On April 9, 2018 Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. (Allogene) reported the completion of the previously announced transaction between Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Allogene for Pfizer’s portfolio of assets related to allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR T) therapy, an investigational immune cell therapy approach to treating cancer (Press release, Cellectis, APR 9, 2018, View Source [SID1234525478]).

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On April 3, 2018, Allogene and Pfizer announced that the companies had entered into a definitive asset contribution agreement for Pfizer’s allogeneic CAR T portfolio. As a result of the completed agreement, Allogene has received from Pfizer the rights to 16 preclinical CAR T assets licensed from Cellectis and Servier and one clinical asset licensed from Servier, UCART19, an allogeneic CAR T therapy that is being developed for treatment of CD19-­‐ expressing hematological malignancies. In partnership with Servier, UCART19 is initially being developed in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and is currently in Phase I. UCART19 utilizes TALEN gene editing technology pioneered and owned by Cellectis.

With the agreement completed, Allogene is well-­‐positioned to rapidly advance the portfolio of CAR T assets contributed by Pfizer into potential innovative new therapies, and ultimately to reach patients in need more quickly. "The completion of our agreement with Pfizer represents a bold undertaking by leaders in the field to expedite the development of the next wave of cancer immunotherapies," said David Chang, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Allogene.

Pfizer will continue to participate financially in the CAR T portfolio’s development through a 25 percent ownership stake in Allogene. Prior to the agreement completion, Gilead Sciences joined Allogene’s premier Series A investment consortium that already included TPG, Vida Ventures, BellCo Capital, the University of California Office of the Chief Investment Officer, and Pfizer, among others.

Centerview Partners acted as financial advisor to Pfizer, with Ropes & Gray LLP acting as its legal advisor. Cooley LLP served as legal counsel to Allogene, Vida Venture and TPG. Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP also served as legal counsel to TPG.

On April 9, 2018 Genocea Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GNCA), a biopharmaceutical company developing neoantigen cancer vaccines, reported upcoming presentations at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) (AACR 2018), taking place April 14-18, 2018 in Chicago, IL (Press release, Genocea Biosciences, APR 9, 2018, View Source [SID1234525216]).

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Poster 15: "Neoantigen identification using the ATLAS T cell profiling platform highlights the need to empirically define neoantigens"
Vaccines Session 1, Immunology Track
Sunday, April 15, 2018 from 1 pm to 5 pm CDT
Link to abstract

Poster 5718: "Ex vivo ATLAS-identification of neoantigens for personalized cancer immunotherapy in mouse melanoma"
Neoantigens in Cancer Session, Immunology Track
Wednesday, April 18, 2018 from 8 am to 12 pm CDT

On April 9, 2018 Horizon Pharma plc (Nasdaq:HZNP) reported that its first-quarter financial results will be released on Wednesday, May 9, 2018 (Press release, Horizon Pharma, APR 9, 2018, View Source [SID1234525217]). Following the announcement, Horizon’s management will host a live webcast at 8 a.m. Eastern Time to review the Company’s financial and operating results.

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The live webcast and replay may be accessed at View Source Please connect to the Company’s website at least 15 minutes before the live webcast to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be needed to access the webcast.

On April 9, 2018 IONTAS Limited (IONTAS), a leader in the discovery and optimisation of fully human antibodies, reported that it will collaborate with IGEM Therapeutics (IGEM), an immuno-oncology company developing novel immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to treat cancer (Press release, IGEM Therapeutics, APR 9, 2018, View Source [SID1234525218]). The project will add to IGEM’s pipeline of drugs and expand upon IGEM-F, an IgE targeting ovarian and other cancers, currently in a Phase 1/2a study. IONTAS will utilise its proprietary antibody discovery technology to help IGEM identify novel IgE antibodies against two targets.

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IgE antibodies have been shown to permeate tumour tissue more effectively, exhibit enhanced effector functions and stimulate significantly greater levels of cytotoxicity and phagocytosis than IgG antibodies. IONTAS will apply its proprietary antibody discovery libraries and technologies to identify specific, high-affinity antibodies against two tumour-associated targets. Functional screening of IgE-formatted antibodies will be carried out to identify the most appropriate candidates for therapeutic development.

John McCafferty, CEO at IONTAS, commented: "This collaboration capitalises on the antibody discovery capabilities at IONTAS which enable the generation of high-quality therapeutic antibodies using phage-display or mammalian-display. We maintain a strong interest in developing novel therapeutic approaches and recognise IgE therapeutics as an important addition to the armoury of novel cancer therapies. We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with fellow innovators at IGEM on these two exciting projects."

Tim Wilson, CEO at IGEM, commented: "IONTAS was selected as our development partner of choice because of their extensive experience and track record in delivering therapeutic antibodies. The combination of the IGEM IgE platform and the discovery capability of IONTAS will rapidly expand our portfolio of antibodies and help meet our ambitions to progress new leads into the clinic."

On April 9, 2018 Protagen AG and Gustave Roussy have reported the start of a collaboration to utilize Protagen’s SeroTag technology to help identify biomarkers that predict and monitor immune-related adverse events (irAEs) in cancer patients treated with checkpoint inhibitors (Press release, Protagen, APR 9, 2018, View Source [SID1234525247]).

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Checkpoint inhibitors offer enormous potential for the treatment of many cancer indications, including melanoma and renal cell carcinoma. Yet, only a subset of patients respond favorably to treatment and it is not currently possible to predict which patients will benefit from therapy. In addition, checkpoint inhibitors can also trigger (often severe) irAEs, which has led to the FDA halting clinical trials in the past. Through this new collaboration, Protagen and Gustave Roussy will utilize Protagen’s proprietary immune system profiling platform, SeroTag, to monitor patients, detect irAEs and ultimately conduct comprehensive risk profiling for those undergoing cancer immunotherapy. This project is part of the ongoing Gustave Roussy Immunotherapy Program (GRIP), which aims at developing immunotherapy access and best practice.

Dr. Aurelien Marabelle, clinical director of the Gustave Roussy Immunotherapy Program commented: "Although immunotherapies like checkpoint inhibitors have shown great promise for treating those suffering from cancer, response rates for these therapies are still low (often around 10-20%). In addition, our efforts to improve therapeutic outcomes via the implementation of combination therapies can increase the risk of the patient developing debilitating and sometimes fatal irAEs." He continued: "It is therefore vital that we try to understand more about the immunological responses patients are exhibiting to cancer, both before and during therapy. Utilizing Protagen’s SeroTag platform will enable us to ask these questions, and we very much look forward to this collaboration."

Dr. Peter Schulz-Knappe, Protagen’s Chief Scientific Officer, added: "Our unique SeroTag technology has already demonstrated its ability to stratify patients into homogenous disease subgroups for a number of autoimmune indications, thereby supporting the development of novel therapies. Due to the strong link between immuno-oncology and autoimmune disease, we believe that applying our technology and approach to the immuno-oncology field will result in improved patient selection for novel immuno-therapies and support the risk profiling of patients for the development of irAEs. We feel privileged that Gustave Roussy shares this view and we are excited about our collaboration."

About Gustave Roussy

Gustave Roussy, the largest comprehensive cancer center in Europe, is a pole of expertise dedicated to the comprehensive care of patients, employing 3100 health professionals for health care, research and teaching. Gustave Roussy is the European leader in cancer immunotherapy in terms of clinical trials and number of patients treated – www.gustaveroussy.fr/en