On December 19, 2018 On December 19, 2018, BeiGene, Ltd. (the "Company") reported that it received notice from Merck KGaA ("Merck KGaA") that Merck KGaA was terminating for convenience the parties’ License Agreement dated December 10, 2013, as amended, for the Company’s investigational RAF dimer inhibitor lifirafenib (BGB-283) in the People’s Republic of China ("PRC") (Filing, 8-K, BeiGene, DEC 19, 2018, View Source [SID1234532301]). As a result of such termination, Merck KGaA’s exclusive right of first negotiation to acquire exclusive commercialization rights under the lifirafenib RAF dimer program in the PRC was terminated and the Company is no longer required to pay Merck KGaA royalties on sales of lifirafenib in the PRC or entitled to receive future milestone payments from Merck KGaA for lifirafenib. The Company’s ex-PRC agreement with Merck KGaA on lifirafenib was terminated in March 2017.

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On December 19, 2018 Compass Therapeutics, a biotechnology company committed to the ambitious goal of comprehensively drugging the human immune system, reported the appointment of veteran biopharma leaders Yu Liu, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, as chief medical officer and Lynne Sullivan as chief financial officer (Press release, Compass Therapeutics, DEC 19, 2018, View Source [SID1234532145]).

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Dr. Liu, who most recently served as vice president and head of early clinical development at Pfizer, will oversee Compass’ development of a deep pipeline of immuno-oncology and autoimmune disease candidates. The company’s lead candidate, CTX-471, a fully human monoclonal antibody that induces remodeling of the tumor microenvironment and leads to immune-mediated destruction of solid tumors, is expected to enter the clinic in the first quarter of 2019. More than 15 therapeutic candidates are advancing through preclinical development and the research team continues to generate an exciting array of novel candidates through the company’s proprietary antibody development platform.

Ms. Sullivan, who most recently served as senior vice president, finance at Biogen, will lead financial planning and management at Compass at a time of significant growth for the company.

"Yu and Lynne bring essential skills and expertise to Compass as we prepare to take our lead program into the clinic in the coming months," said Thomas Schuetz, M.D., Ph.D., the company’s co-founder and chief executive officer. "Their depth of experience and the strength of their leadership will serve us well, and we’re excited to welcome them aboard."

At Pfizer, Dr. Liu oversaw early clinical development of the company’s pipeline candidates in internal medicine, rare disease and inflammation/ immunology. Prior to Pfizer, Dr. Liu led Biogen’s early clinical development effort in rare disease, with an emphasis on cell and gene therapy. Earlier, he held various leadership roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb, culminating in his position as vice president of the oncology business unit, based in Shanghai, China. Previously Dr. Liu held positions at Essentialis Therapeutics and Amgen. Dr. Liu trained in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. He received his Ph.D. in immunology from Boston University and his MBA in finance from University of Massachusetts, Boston. He also completed a residency scholarship program in clinical research at the Harvard School of Public Health.

At Biogen, Ms. Sullivan moved through positions of increasing responsibility during her more than 10-year tenure and was named senior vice president of finance in 2015. In that role, she led financial planning and analysis, corporate finance and tax functions for Biogen’s global operations. Prior to Biogen, Ms. Sullivan served as a vice president overseeing tax function for Merck KGaA’s North American operationsand was Serono’s Vice President, Tax, Americas and International for seven years. She was a Tax Partner in the Boston office of Arthur Andersen prior to joining Serono. She currently serves as director and chair of the audit committee for both resTORbio and Solid Biosciences. Ms. Sullivan earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Suffolk University and a master’s in taxation from Bentley University. She is also a CPA in Massachusetts.

On December 19, 2018 Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc (Nasdaq: JAZZ) reported that the company will be webcasting its corporate presentation at the 37th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, CA (Press release, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, DEC 19, 2018, View Source [SID1234532162]).

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Bruce Cozadd, chairman and chief executive officer, will provide an overview of the company and a business and financial update at the conference on Monday, January 7, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. PST / 6:30 p.m. GMT.

A live audio webcast of the presentation may be accessed from the Investors section of the Jazz Pharmaceuticals website at View Source Please connect to the website prior to the start of the presentation to ensure adequate time for any software downloads that may be necessary to listen to the webcast.

An archive of the webcast will be available for at least one week following the presentation on the Investors section of the company’s website at View Source

On December 19, 2018 Ziopharm Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZIOP) and TriArm Therapeutics, Ltd, reported they will launch Eden BioCell, Ltd. to lead clinical development and commercialization of Sleeping Beauty-generated CAR-T therapies in the People’s Republic of China (including Macau and Hong Kong), Taiwan and Korea (Press release, Ziopharm, DEC 19, 2018, View Source [SID1234573334]). TriArm is a cell therapy company with operations in Germany, China and the United States that was formed by Panacea Venture Healthcare, a fund co-founded and managed by James Huang, Managing Partner of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers China (KPCB China).

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For the territory of China, Taiwan and Korea, Ziopharm will license the rights to Eden BioCell for third-generation Sleeping Beauty-generated CAR-T therapies targeting the CD19 antigen. Eden BioCell will be owned 50-50 by Ziopharm and TriArm. TriArm has committed up to $35 million to this joint venture. Under the terms of the agreement, Eden BioCell has rights in the region to CAR-T cells very rapidly manufactured in two days or less using the Sleeping Beauty platform to express a CD19-specific CAR and membrane-bound interleukin-15, or mbIL15, along with a kill switch. Ziopharm CEO Laurence Cooper, M.D., Ph.D., and Panacea Venture Healthcare Managing Director James Huang will serve on Eden BioCell’s Board of Directors and each party will share decision-making authority.

"Since 2017, we have been doing diligence on ways to address the many obstacles that exist in the production and commercialization of CAR-T immunotherapy. Viral-based CAR-T therapies already are facing cost constraints and limited commercial success in U.S. and EU markets due to the expense and complexity in manufacturing, and this problem will be exacerbated in China, with its healthcare system, reimbursement structure and large patient population," said Mr. Huang. "I am excited to be working with Ziopharm’s Sleeping Beauty platform, which, as the most clinically-advanced non-viral approach to genetical modification of T cells, offers the best chance to simplify manufacturing, reduce costs, and most importantly, help the many patients who need access to these T-cell therapies."

"Advancing our Sleeping Beauty platform in the China region is a key part of both our business development and clinical development strategies," said Dr. Cooper. "James Huang has an outstanding track record of creating value in China, and he and the team at TriArm are ideal partners because they have entrenched relationships with front-line physicians and officials at leading hospitals and regulatory bodies, a commitment to conduct high-quality trials, and state-of-the-art facilities with good manufacturing practices."

TriArm will manage all clinical development to execute trials in China for Eden BioCell. The TriArm team has considerable experience in all areas of drug development, including scientific research, clinical and regulatory areas, as well as significant laboratory and manufacturing know-how regarding T-cell therapies.

Griffin Securities, Inc. acted as the financial advisor for Ziopharm for this licensing agreement.

Conference Call
Ziopharm will host a webcast and conference call on Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 8 a.m. ET to discuss this new joint venture. The call can be accessed by dialing 1-844-309-0618 (U.S. and Canada) or 1-661-378-9465 (international). The passcode for the conference call is 3272014. To access live webcast or the subsequent archived recording, visit the "Investors Events and Presentations" section of the Ziopharm website at www.ziopharm.com. The webcast will be recorded and available for replay on the Company’s website for two weeks.

On December 19, 2018 Varian (NYSE: VAR) reported that Dow Wilson, chief executive officer, and Chris Toth, president of Oncology Systems, will present at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time on January 7, 2019 (Press release, Varian Medical Systems, DEC 19, 2018, View Source [SID1234532163]).

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Information about the webcast of the company’s presentation will be available through a link on the company website at www.varian.com/inv­estors.