On September 2, 2021 Epigenomics AG (Frankfurt Prime Standard: ECX, OTCQX: EPGNY; the "Company") reported that a study recently published in BMC Cancer shows that blood tests, such as Epi proColon(R), can significantly increase the CRC screening rates in medically underserved populations (MUP) unwilling or unable to complete FIT or colonoscopy. For eligible participants, the rate of testing increased from 12.6% completing a FIT test the previous year to 93.5% with the blood test.

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Greg Hamilton, CEO of Epigenomics AG, commented: "CRC still is the second leading cause of cancer mortality in the U.S., despite the ability to reduce it through screening. Adherence to regular screening is key to earlier CRC detection thus reducing incidence and mortality. The findings now being published are in line with a series of previously published results that blood tests can make an important contribution to reducing the number of CRC related deaths, especially in medically underserved populations which are the most vulnerable."

In the U.S., many people are not up-to-date with CRC screening despite the available testing, with overall screening rates under 70%. This applies in particular to MUP, who share characteristics such as low income, lack of insurance or being underinsured. Although FIT has desirable characteristics for MUP, return rates are consistently low, around 10% in MUP compared to the general population. This was confirmed in the study now published. In the study, the patients were consecutively offered CRC screening by colonoscopy and FIT, according to the current guidelines for CRC screening. Only when both options were rejected, the blood test was offered. Of the 460 participants ultimately offered screening, no participant accepted the offer of colonoscopy, 30 (6.5%) chose FIT screening and 430 (93.5%) elected for mSEPT9 testing. Only two of the 30 participants who chose FIT returned the test (6.7%).

Hence, the study results show that the introduction of blood-based testing for CRC screening, when compared to FIT, has proven to be well-received by the participants, likely because of convenience and ease of testing. The result is another important contribution to the realization that FDA approved CRC screening blood tests should be incorporated into the screening paradigm, as this is a tangible solution to reduce CRC mortality.

On September 2, 2021 CohBar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CWBR), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing mitochondria based therapeutics to treat chronic diseases and extend healthy lifespan, reported that its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Joseph Sarret, will present a company overview at the following investor conferences in September (Press release, CohBar, SEP 2, 2021, View Source [SID1234587237]).

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H.C. Wainwright Annual Global Investment Conference
September 13 – 15, 2021
Webcast: The presentation may be accessed via webcast on demand using the following link: View Source

Cantor Fitzgerald Virtual Global Healthcare Conference
Thursday, September 30, 2021 at 2:00pm ET
Webcast: The presentation may be accessed via webcast at the scheduled time, or following the presentation, using the following link: View Source

A replay of the webcasts will be available in the events section of the CohBar website for two weeks following the presentation.

On September 2, 2021 Alkermes plc (Nasdaq: ALKS) reported that management will participate in a fireside chat at the Citi 16th Annual BioPharma Virtual Conference on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021 at 8:50 a.m. ET (1:50 p.m. BST) (Press release, Alkermes, SEP 2, 2021, View Source [SID1234587168]). The presentation may be accessed under the Investors tab on www.alkermes.com and will be archived for 14 days.

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On September 2, 2021 Civetta Therapeutics, LLC, a biotechnology company focused on developing a pipeline of therapies that target beta-propeller proteins, reported that Christopher D. Roberts, Ph.D., has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (Press release, Civetta Therapeutics, SEP 2, 2021, View Source [SID1234587203]). Dr. Roberts, who most recently served as Chief Scientific Officer of Black Diamond Therapeutics, brings more than 20 years of leadership experience discovering and developing novel therapies for oncology, immunology, virology and other indications.

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"Civetta has developed a unique discovery platform designed to rigorously investigate, validate and drug beta-propeller proteins. Because propeller domains are ubiquitous and play critical functions in pathways that are known contributors to pathogenesis, they provide broad opportunity as therapeutic targets," said Dr. Roberts. "I’m impressed by the work the team has done advancing its lead programs and platform. I look forward to joining the Civetta team in the discovery and development of novel, first-in-class therapies that can help patients across a variety of disease areas, from cancer, inflammation and immunology to neurodegeneration and metabolic disease."

Cameron Wheeler, Ph.D., who was serving as Chief Executive Officer at Civetta and is a Partner in the Biotherapeutics Group at Deerfield Management Company, will continue to serve as chairman of Civetta’s board of directors.

"The team at Civetta has done great work taking the early insights into beta-propeller science made by our founders at the Broad Institute and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and advancing them, to better understand their role in a variety of diseases," said Dr. Wheeler. "We see broad potential for targeting beta-propeller proteins and we’re working to identify novel, near-term therapeutics and establish the leading beta-propeller targeting platform in the industry. Attracting top talent like Chris will continue to be critical as we accelerate and expand our programs and pipeline."

Prior to joining Black Diamond, Chris served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at SR One, the corporate venture capital arm of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Prior to SR One, Chris was the Vice President (VP) of Chemistry and Early Development at Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company focused on gene control and drugging transcription, where he built and led a variety of discovery and development functions and helped guide two oncology assets into clinical development. Prior to joining Syros, Chris held numerous positions of increasing responsibility at GSK, including VP and Head of the Host Defense Discovery Performance Unit, and also led multiple clinical development projects. He joined GSK as Senior Director of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Medicinal Chemistry via its acquisition of Genelabs Technologies. As a medicinal chemist at Genelabs, Chris was significantly involved in establishing Genelabs’ HCV research focus. His work has been extensively published.

Chris earned a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Riverside, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Bern, Switzerland. He graduated with a B.A. in Chemistry from Whitworth University.

On September 2, 2021 Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) and Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KG ("Secarna"), a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the discovery and development of next-generation antisense oligonucleotide ("ASO") therapies to address challenging or previously undruggable targets via its LNAplus platform, reported that they have expanded their strategic partnership in the field of ASO-based therapeutics (Press release, Evotec, SEP 2, 2021, View Source;announcements/press-releases/p/evotec-and-secarna-pharmaceuticals-expand-strategic-partnership-in-the-field-of-antisense-drug-discovery-6094 [SID1234587222]).

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The new agreement expands the ongoing successful collaboration between Evotec and Secarna initiated in August 2020. The parties are now also working on industry partners’ discovery, research and development programmes, leveraging Secarna’s industry-leading antisense oligonucleotide expertise with Evotec’s unparalleled discovery and development capabilities.

Dr Craig Johnstone, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec, said: "We are delighted to open our strategic partnership with Secarna for third-party programmes. Secarna’s validated ASO technology provides a highly promising pathway to access targets commonly deemed ‘undruggable’. Leveraging Secarna’s LNAplus technology through the capacity and capabilities of Evotec’s multimodality drug discovery platform will unlock a vast opportunity space for a broad range of partnerships with third parties to develop disease-modifying therapies in indications with high unmet medical need."

Alexander Gebauer, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Secarna Pharmaceuticals, said: "We are excited to further expand our successful alliance with Evotec. Integrating our proven expertise in the field of antisense discovery into Evotec’s well established discovery and development platform, we form a strong foundation for enabling and strengthening third-party pipelines with our LNAplus ASOs. We are looking forward to continue working with Evotec to make new therapeutic options available to industry partners and the many patients who urgently need them."