On May 14, 2018 GT Biopharma Inc. (OTCQB: GTBP)(Euronext Paris GTBP.PA) reported the promotion of Dr. Raymond W Urbanski MD, PhD to the position of President and Chief Medical Officer effective immediately. Dr. Urbanski will report to Shawn Cross, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer (Press release, GT Biopharma , MAY 14, 2018, View Source [SID1234539531]).

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"I am pleased to announce the promotion of Dr. Urbanski to President and Chief Medical Officer. The combination of Ray’s experience as a practicing physician and subsequently experience in industry, where he has served in key leadership positions including serving as the Chief Medical Officer of one of Pfizer’s business units and as the Chief Medical Officer of Mylan. His training, depth of knowledge and experience as well as his organizational acumen has been invaluable as we prepare GT Biopharma for our next stage of growth," said Shawn M. Cross, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GT Biopharma. "In addition to pushing forward our pre-clinical and clinical product candidates, Ray has played a critical role in advancing other company initiatives including recruiting experienced members to our scientific advisory board and board of directors, implementing internal processes and procedures, which are less visible but very important, as progress towards certain goals including a NASDAQ up-listing, among others. In short, I am delighted to have Ray as a senior member of our leadership team."

Since joining the company in October 2017 Dr. Urbanski has been instrumental in driving key milestones and initiatives including the transitioning the first TriKE IND from the University of Minnesota to GT Biopharma while engaging the FDA in preparation for human clinical testing to begin in 2H 2018; implementing processes to expedite the identification and development of future tumor antigen targets; driving forward our Bi-specific Antibody Drug Conjugate platform which included the formation of our Antibody-Drug Conjugate Clinical Advisory Board. Dr. Urbanski has also been a major factor in developing a strong working relationship with the University of Minnesota, Masonic Cancer Center, the epicenter of innovation for the TriKE and TetraKE platforms.

Dr. Urbanski also represents the company at key international meetings such as ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper) and the upcoming ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) conferences, attending investor conferences and recruiting top tier Scientific Advisory Board members and consultants.

On May 14, 2018 Delcath Systems, Inc. (OTCQB:DCTHD), an interventional oncology company focused on the treatment of primary and metastatic liver cancers, reported that the Company’s PHP Therapy was featured in a Video Learning Session presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Conference of Interventional Oncology (ECIO). Dr. M.C. Burgmans of Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands presented the training in the main auditorium session dedicated to advances in liver cancer therapies (Press release, Delcath Systems, MAY 14, 2018, View Source;p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2348840 [SID1234526580]). Dr. Burgmans presented an overview of the Percutaneous Hepatic Perfusion (PHP) procedure, discussed the therapy’s developmental history, demonstrating how to perform the procedure, as well as outlining its potential in ocular melanoma liver metastases and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, and highlighting ongoing clinical research.

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"In his presentation, Dr. Burgmans stated his belief that PHP Therapy should be considered as first line therapy in ocular melanoma liver metastases, an opinion informed by both our commercial experience in Europe and our prior research into this tumor type," said Jennifer K. Simpson, Ph.D., MSN, CRNP, President and CEO of Delcath Systems. "LUMC is one of the our most experienced treatment centers, and with CHEMOSAT recently added to the Dutch National Treatment Guidelines for use in ocular melanoma, we believe Dr. Burgmans comments reflect growing confidence in this therapy’s role in treating this disease. We continue to work tirelessly to advance our current clinical trial in this disease in order to further validate this role for our therapy and to deliver on its full potential to patients in need."

The ECIO was held in Vienna, Austria, April 22-25, 2018.

On May 14, 2018 Augmenix, Inc. reported that they will be exhibiting at this year’s American Urological Association meeting in San Francisco, California (Press release, Augmenix, MAY 14, 2018, View Source [SID1234526598]). Located at Booth 6251 Hall D, the company will be featuring their leading product, SpaceOAR hydrogel, which is used in patients receiving radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Attendees of the AUA meeting are invited to visit the exhibit to learn about the latest developments that make SpaceOAR hydrogel the #1 rectal spacer for prostate cancer radiotherapy worldwide.

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Highlights Include:

In booth presentations from Urology experts including Dr. Katsuto Shinohara, from University of California, San Francisco who will speak about the clinical benefits and procedural overview of SpaceOAR hydrogel. Dr. Evan Goldfischer from the Premier Medical Group and Clinical Assistant Professor of Urology at the New York Medical College will speak about integrating SpaceOAR hydrogel into office-based Urology practices. Mark Painter, CEO of PRS, LLC will present the recent positive developments in national reimbursement for the SpaceOAR hydrogel procedure.

Augmenix will also unveil its new customized hands-on simulators at the exhibit, designed to provide Urologists with the ability to perform the SpaceOAR procedure before using it with patients.

The company will also formally launch the Augmenix Spacing Academy, designed to provide the information, tools and on-site support to enable Urologists to experience consistent and optimal patient outcomes.

About SpaceOAR Hydrogel

In April 2015, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared SpaceOAR hydrogel. In a prospective, randomized, multi-center clinical trial in the United States, patients treated with SpaceOAR hydrogel prior to prostate cancer radiation treatment demonstrated bowel, urinary, and sexual benefits through three years median of follow-up. The study found that the patients who did not receive SpaceOAR hydrogel experienced a clinically significant decline in bowel, urinary, and sexual quality of life eight times more often than patients who received SpaceOAR hydrogel. (1,2)

Most recently, Augmenix announced that a Category 1 CPT code (55874) was issued for SpaceOAR hydrogel, which became effective on January 1, 2018. SpaceOAR hydrogel is covered by six out of seven Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs), Geisinger Health Plan, Aetna, Inc., and military payer TRICARE.

On May 14, 2018 Athenex, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNX), a global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies for the treatment of cancer and related conditions, reported its financial results and business highlights for the first quarter 2018 (Press release, Athenex, MAY 14, 2018, View Source;p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2348822 [SID1234526557]).

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Dr. Johnson Lau, Athenex’s Chief Executive Officer, stated, "Our strong performance in the first quarter of 2018 reflects the continued positive momentum generated by our clinical programs and commercial efforts in our first year as a public company. In addition to the positive feedback from the FDA on the Phase III Clinical Study design for Oraxol, our rapid patient recruitment rate for our KX2-391 Ointment Phase III clinical trials is encouraging and puts us on track to announce topline data for these studies in the third quarter of 2018. Additionally, our landmark strategic partnership with Almirall and our commercial platform allowed us to generate record revenues during the first quarter, thus reinforcing our confidence in achieving our revenue guidance for 2018."

Dr. Lau continued, "In addition to these first quarter highlights, we recently announced the FDA has granted us Orphan Drug Designation for Oraxol for the treatment of angiosarcoma, a rare form of malignant blood vessel cancer. This further validates the strategy for the development of Oraxol and is a testament to the quality of our global team. As we move in to the balance of 2018, we are very excited by the multitude of growth opportunities across our platform and look forward to achieving the milestones in our business that will create value for all of our stakeholders."

First Quarter 2018 and Recent Business Highlights:

Clinical Platforms:

Orascovery:
Received Orphan Drug Designation from the US FDA for Oraxol in angiosarcoma, a rare form of malignant blood vessel cancer
Met and exceeded enrollment target for Oraxol Phase III Clinical Trial in metastatic breast cancer and announced positive feedback from the FDA regarding the trial design;
Obtained IND approval for Oraxol from the Chinese FDA to begin clinical trials in China;
Completed the first cohort of patients in its Phase 1b clinical trial of Oraxol (oral paclitaxel) plus CYRAMZA (ramucirumab) in gastric cancer patients who failed previous chemotherapies;

Src Kinase Inhibition
Completed patient enrollment for both Phase III clinical studies of KX2-391 Ointment for actinic keratosis indications months ahead of schedule; and
Phase II clinical study data for KX2-391 Ointment for the treatment of actinic keratosis was presented at the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting (abstract ID 6134).
Commercial Business:

Launched 8 new products during the first quarter;
Athenex Pharmaceutical Division ("APD") currently markets 19 products in the U.S. with 32 SKUs; and
Athenex Pharma Solutions ("APS"), our 503(b) outsourced facility, currently markets 5 products with 23 SKUs.
First Quarter 2018 Financial Results:

Revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2018 was $37.8 million, an increase of $33.2 million, as compared to $4.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017. The increase was primarily attributable to $25.0 million in upfront license fees related to the collaboration agreement with Almirall, S.A., $8.6 million specialty products sold through our Commercial Platform, and $0.4 million in the sales of our 503B products. This was offset by decreases in other out-licensing fees of $0.5 million, contract manufacturing revenue of $0.2 million and API and medical device sales of $0.1 million.

Cost of product sales for the three months ended March 31, 2018 totaled $11.3 million, an increase of $8.5 million, as compared to $2.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017. This was primarily due to the increase of $7.2 million cost of product sales from the recently launched specialty products and $1.3 million cost of product sales from 503B and API products. The decrease in gross profit was primarily due to the impact of the costs incurred for the scale-up of production for new products in our 503B outsourcing facility.

Research and development expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2018 totaled $21.3 million, a decrease of $5.1 million, as compared to $26.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017. This was primarily due to $14.4 million decreased of drug licensing fees to Hanmi and Gland and offset by $6.9 million increase of clinical study costs for Phase III trials of Oraxol and KX-01 Ointment, $1.0 million increase of compensation expenses, $0.9 million increase of product development and supplies related to 503B products and $0.5 million increase in preclinical studies and API R&D expenses.

Selling, general and administrative expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2018, totaled $13.1 million, an increase of $3.3 million, as compared to $9.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017. The increase was primarily due to a $1.4 million increase of compensation expenses, $1.4 million increase of office expenses and professional fees and a $0.5 million increase of sales and marketing costs related to the launch of our proprietary products.

For the three months ended March 31, 2018, the Company incurred a net loss of $7.3 million compared to a net loss of $41.0 million a year ago.

Cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $106.5 million as of March 31, 2018, compared to $51.0 million as of December 31, 2017. This increase was due to an underwritten public offering of 4,765,000 shares of common stock in the first quarter of 2018, pursuant to which the Company raised net proceeds of $68.1 million, net of underwriting discounts, commissions and offering expenses and an upfront license fee payment of $30 million from Almirall. The Company believes that its existing cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments will be sufficient to fund current operating plans through approximately early-2019.

Outlook and Upcoming Milestones:

Clinical Platforms:

The enrollment of patients for Oraxol Phase III Clinical Trial is on target for the Company to be able to conduct a second interim analysis in the Oraxol KX-ORAX-001 Phase III clinical trial in the third quarter of 2018.
Expect topline data for Phase III KX2-391 Ointment studies to be available in the third quarter of 2018.

Commercial Business:

Full-year 2018 revenue in the range of $100 million to $125 million, inclusive of licensing-fee revenue associated with the partnership agreement with Almirall.
Corporate Updates:

Expect Dunkirk facility construction to be completed by the first quarter of 2019.
Conference Call and Webcast Information:

The Company will host a conference call and audio webcast on Monday, May 14, 2018 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. To participate in the call, dial (855) 227-0567 (domestic) or (612) 979-9912 (international) fifteen minutes before the conference call begins and reference the conference passcode 9093904. A replay will be available approximately one hour after the recording through Monday, May 21, 2018 and can be accessed by dialing (855) 859-2056. The live conference call and replay can also be accessed via audio webcast at the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website, located at www.athenex.com. An archive will be available at this website until June 14, 2018.

On May 14, 2018 ERYTECH Pharma (Euronext: ERYP – Nasdaq: ERYP), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies by encapsulating therapeutic drug substances inside red blood cells, reported its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 (Press release, ERYtech Pharma, MAY 14, 2018, View Source [SID1234526581]).

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"Following our successful Nasdaq listing at the end of last year, the first quarter of this year has been focused on the execution of the plan to advance our pipeline into solid tumor indications," said Gil Beyen, chief executive officer at ERYTECH. "Set up activities are on track for the launch of a pivotal Phase 3 trial in second line pancreatic cancer and a Phase 2 trial in first line triple-negative breast cancer. We are expanding our teams and increasing our manufacturing capacity in Europe and the U.S. Furthermore, we will meet with the FDA to discuss our ALL program and await the CHMP’s feedback on our MAA submission for relapsed and refractory ALL. We look forward to providing updates later this year."

Business Highlights

Feedback was obtained from the Commission for Human Medicinal Products (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on the design of the proposed Phase 3 trial with eryaspase in second line pancreatic cancer, confirming earlier feedback by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The proposed Phase 3 trial will evaluate eryaspase in combination with standard chemotherapy, compared to standard chemotherapy alone, in approximately 500 patients in the United States and Europe. The primary endpoint will be overall survival (OS). An interim analysis is foreseen when approximately two-thirds of events have occurred. Set up activities for this pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial are ongoing. Enrollment of the first patient is expected in the third quarter of 2018.
Metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) was selected as the next solid tumor indication for the development of eryaspase. TNBC is an aggressive and metabolically active form of breast cancer for which limited treatment options are available. The planned proof of concept Phase 2 trial will evaluate eryaspase in combination with standard chemotherapy, compared to standard chemotherapy alone, in approximately 60 previously untreated patients in Europe and the United States. An interim analysis is foreseen. The primary endpoint will be objective response rate. Set up activities are ongoing and start of patient enrollment is expected in the third quarter of 2018.
ERYTECH is planning to expand the clinical development of eryaspase to first-line pancreatic cancer, as well as to other solid tumor indications. Program updates are expected later in 2018 and early 2019.
Full results from the U.S. Phase 1 trial evaluating eryaspase in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of first line adult ALL were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper). The data showed eryaspase was well tolerated. Based on the pharmaco-kinetic data and the safety findings, the recommended dose for further clinical development was determined to be 100 U/kg. A meeting with the FDA to discuss the next steps in ALL in the United States is upcoming, based on which we expect to be able to provide feedback during the third quarter of 2018.
Additionally, the Company also presented pre-clinical data on the combination of eryaspase and erymethionase, methionine-gamma-lyase encapsulated in red blood cells. The data in this study suggested that this combination could be promising in vitro and in vivo in a gastric cancer model with tumor growth inhibition in-vivo and decreased tumor cell viability in vitro.
Earlier today, the Company announced the expansion of its executive management team with the addition of Alex Dusek as VP of Commercial Strategy, to lay the groundwork for commercial success and ensure commercial product preparedness, primarily in the U.S. He brings over 25 years of experience including commercial strategic roles at Argos Therapeutics, Bayer, and United Therapeutics.
Financial Highlights

Net loss for the three-month period ended March 31, 2018 was €11.7 million, compared to €6.5 million in the same period of 2017. The €5.2 million increase was primarily attributable to:
An increase in R&D expenses by €1.9 million, related to the Company’s intensified clinical and regulatory activities, as well as the additional staffing for preclinical research and clinical development.
An increase in G&A expenses by €0.8 million, resulting from continued infrastructure developments in line with the Company’s growth.
The accounting of a €2.5 million financial loss, as the Company’s cash position denominated in euros was impacted by the negative currency exchange variation in the period of the U.S. dollar against the euro.
As of March 31, 2018, ERYTECH had cash and cash equivalents totaling €171.8 million, compared with €185.5 million as of December 31, 2017. The €13.8 million decrease in total cash and cash equivalents in the three-month period comprised a total net cash utilization of €11.2 million for operating, investing and financing activities, and a €2.6 million negative foreign exchange impact on the Company’s cash position denominated in U.S. dollars. This financial accounting loss had no real cash impact, as the U.S. dollar position is kept in that currency for U.S. dollar disbursements.
Key Upcoming Milestones Expected in 2018

Meeting with the FDA to discuss next steps in ALL
Launch of a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in second-line pancreatic cancer in Europe and the United States
Launch of a Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical trial in TNBC
CHMP opinion on MAA resubmission for GRASPA in R/R ALL
Initiation of a Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical trial in first-line pancreatic cancer
Initiation of Phase 1 clinical trial with erymethionase
First Quarter Results 2018 Conference Call Details

As a reminder, ERYTECH management will hold a conference call and webcast on Tuesday, May 15th, 2018 at 02:30pm CET / 08:30am EDT to discuss business highlights and financial results for the first quarter of 2018. Gil Beyen, Chairman and CEO, Eric Soyer, CFO and COO and Iman El-Hariry, CMO will deliver a brief presentation, followed by a Q&A session.

The call is accessible via the below teleconferencing numbers, followed by the Conference ID#: 3498017#

USA/Canada: +1 833 818 6807

United-Kingdom: +44 2031070289

Switzerland: +41 445802606

Germany: +49 6922224728

France: +33 176748988

Belgium: +32 24003547

Sweden: +46 856619361

Finland: +358 972519310

Netherlands: +31 207075547

Spain: +34 914142503

The webcast can be followed live online via the link: View Source

An archived replay of the call will be available for 7 days by dialing + 1 800 585 8367, Conference ID: 3498017#

An archive of the webcast will be available on ERYTECH’s website, under the "Investors" section at investors.erytech.com

2018 Financial Calendar:

General Assembly Meeting of Shareholders: Friday, June 22, 2018 at 10:00am CET in Paris
Quarterly financial updates:
Business Update and Financial Highlights for the 2nd quarter and first-half of 2018: September 17, 2018 (after U.S. market close), followed by a conference call and webcast on September 18, 2018 (2:30pm CET/8:30am ET)
Business Update and Financial Highlights for the 3rd quarter of 2018: November 12, 2018 (after U.S. market close), followed by a conference call and webcast on November 13, 2018 (2:30pm CET/8:30am ET)
Upcoming Investor Conferences:

BioEquity Europe 2018, May 16, Ghent
Gilbert Dupont Annual Healthcare Conference, May 29, Paris
Jefferies 2018 Global Healthcare Conference, June 5-6, New York
Journée Valeurs Moyennes SFAF, June 20, Paris
JMP Life Sciences Conference, June 20, New York
European Midcap Event – Spring, June 26-27, Paris