1stOncology™: Cancer Intelligence Service – Page 15645 – 1stOncology is recognized as a Top 10 Global Pharma Analytic Provider

Alliance HealthCare Services Names Rhonda Longmore-Grund as Chief Executive Officer

On November 21, 2018 The Board of Directors of Alliance HealthCare Services, Inc. ("Alliance") reported the promotion of Rhonda Longmore-Grund, currently the organization’s Interim CEO, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, to the role of Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately (Press release, Alliance HealthCare Services, NOV 21, 2018, View Source [SID1234531546]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Ms. Longmore-Grund joined Alliance in 2016 as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, bringing significant international and capital market experience and having led organizations through strategic expansion and growth. Prior to joining Alliance, she held several CFO roles including Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Printronix, a global provider of industrial print technology solutions serving Fortune 500 customers around the world. She has also served on the executive teams of Ingram Micro, Inc., Exult, Inc., Velocium (now owned by Northrop Grumman) and Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Ms. Longmore-Grund holds a Masters of Arts in Law and Diplomacy and International Business from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

At Alliance, Ms. Longmore-Grund has been instrumental in several key strategic initiatives for the organization, including two ownership transitions, privatization and refinancing, earning her and the Alliance team an excellent reputation in the financial community. Ms. Longmore-Grund has also served a pivotal role in the organization’s acquisitions, strategic planning, and culture and engagement initiatives. Most recently, Ms. Longmore-Grund recruited Ms. Prudence Kuai as Chief Information Officer to Alliance, a former WellPoint, Arcadian and Florida Blue executive team member who brings significant payer and information systems expertise to the Alliance senior team.

"We were fortunate to have several very strong internal and external candidates for the CEO role at Alliance," said Paul Viviano, Board Member and search committee chair. "In the end, it was Rhonda’s unique blend of values-based and collaborative leadership, proven record of success both in finance and more generally, and her earned reputation as a trusted and effective leader both within the Alliance team and in the healthcare marketplace that make her the right choice for leading Alliance’s continued success as a national leader in outsourced medical services."

Alliance partners with health systems, hospitals and physician groups to provide radiology, cancer care and pain management services across the United States. The company has become one of the nation’s leading healthcare organizations, with more than 1,100 customers and a patient average satisfaction score of 97%.

In fall of 2017, the organization became wholly owned by Tahoe Investment Group. Says Board Member Charles Feng, "On behalf of Chairman Huang, the Tahoe team and our Board, we are thrilled to have Rhonda in the CEO role. Our growth plan depends on our team’s ability to succeed in a shifting healthcare marketplace, and we look forward to their continued progress on behalf of our patients and partners under Rhonda’s leadership."

The company plans to immediately begin a search for the Chief Financial Officer role

PellePharm to Present at Piper Jaffray Healthcare Conference

On November 21, 2018 PellePharm, a late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to targeting rare dermatologic conditions at their source, reported that Sanuj K. Ravindran, M.D., chief executive officer and president, will present at the Piper Jaffray Healthcare Conference on Tuesday, November 27, at 12:30 p.m. EST in New York (Press release, PellePharm, NOV 21, 2018, View Source [SID1234531545]).

A live webcast of the presentation can be accessed on the company’s website at www.pellepharm.com. A replay of the webcast will be archived on the PellePharm website for at least two weeks following the presentation.

Bicycle Therapeutics to Present at 30th Annual Piper Jaffray Healthcare Conference

On November 21, 2018 Bicycle Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering a new class of therapeutics based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle) product platform, reported that management will present a company update at the 30th Annual Piper Jaffray Healthcare Conference (Press release, Bicycle Therapeutics, NOV 21, 2018, View Source [SID1234531544]). The presentation will take place at 8:10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, November 27, 2018.

Heat Biologics, Inc. Prices $12,000,000 Public Offering

On November 21, 2018 Heat Biologics, Inc. ("Heat") (NASDAQ: HTBX), a biopharmaceutical company developing immunotherapies with the goal of activating a patient’s immune system against cancer through T-cell activation, reported the pricing of an underwritten public offering consisting of 8,000,000 shares of Common Stock together with Warrants to purchase 4,000,000 shares of Common Stock at a combined price to the public of $1.50 (Press release, Heat Biologics, NOV 21, 2018, View Source [SID1234531543]). The gross proceeds to the Company from this offering are expected to be approximately $12,000,000 before deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and other offering expenses. The Warrants will have an exercise price of $1.65, will be exercisable upon issuance and will expire five years from the date of issuance. Heat Biologics, Inc. has granted the underwriter a 45-day option to purchase additional shares of Common Stock and/or additional Warrants to cover over-allotments, if any. The offering is expected to close on November 26, 2018, subject to customary closing conditions.

A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners is acting as the sole book-running manager for the offering.

CIM Securities, LLC is acting as a financial advisor to Heat Biologics in connection with the offering.

This offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (No. 333-221201) previously filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). A prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus describing the terms of the proposed offering will be filed with the SEC and will be available on the SEC’s website located at View Source Electronic copies of the y prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus may be obtained, when available, from A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners, 590 Madison Avenue, 36th Floor, New York, NY 10022 or via telephone at 212-624-2006 or email: [email protected]. Before investing in this offering, interested parties should read in their entirety the prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and the other documents that Heat Biologics, Inc. has filed with the SEC that are incorporated by reference in such prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, which provide more information about Heat Biologics, Inc. and such offering.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy 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.

Lytix Biopharma announces positive top-line data from a Phase 1 study with LTX-315

On November 21, 2018 Lytix Biopharma AS reported its positive top-line data from a Phase 1 study of its first in class oncolytic peptide, LTX-315, administered as monotherapy or in combination with either ipilimumab or pembrolizumab in patients with transdermally accessible tumors (Press release, Lytix Biopharma, NOV 21, 2018, View Source [SID1234531542]).

The primary objective of the trial was to assess the safety and tolerability of multiple, intratumoral doses of LTX-315 as a monotherapy or in combination. The study comprised four arms (A, B, C and D), with Arms A and B being monotherapy, Arm C recruiting patients with melanoma receiving combination therapy of LTX-315 with intravenous ipilimumab, and Arm D recruiting patients with triple negative breast cancer receiving LTX-315 in combination with intravenous pembrolizumab. The secondary objectives were to evaluate clinical activity and the ability of LTX-315 to evoke immune responses.

The study demonstrated that LTX-315 is safe to administer with manageable toxicities and with no added safety concerns when given in combination, either with ipilimumab or pembrolizumab. One patient in Arm C and two patients in Arm D achieved partial responses (PR). In the monotherapy arms, where paired biopsy samples were available, the study showed that LTX-315 can induce an increase in CD3+ and CD8+ tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILS), turn ‘cold’ tumors ‘hot’, and induce T-cell clonal expansion in peripheral blood as well as in tumor tissue.

"Successful completion of the study is an important milestone in the development of LTX-315", said Edwin Klumper, CEO Lytix Biopharma AS. "Demonstration of safety, and the confirmation of the scientific proof of concept with regards to LTX-315’s ability to invoke immune responses was critical to support further development of the compound. The company will now be pursuing the planned strategy of developing LTX-315 as a technology utilised in adoptive transfer of tumor specific T-cells and as a therapeutic in a combination regimen in a number of indications."

"We were encouraged by the experience of working with this novel treatment modality and by the evidence of its safety and early signs of efficacy that this trial demonstrated", said Professor James Spicer, Principal Investigator and Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at King’s College Hospital, London.

"This is the first oncolytic peptide that has entered clinical trials. The early indications of efficacy are promising. Intratumoral use of immunotherapies is currently seen as an innovative way to develop synergistic and safe combinations. LTX-315 has the potential to become a simple and universal means to use the tumor as a vaccine and prime the immune response against any cancer type", said Dr Aurelien Marabelle, Study investigator, Clinical Director, Cancer Immunotherapy Program, Gustave Roussy, France and lead author of HIT-IT (Starting the fight in the tumor: Expert recommendations for the development of human intratumoral immunotherapy (HIT-IT))

About the Phase 1 Trial:
The Phase 1 study was a multicentre study, evaluating LTX-315 in a dose ascending manner to assess safety of monotherapy in different dosing regimens (Arms A and B) and selection of a relevant clinical dose for combination with ipilimumab (Arm C) and pembrolizumab (Arm D). The monotherapy arms recruited all advanced cancer types, Arm C recruited patients with advanced melanoma who had prior exposure to anti PD-1 antibody, and Arm D recruited patients with advanced triple negative breast cancer.

In total 65 patients were recruited into this Phase 1 study. Of these, 4 patients in the early monotherapy arms experienced allergic reactions but these were manageable and reversable. Preventative measures were implemented to rectify this by optimising a prophylactic regimen and amending the dosing schedule. Subsequently, no further major allergic reactions were seen. Treatment emergent adverse events were mainly related to injection administration – transient drops in blood pressure, injection site pain and redness, but all toxicities were managed and reversed. Further, there was no evidence that the combination of LTX-315 with either ipilimumab or pembrolizumab conferred additive toxicities, implying that LTX-315 can be used in combination with checkpoint inhibitors without safety concerns.

One patient in Arm C (12.5%) and 2 patients in Arm D (12.5%) achieved a PR. One patient in Arm D had a PR duration of 12 months.

Of those patients in the intent to treat group that provided paired tumour samples, 100% showed an increase in CD3+ lymphocytes and TILs, 80% of tumour biopsies were converted from ‘cold’ to ‘hot’, and 71% showed a statistically significant expansion of peripheral T-cell clones.