On October 17, 2018 Invenra, an antibody drug discovery and development company with novel multispecific platforms and product candidates, reported the close of a $7M Series B financing round (Press release, Invenra, OCT 17, 2018, View Source [SID1234570587]). The financing will be used to expand the company to meet growing demand for partnerships using its’ B-Body multispecific technology as well as continuing development of its internal pipeline.

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Venture Investors led the round with participation from existing investors including Series A leader Wisconsin Investment Partners. The State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) also joined as a new investor. Additionally, Paul Weiss, Managing Director at Venture Investors, will join Invenra’s Board of Directors.

"Invenra’s discovery and development platform for bispecific antibodies has the potential to make meaningful contributions to the advancement of immuno-oncology", said Paul Weiss. "We already knew the capability of the team from our experience in backing Roland Green and members of the Board at NimbleGen Systems. We look forward to the opportunity to work together again on the important mission of Invenra."

Roland Green, CEO of Invenra, says "Invenra is excited to have Venture Investors and SWIB as part of our team. We look forward to working with Paul on our board as we develop our pipeline and partnerships. The additional funding will allow us to further leverage the B-Body platform for the high-throughput assessment of multispecific antibodies. This throughput and performance unlocks new and important therapeutic targets and mechanisms of action that were previously impractical through traditional methods. This funding along with milestones from partnerships will allow us to advance the preclinical development of our lead product candidates, namely our Biparatopic OX40 Agonist B-Body program and our tumor-specific Treg depleter SNIPER program."

On October 17, 2018 Anixa Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANIX), a biotechnology company focused on using the body’s immune system to fight cancer, presented the results from its ongoing study utilizing Cchek, its artificial intelligence (AI) driven early cancer detection technology, at the 30th Anniversary AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) Special Conference – Convergence: Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Prediction in Cancer (Press release, Anixa Biosciences, OCT 17, 2018, View Source [SID1234530497]). This AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) special conference covered the state of research in understanding cancer from incident to early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment using big data and machine learning. The meeting was held October 14–17, 2018 in Newport, Rhode Island and was attended by global leaders in the intersection of cancer research and artificial intelligence.

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Anixa, for the first time, presented data demonstrating the ability of Cchek to distinguish, among patients scheduled for biopsy, those who have high risk prostate cancer and those who have benign conditions or low grade cancer, for whom surgery is not required and a biopsy is unnecessary. In addition, Anixa’s Cchek data showed the ability to distinguish healthy males from high risk prostate cancer patients with a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 100%. This study further demonstrated the potential for Cchek to reduce the number of unnecessary prostate biopsies by up to 56%, while still retaining 89% sensitivity for detecting prostate cancers.

Dr. Amit Kumar, Anixa President and CEO stated, "We are pleased with the results of our ongoing study presented at the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) AI conference, and we are excited about the potential for us to dramatically reduce the number of unnecessary prostate biopsies. The ability to distinguish between high risk prostate cancer patients and those with a benign condition or low grade, non-surgically treated cancer is significant, and is a distinct differentiator between Cchek and many other liquid biopsy tests being developed today."

On October 17, 2018 Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ONTX), a Phase 3-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel products to treat cancer, with a primary focus on Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS), reported that the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a new patent protecting the company’s lead product candidate, Rigosertib (Press release, Onconova, OCT 17, 2018, View Source [SID1234529944]). U.S. patent 10,098,862 "Formulations with enhanced stability and bioavailability for administration of (E)-2, 6-Dialkoxystyryl 4-Substituted Benzyl Sulfones" describes novel compositions directed towards improving stability and enhancing bioavailability of Rigosertib. The issued patent claims novel formulations for oral and parenteral administration and oral dosing regimens of Rigosertib for the treatment of cancer and proliferative disorders.

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"Rigosertib is well protected by issued US and foreign patents as well as by Orphan Designation in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. We remain focused on our broader IP strategy that provides additional barriers to entry and expanded geographical coverage for our lead product candidate, which is in advanced clinical trials for unmet medical needs of patients with Myelodysplastic Syndromes," commented, Ramesh Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of Onconova. "Ensuring multi-faceted intellectual property protection around Rigosertib helps enhance the potential value of this innovative program."

U.S. patent 10,098,862 complements and adds to coverage provided by previously issued Composition of Matter patent U.S. 7,598,232 and its international counterpart patents and patent applications, including Rigosertib drug combination patents. While previous patents cover compositions, methods, formulations and other aspects of utility, the new patent provides additional coverage related to an oral dosing regimen of Rigosertib. The novel formulation patent was filed in 2017 as a PCT application globally and as National Phase applications in the U.S. and in Non-PCT countries including Taiwan and various countries in Latin America.

The named inventor of the patented technology is Dr. Manoj Maniar, Senior Vice President of Product Development for Onconova. The patent was filed by and is assigned to the Company.

On October 17, 2018 ArQule, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARQL) reported it will report financial results for the third quarter of 2018 before the market opens on Wednesday, October 31, 2018 (Press release, ArQule, OCT 17, 2018, View Source [SID1234529945]). The Company will hold a conference call and webcast on the same day at 9:00 a.m. ET to discuss these results and provide a general business update.

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The live webcast can be accessed in the "Investors and Media" section of our website, www.arqule.com, under "Events & Presentations." You may also listen to the call by dialing (877) 868-1831 within the U.S. or (914) 495-8595 outside the U.S. A replay will be available two hours after the completion of the call and can be accessed in the "Investors & Media" section of our website, www.arqule.com, under "Events and Presentations."

On October 17, 2018 Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:IOVA) ("Iovance" or "Company"), a biotechnology company developing novel cancer immunotherapies based on tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) technology, reported the closing of an underwritten public offering of 25,300,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $9.97 per share (Press release, Iovance Biotherapeutics, OCT 17, 2018, View Source;p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2372014 [SID1234529946]). The gross proceeds from the offering, before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and other estimated offering expenses payable by Iovance, are approximately $252.2 million. The shares of common stock issued and sold in the offering include 3,300,000 shares issued upon the exercise in full by the underwriter of its option to purchase additional shares at the public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions.

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Iovance intends to use the proceeds from this offering to fund the expansion of its organization to support the potential commercial launch of lifileucel, to fund its commercial manufacturing capabilities and facilities, to fund its ongoing clinical trials for its current product candidates, including its on-going Phase 2 clinical trials of LN-144, TIL for the treatment of metastatic melanoma, and LN-145, TIL for the treatment of cervical and head and neck cancers, to fund its planned clinical trials for its current product candidates, including its ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial of LN-145 for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC, in collaboration with MedImmune, and its ongoing Phase 2 clinical trials of Iovance TIL as an early-line therapy alone or in combination with pembrolizumab in melanoma, head and neck cancer, and NSCLC, and for other general corporate purposes. Additional indications may be explored with the use of proceeds.

Jefferies LLC acted as sole book-running manager for the offering.

The shares of common stock described above were offered by Iovance pursuant to its shelf registration statement on Form S-3 previously filed and declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). The offering has been made only by means of a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus. A preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering was filed with the SEC and is available on the SEC’s website at View Source A final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus was filed with the SEC, copies of which may be obtained by contacting Jefferies LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Prospectus Department, 520 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor New York, New York, 10022, by telephone at (877) 821-7388, or by email at [email protected].

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.