit (€13.5m).
Revenue from collaboration and licensing agreements mainly results from the spreading of the initial payment of $250m received in 2015 by Innate Pharma in the context of the agreement with AstraZeneca for monalizumab signed in April 2015, extended in October 2018 with an additional $100m payment (€61.5m and €24.5m in 2018 and 2017 respectively) but also, €15.6m from the spreading of the initial payment of $50m for the agreement with AstraZeneca on IP5201 signed in October 2018
Operating expenses amounting to €87.7m (€76.0 m in 2017) of which 79% related to research and development outgoings. The increase in R&D expenses between 2017 and 2018 reflects continued investment in the clinical and preclinical development programs, as well as support for the broader organization.
Net income (loss) from distribution agreements amounting to a loss of €1.1 million, arising from the launch of Lumoxiti in the US.
A net financial loss amounting to €2.4m.
As a consequence of the items mentioned previously, the net profit for 2018 amounts to €3.0m, compared with a loss of €41.7m for 2017.
————–
* current and non-current.

** Of which $118m received as of December 31, 2018 and $74m reiceived as of January 31, 2019, subsequent to the AstraZeneca deal signed, net from the payment for the acquisition of Lumoxiti.

*** The elements as of December 31, 2018 are compared to December 31, 2017 restated numbers, which are not audited and take into account the impact of IFRS 9 and 15 on 2017 financial statements.

On March 20, 2019 Cellular Biomedicine Group Inc. (Nasdaq: CBMG) (CBMG or the Company), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the drug development of immunotherapies for cancer and stem cell therapies for degenerative diseases, reported that it intends to offer and sell, subject to market and other conditions, shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering (Press release, Cellular Biomedicine Group, MAR 20, 2019, View Source [SID1234534514]). CBMG also expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the shares of common stock offered in the offering, at the public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions. There can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or terms of the offering. All of the shares in the offering are to be sold by CBMG, with net proceeds to be used for preclinical studies, clinical trials, continued technology platform development, as well as for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. and Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated are serving as joint book-running managers for the offering.

The shares of common stock described above are being offered by CBMG pursuant to a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 that was previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (or SEC) and declared effective by the SEC on June 17, 2016. A preliminary prospectus supplement relating to and describing the terms of the offering will be filed with the SEC and will be available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. When available, copies of the preliminary prospectus supplement relating to these securities may also be requested by sending a request to: Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Attention: Capital Markets, 499 Park Ave., 6th Floor, New York, New York 10022, or by email at [email protected]; or Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Attention: Syndicate Department, 777 East Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53202, or by email at [email protected].

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

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On March 20, 2019 Apexigen, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, reported new clinical data on APX005M will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, to be held March 29 – April 3, 2019 in Atlanta, GA. Apexigen’s lead immuno-oncology (I-O) therapeutic APX005M, a monoclonal antibody targeting CD40, is being evaluated in multiple ongoing clinical trials in different types of solid tumors (Press release, Apexigen, MAR 20, 2019, View Source [SID1234590997]).

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Plenary Session Presentation Title: A Phase 1b Study of CD40 Agonistic Monoclonal Antibody APX005M Together with Gemcitabine (Gem) and nab-Paclitaxel (NP) with or without Nivolumab (Nivo) in Untreated Metastatic Ductal Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) Patients (Abstract CT004)
Presenter: Mark O’Hara, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Plenary Session Date and Time: Sunday, March 31, 2019 2:25 PM – 2:45 PM ET
Plenary Session: Clinical Trials Plenary Session 1
Location: Georgia World Congress Center, Building A, Marcus Auditorium

Late-breaking Abstract Title: Phase Ib/II of CD40 agonistic antibody APX005M in combination with nivolumab (nivo) in subjects with metastatic melanoma (M) or non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (Abstract CT089)
Poster Session Date and Time: Monday, April 1, 2019 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM ET
Poster Session: Phase 1 Clinical Trials, Part 3
Location: Georgia World Congress Center, Exhibit Hall B, Poster Section 16

About APX005M
APX005M is a humanized monoclonal antibody designed to stimulate the anti-tumor immune response. APX005M targets CD40, a co-stimulatory receptor that is essential for activating both innate and adaptive immune systems. Binding of APX005M to CD40 on antigen presenting cells (i.e., dendritic cells, monocytes and B-cells) is believed to initiate a multi-faceted immune response that enables multiple components of the immune system (e.g., T cells, macrophages) to work in concert against cancer. APX005M is currently in Phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of cancers such as melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, esophageal and gastroesophageal junction cancers and renal cell carcinoma and pediatric brain cancer in various combinations with immunotherapy, a cancer vaccine, chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Additional information on clinical trials for APX005M can be found at www.clinicaltrials.gov.