View this email in your browser

MedNess: bite-size biopharma and medtech news

19th January, 2021

Subscribe here
MedNess This Week
HIGHLIGHTS
Onco-I-Analyse
Enhertu approved by the US FDA for previously treated HER2+ Gastric Cancer
On 15th January, the US FDA granted approval to AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (Enhertu), a HER2-directed ADC, for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic HER2+ gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma, previously treated with a trastuzumab-based therapy.
Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is an aggressive cancer, with particularly high incidence rates in East Asian countries, with a 5-year survival rate of only 5.5% for metastatic GC (Source: SEER). In general, HER2 positivity is reported in 12-23% patients with US population reporting 12% positivity. Although the prognostic significance of HER2 in GC in unclear, some studies suggest it is associated with poorer prognosis.
Until now, no therapy was approved for 2nd Line+ HER2+ gastric/GEJ adenocarcinoma and remained an area of high unmet need. In 2015, Roche’s Kadcyla failed to show clinical benefit in similar patient population in a Phase II/III study.
Details: The approval was based on the Ph 2
DESTINY-Gastric01 study evaluating Enhertu against physicians’ choice chemotherapy (paclitaxel or irinotecan monotherapy) in Japanese and Korean patients progressing on at least 2 prior regimens including trastuzumab.
The trial demonstrated a statistically significant difference versus chemotherapy in the primary endpoint of ORR (confirmed ORR: 40.5% (CR: 7.9%) vs. 11.3% (CR: 0%), P<0.001) and key secondary endpoint of OS (mOS: 12.5 vs. 8.4 months, HR: 0.59, P=0.0097). Enhertu also showed meaningful improvements in PFS (mPFS 5.6 vs. 3.5 months, HR: 0.47) and DOR (mDOR: 11.3 vs. 3.9 months). The safety profile was consistent with Phase I trial.
The FDA assessment used the
Assessment Aid and the approval was granted nearly 6 weeks ahead of the PDUFA date. Enhertu’s FDA label contains Boxed warnings for interstitial lung disease (ILD)/pneumonitis and embryo-fetal toxicity.
Implications: Enhertu is the first drug to be approved for HER2+ GC, in nearly a decade, following treatment with trastuzumab. Earlier in October, it was granted priority review by the US FDA and the breakthrough therapy designation in May. In September 2020, Enhertu was approved by the Japanese MHLW for the same patient segment after having received the SAKIGAKE designation in March 2018.
Enhertu is also being evaluated in two additional Phase 2 studies, 
DESTINY-Gastric02 and DESTINY-Gastric03. It has also shown clinical benefit in HER2 low-expressors which might extend its opportunity beyond HER2+ gastric cancer.
Drug Approvals
Imfinzi approved in the EU for less-frequent, fixed-dose use in unresectable non-small cell lung cancer
Luis Paz-Ares, MD, PhD, Chair, Medical Oncology Department, Hospital Universitario Doce de Octubre, Madrid, Spain and principal investigator in the CASPIAN Phase III trial, said: “Less-frequent dosing is important for cancer patients, and may be particularly relevant right now for those suffering from lung cancer, who are especially vulnerable to complications from COVID-19. Patients with cancer should be able to focus on living their lives as much as possible and doctors can now offer them a more convenient dosing option that could reduce medical visits by half and help avoid unnecessary risk of exposure to infection in the healthcare setting.”
NMPA Approves Tislelizumab + Chemotherapy Combination in 1L Advanced sqNSCLC in China
“With the recent announcement that the RATIONALE 303 trial met its primary endpoint of overall survival at its interim analysis, three Phase 3 trials of tislelizumab in NSCLC have achieved a positive outcome at interim analysis,” commented Yong (Ben) Ben, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Immuno-Oncology at BeiGene. “Tislelizumab is being investigated in a broad clinical program, including five Phase 3 trials in lung cancer indications. We believe that it is an important immunotherapy and demonstrates our work at BeiGene to bring innovative, impactful, and quality treatments to patients in need.”
Click here for more Drug Approvals
Regulatory News
FDA grants Fast Track designations to cavrotolimod (AST-008) for PD-1 therapy combination in PD-1-refractory MCC & anti-PD-(L)1 combination in PD-(L)1-refractory CSCC
“These Fast Track designations underscore the pressing need to develop new therapies to treat refractory non-melanoma skin cancers as well as the promising preclinical and initial clinical results of cavrotolimod in patients with locally advanced or metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma,” said Dr. Shailender Bhatia, M.D., Associate Professor at University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and principal investigator in the Phase 1b/2 clinical trial of cavrotolimod.
NMPA Acceptance of sNDA for TYVYT® (sintilimab injection) + BYVASDA® (bevacizumab injection) for 1L HCC announced
The principal investigator of the ORIENT-32 study, Professor Fan Jia from Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, stated:” We are very pleased to see that TYVYT® plus BYVASDA® can significantly improve the overall survival and progression-free survival compared to Sorafenib, which meet the pre-defined statistical superiority criteria. ORIENT-32 study was released in a late-breaking proffered oral presentation at the European Society of Medical Oncology Asia (“ESMO Asia”) Virtual Congress 2020. This is the first randomized controlled trial using PD-1 inhibitor-based combination therapy that has improve the overall survival and progression-free survival in the first-line treatment of advanced HCC,which represents great significance.”
Trial Results
Positive Top-Line Data from Ph 1b Clinical Trial of Zotiraciclib in the Treatment of Recurrent High-grade Gliomas Announced
"We are very grateful to our NCI colleagues, the patients, and their families for their participation in this trial. Recurrent high-grade gliomas are aggressive malignant brain tumors and remain difficult cancers to treat. Currently, available agents used for the treatment of gliomas offer little or no proven benefit; new therapeutic options are needed," said Scott Megaffin, Chief Executive Officer of Adastra. "We are exceptionally encouraged by the potential of zotiraciclib as a new treatment alternative for patients with recurrent high-grade gliomas. On the basis of these findings, Adastra is in active preparation of a registration-enabling clinical study of ZTR in patients with recurrent high-grade gliomas, in addition to work now underway to expand the application of ZTR to additional solid tumors and hematologic malignancies."
Positive Interim Data on Survival Rates from PD-L1 t-haNK protocols in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer Trials Announced
“The goal of the Cancer Moonshot program was to explore the hypothesis that by orchestrating natural killer cells and T cells, a paradigm change for the treatment of cancer could evolve. The initial results of these Cancer Moonshot trials combining immunotherapy molecules— including Abraxane from Celgene, haNK from NantKwest, Anktiva from ImmunityBio, and a PD-L1 inhibitor Avelumab from Pfizer—provided promising early data that a doubling of median overall survival rate in patients with advanced metastatic disease across multiple tumor types was possible,” said Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., Chairman and CEO of ImmunityBio.
Trial/Program Status
Patient Recruitment for VAL-083's Study Arm in the GBM AGILE Trial initiated
"The entire Kintara team is grateful and excited to participate in GCAR's groundbreaking GBM AGILE study as it offers an extraordinary opportunity to facilitate the advancement of VAL-083's clinical development in a premier GBM study," commented Saiid Zarrabian, Kintara's Chief Executive Officer.  "This is truly an important milestone for Kintara as we believe the study will generate important insights into the breadth of VAL-083's potential to address this deadliest form of brain cancer in all patient subtypes, while potentially bringing the program to the doorstep of commercialization."
Click here for more Trial Statuses
Conference Coverage:ASCO GI 2021
Abstracts
  1. Agios Presents Final Data from Ph 3 ClarIDHy Study of TIBSOVO® (ivosidenib tablets) in Patients with Previously Treated IDH1-Mutant Cholangiocarcinoma
  2. Arcus Biosciences Presents Promising Initial Data from Ph 1 Portion of ARC-8 Study for AB680 in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer
  3. AVEO Oncology Announces Results from Ph 1b Portion of DEDUCTIVE Study of Tivozanib (FOTIVDA®) + IMFINZI® (durvalumab) in 1L mHCC patients
  4. Cardiff Oncology Presents Data to Demonstrate the Clinical Benefit of Onvansertib in KRAS-Mutated mCRC and Initial Findings from its Expanded Access Program
  5. Eisai to present abstracts highlighting updates on lenvatinib mesylate 
  6. FivePrime Therapeutics presents Ph 2 FIGHT Trial of Bemarituzumab + Chemotherapy as a Frontline Targeted Treatment for FGFR2b+ Gastric and GEJ Cancers
  7. Infinity Pharmaceuticals Announces MARIO-275 Ph 2 Data in Advanced Urothelial Cancer Patients
  8. NANOBIOTIX announced positive first results from the complete Ph 1b part of a Ph 1b/2 study of NBTXR3 (PEP503) activated by radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy
  9. NuCana Presents Encouraging Data for NUC-3373 in Heavily Pre-Treated mCRC Patients
  10. Puma Biotechnology Presents Interim Results from the Biliary Tract Cancers Cohort of the Ph II SUMMIT “Basket” Trial of Neratinib
  11. Zymework announces Zanidatamab Data Highlighting Durable Antitumor Activity in HER2‑Expressing Biliary Tract and Gastroesophageal Cancers 
Collated by : Richa Tewari, PhD
Genes and Therapy

Consensus for an inclusive human reference genome to improve scientific outcomes
Researchers worldwide use a standard reference human genome to compare and identify differences in experimental DNA sequences.  The present reference genome GRCh38 (Genome Research Consortium human version 38) is made from 11 individuals and 70% from just one person.  It therefore lacks diversity, has at least 300 million missing letters of DNA, and some otherwise rare alleles are annotated as common.  To address these issues, scientists are developing the Pan Genome which is a graph of all known variants at a point in the genome, instead of a linear reference genome like the present one.  But it is not easy to incorporate this genome in present pipelines of genomic analyses which are streamlined for working with the linear reference genome.  It would require redeveloping these pipelines for all types of analyses, which is practically a gargantuan and very complex task.  Hence, Jesse Gillis and Alexander Dobin from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and colleagues came up with the idea of ‘consensus genome’.  These are linear reference genomes like the present one but are made from genomic information of 2500 individuals from 26 subpopulations.  The researchers compared the consensus genomes with GRCh38.  The consensus genomes performed better- showed an improved error rate in read alignment and six times less errors for gene expression analysis.  The researchers plan to use a consensus reference genome for their future experiment.  They have made their programs freely available on GitHub for scientists to create their own consensus sequences.

FDA authorizes initiation of human clinical trials for PBGM01 for the treatment of Infantile GM1 Gangliosidosis

FDA cleared Passage Bio’s investigational new drug (IND) application for its lead product candidate, PBGM01, for clinical trials for the treatment of infantile GM1 gangliosidosis (GM1), a progressive neurological genetic disorder.  This follows its Clinical Trial Authorization granted on December 10, 2020, by the United Kingdom’s (UK) Medicines Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.  PBGM01 has also been granted Orphan Drug Designations by FDA and the European Commission as well as Rare Pediatric Disease Designation by FDA.
GM1 is caused by absence/reduced production of a vital lysosomal enzyme, beta-galactosidase encoded by the GLB1 gene.  Without GLB1, acidic lipids called GM1 abnormally accumulate in neurons throughout the brain and cause rapid neurodegeneration.  In pre-clinical GM1 models, PBGM01 had shown broad brain distribution and high levels of GLB1 expression in the central nervous system and peripheral organs, suggesting a potential treatment for GM1.
The global Phase 1/2 clinical trial of PBGM01 is expected to start in the first quarter of 2021.  The program named Imagine-1 is a dose escalation study of PBGM01 where pediatric subjects with early and late infantile GM1 will be injected with a single dose into their cisterna magna to deliver the functional GLB1 gene into the brain and peripheral tissues.
The clinical program will enroll four cohorts of two patients each, with separate dose-escalation cohorts for early and late onset infantile GM1.  The company plans to report its initial 30-day safety and biomarker data by mid-2021.
Medness Reviews

A new promising study generates highly specific single chain antibody from llamas and alpacas
Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies have been developed as therapies for the treatment of COVID-19. But producing antibodies for widespread usage is complicated and time-consuming. Researchers from DiosCURE Therapeutics, a spin-off from the University of Bonn were able to generate effective nanobodies against SARS-CoV-2 by fusing two selective nanobodies from llama and alpaca previously inoculated with the same virus.
In a previous
study from last year, researchers were able to produce single chain antibodies from llama effective against SARS-COV-2. DiosCURE’s fused nanobodies are capable of targeting different parts of spike protein which makes it 100-fold more effective at neutralizing the COVID-19 virus. Moreover, these powerful nanobodies are effective against the mutated variant. DiosCURE’s immunotherapeutic candidates, DIOS-202 and DIOS-203 are planned to enter clinical trials this year.
"The structure-based multivalent single-chain antibodies we discovered have strong potential for clinical applications. This is owed to their highly potent neutralizing activity and in-built protection from the rapid emergence of escape mutants. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 escape mutants will remain an ongoing challenge in this pandemic, and novel therapies are urgently needed to address this problem," - Eicke Latz, Director of the Institute of Innate Immunity at the University of Bonn, co-founder and Board member of DiosCURE.

Collated by :  Rinki Saha
Medness Business
Onco-News
Genmab Achieves USD 40M Milestone in Collaboration with AbbVie
“We are very pleased that the first Phase 3 study of epcoritamab has been activated at multiple clinical sites and the first cancer patient has been dosed. We look forward to continued rapid progress in this exciting and rapidly broadening development program,” said Jan van de Winkel, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Genmab.
ESSA Pharma Announces Clinical Collaboration with Janssen to Evaluate EPI7386 Combination for mCRPC Patients
“We are delighted to collaborate with Janssen to explore the potential clinical role of EPI-7386 in combination with the antiandrogens apalutamide and abiraterone acetate plus prednisone in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer,” said Dr. David. R. Parkinson, Chief Executive Officer, ESSA Pharma Inc. “EPI-7386 binds to the androgen receptor targeting the opposite end of the androgen receptor from current therapies. In preclinical models, we have seen that combining EPI-7386 with current antiandrogens can lead to deeper and broader inhibition of androgen biology. We look forward to investigating these combination therapies and their potential to improve the treatment of prostate cancer.”
BioPharma and MedTech

Landos Biopharma plans an IPO of $100 M for its AI based prediction of immune-metabolic functions
Landos Biopharma Inc. (Landos; Blacksburg, VA) owns an AI based- LANCE platform that makes predictions to identify novel expression patterns tied to regulatory functions in immune cells, modulating their inflammatory activity. Landos has identified 7 novel immune metabolic targets across 14 indications, including ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, eosinophilic esophagitis, diabetic nephropathy and type 1 diabetes. Its lead molecule BT-11, has completed phase II clinical trials for mild to moderate ulcerative colitis. BT-11 targets Lanthionine Synthetase C-Like 2 (LANCL2), a membrane receptor that modulates immunological mechanisms associated with autoimmune diseases. Landos now plans to expand BT-11 to eosinophilic esophagitis, psoriasis and atopic dermatitis.
On January 13th 2021, Landos
filed an IPO of $100 million. It has venture backing from Perspective Advisors and RTW Investments.

KSQ Therapeutics enters strategic collaboration with Takeda, receiving $100 million to address novel CRISPR-based immuno-oncology therapies
KSQ Therapeutics’ (Cambridge, MA) proprietary CRISPRomics® discovery platform for systematic screening of whole genome to optimally target T cells and NK cells, has interested Takeda (HQ: Tokyo, Japan) to enter into a broad strategic collaboration for research and product development aimed at turning cold tumours hot. The deal, which involves an initial upfront cash payment of $100 million to KSQ, has the potential for further commercial and developmental milestone payments to the tune of $400 million per therapeutic program. In return Takeda will enjoy an exclusive, global license (royalties included) to develop and manufacture all products arising from KSQ’s discovery pipeline that modulate T cell and NK cell targets. While the T cell targets are already validated by KSQ, Takeda will collaborate over NK cell target discovery and validation. The announcement was made on 13th January 2021.
Further, Takeda will take over all commercial development and distribution of promising therapeutics pipelines (including investigational new drugs enabling activities) with KSQ enjoying tiered royalties on all approved products in the US, and complete royalties on ex- US sales.
KSQ’s platform screens all the genes in the T & NK cell genomes to identify potent target specific killing activity across 600 cancer models including PD-1 resistant tumours. For further explanation on the platform, click
here.
“KSQ’s CRISPRomics discovery platform is a powerful technology to help us identify novel targets in line with our immuno-oncology strategy…The T-cell and NK-cell target discovery approach complements our portfolio aimed at turning cold tumors hot and redirecting the innate immune system to elicit a sustained and durable immune response against tumors. Working alongside KSQ will facilitate smart drug discovery and development of what we hope will be transformative new therapies for patients with intractable forms of cancer.”- said Loïc Vincent, Head, Oncology Drug Discovery Unit and Immunology Unit at Takeda.

Click here for more on mergers, acquisition and business news
Editors' Desk
Richa Tewari, PhD
Oncology News
Esha Sehanobish, PhD
MedNess Plus
Arundithi Ananthanarayanan
MedNess Reviews
Divyaanka Iyer
BioPharma News
Shilpa Rawal, PhD
Onco I-Analyse
Debarati Banik
HealthIT
Rinki Saha
BioPharma News
Abhi Dey
Consulting Editor
Nisha Peter, PhD
Managing Editor
Share Share
Tweet Tweet
Forward Forward
Subscribe
Disclaimer
The editors take care to share authentic information.  In case of any discrepancies please write to medness.newsletter@gmail.com
The sponsors do not have any influence on the nature or kind of the news/analysis reported in MedNess. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Medness. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized in real-world analytic products as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of anyone volunteering or working for Medness. This blog is strictly for news and information. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment nor investment suggestions. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.
Copyright © 2019 MedNess , All rights reserved.
You are receiving this MedNess Newsletter as a subscriber on the list.

Cover Image : iStock
Images : 
Twitter , Unsplash.com
Content Editors: Richa Tewari , Esha SehanobishRinki Saha ,  Shilpa Rawal, PhD ,  Debarati Banik  , Divyaanka Iyer , Arundithi Ananthanarayanan and Abhinav Dey 
Concept and Design: Ananda Ghosh and Nisha Peter
Our mailing address is:
MedNess

1150 First Ave. King of Prussia,, PA 19406

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.