On July 24, 2018 F-star, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel bispecific antibodies (mAb²), reported that FS118 has successfully reached the first clinical milestone in its collaboration with Merck, a leading science and technology company (Press release, f-star, JUL 24, 2018, View Source [SID1234527845]).

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FS118 is a first-in-class antagonist mAb² which simultaneously targets the LAG-3 and PD-L1 immuno-suppressive pathways and which has the potential to overcome tumour resistance and restore the natural anti-cancer immune response.

In May 2018, FS118 entered into a Phase I study in patients with advanced malignancies that have progressed on PD-1/PD-L1 therapy.

"Achieving this clinical milestone is a significant step in our alliance with Merck" said John Haurum, CEO of F-star. "FS118 is uniquely positioned as a first-in-class treatment for cancer patients. We are pleased with the progress being made and look forward to advancing our next mAb² molecules into the clinic."

Under the collaboration, which was announced in June 2017, Merck has an exclusive option to acquire FS118 and a further four early stage immuno-oncology bispecific antibody programmes which are under discovery and development by F-star. Further payments are contingent on option exercise and achievement of clinical and commercial milestones with a potential total deal value reaching over €1B.

FS118 was generated using F-star’s proprietary Modular Antibody Technology by incorporating an anti-LAG-3 Fcab (Fc-region with antigen binding) into a PD-L1-specific antibody. Further information about the ongoing Phase I clinical trial is available on clinicaltrials.gov NCT03440437.

On July 24, 2018 Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRTX), a clinical-stage targeted oncology company, reported that two abstracts highlighting data from ongoing clinical studies of sitravatinib will be presented as Proffered Papers in oral presentations at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology October 19-23 in Munich, Germany (Press release, Mirati, JUL 24, 2018, View Source [SID1234527849]).

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Title: Stage 2 enrollment complete: Sitravatinib in Combination with Nivolumab in NSCLC Patients Progressing on Prior Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy
Presentation Topic: Proffered paper session – Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper) (ID 159)
Location: Hall A2 – Room 18, ICM München, Munich, Germany
Lecture Date and Time: October 22, 2018 at 12:06 p.m. – 12:18 p.m. CEST
Presentation Number: 1129O
Presenter: Ticiana A. Leal, M.D.

Title: Sitravatinib demonstrates activity in patients with novel genetic alterations that inactivate CBL
Presentation Topic: Proffered paper session – Developmental therapeutics (ID 170)
Location: Hall B3 – Room 22, ICM München, Munich, Germany
Lecture Date and Time: October 21, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. – 11:12 a.m. CEST
Presentation Number: 408O
Presenter: Lyudmila Bazhenova, M.D.

On July 24, 2018 Aptose Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:APTO) (TSX:APS), a clinical-stage company developing highly differentiated therapeutics targeting the underlying mechanisms of cancer, reported that it will release its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2018 on Tuesday, August 7, 2018 at 5:00 pm Eastern time (Press release, Aptose Biosciences, JUL 24, 2018, View Source;p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2359587 [SID1234527824]).

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Conference Call & Webcast:
Tuesday, August 7, 2018 @ 5:00 pm Eastern time
Toll-Free: (844) 882-7834
International: (574) 990-9707
Passcode: 2693419
Webcast: View Source

Replays available through August 14, 2018
Toll-Free: (855) 859-2056
Replay Passcode: 2693419
The live conference call can also be accessed through a link on the Investor Relations section of Aptose’s website at ir.aptose.com. Please log onto the webcast at least 10 minutes prior to the start of the call to ensure time for any software downloads that may be required. An archived version of the webcast along with a transcript will be available on the company’s website for 30 days.

The press release, the financial statements and the management’s discussion and analysis for the quarter ended June 30, 2018 will be available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and EDGAR at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml

On July 24, 2018 A-Alpha Bio reported that it has been awarded a National Science Foundation Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $225,000 to develop AlphaSeq: a cell-based platform that will accelerate cancer drug development by enabling high-throughput and quantitative characterization of protein-protein interactions (Press release, A-Alpha Bio, JUL 24, 2018, View Source [SID1234636894]).

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Proteins bind to one another, like Lego pieces, to form complex biological machines. In cancer cells, these machines are dysregulated, causing cell-survival and uncontrolled growth. Pharmaceutical companies are developing drugs that kill cancer cells by blocking key protein-protein interactions. However, blocking any of the millions of protein-protein interactions that occur in healthy cells could cause serious side-effects, making specificity a major concern.

"A-Alpha Bio’s AlphaSeq technology is a game-changer for preclinical drug screening," said Randolph Lopez, CTO and Co-founder of A-Alpha Bio. "It lets us measure the effect of a drug on thousands of protein-protein interactions simultaneously, instead of having to measure each one individually. Pharmaceutical companies will not have to limit their preclinical testing to a small number of likely off-target effects. With AlphaSeq, they can avoid costly and potentially life-threatening surprises during clinical trials by screening their drugs against whole protein networks"

Protein interactions are already widely recognized as being critically important for the development of many different types of drugs. AlphaSeq provides a unique advantage over existing approaches by combining high accuracy and throughput, which is enabled by advances in the fields of synthetic biology and DNA sequencing. This SBIR grant is aimed at expanding the capabilities of AlphaSeq for screening interactions with challenging proteins and insoluble small molecule drugs. Once completed, A-Alpha Bio will be eligible to apply for a Phase II grant (up to $750,000) for pilot testing and scale-up.

Biogen has filed a 10-Q – Quarterly report [Sections 13 or 15(d)] with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Filing, 10-Q, Biogen, 2018, JUL 24, 2018, View Source [SID1234527837]).

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