On Novembber 6, 2018 CytomX Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTMX), a clinical-stage, oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company pioneering a novel class of investigational antibody therapeutics based on its Probody therapeutic technology platform, reported third quarter 2018 financial results (Press release, CytomX Therapeutics, NOV 6, 2018, View Source/news-releases/news-release-details/cytomx-therapeutics-announces-third-quarter-2018-financial" target="_blank" title="View Source/news-releases/news-release-details/cytomx-therapeutics-announces-third-quarter-2018-financial" rel="nofollow">View Source [SID1234530888]).

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As of September 30, 2018, CytomX had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $464.6 million.

"During the third quarter, CytomX made broad progress across our highly innovative pipeline of Probody therapeutics," said Sean McCarthy D.Phil., president and chief executive officer. "CX-072, our lead PD-L1 Probody drug candidate, continues to advance in the clinic, as evidenced by our presentations at ESMO (Free ESMO Whitepaper) that reinforce the encouraging safety and clinical activity profiles of CX-072 as both a monotherapy and in combination with ipilimumab. These clinical data also provide further proof-of-concept for our unique platform. During the quarter, we also initiated a clinical trial for CX-2029, a CD71-directed Probody drug conjugate partnered with AbbVie, continued to advance CX-2009, our PDC targeting CD166, and recently filed an IND for CX-188, our Probody therapeutic targeting PD-1. The ongoing translation of our novel science into the clinic is exciting to see."

Business Highlights and Recent Developments

PROCLAIM-CX-072 (PD-L1 Probody Therapeutic) Clinical Program

CX-072 is a potentially best in class Probody therapeutic targeting PD-L1, a clinically- and commercially-validated anti-cancer target.
CytomX presented updated interim clinical data from two arms of the Phase 1/2 PROCLAIM-CX-072 program with a data cutoff of August 3, 2018 at the 2018 European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) (Free ESMO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting.
CX-072 monotherapy was studied in PD-L1/PD-1 inhibitor naïve patients with advanced unresectable solid tumors or lymphomas for which no PD-L1 or PD-1 inhibitor was approved or available for their disease (Parts A and A2).
The Maximum Tolerated Dose (MTD) was not reached.
Of the 46 patients treated, Grade 3/4 treatment-related adverse events (TRAE) were reported in five patients (11%) and Grade 3/4 immune-related adverse events (irAEs) were observed in 3 patients (7%).
Of the 18 patients treated at doses of 3 mg/kg or above, 3 (17%) achieved an objective response with 1 confirmed and ongoing partial response (PR) and 2 unconfirmed PRs observed. Stable disease was observed in 8 patients (44%) for an overall Disease Control Rate (DCR) of 61%.
CX-072 in combination with Yervoy (ipilimumab) was studied in patients with advanced unresectable solid tumors or lymphomas for which no PD-L1 or PD-1 inhibitor was approved or available for their disease (Part B).
Of the 20 patients treated, Grade 3/4 TRAEs were reported in four patients (20%) and Grade 3/4 immune-related adverse events (irAEs) were reported in 2 patients (10%).
Of the 14 patients treated with 3 mg/kg of ipilimumab and 0.3 – 10 mg/kg of CX-072, 3 (21%) achieved an objective response with 1 confirmed complete response (CR), and 2 confirmed PRs observed. Stable disease was observed in 21% of patients for an overall DCR of 43%.
CytomX continues to enroll and dose patients in monotherapy expansion cohorts in 8 undisclosed tumor types at the dose of 10mg/kg (Part D). Initial clinical data from Part D is expected in 2019.
CytomX continues to enroll and dose patients in a combination trial of CX-072 plus Zelboraf (vemurafenib) in patients with V600E BRAF-positive melanoma (Part C).
CytomX will be presenting clinical translational data from Part A2 of the CX-072 monotherapy trial later this week as a poster and in a rapid-fire oral presentation at the 33rd Annual Meeting of The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper).
The Company will be hosting an Analyst and Investor event on Saturday, November 10th at SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) that will be webcast. Webcast details can be found under the Investor and News section of the Company’s website at www.CytomX.com.

PROCLAIM-CX-2009 (CD166 Probody Drug Conjugate) Clinical Program

CX-2009 is a first in class Probody drug conjugate (PDC) that targets CD166, a broadly and highly expressed tumor antigen.
In the second quarter of 2017, CytomX initiated the PROCLAIM-CX-2009 Phase 1/2 clinical program to evaluate the safety and preliminary anti-tumor efficacy of CX-2009.
Part A (monotherapy dose escalation) was initiated at a dose of 0.25 mg/kg with an anticipated top dose of 6 mg/kg. As of November 2, 2018, the enrolling dose level was 10 mg/kg.
Part A2, was initiated in the second quarter of 2018. In Part A2, patients with CD166+++ expressing tumors are enrolled to receive CX-2009 at doses of 4 mg/kg and above already cleared in Part A (6 patients per dosing cohort). Biopsies are mandatory in A2. As of November 2, 2018, patients were being enrolled in a 9 mg/kg dosing cohort.
CytomX anticipates providing a comprehensive update on the CX-2009 program in the first half of 2019 following the substantial completion of Parts A and A2.
CX-2029 (CD71 Probody Drug Conjugate) Clinical Program

CytomX, in collaboration with AbbVie, is advancing CX-2029, a CD71-directed PDC.
CytomX initiated Part A of the PROCLAIM-CX-2029 Phase 1/2 clinical program in July 2018.
CX-188 (PD-1 Probody Therapeutic) Preclinical Program

CytomX filed an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for CX-188 in October and expects to commence dose escalation studies following IND clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Financial Highlights

In July, CytomX completed an underwritten public offering of 5,867,347 common shares which resulted in net proceeds of $134.6 million to CytomX.
Third Quarter 2018 Financial Results
Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $464.6 million as of September 30, 2018, compared to $374.1 million as of December 31, 2017.

Revenue was $12.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018, compared to $24.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017. The decrease was primarily attributable to the recognition during the third quarter of 2017, in full in accordance with ASC 605, of $14.0 million in revenue (net of the associated sublicense fee of $1.0 million) related to the milestone payment from AbbVie after meeting certain milestones required to begin GLP toxicology studies under the collaboration agreement with AbbVie ("AbbVie CD71 Agreement"). This increase was partially offset by an increase in the third quarter of 2018 of $1.5 million in revenue resulting from the change in method of revenue recognition related to the AbbVie CD71 Agreement from straight-line under ASC 605 to percentage-of-completion under ASC 606 and an increase of $1.5 million in revenue related to the Amgen Collaboration and Licensing Agreement ("Amgen Agreement") executed in September 2017.

Research and development expenses decreased by $1.4 million during the three months ended September 30, 2018 compared to the corresponding period in 2017. The decrease was primarily attributed to the recognition, during the third quarter of 2017, of $10.7 million of non-cash in-process research and development expense and $1.2 million of sublicense fee payable to the University of California, Santa Barbara, both as a result of the Amgen Agreement. These amounts were partially offset by increases in the third quarter of 2018 of $3.2 million in personnel-related expenses and other allocated overhead expenses resulting from an increase in headcount, $2.7 million in lab contracts and services expenses primarily related to CX-2009 Phase 1/2 clinical development and $4.0 million in clinical trial expenses primarily related to CX-072, CX-2009 and CX-2029.

General and administrative expenses increased by $1.9 million during the three months ended September 30, 2018 compared to the corresponding period in 2017. This increase was largely attributed to an increase of $2.1 million in personnel related expenses due to increases in headcount.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

CytomX management will host a conference call today at 5:00 p.m. ET. Interested parties may access the live audio webcast of the teleconference through the Investor and News page of CytomX’s website at View Source or by dialing (877) 809-6037 or (615) 247-0221 and using the passcode 9616738. A replay of the webcast will be available on the CytomX website from November 6, 2018 to November 13, 2018.

On November 6, 2018 Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRNE) ("Sorrento") reported the release of data from a phase 1b clinical trial administering anti-CEA CAR-T by utilizing a unique Pressure-Enabled Drug Delivery (PEDD) manufactured by TriSalus Life Sciences (Press release, Sorrento Therapeutics, NOV 6, 2018, View Source [SID1234532249]). The preliminary data for the Hepatic Immunotherapy for Metastases (HITM-SURE) clinical trial results will be presented in a poster at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, being held November 7-11 in Washington, DC.

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Five patients, four pancreatic and one colorectal, with carcinoembryonic antigen–positive (CEA+), unresectable stage IV adenocarcinoma with liver metastases, who had failed one or more lines of systemic chemotherapy, each received three hepatic artery infusions of Sorrento autologous anti-CEA CAR-T cells using the Hepatic Immunotherapy for Metastases (HITM) method. The immunotherapy was delivered by means of PEDD technology, which overpowers the high pressure within solid tumors that limits the reach and efficacy of therapeutic agents.

Two out of the four pancreatic cancer patients had no viable liver metastases by PET scan after treatment. After 12 months, one patient with stage IV pancreatic carcinoma still showed no evidence of liver metastases on PET imaging, and his primary pancreatic tumor was well-controlled. A second patient with stage IV pancreatic cancer also had no evidence of liver metastases six weeks after CAR-T/PEDD infusions. Median overall survival (OS) post-treatment is 8.3 months and the mean OS is 9.8 months to date. No patient suffered any severe adverse event related to the CAR-T infusions.

"PEDD significantly increased CAR-T, more than five-fold, within liver metastases when compared with low-pressure microcatheters, and serum CEA levels declined on-study in all subjects," said Steven Katz, MD, director of the Office of Therapeutic Development at the Roger Williams Medical Center, and the principal investigator of the trial. "These early results suggest we may be able to achieve a therapeutic dose in solid tumors and avoid the severely limiting systemic side effects, such as neurotoxicity and cytokine release syndrome, that are prevalent with conventional systemic CAR-T administration methods. Furthermore, our delivery approach limits the number of circulating CAR-T cells compared to systemic delivery, which has the potential to improve the safety profile of CAR-T therapies for solid tumors in several critical organs."

"With our CD38 and CEA CAR-T programs, we are addressing the challenges of treating both liquid and solid tumors," stated Henry Ji, PhD, President and CEO. "We are scheduled to discuss with the FDA the continued development of this program towards Licensure."

With a pedigree stretching back almost a quarter of a century, BIO-Europe is not only Europe’s largest partnering conference but, according to a recent analysis by 1stOncology™ (also covering BIO International and BIO Asia), it is also one of the world’s richest displays of cancer drug development companies under one roof! With over 600 oncology companies from more than thirty different countries present at BIO-Europe 2018, this is truly a global event. Many of these have also just presented their latest scientific/clinical advancements at the freshly completed European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) (Free ESMO Whitepaper) (ESMO 2018) congress. Now coming together at the BIO-Europe 2018 meeting they represent more than 5,500 cancer drugs, from discovery to marketed, and are responsible for more than 40% of the world’s current output in cancer R&D, see pipeline breakdown below.

These new cancer drug technologies are being developed from a wide array of organizations, from centuries old universities such as Jagiellonian University (Poland) founded in 1364, to startup companies like Cedilla Therapeutics (USA) and Epigene Therapeutics (Canada), both founded in 2018. Regardless of age they are all coming together at BIO-Europe 2018 to engage with global life science partners.

The global nature of this meeting is revealed when looking at the top nations with cancer drug developing companies present at this year BIO-Europe. It is no surprise to see the United States in first place with 190 companies, UK in second with 48 and Japan is in third place with 41 companies. Please see below table for the top ten nations at BIO-Europe 2018.

In today’s fast moving climate where a company can go from an idea to a public company in a blink of an eye, roughly one third of the 600 cancer companies are publicly traded at various stock exchange markets around the world. No less than seven of these have gone through their initial public offering in 2018 alone, namely ARMO BioSciences, ASLAN Pharmaceuticals, Autolus, BeiGene, Forty Seven, MorphoSys and Sutro Biopharma.

The number of cancer startups, founded in the last five years, present at the BIO-Europe meetings amount to almost fifty, see table below for breakdown per year.

The sizeable cancer pipeline of more than five and a half thousand drugs represented at BIO-Europe is a based on a very diverse selection of technologies and discoveries in cancer biology. Almost one third of these are Immune-Oncology (I-O) drugs including Immune Checkpoint drugs, Cancer vaccines, Bispecific immunomodulators, CAR/TCR therapies and Oncolytic virotherapies, see breakdown by type of I-O drugs below.

In the spotlight of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, companies at BIO-Europe feature nearly 300 different immune checkpoint drugs. Other hot progress areas in cancer therapeutics include DNA Damage Response (DDR) drugs, epigenetic therapies, Protein Kinase Inhibitors (PKIs) and Antibody-Dug Conjugates (ADCs).

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On November 5, 2018 Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American: ATNM) reported that it has been selected to present at the BIO-Europe 24th Annual International Partnering Conference (Press release, Actinium Pharmaceuticals, NOV 5, 2018, View Source [SID1234530708]). The presentation is in addition to the Company’s planned partnering activities at the conference. Sandesh Seth, Actinium’s Chairman and CEO will provide an overview of the Company’s Antibody Radiation Conjugate (ARC) programs including its Iomab-B program and preliminary data from its pivotal Phase 3 SIERRA trial that has been accepted for oral presentation at ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper), its Iomab-ACT program for targeted lymphodepletion prior to CAR-T, its best in class CD33 program and its Antibody Warhead Enabling (AWE) technology platform.

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Presentation Details
Venue: Bella Center Copenhagen
Date: Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Time: 9:00 AM CET
Room: B2 on level 0
Category: Oncology
About BIO-Europe

The 24th annual BIO-Europe is Europe’s largest partnering conference serving the global biotechnology industry. Delegates from all parts of the biotechnology value chain come to BIO-Europe to quickly identify, engage and enter strategic relationships that drive their businesses successfully forward. Investment and collaboration opportunities developed in prior BIO-Europe conferences have produced many highly successful business partnerships. BIO-Europe is organized by EBD Group, the leading partnering firm for the global biotechnology industry, in alliance with the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)

On November 5, 2018 Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INFI) reported its third quarter 2018 financial results and provided an update on the company and its progress with IPI-549, a first-in-class oral immuno-oncology product candidate that selectively inhibits phosphoinositide-3-kinase-gamma (PI3K-gamma) and targets immuno-suppressive tumor macrophages/myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) (Press release, Infinity Pharmaceuticals, NOV 5, 2018, View Source [SID1234530727]).

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"We approach the end of 2018 with tremendous momentum in developing IPI-549 as an effective therapy for patients whose cancers are not adequately treated by existing immuno-therapies," said Adelene Perkins, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of Infinity Pharmaceuticals. "Our clinical and translational data have laid the foundation for the broader, later-stage development of IPI-549, including Infinity’s clinical development of IPI-549 in a Phase 2 trial in urothelial cancer in collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb. We look forward to providing an update at the SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) annual meeting on November 10."

Infinity is evaluating IPI-549 as a monotherapy and in combination with Opdivo (nivolumab), a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, in collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb, in the MARIO-1 Phase 1b study in approximately 200 patients with advanced solid tumors. Infinity is also planning to initiate the MARIO-275 global, randomized Phase 2 study to evaluate the effect of adding IPI-549 to Opdivo in checkpoint inhibitor-naïve advanced urothelial cancer patients who have progressed or recurred following treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy. Approximately 150 patients will be randomized between combination therapy and Opdivo monotherapy. In addition, Arcus Biosciences will initiate two triple combinations investigating IPI-549 with their dual adenosine receptor antagonist, AB928, anti-PD-1 antibody, AB122, and chemotherapy in triple negative breast cancer and ovarian cancer. One triple combination therapy will evaluate IPI-549 in combination with AB928 and AB122 and the second will evaluate IPI-549 in combination with AB928 and chemotherapy, with topline data expected in 2019.

Recent developments include the following:

IPI-549

Infinity to Host Investor Reception and Webcast at the SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) Annual Meeting to Discuss Combination Expansion Data from the IPI-549 MARIO-1 Phase 1b Study: Saturday, November 10, 2018 from 6:30 a.m. ET – 7:30 a.m. ET.
Announcement of clinical collaboration with BMS to evaluate IPI-549 in MARIO-275 Controlled Phase 2 Study of IPI-549 in Combination with Opdivo in Urothelial Cancer: This study leverages the exploratory analyses of data from Bristol-Myers Squibb’s CheckMate-275 study, in which high levels of MDSCs were associated with shorter overall survival in patients treated with Opdivo.[1] In Infinity’s MARIO-1 trial, MDSCs were reduced in the majority of patients treated with IPI-549 monotherapy.[2] IPI-549 in combination with nivolumab has been well tolerated and demonstrated early evidence of clinical activity with translational studies demonstrating evidence of on-mechanism IPI-549-mediated effects.[3]
Third Quarter 2018 Financial Results

At September 30, 2018, Infinity had total cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities of $42.2 million, compared to $49.2 million at June 30, 2018.
Revenue for the third quarter of 2018 was $22.0 million, all of which related to the amount due from Verastem for the approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on September 24, 2018 of duvelisib for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma after at least two prior therapies, as well as adult patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma after at least two prior systemic therapies. Infinity received the $22.0 million in cash on November 2nd, which is not reflected in the $42.2 million cash balance as of September 30, 2018. Revenue for the third quarter of 2017 was $6.0 million, all of which related to the amount due from Verastem for the DUO study meeting the pre-specified criteria at completion.
R&D expense for the third quarter of 2018 was $5.4 million, compared to $9.3 million for the same period in 2017. The decrease in R&D expense was primarily due to the convertible note issued to Takeda in July 2017.
General and administrative expense was $3.4 million for the third quarter of 2018, compared to $4.5 million for the same period in 2017. The decrease in G&A expense was primarily due to a reduction in stock compensation.
Net income for the third quarter of 2018 was $13.4 million, or a basic and diluted earnings per common share of $0.23, compared to a net loss of $7.1 million, or a basic and diluted loss per common share of $0.14 for the same period in 2017.
Financial Outlook
Infinity’s 2018 financial guidance is:

Net Loss: Infinity expects net loss for 2018 to range from $10 million to $20 million.
Cash and Investments: Infinity expects to end 2018 with a year-end cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities balance ranging from $50 million to $60 million.
Cash Runway: Based on its current operational plans, Infinity expects that its existing cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities will be adequate to satisfy the company’s capital needs into 2020. Infinity’s financial guidance excludes additional funding or business development activities and does not include a potential $2 million payment from PellePharm, a private company, upon initiation of a Phase 3 study for the hedgehog inhibitor program, which Infinity licensed to PellePharm in 2013.
Conference Call Information
Infinity will host a conference call today, November 5, 2018, at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss these financial results and company updates. A live webcast of the conference call can be accessed in the "Investors/Media" section of Infinity’s website at www.infi.com. To participate in the conference call, please dial 1-877-316-5293 (domestic) or 1-631-291-4526 (international) five minutes prior to start time. The conference ID number is 8617458. An archived version of the webcast will be available on Infinity’s website for 30 days.

About IPI-549 and the Ongoing MARIO-1 Phase 1/1b Study
IPI-549 is an investigational first-in-class, oral, immuno-oncology product candidate targeting tumor-associated myeloid cells through selective phosphoinositide-3-kinase-gamma (PI3K-gamma) inhibition, thereby reducing pro-tumor macrophage function and increasing anti-tumor macrophage function. In preclinical studies, IPI-549 demonstrated the ability to reprogram macrophages from a pro-tumor (M2), immune suppressive function, to an anti-tumor (M1) immune activating function and enhance the activity of, and overcome resistance to, checkpoint inhibitors.[4], [5] As such, IPI-549 may have the potential to treat a broad range of solid tumors and represents a potentially additive or synergistic approach to restoring anti-tumor immunity in combination with other immunotherapies such as checkpoint inhibitors.

The ongoing MARIO-1 Phase 1/1b study being conducted by Infinity is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, activity, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of IPI-549 as a monotherapy and in combination with Opdivo in approximately 200 patients with advanced solid tumors.[6] The study includes monotherapy and combination dose-escalation components, in addition to monotherapy expansion and combination expansion components. The monotherapy dose-escalation and expansion components are complete. The combination dose-escalation component is also complete, and combination expansion cohorts are enrolling.

The combination expansion component of the study includes multiple cohorts designed to evaluate IPI-549 in patients with specific types of cancer, including patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma and head and neck cancer whose tumors show initial resistance or initially respond to but subsequently develop resistance to immune checkpoint blockade therapy. The combination expansion component also includes a cohort of patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) who have not been previously treated with immune checkpoint blockade therapy, a cohort of patients with mesothelioma, a cohort of patients with adrenocortical carcinoma and a cohort of patients with high baseline blood levels of MDSCs.

IPI-549 is an investigational compound and its safety and efficacy has not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any other health authority.