MediciNova has filed a 10-Q – Quarterly report [Sections 13 or 15(d)] with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission .

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On April 26, 2017 Silvergate Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (www.silvergatepharma.com), leaders in the development and commercialization of innovative and safe medicines for children, reported that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved XATMEP (methotrexate) Oral Solution, the first and only FDA-approved methotrexate oral solution (Press release, Silvergate Pharmaceuticals, APR 26, 2017, View Source [SID1234625387]). XATMEP is indicated for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (pJIA) in pediatric patients.

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"XATMEP is an exciting product in that it provides an FDA-approved, ready-to-use oral solution of methotrexate for children without the need for needles, crushing of tablets or compounding into a liquid formulation," said Frank Segrave, President & CEO, Silvergate Pharmaceuticals, Inc. "As a company, we continue to focus on pediatric medications that are safe, effective, and readily available."

XATMEP (methotrexate) Oral Solution, 2.5 mg/mL, is a ready-to-use product that requires no preparation, facilitating accuracy and ease of dispensing at the pharmacy. XATMEP is manufactured under CGMPs in accordance with FDA regulations. It eliminates the need for needles, crushing or splitting tablets or for compounding tablets into a liquid formulation. It requires refrigeration but may be stored at room temperature for 60 days after dispensing. XATMEP is available through an extensive network of pharmacies and a qualified mail-order service. For additional information on how to obtain XATMEP, please call 1-855-379-0382.

INDICATIONS

XATMEP is a folate analog metabolic inhibitor indicated for the:

management of pediatric patients with active polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (pJIA) who have had an insufficient therapeutic response to, or are intolerant of, an adequate trial of first-line therapy including full dose non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs).
treatment of pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) as part of a multi-phase, combination chemotherapy maintenance regimen.
About XATMEP

XATMEP (methotrexate) Oral Solution was developed, primarily, to meet the need for a ready-to-use, 2.5 mg/mL, methotrexate oral solution for the treatment of pediatric patients for the indications stated above. Currently, there is no FDA-approved, ready-to-use oral liquid formulation of methotrexate for use by pediatric patients requiring body surface area (BSA) dosing (mg/m2) or who have difficulty swallowing or cannot consume tablets, or those with needle-phobia. Silvergate Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s XATMEP (methotrexate) Oral Solution resolves these unmet medical needs in pediatric patients.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

XATMEP includes a BOXED WARNING: SEVERE TOXIC REACTIONS, INCLUDING EMBRYO-FETAL TOXICITY

See full prescribing information for complete boxed warning.

Methotrexate can cause severe or fatal toxicities. Monitor closely and modify dose or discontinue for the following toxicities: bone marrow suppression (5.1), infection (5.2), renal (5.3), gastrointestinal (5.4), hepatic (5.5), pulmonary (5.6), hypersensitivity and dermatologic (5.7).
Methotrexate can cause embryo-fetal toxicity and fetal death. Use in polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis is contraindicated in pregnancy (4). Consider the benefits and risks of XATMEP and risks to the fetus when prescribing XATMEP to a pregnant patient with a neoplastic disease. Advise patients to use effective contraception during and after treatment with XATMEP (5.9, 8.1, 8.3).
ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

XATMEP is contraindicated in patients who are hypersensitive to methotrexate.
XATMEP is contraindicated in patients who are pregnant or nursing.
Warnings and Precautions:

Monitor closely and modify dose or discontinue XATMEP as appropriate.

Methotrexate can cause the following severe, life-threatening or fatal adverse reactions:

Bone marrow suppression: pancytopenia, anemia, leukopenia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia.
Serious infections: bacterial, fungal, or viral infections, including Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia, invasive fungal, hepatitis B reactivation, tuberculosis, Herpes zoster and cytomegalovirus infections.
Renal toxicity and renal impairment, including acute renal failure.
Gastrointestinal toxicity: diarrhea, stomatitis, vomiting, hemorrhagic enteritis, fatal intestinal perforation. Unexpected severe and fatal gastrointestinal toxicity can occur with concomitant us of NSAIDs.
Hepatic toxicity: severe and potentially irreversible hepatotoxicity, including fibrosis, cirrhosis, and fatal liver failure.
Pulmonary toxicity: acute or chronic interstitial pneumonitis and irreversible or fatal cases at all dose levels.
Hypersensitivity: anaphylaxis.
Dermatologic reactions: toxic epidermal necrolysis, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, exfoliative dermatitis, skin necrosis, erythema multiforme. Radiation dermatitis and "sunburn" may be recalled.
Secondary malignancies: lymphoproliferative disease has been reported with low-dose oral methotrexate which regressed when methotrexate is withdrawn.
Embryo-fetal toxicity and fetal death: Consider the risks and benefits of XATMEP and risks to the fetus when prescribing to a pregnant patient with a neoplastic disease. XATMEP is contraindicated in non-neoplastic disease.
Immunizations may be ineffective when given during XATMEP therapy.
Immunization with live virus vaccines is not recommended during XATMEP therapy.
Effects on reproduction: Methotrexate can cause impairment of fertility, oligospermia, and menstrual dysfunction. Effective contraception should be practiced by patients of reproductive potential while receiving XATMEP therapy, and for 3 and 6 months afterwards for males and females, respectively.
Third-space accumulation: Evacuate significant third-space accumulation prior to methotrexate administrations.
Concomitant radiation therapy increases the risk of soft tissue necrosis and osteonecrosis associated with methotrexate.
Closely monitor laboratory parameters for hematology, renal function and liver function. Increase monitoring during initial dosing, dose changes and during periods of increased risk of elevated methotrexate blood levels (e.g., dehydration).
Improper dosing: Once weekly dosing is appropriate. Fatal toxicity has been reported with daily dosing. An accurate millimeter measuring device should be used.
Advise women not to breastfeed.
Adverse Reactions: See full prescribing information for additional adverse reactions.

Most common adverse reactions are ulcerative stomatitis, leukopenia, nausea, abdominal distress, and elevated liver function tests.

Other frequently reported reactions are malaise, fatigue, chills and fever, dizziness, and decreased risk to infection.

Drug Interactions:

Oral antibiotics: Hematologic and gastrointestinal toxicity may increase.
Hepatotoxins: May increase hepatoxicity.
Probenecid: Consider alternative drugs as may increase methotrexate exposure.
Theophylline: May reduce theophylline clearance.
To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Silvergate Pharmaceuticals at 1-855-379-0383, or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/MedWatch.

Please see accompanying full Prescribing Information, including the complete BOXED WARNING.

About Silvergate Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Headquartered near Denver, Colorado, Silvergate Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is a privately held pharmaceutical company dedicated to leading the way in the development and commercialization of innovative pediatric medications that are safe, effective, and readily available.

Silvergate Pharmaceuticals is committed to filling the unmet needs of children, developing innovative medications that will help improve the quality of care and outcomes for pediatric patients. For more information, please visit View Source

Reference: XATMEP [prescribing information]. Greenwood Village, CO: Silvergate Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; 2017.

On April 25, 2017 Immune Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQB: IMUN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for a range of conditions using LodonalTM its proprietary formulation of lower-dose naltrexone, reported it has submitted its New Drug Application (NDA) to the Pharmacy and Poison Board (PPB) in Kenya for Lodonal for the treatment of patients with HIV and cancer, both as a standalone treatment as well as an adjunct treatment, and as an immunomodulator (Press release, TNI BioTech, APR 25, 2017, View Source [SID1234518733]).

"This NDA submission initiates the process we believe will result in broad access to our therapy for those suffering from immune deficiency disease and cancer." said Noreen Griffin, Chief Executive Officer of Immune Therapeutics. "We recognize the difficulty the immune-comprised community has had in obtaining affordable non-toxic therapies and look forward to working closely with the PPB as they review our application."

A full preclinical and clinical study program supports the filing including: four clinical efficacy trials involving more than 500 HIV/AIDS patients, and one clinical trial with 89 patients for cancer and over 1,200 patients with autoimmune disease. The clinical data showed that Lodonal could improve CD4 count, decrease viral load and reduce the number of opportunistic infections in patients suffering from comprised immune systems.

Omaera Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. and GB Pharma Holding supported this filing. "Without their support, the fast track of this process would not have been possible." noted Griffin. The PPB had a 60-day filing review period to determine whether the NDA is complete and acceptable for filing. "The application was accepted and the company has received an application number. From there, we will move through the regulatory approval process including manufacturing (GMP) assessment, National Quality Control laboratory analysis, regulatory committee review and committee recommendations before the board issues its final ruling. The approval process could take as little as 90 days, after which we will be prepared to take orders for shipment through our recently announced distribution agreement." concluded Griffin. The Company plans to reach commercialization for Lodonal in Kenya in 2017.

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"We look forward to a smooth regulatory process for Lodonal in Kenya. We have significant experience with Kenya’s PPB and have meetings planned with the Ministry of Health before the end of the month." notes Dr. Gloria B. Herndon, President and CEO of GB Pharma Holdings of Washington, DC.

On April 25, 2017 Circle Pharma , Inc. reported that it has completed an expansion of its Series A financing, with new investors WI Harper Group, Elements Partners, LLC, Whitesun Healthcare Ventures Limited and LifeForce Capital joining the round (Press release, Circle Pharma, APR 25, 2017, View Source [SID1234635668]). Mission Bay Capital led Circle’s Series A, with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), ShangPharma Investment Group, Ltd. and a syndicated group of individual investors subscribing at the initial close. With this subsequent closing, a total of approximately $6.5M of shares of Circle’s Series A Preferred Stock has been issued in the Series A financing.

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"We are gratified to have this new group of high-caliber investors joining our first equity financing," said David J. Earp, J.D., Ph.D., Circle’s president and CEO. "The funds will support Circle’s platform development and our therapeutic pipeline, which is focused on intracellular protein-protein interactions that are key drivers in oncogenic pathways. This is an exciting time for Circle. We are adding new targets to our pipeline, including MCL1 and the substrate binding site of cyclinA / cdk2, both of which are important oncology targets that have proven challenging for small molecule drug development. Our chemistry process development work has recently successfully achieved key steps required for a more highly automated synthesis platform. Finally, with support from Pfizer, we are building a physical library of macrocycles which are predicted to have optimized permeability. This library will complement our rational design/virtual library screening approach. We will begin synthesis of the physical library shortly, enabling us to deliver it to Pfizer, and potentially other collaborators, for screening use later this year. We are especially delighted to welcome James Lu to our board in connection with this expanded Series A investment. He brings deep experience building high-growth, global companies both as an investor and in management roles."

Mr. Lu is a Managing Director of WI Harper, a cross border venture capital firm investing in leading healthcare and technology startups in the U.S. and China. Previously, Mr. Lu co-founded and was a General Partner of iD Ventures America (formerly Acer Technology Ventures), which managed several funds that were early investors in companies such as iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT); Harmonix Music (acquired by MTV/Viacom (NYSE:VIA)); and Monolithic Power Systems (NASDAQ:MPWR). In prior roles, Mr. Lu was General Counsel of the Acer Group and earlier was a corporate and commercial attorney with the McCutchen law firm in San Francisco and a banker at JP Morgan in New York. Mr. Lu graduated with a BA from Yale College, an MBA from Harvard Business School and a JD from UC Berkeley School of Law.

Peter Liu, Founder and Chairman of WI Harper Group commented, "We are seeing excellent opportunities for investing in ground-breaking life science companies that are advancing new technologies and addressing unsolved problems. Circle Pharma is one such company; we are pleased to participate in their Series A financing and look forward to building a strong relationship with the management team and the other investors."

"Completion of Circle’s Series A financing strengthens Circle’s investor base and brings additional depth on the technical side, relations with strategic partners and, with WI Harper and Elements, connections to activities and initiatives outside of the U.S., and especially in key Asia markets," said Douglas Crawford, Ph.D., managing director of Mission Bay Capital.

About Macrocyclic Peptides
Macrocyclic peptides have the potential to allow drug developers to address the large proportion of known therapeutic targets (estimated at up to 80%) that are considered undruggable with conventional small molecule or biologic modalities. In particular, there is great interest in developing macrocycles to modulate protein-protein interactions, which play a role in almost all disease conditions, including cancer, fibrosis, inflammation and infection. However, the development of macrocyclic therapeutics has been limited by the need for a greater understanding of how to develop macrocycles with appropriate pharmacokinetics, cell permeability and oral bioavailability. Circle is applying its ability to design potent macrocycles with intrinsic cell permeability and drug-like characteristics to unlock access to challenging, high value therapeutic targets that have been out of reach to other approaches.

On April 25, 2017 SignalRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical-stage company developing novel small-molecules therapeutics to inhibit key orthogonal and synergistic oncotargets for the treatment of cancer, reported the presentation of its novel triple PI3K/CDK4-6/BRD4 inhibitor program and first-in-class triple inhibitor SRX3177 (Press release, SignalRx, APR 25, 2017, http://www.ireachcontent.com/news-releases/signalrx-to-present-at-the-12th-annual-drug-discovery-chemistry-2017-meeting-on-its-first-in-class-triple-pi3kcdk4-6brd4-inhibitor-srx3177-for-treating-cancer-620334743.html [SID1234527323]). The presentation by Donald L. Durden, MD, PhD, senior scientific advisor for SignalRx, will be at 5pm on Tuesday April 25th, 2017, in the Fragment-Based Drug Discovery session at the Drug Discovery Chemistry 2017 meeting in San Diego, CA.

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Using SignalRx’s proprietary CRIMP technology platform, the company developed SRX3177 to simultaneously inhibit three key cancer-driving oncotargets: PI3K, CDK4-6 and BRD4. Cancer biology has demonstrated that PI3K inhibition abrogates resistance to CDK4/6 inhibition, and the combined CDK4/6 and PI3K inhibition leads to synthetic lethality in a number of cancer types (e.g., breast cancer, mantle cell lymphoma). BRD4 is a key epigenetic target that drives many cancers and the transcription of cyclin D1 and MYC, the latter in turn drives the immuno-oncology targets CD47 and PD-L1. The simultaneous inhibition of PI3K/CDK4-6/BRD4 with a single molecule presents the opportunity to deliver synthetic lethality to cancers dependent on these onco-pathways where kinase resistance is also developed.

The presentation will cover the discovery and in silico design of the small-molecule triple inhibitor SRX3177. Key highlights to be presented include:

Potent target profile (IC50: CDK4/6 = 2-3 nM; PI3Kα/δ @ 80 nM, BRD4-BD1 = 33 nM, BRD4-BD2 = 89 nM).
In silico design.
Cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induction.
Biomarkers (p-AKT, p-Rb, BRD4-chromatin release).
82-Fold more potent than FDA-approved palbociclib against mantle cell lymphoma, neuroblastoma, and hepatocellular carcinoma cells.
5-Fold more potent in cancer cells than combination of palbociclib (CDK4/6 inhibitor) + BKM120 (PI3K inhibitor) + JQ1 (BRD4 inhibitor).
Much safer with 40-fold less toxicity to normal epithelial cells vs palbociclib + BKM120 + JQ1.
SignalRx is also seeking partnering opportunities to accelerate the development of its programs and advance novel anticancer therapeutics into first-in-man clinical trials based on the promising profile and mode of action of its inhibitors. Since these are single molecules with a single PK/PD and toxicity profile, there is a great opportunity to streamline their development alone and in combination therapies.