Exact Sciences to participate in J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference

On December 20, 2018 Exact Sciences Corp. (Nasdaq: EXAS) reported that company management will be presenting at the following investor conference and invited investors to participate by webcast (Press release, Exact Sciences, DEC 20, 2018, View Source [SID1234532218]).

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J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference presentation, San Francisco
Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019, at 2:00 p.m. PST
J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference question & answer session, San Francisco
Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019, at 2:30 p.m. PST

The webcast can be accessed in the investor relations section of Exact Sciences’ website at www.exactsciences.com.

Vaccitech receives £6M investment from GeneMatrix and Korea Investment Partners

On December 20, 2018 Vaccitech, a clinical stage developer of a universal flu vaccine and other vaccine-related products, reported that it has received a joint £6m investment from a Korean biotech company, GeneMatrix, and venture capital and private equity firm, Korea Investment Partners (Press release, Vaccitech, DEC 20, 2018, View Source [SID1234532187]).

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Vaccitech and GeneMatrix also intend to enter into a formal collaborative agreement that will create business synergies between the companies through expansion of advanced vaccine development programs in Korea. GeneMatrix has recently begun internal vaccine development through a Zika virus vaccine program, backed by a government grant from Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccitech will use the present investment to advance ongoing clinical projects and expand its research and development efforts.

Tom Evans, Chief Executive Officer at Vaccitech, said:

"The GeneMatrix team is experienced in the infectious disease areas, especially in chronic Hepatitis B and Human Papilloma virus, which are a major unmet medical need, and our vaccine programs in such areas will be quite synergistic."

Soo-OK Kim, Chief Executive Officer at GeneMatrix, added:

"We hope the combination of Vaccitech’s T-cell induction platform and GeneMatrix’s molecular and therapeutic platform will lead to better clinical development of advanced vaccines and new therapeutics."

Vaccitech is a spin-out from the University of Oxford and is commercialising decades of viral vector vaccine research conducted at the University’s Jenner Institute. The company’s proprietary T-cell induction platform comprises non-replicating viral vectors that induce some of the most potent cell-mediated immune responses reported in humans against target pathogens and cancer. Vaccitech has multiple vaccine and therapeutic products targeting indications across infectious diseases and oncology.

Illumina to Webcast Upcoming Investor Conference Presentations

On December 20, 2018 Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) reported that its executives will be speaking at the following investor conference and invited investors to participate via webcast (Press release, Illumina, DEC 20, 2018, View Source [SID1234532202]).

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J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, CA on Monday, January 7, 2019
Presentation at 3:00 pm Pacific Time followed by a Q&A Session at 3:30 pm Pacific Time

The live webcast can be accessed in the Investor Relations section of Illumina’s web site under the "company" tab at www.illumina.com. A replay of the presentation will be posted on Illumina’s web site after the event and will be available for at least 30 days following.

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals Initiates Pivotal Phase 3 Clinical Study of Ripretinib (DCC-2618) in Second-line Patients with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (“INTRIGUE” Study)

On December 20, 2018 Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCPH), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on addressing key mechanisms of tumor drug resistance, reported that it has initiated a pivotal Phase 3 clinical study, "INTRIGUE", to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of ripretinib (DCC-2618), a broad-spectrum KIT and PDGFRα inhibitor, compared to sunitinib in second-line gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) patients (Press release, Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, DEC 20, 2018, View Source [SID1234532219]).

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"We are extremely pleased that the INTRIGUE Phase 3 study of ripretinib is now open to enroll second-line GIST patients, regardless of their mutational status, who have progressed on, or are intolerant to front-line therapy with imatinib," said Michael D. Taylor, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Deciphera. "If successful, we believe this Phase 3 study could serve as the basis for a regulatory submission for broad use in all second-line GIST patients."

"INTRIGUE is the second pivotal Phase 3 study of ripretinib that Deciphera has initiated in less than one year. As recently announced, we expect to report top-line data from our first Phase 3 clinical study, INVICTUS, in fourth-line and fourth-line-plus GIST patients in mid-2019," continued Dr. Taylor.

"While imatinib is an effective treatment for most patients with early-stage GIST, in almost all patients the disease will eventually progress due to the development of secondary drug resistance mutations," said Professor Michael Heinrich, MD, Cell and Developmental Biology, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. "A well-tolerated therapy with broad coverage and efficacy across the spectrum of KIT and PDGFRα mutations would represent a much-needed improvement over currently approved therapies for patients with GIST."

About the INTRIGUE Phase 3 Study
The INTRIGUE Phase 3 clinical study is an interventional, randomized, global, multicenter, open-label study to evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of ripretinib compared to sunitinib in patients with GIST previously treated with imatinib. This study was designed to support regulatory approvals in second-line GIST patients in the United States, Europe and other major markets. Patients will be randomized 1:1 to either 150 mg of ripretinib once daily or 50 mg of sunitinib once daily for four weeks followed by two weeks without sunitinib. The primary efficacy endpoint is median progression-free survival (mPFS) as determined by independent radiologic review using modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). Secondary endpoints as determined by independent radiologic review using modified RECIST include Objective Response Rate (ORR) and Overall Survival (OS). See www.clinicaltrials.gov for further information (NCT03673501).

About the INVICTUS Phase 3 Study
The INVICTUS Phase 3 clinical study is a randomized, double‑blind, placebo-controlled, global, multicenter trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of ripretinib compared to placebo in patients with advanced GIST whose previous therapies have included at least imatinib, sunitinib, and regorafenib. This fully enrolled study was designed to support regulatory approvals in fourth-line and fourth-line-plus GIST patients in the United States, Europe and other major markets. Patients were randomized 2:1 to either 150 mg of ripretinib or placebo once daily. The primary efficacy endpoint is median progression-free survival (mPFS) as determined by independent radiologic review using modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). Secondary endpoints as determined by independent radiologic review using modified RECIST include Objective Response Rate (ORR), Time to Tumor Progression (TTP), and Overall Survival (OS). See www.clinicaltrials.gov for further information (NCT03353753).

About Ripretinib
Ripretinib (DCC-2618) is an investigational KIT and PDGFRα kinase switch control inhibitor in clinical development for the treatment of KIT and/or PDGFRα-driven cancers, including gastrointestinal stromal tumors, or GIST, systemic mastocytosis, or SM, and other cancers. Ripretinib was specifically designed to improve the treatment of GIST patients by inhibiting a broad spectrum of mutations in KIT and PDGFRα. Ripretinib is a KIT and PDGFRα inhibitor that blocks initiating and secondary KIT mutations in exons 9, 11, 13, 14, 17, and 18, involved in GIST as well as the primary D816V exon 17 mutation involved in SM. Ripretinib also inhibits primary PDGFRα mutations in exons 12, 14 and 18, including the exon 18 D842V mutation, involved in a subset of GIST.

About Deciphera Pharmaceuticals
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the lives of cancer patients by tackling key mechanisms of drug resistance that limit the rate and/or durability of response to existing cancer therapies. Our small molecule drug candidates are directed against an important family of enzymes called kinases, known to be directly involved in the growth and spread of many cancers. We use our deep understanding of kinase biology together with a proprietary chemistry library to purposefully design compounds that maintain kinases in a "switched off" or inactivated conformation. These investigational therapies comprise tumor-targeted agents designed to address therapeutic resistance causing mutations and immuno-targeted agents designed to control the activation of immunokinases that suppress critical immune system regulators, such as macrophages. We have used our platform to develop a diverse pipeline of tumor-targeted and immuno-targeted drug candidates designed to improve outcomes for patients with cancer by improving the quality, rate and/or durability of their responses to treatment.

Apexigen announces Clinical Collaboration on a New Phase 2 Trial For APX005M in Sarcoma

On December 20, 2018 Apexigen, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, reported a collaboration with Columbia University Irving Medical Center on a new Phase 2 study for its lead immuno-oncology (I-O) therapeutic APX005M, a monoclonal antibody targeting CD40, in combination with doxorubicin and olaratumab in patients with advanced sarcomas (Press release, Apexigen, DEC 20, 2018, View Source [SID1234590999]). The trial is being funded by Apexigen and is being conducted by researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

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"We are excited to collaborate on this important new study," said Xiaodong Yang, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Apexigen. "We believe that combining APX005M with the standard of care could benefit many cancer patients. In conducting this trial we hope that we may advance better I-O treatment options for patients with sarcomas."

Additional information on this trial can be found on the ClinicalTrials.gov website at: NCT03719430.

About APX005M
APX005M is a novel, humanized monoclonal antibody that stimulates 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) initiates a multi-faceted immune response bringing 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 in various combinations with immunotherapy, chemotherapy or radiation therapy.