On January 31, 2019 Repare Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held precision oncology company pioneering synthetic lethality to develop novel therapeutics that target specific vulnerabilities of tumors in clearly defined patient populations, reported that it has entered into an exclusive strategic research, development and commercialization partnership with ONO Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., for Repare’s small molecule Polθ inhibitor program in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and ASEAN countries, excluding mainland China. Repare retains all rights to develop and commercialize the products outside the ONO territory, including the US, Canada and EU.

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"We’re excited to have ONO as a discovery and development partner," said Lloyd M. Segal, President and CEO of Repare. "This relationship will support our drive to and through the clinic in this important new area of precision oncology therapeutic development."

"ONO identified Repare Therapeutics as the partner of choice for bringing in a potential first-in-class and best-in-class Polθ inhibitor to our portfolio," said Gyo Sagara, President, Representative Director and CEO of ONO. "We are excited to work with Repare for the benefit of cancer patients."

Under the terms of the agreement, ONO will provide an up-front payment and research service payments potentially totaling US $15M, plus additional cost-sharing through IND. Beyond IND, significant clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones are also included in the agreement, with a potential total of US $160M. ONO will also pay to Repare high single-digit to low double-digit tiered royalties based on net sales of the products. Repare retains all rights to develop and commercialize the products outside the ONO territory, including the US, Canada and the EU.

Polθ inhibitor opportunity

DNA Polymerase θ (Polθ) is a unique, multifunctional DNA polymerase essential to repairing DNA breaks, especially in homologous recombination deficient (HRD) cells. HRD, including deficiency in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, is a clinically important feature across a variety of important tumor types, including breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancers. Polθ gene expression is low in normal cells but elevated across a broad range of tumor types, including those with HRD. Currently, HRD tumors may be treated with Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerase (PARP) inhibitors, which represent a rapidly growing, multi-billion dollar global market. A significant fraction of patients does not initially respond to PARP inhibitor treatment, and the vast majority of treated patients eventually develop PARP inhibitor resistance. A Polθ inhibitor has potential as both a mono-therapy across multiple tumor types and in combination with PARP inhibitors, where its distinct mechanism of action may help address both forms of PARP resistance. Additional clinical populations may also be attractive for combination treatment with a Polθ inhibitor, including possible combinations with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and Immuno-Oncology agents.

On January 31, 2019 AVEO Oncology (NASDAQ: AVEO) reported that it has accepted the recommendation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) not to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) for tivozanib (FOTIVDA) with the preliminary overall survival (OS) results from the Phase 3 TIVO-3 trial (Press release, AVEO, JAN 31, 2019, View Source [SID1234532989]). The FDA indicated that these preliminary OS results do not allay their concerns about the potential detriment in OS outlined in the complete response letter dated June 6, 2013. The Company now plans to make a NDA filing decision following the availability of more mature OS results.

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As disclosed in November 2018, a preliminary analysis of the secondary endpoint of OS in the TIVO-3 trial showed a hazard ratio (HR) > 1. The Company previously planned to conduct the final OS analysis in August 2019. Due to the longer-than-expected median OS in both arms, and following discussions with the FDA, the Company plans to designate the August 2019 OS analysis as interim. Results of this analysis are expected to be reported in the fourth quarter.

Since initially conducting the preliminary analysis of the OS endpoint in November 2018, the Company has identified the survival status of a group of patients that were previously lost to follow up. With the identification of these OS events, the October 4, 2018 preliminary OS HR was revised from 1.06 to 1.12. The Company has not performed any OS analyses beyond the preliminary October 4, 2018 data cut-off date.

AVEO intends to present detailed results of the TIVO-3 study, the Company’s Phase 3 randomized, controlled, multi-center, open-label study comparing tivozanib to sorafenib in 350 subjects with highly refractory advanced or metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) during an oral session at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU) being held February 14-16, 2019 in San Francisco.

"We are hopeful that the positive PFS outcome will translate into an improved hazard ratio when we evaluate a more mature interim OS outcome in the fourth quarter of 2019," said Michael Bailey, president and chief executive officer of AVEO. "We look forward to continuing to work with the FDA to determine tivozanib’s benefit-risk profile as a single agent in RCC patients."

About Tivozanib (FOTIVDA)

Tivozanib (FOTIVDA) is an oral, once-daily, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) discovered by Kyowa Hakko Kirin and approved for the treatment of adult patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in the European Union plus Norway and Iceland. It is a potent, selective and long half-life inhibitor of all three VEGF receptors and is designed to optimize VEGF blockade while minimizing off-target toxicities, potentially resulting in improved efficacy and minimal dose modifications.1,2 Tivozanib has been shown to significantly reduce regulatory T-cell production in preclinical models3, and has demonstrated synergy in combination with nivolumab (anti PD-1) in a Phase 2 study in RCC. Tivozanib has been investigated in several tumors types, including renal cell, hepatocellular, colorectal and breast cancers.

On January 31, 2019 Invenra and WARF (Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation) reported they have entered into a collaboration to discover and develop a bispecific antibody therapeutic for the treatment of neuroblastoma, a cancer that is the third most common childhood cancer, after leukemia and brain tumors (Press release, Invenra, JAN 31, 2019, View Source [SID1234532990]). The collaboration will use Invenra’s proprietary SNIPERTM technology to allow for precise targeting of the cancer cells while sparing normal nerve cells, and potentially alleviating unwanted toxicities and pain related side effects. The idea for the therapeutic candidate came out of a collaboration between Invenra and University of Wisconsin, Madison Professor, Dr. Paul Sondel, a pediatric oncologist who treats these children in his practice.

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"Invenra’s SNIPERTM technology should enable creation of antibody-based therapies that are specifically able to target tumor cells while not binding to normal tissues. We are excited to be working with Invenra to initiate this approach by directing it towards improving treatment for pediatric neuroblastoma," notes Sondel.

Roland Green, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Invenra states, "We are very excited about this program and the potential it has for helping these children with neuroblastoma. This program also has the potential to treat patients with a variety of other cancers such as glioblastoma (a form of brain cancer), melanoma and small cell lung cancer (SCLC). This collaboration is a good example of the benefits that can come from partnerships between the UW-Madison and industry."

On January 31, 2019 Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AGIO), a leader in the field of cellular metabolism to treat cancer and rare genetic diseases, reported that the company will host a conference call and live webcast on Thursday, February 14, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. ET to report its fourth quarter and full year 2018 financial results and other business highlights (Press release, Agios Pharmaceuticals, JAN 31, 2019, http://investor.agios.com/news-releases/news-release-details/agios-webcast-conference-call-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2018 [SID1234533007]).

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A live webcast can be accessed under "Events & Presentations" in the Investors section of the company’s website at www.agios.com. The conference call can be accessed by dialing 1-877-377-7098 (domestic) or 1-631-291-4547 (international) and referring to conference ID 9886713. The webcast will be archived and made available for replay on the company’s website beginning approximately two hours after the event.

On January 31, 2019 Phyton Biotech and PellePharm reported an exclusive partnership to develop a plant cell culture-based process to enable the future renewable production of the raw material for PellePharm’s patidegib, an investigational topical therapy for Gorlin Syndrome and High Frequency Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) (Press release, Phyton Biotech, JAN 31, 2019, View Source [SID1234532991]). PellePharm is currently investigating the safety and efficacy of patidegib topical gel for the reduction of surgically-eligible BCCs in Gorlin Syndrome patients in a Phase 3 trial.

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The foundation for this joint initiative is Phyton Biotech’s proprietary Plant Cell Fermentation (PCF) technology, a unique platform that enables renewable, reliable and scalable supply of plant-derived compounds like cyclopamine, the key building block in the synthesis of patidegib. Under its agreement with PellePharm, Phyton Biotech will begin development of the new process immediately.

"We are incredibly excited to partner with PellePharm as pioneers in precision medicine to advance this topical skin cancer treatment to the next level of excellence with our patented PCF technology," said Colin Marr, president of Phyton Biotech. "This application of our ‘green chemistry’ process is just the latest example of how Phyton Biotech is advancing traditional manufacturing approaches for high-value phytochemicals and markedly improving patient care."

Currently, cyclopamine is sourced from the perennial herb Veratrum californicum (corn lily), a member of the Liliaceae plant family found in remote mountainous parts of western North America.

"PellePharm’s partnership with Phyton Biotech underscores our commitment to bring a new therapeutic option to patients with Gorlin Syndrome and other skin cancers," said Sanuj Ravindran, president and chief executive officer of PellePharm. "As we begin our pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial of patidegib topical gel and prepare for commercial-scale production of patidegib if approved, we anticipate the demand for cyclopamine will grow, spurring the need for a supplemental and more scalable source."

Gorlin Syndrome, also known as Basal Cell Carcinoma Nevus Syndrome, is a rare, genetic disease that leads to the chronic formation of multiple basal cell carcinomas, often on the face. With no FDA-approved drugs currently available for Gorlin Syndrome, the standard of care is surgery. People with severe Gorlin Syndrome may have as many as 30 or more surgeries per year, which can be repetitive, scarring and disfiguring.

The partnership with PellePharm follows Phyton Biotech’s successful demonstration of its ability to express cyclopamine directly from Veratrum californicum plant cell cultures via PCF. Further development and full scale-up into commercial-size bioreactors of up to 75 m³ in volume, operated in Phyton Biotech’s facility in Germany, is anticipated to follow the current program.

In addition to this project with PellePharm, Phyton Biotech is working on expanding its patent for the renewable production of alkaloids by Liliaceae cell culture to Europe as it is already granted in the United States and other jurisdictions.

Phyton Biotech’s award-winning green chemistry model focuses on plant cell culture development and offers superior quality, reliability, environmental and cost advantages over other methods of production of complex small molecules, plant-based actives and recombinant proteins.