On April 5, 2018 FORMA Therapeutics reported that it has successfully completed a critical objective under its strategic collaboration agreement with Celgene Corporation, triggering an undisclosed payment from Celgene (Press release, Forma Therapeutics, APR 5, 2018, View Source [SID1234525190]). Previously, FORMA and Celgene entered into a collaboration in the promising area of protein homeostasis to discover, develop and commercialize innovative drug candidates. This collaboration enables Celgene to evaluate select therapeutic candidates and programs in protein homeostasis during preclinical development.

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Jim Winkler, Ph.D., Vice President, Biology at FORMA Therapeutics said, "We are pleased with Celgene’s continued confidence in FORMA’s discovery research. This program represents a potential first-in-class therapeutic mechanism, by conferring both anti-tumor and immune-modulatory effects. We believe the field of protein homeostasis will deliver a promising pipeline of drugs, moving beyond cancer into immuno-oncology, inflammation and neurodegeneration."

About Protein Homeostasis

Protein homeostasis, which is important in oncology, neurodegenerative and other disorders, involves a tightly regulated network of pathways controlling the biogenesis, folding, transport and degradation of proteins. Exploring the maintenance and regulation of such competing, yet integrated, biological pathways using a chemical biology approach, should directly contribute to the understanding of diseases associated with excessive protein misfolding, aggregation and degradation

On April 5, 2018 Seattle Genetics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGEN) reported that it will report its first quarter financial results on Thursday, April 26, 2018 after the close of financial markets (Press release, Seattle Genetics, APR 5, 2018, View Source;p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2341209 [SID1234525192]). Following the results announcement, company management will host a conference call and webcast discussion of the results and provide a general corporate update. Access to the event can be obtained as follows:

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LIVE access on Thursday, April 26, 2018

1:30 p.m. Pacific Time / 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time

Telephone 800-263-0877 (domestic) or +1 646-828-8143 (international); conference ID 9171561
Webcast available at www.seattlegenetics.com in the Investors section
REPLAY access

Telephone replay will be available beginning at approximately 4:30 p.m. PT on Thursday, April 26, 2018 through 5:00 p.m. PT on Monday, April 30, 2018 by calling 888-203-1112 (domestic) or +1 719-457-0820 (international); conference ID 9171561
Webcast replay will be available on the Seattle Genetics website at www.seattlegenetics.com in the Investors section

On April 5, 2018 Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRNE) and Celularity Inc. reported that the companies have started screening patients for its leading CD38 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy drug development program, following FDA review allowing clinical trial initiation (Press release, Sorrento Therapeutics, APR 5, 2018, View Source [SID1234525804]).

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Phase 1, Open-Label, Dose-Escalation, Pharmacokinetic, and Pharmacodynamic Study of the Safety and Efficacy of CAR2 Anti-CD38 A2 CAR-T Cells in Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Multiple Myeloma (www.clinicaltrials.gov : NCT03464916). IND filing completed. Study cleared for patient enrollment.

The companies’ CD38 CAR-T program is their most advanced program targeting this difficult-to-treat condition. This trial is currently the only active US-based clinical trial targeting CD38 using a CAR-T cell therapy.

The first investigational site at Roger Williams Medical Center, RI, is actively engaged in the clinical study execution, with additional sites to be included.

"Our CD38 CAR-T program has now officially entered clinical stage and will be treating patients as well as collecting valuable data in the upcoming months. This represents a major milestone for Sorrento and Celularity that clearly demonstrates our keen focus on advancing our therapeutics assets as well as our ability to deliver on the timelines we previously communicated" stated Dr. Henry Ji, Chairman and CEO of Sorrento before adding, "we expect to share initial clinical data from this study as soon as it becomes available".

"We are extremely pleased that we can begin this study in our ongoing efforts to improve treatment options for this and other serious diseases. Celularity, created through the contributions from Celgene Corporation, United Therapeutics, Human Longevity Inc., and founding strategic partner Sorrento, is uniquely positioned to combine its platform cellular technology with the vast tool set accessible from Sorrento," said Dr. Robert Hariri, Chairman and CEO of Celularity. "Celularity is building a deep pipeline of immunotherapeutic products from our proprietary placental cells including ‘off-the-shelf’ CAR-T and CAR-NK cell therapies," added Dr. Hariri.

Utilizing available cGMP manufacturing, Sorrento and Celularity estimate they can produce up to 300 patient treatments per year. These existing capacities easily cover the needs of the Phase 1 clinical study and would be sufficient to meet the requirements for subsequent advanced pivotal clinical studies.

Full details about the study available on www.clinicaltrials.gov

About Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.

Sorrento is a clinical stage, antibody-centric, biopharmaceutical company developing new therapies to turn malignant cancers into manageable and possibly curable diseases. Sorrento’s multimodal multipronged approach to fighting cancer is made possible by its extensive immuno-oncology platforms, including key assets such as fully human antibodies ("G-MAB library"), clinical stage immuno-cellular therapies ("CAR-T"), intracellular targeting antibodies ("iTAbs"), antibody-drug conjugates ("ADC"), and clinical stage oncolytic virus ("Sephrevir").

Sorrento’s commitment to life-enhancing therapies for cancer patients is also demonstrated by our effort to advance a first-in-class (TRPV1 agonist) non-opioid pain management small molecule in Resiniferatoxin ("RTX") and ZTlido. Resiniferatoxin is completing a phase IB trial in terminal cancer patients. ZTlido was approved by the FDA on 02/28/18.

For more information visit www.sorrentotherapeutics.com

On April 4, 2018 Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN), a leader in predictive discovery and development of first-in-class therapeutics for cancer immunotherapy, reported it entered into an exclusive license agreement with MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, to enable the development of bi-specific and multi-specific immuno-oncology antibody products (Press release, Compugen, APR 4, 2018, View Source [SID1234525602]).

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Under the terms of the agreement, Compugen will provide an exclusive license to MedImmune for the development of bi-specific and multi-specific antibody products derived from a Compugen pipeline program. MedImmune has the right to create multiple products under this license and will be solely responsible for all research, development and commercial activities under the agreement. Compugen will receive a $10 million upfront payment and is eligible to receive up to $200 million in development, regulatory and commercial milestones for the first product as well as tiered royalties on future product sales. If additional products are developed, additional milestones and royalties would be due to Compugen. Compugen will retain all other rights to its entire pipeline of programs as monotherapies and in combination with other products.

"We are excited to announce our agreement with MedImmune, a global leader in the development of antibody-based oncology therapeutics," said Anat Cohen-Dayag, PhD, President and CEO of Compugen. "This licensing deal allows us to monetize specific scientific advances in our programs, while we continue to advance our lead programs into clinical trials." Dr. Cohen-Dayag added, "We are committed to our strategy of selectively collaborating with biopharmaceutical companies for the development of first-in-class products against our diverse, computationally-derived portfolio of targets."

"This agreement with Compugen will support our abilities to generate novel immunotherapy targets which, coupled with MedImmune’s expertise in antibody engineering, can advance our goal of delivering treatments to meaningfully improve the lives of cancer patients," said Ronald Herbst, Vice President, Oncology Research & Development, MedImmune.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

Compugen management will host a conference call today, April 2, 2018, at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss the license agreement. To access the live conference call by telephone, please dial 1-800-994-4498 from the U.S. or +972-3-918-0608 internationally. The conference call will also be available via live webcast through Compugen’s website, located at the following link. Following the live audio webcast, a replay will be available on the Company’s website.

About Bi-Specific and Multi-Specific Products

Antibodies are naturally occurring components of the immune system that bind specifically to a target protein via two identical arms. Through genetic engineering, antibodies can be modified to bind to different proteins through the two separate arms by exchanging one arm with that of another antibody with a different target specificity (bi-specific antibodies). Alternatively, additional features can be engineered into an antibody to allow binding to three or more target proteins simultaneously (multi-specific antibodies). These engineered forms of antibodies are increasingly being developed as therapeutics, as they enable multiple mechanisms of action for treating disease within a single molecule.

On April 4, 2018 Loxo Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq:LOXO), a biopharmaceutical company innovating the development of highly selective medicines for patients with genetically defined cancers, reported that interim clinical data from the ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial for LOXO-292, the company’s highly selective RET inhibitor, will be presented in an oral presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting held June 1 – 5, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois (Press release, Loxo Oncology, APR 4, 2018, View Source [SID1234525176]). The presentation is entitled "A Phase 1 Study of LOXO-292, A Potent and Highly Selective RET Inhibitor, in Patients with RET-Altered Cancers."

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The Company will be hosting a conference call and webcast to discuss the data after they are presented at ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper). Details regarding the date and time of the presentation and webcast will be announced closer to the ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) conference.