On Janaury 3, 2019 DURECT Corporation (Nasdaq: DRRX) reported that interested parties to listen to a corporate update conference call that will be broadcast live over the internet on Monday, January 7, 2019 at 8:00 am Eastern Time (5:00 am Pacific Time) (Press release, DURECT, JAN 3, 2019, http://investors.durect.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=121590&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2382096 [SID1234532457]).

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A live audio webcast of the presentation will be available by accessing DURECT’s homepage at www.durect.com and clicking "Investor Relations." If you are unable to participate during the live webcast, the call will be archived on DURECT’s website under Audio Archive in the "Investor Relations" section.

On January 3, 2019 Adlai Nortye Ltd. ("Adlai Nortye"), a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company reported that it has entered into a clinical collaboration with Merck (known as MSD outside the US and Canada) to evaluate the combination of Adlai Nortye’s AN0025 (EP4 Antagonist) and Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), in patients with solid tumors (Press release, Merck & Co, JAN 3, 2019, View Source [SID1234553811]).

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Under the terms of the agreement, Adlai Nortye and Merck will collaborate in a clinical trial to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of the combination of AN0025 (EP4 Antagonist) and KEYTRUDA in patients with solid tumors.

"We are excited to announce this collaboration with Merck, to help bring innovative cancer treatments to patients with unmet medical needs. AN0025 is an investigational, oral EP4 antagonist – potentially first-in-class – with high activity and high selectivity," said Carsten Lu, CEO of Adlai Nortye. "Based on preliminary results, it is well tolerated in patients with solid tumors. This collaboration is supported by our recent preclinical data demonstrating the potential ability of AN0025 (EP4 Antagonist) to rescue patients who do not initially respond to anti-PD-1 therapy alone or who are resistant to PD-1 inhibitors with solid tumors."

"With its proposed mechanism of action and observed preclinical results, we believe that AN0025 (EP4 Antagonist) will become a key component in furthering the development of our oncology pipeline," said Dr. Lars Birgerson, CDO and CEO of Adlai Nortye USA. "In preclinical studies, AN0025 (EP4 Antagonist) combined with radiotherapy, chemoradiotherapy and with immune checkpoint inhibitors demonstrated antitumor activity in different malignancies, we are optimistic that the combination of AN0025 (EP4 Antagonist) with KEYTRUDA may provide meaningful clinical benefit in patients with solid tumors."

On January 3, 2019 Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATRA), a leading off-the-shelf, allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy company developing novel treatments for patients with cancer, autoimmune and viral diseases, reported that Isaac Ciechanover, M.D., plans to step down as the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer (Press release, Atara Biotherapeutics, JAN 3, 2019, View Source [SID1234532387]). The Board of Directors has initiated a search for his successor. Dr. Ciechanover will remain in his role as President and CEO until the earlier of the appointment of his successor or June 30, 2019.

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"Isaac is a visionary founder and CEO who started Atara in honor of his mother to transform the lives of patients with serious medical conditions," said Carol G. Gallagher, Pharm. D., Atara’s lead independent director. "Over the past six years, Isaac has dedicated himself to building Atara into a leading T-cell immunotherapy company. Atara’s collaboration with MSK announced today furthers the Company’s vision to develop ground-breaking CAR T immunotherapies. We on the board wish to thank Isaac for his extraordinary leadership and look forward to his continued contribution to advancing new medicines and improving patient lives."

Dr. Ciechanover commented, "It has been a privilege to lead Atara from its founding and through its transformation into a leading late-stage development company with world-class manufacturing capabilities. The dedicated and talented Atara team is now advancing rapidly toward commercializing the first-off-the-shelf, allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy. I look forward to working with the Board to transition a successor who can build on all our success and guide Atara in the years ahead."

On January 3, 2019 Moleculin Biotech, Inc., (Nasdaq: MBRX) ("Moleculin" or the "Company"), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development of oncology drug candidates, all of which are based on license agreements with The University of Texas System on behalf of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, reported that in preliminary animal studies, a second of its lead drugs, WP1732, has demonstrated enhanced activity in combination with checkpoint blockade antibodies in pancreatic cancer (Press release, Moleculin, JAN 3, 2019, View Source [SID1234532405]).

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"After our sponsored research demonstrated that WP1066 was able to enhance immune checkpoint activity in a pancreatic cancer animal model," commented Walter Klemp, Moleculin’s Chairman and CEO, "we were optimistic that we could show similar potential results in our water soluble, WP1732 drug candidate. This is significant for several reasons. It shows that this is a consistent capability across our platform of STAT3 inhibitors and it further supports independent research suggesting that STAT3 may be a key to enabling checkpoint blockade activity in otherwise resistant tumors. Importantly, though, when you couple this with our recent findings that WP1732 accumulates disproportionately in the pancreas, we believe it points to WP1732 as a potentially pivotal new approach to treating pancreatic cancer. Expansion of the WP1732 and WP1066 in vivo studies is in progress."

On January 3, 2019 Genprex, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNPX), a clinical-stage gene therapy company developing a new approach to treating cancer based upon a novel proprietary technology platform, reported that it will present at Biotech Showcase 2019, to be held January 7–9, during the most important week in healthcare finance at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square (Press release, Genprex, JAN 3, 2019, View Source [SID1234532421]).

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Genprex will present at Biotech Showcase as follows:

Date: Monday, January 7, 2019

Time: 3:30pm (PST)

Room: Franciscan A (Ballroom Level)

Venue: Hilton San Francisco Union Square Hotel, 333 O’Farrell Street, San Francisco, CA

Genprex is pioneering a new approach to treating cancer–based upon a novel proprietary technology platform–that includes the company’s initial product candidate, Oncoprex immunogene therapy. The company holds a portfolio of 30 issued patents, and two pending patents covering its proprietary platform technologies–and it has seen tremendous promise from pre-clinical research and clinical trials of those technologies at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The Clinical and pre-clinical research conducted to date indicates that Genprex’s lead candidate, Oncoprex, is synergistic with and may enhance the efficacy of commercially approved and highly successful epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors. To date, multiple clinical trials have demonstrated potential for the intravenous, systemic delivery of Oncoprex, which is comprised of the tumor suppressor gene TUSC2 (also known as FUS1) encapsulated in a lipid nanovesicle.

"Genprex stands at the forefront of the new age in the fight against cancer, and I am immensely proud to be with a company operating in that position," said Rodney Varner, CEO of Genprex. "In my three decades of professional experience, I’ve never worked with another company that has the innovative, dedicated, and multi-faceted talent we have at Genprex. It is inspiring to work with such a tireless group in such a revolutionary sector of the biomedical field."

Biotech Showcase, produced by Demy-Colton and EBD Group, is an investor and networking conference devoted to providing private and public biotechnology and life sciences companies with an opportunity to present to, and meet with, investors and executives in one place during the course of one of the industry’s largest annual healthcare investor conferences, J.P. Morgan Annual Healthcare Conference.

"We are delighted that Genprex will be presenting at Biotech Showcase this year," said Sara Demy, CEO of Demy-Colton. "Biotech Showcase is the perfect platform for life science companies to showcase their innovation and seek out their next deal. We are thrilled to, once again, be hosting what we believe will be the great strategic networking opportunity of 2019."