Category Archives: Immunology

Immunology

IsoPlexis’ $20M Financing to Enable Continued Commercial Expansion of its Single-Cell Platforms – Clinical OMICs News

Single-cell functional proteomics platform developer IsoPlexis announced this week it has raised an additional $20 million in a Series C round, capital that will enable the company to continue the global expansion of its flagship IsoLight single-cell proteomic analysis platform.

The financing round comes as IsoPlexis pushes to expand its operational, manufacturing, and commercial team globally. Currently, the company has operations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, with more than 130 employees.

According to the company, its technology has been used in a number of different settings including precision drug discovery and biomarker discovery in oncology, to identify proteomic differences that are often undetectable via other methods.

From confirming gene edits to pinpointing the biological drivers of response, leading researchers from both academic and biopharma are utilizing the IsoLight to solve challenges in cancer immunology, inflammatory diseases, and engineered cell therapy discovery and development, Sean Mackay, CEO and co-founder of IsoPlexis told Clinical OMICs. Using our high-dimensional data from each cell, researchers are improving their processes as theyre advancing development of their therapies towards achieving the most potent functional responses for improved outcomes in patients.

In 2020, Mackay said the company will continue to expand its applications and release innovative products addressing high need research areas for its existing and future customer base. This includes bolstering its technology to the ability to better understand the functional states of innate cell types such as NK cells and monocytes, and the roles these play in the immune system.

Additionally, well be introducing products to assess functional interactions within the phosphoproteomic and metabolomic landscapes, Mackay added. It is critical to have single-cell proteomic tools to understand these functional interactions to better tune cells and understand how gene edits functionally affect downstream signaling cascades to continue to make improvements within a variety of indications.

The recent financing was led by Northpond Ventures, along with participation from existing investors and brings to $45 million the total raised to date by IsoPlexis.

We are excited to continue our partnership with our investor base and to broaden our commercial impact globally with our single-cell proteomic systems. Our leadership in providing meaningful cellular insights to the world of cancer immunology, has rapidly translated to broad uptake for our solutions, Mackay noted in a press release.

IsoPlexis is providing much needed solutions to significant challenges in cancer, immunology, and engineered cellular therapy discovery and development, said Sharon Kedar, co-founder and partner of Northpond Ventures, in a statement. We are excited to continue partnering with IsoPlexis on these efforts to transform personalized medicine.

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IsoPlexis' $20M Financing to Enable Continued Commercial Expansion of its Single-Cell Platforms - Clinical OMICs News

Immunology

Type of Herpes Virus Tied to Multiple Sclerosis – The Scientist

As early as the 1990s, researchers proposed that a very common type of herpes virusthen known as human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6)could be somehow involved in the development of multiple sclerosis, a neurodegenerative disease characterized by autoimmune reactions against the protective myelin coating of the central nervous system.

However, the association between HHV6 and the disease soon became fraught with controversy as further studies produced discordant results. Complicating matters further, HHV6 turned out to be two related, but distinct variantsHHV6A and HHV6B. Because the two viruses are similar, for a while no method existed to tell whether a patient had been infected with one or the other, or bothmaking it difficult to draw a definitive association between either of the viruses and the disease.

I hope we rewoke the interest in this virus.

Anna Fogdell-Hahn, Karolinska Institute

Now, a collaboration of European researchers has developed a technique capable of distinguishing antibodies against one variant from the other. Using that method in a Swedish cohort of more than 8,700 multiple sclerosis patients and more than 7,200 controls, they found that patients were much more likely to carry higher levels of anti-HHV6A antibodies than healthy people, while they were likelier to carry fewer antibodies against HHV6B. The findings, published last November in Frontiers in Immunology, hint that previous contradictory results may at least be partially explained by the fact that researchers couldnt distinguish between the two viruses.

This article now makes a pretty convincing case that it is HHV6A that correlates with multiple sclerosis, and not HHV6B, remarks Margot Mayer-Prschel, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester Medical Center who wasnt involved in the study. Researchers can now focus on one of these viruses rather than looking at [both] of them together.

HHV6A and HHV6B are two of eight herpesviruses known to infect people. More is known about the HHV6B variant, which most people catch as infants. It causes a brief rash-fever illness known as roseola. Both viruses typically fall dormant after the initial infection, sometimes re-activating later in life. Luckily for researchers, antibodies against them linger in the blood well into adulthood.

Through a careful analysis of the two viruses, researchers at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg were able to identify a particular proteinknown as immediate-early protein 1 (IE1)that differed between the two variants.

Along with other research groups, they turned to a cohort of 8,742 Swedish multiple sclerosis patients who were enrolled in long-term studies of the disease and whose blood serum had been collected at the Karolinska Institute. They measured serum concentrations of antibodies for the IE1 protein, and then compared them with antibody concentrations in a cohort of 7,215 healthy, age-matched control individuals. Their analysis revealed that a positive association between HHV6A antibody concentrations and multiple sclerosis, whereas there was a negative association between HHV6B antibody levels and the disease.

The team also examined the relationship between the HHV6A antibody concentrations and other known risk factors for multiple sclerosis, including the presence of antibodies against another herpesvirus called Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Interestingly, individuals who carried high levels of antibodies against both EBV and HHV6A were more even more likely to have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis than those who carried high levels of anti-HHV6A antibodies alone, suggesting a possible interplay between the two pathogens. The team also found a relationship with known genetic risk factors for the disease.

It seems like there is an interaction with the other risk factors, says coauthor Anna Fogdell-Hahn, a neuroimmunologist at the Karolinska Institutes Center for Molecular Medicine. To her, the findings bolster the notion that it is a confluence of multiple factors that leads to the disease, and that HHV6A might be one of them.

How HHV6A might trigger or contribute to the disease is unclear, but Fogdell-Hahn has some theories shes planning on exploring in future research. While both HHV6A and HHV6B infect neurons, HHV6A differs in that it infects oligodendrocytes, the cells that generate the protective myelin sheath around neurons and are thought to be targeted by the autoimmune reactions of multiple sclerosis. When HHV6A reactivates and proliferates, it could borrow particular proteins from its oligodendrocyte host cells, Fogdell-Hahn speculates. And when certain immune cells then catch the pathogen and present the virus proteins to other immune cells, they might mistakenly present the bodys own oligodendrocyte proteins, and thereby trigger autoimmune reactions, she speculates.

Treatments exist for multiple sclerosis, but they all work by suppressing the immune system, leaving patients more vulnerable to other infections, Fogdell-Hahn notes. We should not give up the ambition to try to really understand what starts the disease, she says.

Steven Jacobson, the chief of the viral immunology section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, who has collaborated with Fogdell-Hahn in the past but wasnt involved in the current study, is impressed by the sheer size of the study, which gives the findings statistical power. Very few of us have done studies in 15,000 . . . individuals. That to me is a real strength, he says. Without such large numbers, its difficult to uncover firm associations between relatively rare diseases and viruses that nearly everyone carries.

One important question, he notes, is whether HHV6A is simply reactivated as a result of the inflammatory symptoms of multiple sclerosis, rather than a contributor to the disease. To Mayer-Prschel, some of the teams results hint at a contributing role. In a separate analysis based on a different cohort of patients whose blood samples had been taken before they developed the disease, the researchers found higher concentrations of anti-HHV6A antibodies compared to control individuals who never developed the disease. If reactivation of HHV6A were a mere consequence of the disease, one would expect patients at the most advanced stages to have the highest antibody response. However, it was exactly opposite: the youngest patients who had not yet [developed] the pathology had a very robust HHV6A-specific [antibody] response. I thought that was enlightening, says Mayer-Prschel.

Still, one would need an interventional study to prove a causative role for the virus, Jacobson saysfor instance by blocking the virus and investigating whether the patients symptoms improve. But thats easier said than done, he notes. There are really not very great antiviral drugs out there, and its almost a catch 22 [situation where] you need the antiviral drug to show this effect on the disease, but until you show that the virus has something to do with the disease, no one is going to make the antiviral drug. Nevertheless, the new research is a step in the right direction, he notes.

The biggest effect of the study, Mayer-Prschel says, is that it may attract further funding to studying HHV6Aa field some say has been largely neglected by funding bodies. Fogdell-Hahn agrees. I hope we rewoke the interest in this virus, she says. Theres so many things that we want to do.

E. Engdahl et al., Increased serological response against human herpesvirus 6A is associated with risk for multiple sclerosis, Frontiers in Immunology, doi:10.3389/fimmu.2019.02715, 2019.

Katarina Zimmer is a New Yorkbased freelance journalist. Find her on Twitter @katarinazimmer.

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Type of Herpes Virus Tied to Multiple Sclerosis - The Scientist

Immunology

U-M researchers find new function for macropinocytosis in mammalian cell growth – Michigan Medicine

For the first time, researchers at Michigan Medicine have demonstrated that a cellular process known to be involved in cancer and other diseases also plays an important role in the growth of at least one type of normal mammalian cell.

Macropinocytosis is an ancient process by which cells take in large volumes of material from outside of themselves. The process is hijacked by certain cancer cells to gather proteins to break down into cellular fuel. The process is also exploited by viruses and bacteria to enter cells.

New findings from the lab of Philip D. King, Ph.D., professor of Microbiology & Immunology at the U-M Medical School and a member of the U-M Rogel Cancer Center, showed that both primary mouse and human T cells which play a central role in the immune response engage in macropinocytosis to support normal cell growth.

Our research suggests that this may be a more general phenomenon, applicable to the growth of other primary cell types, says study lead author John Charpentier, a graduate student in Kings lab.

King adds, Blocking macropinocytosis in cancer might not represent an effective means of treating cancer since it is predicted that the generation of an anti-tumor T cell immune response would also be inhibited using this approach.

Paper cited: Macropinocytosis drives T cell growth by sustaining the activation of mTORC1, Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13997-3

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U-M researchers find new function for macropinocytosis in mammalian cell growth - Michigan Medicine

Immunology

OncoMyx Therapeutics Announces Formation of Scientific Advisory Board – Arizona Daily Star

This is a group of highly-accomplished scientists and drug hunters, some whom I have known for many years, said Leslie Sharp, Ph.D., chief scientific officer (CSO) of OncoMyx. We are thrilled to welcome Tobias, Neil, Grant, Ronan, and Dominic to our SAB, and I look forward to working with the team to develop new therapeutic options for cancer patients.

The SAB will be comprised of the following members:

Tobias Bald, Ph.D. is the Head of the Oncology and Cellular Immunology Laboratory at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. He is a leading expert in tumor immunology with a strong focus on the role of the innate immune system during tumor development, progression and cancer immunotherapy.

Neil Gibson, Ph.D. is President and CEO of PDI Therapeutics and Senior Vice President of COI Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Gibson has more than 30 years of drug development experience and has been involved in the successful discovery, development and commercialization of four approved oncology drugs (including temozolomide, sorafenib, erlotnib, and crizotinib). Dr Gibsons extensive oncology experience includes being CSO of Pfizer Oncology Research Unit, CSO of Regulus Therapeutics and CSO of OSI Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Gibson also serves on the board of TCR2, a new public company focused on T-cell therapies.

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OncoMyx Therapeutics Announces Formation of Scientific Advisory Board - Arizona Daily Star

Immunology

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Are Poised to Revolutionize Asthma Care – Pulmonology Advisor

The advent of large data sets from many sources (big data), machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) are poised to revolutionize asthma care on both the investigative and clinical levels, according to an article published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

According to the researchers, a patient with asthma endures approximately 2190 hours of experiencing and treating or not treating their asthma symptoms. During 15-minute clinic visits, only a short amount of time is spent understanding and treating what is a complex disease, and only a fraction of the necessary data is captured in the electronic health record.

Our patients and the pace of data growth are compelling us to incorporate insights from Big Data to inform care, the researchers posit. Predictive analytics, using machine learning and artificial intelligence has revolutionized many industries, including the healthcare industry.

When used effectively, big data, in conjunction with electronic health record data, can transform the patients healthcare experience. This is especially important as healthcare continues to embrace both e-health and telehealth practices. The data resulting from these thoughtful digital health innovations can result in personalized asthma management, improve timeliness of care, and capture objective measures of treatment response.

According to the researchers, the use of machine learning algorithms and AI to predict asthma exacerbations and patterns of healthcare utilization are within both technical and clinical reach. The ability to predict who is likely to experience an asthma attack, as well as when that attack may occur, will ultimately optimize healthcare resources and personalize patient management.

The use of longitudinal birth cohort studies and multicenter collaborations like the Severe Asthma Research Program have given clinical investigators a broader understanding of the pathophysiology, natural history, phenotypes, seasonality, genetics, epigenetics, and biomarkers of the disease. Machine learning and data-driven methods have utilized this data, often in the form of large datasets, to cluster patients into genetic, molecular, and immune phenotypes. These clusters have led to work in the genomics and pharmacogenomics fields that should ultimately lead to high-fidelity exacerbation predictions and the advent of true precision medicine.

This work, the researchers noted, if translated into clinical practice can potentially link genetic traits to phenotypes that can for example predict rapid response, or non-response to medications like albuterol and steroids, or identify an individuals risk for cortisol suppression.

As with any innovation, though, challenges abound. One in particular is the siloed nature of the clinical and scientific insights about asthma that have come to light in recent years. Although data are now being generated and interpreted across various domains, researchers must still contend with a lack of data standards and disease definitions, data interoperability and sharing difficulties, and concerns about data quality and fidelity.

Machine learning and AI present their own challenges; namely, those who utilize these technologies must consider the issues of fairness, bias, privacy, and medical bioethics. Legal accountability and medical responsibility issues must also be considered as algorithms are adopted into routine practice.

We must, as clinicians and researchers, constructively transform the concern and lack of understanding many clinicians have about digital health, [machine learning], and [artificial intelligence] into educated and critical engagement, the researchers concluded. Our job is to use [machine learning and artificial intelligence] tools to understand and predict how asthma affects patients and help us make decisions at the patient and population levels to treat it better.

Reference

Messinger AI, Luo G, Deterding RR. The doctor will see you now: How machine learning and artificial intelligence can extend our understanding and treatment of asthma [published online December 25, 2019]. J Allergy Clin Immunol. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2019.12.898

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Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Are Poised to Revolutionize Asthma Care - Pulmonology Advisor

Immunology

New Investigation Into PD-1 Blockade for Hepatocellular Carcinoma – Cancer Therapy Advisor

Researchers are taking a new approach to sorting out why immunotherapy only works in select patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A team of investigators is using newly developed high-throughput technologies to evaluate the therapeutic effects of the programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) antibody (cemiplimab-rwlc), which was developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, and Sanofi. Its hoped this new investigation will help investigators gain insight into why so many patients still fail to respond to immunotherapy.1

Our goal is to finally understanddynamic changes in the tumor immune microenvironment induced by novelimmunotherapies and/or chemotherapy, said study investigator Thomas Marron,MD, PhD, who is the assistant director of early-phase and immunotherapy trialsat The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.

He and his colleagues are conducting aphase 1 clinical trial to assess the clinical efficacy and response of patientsto cemiplimab therapy in HCC, early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), andhead and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The team will investigate single-cellmapping of cancer lesions and circulating immune cells, spatial mapping of thetumor tissues, and sequencing of the patients microbiome before and aftertreatment.

What makes this investigation novel isthat it attacks the problem with a multipronged approach and combinesresearchers with distinct expertise in medicine, immunology, technology,mathematics, and physics. Utilizing new proprietary technologies and platforms,the investigators hope to better characterize immune profiles and responses ina diverse range of disease settings. We do not truly know how these agentswork in vivo. So, we are not able to identify rational combinatorial approachesin surgical patients or metastatic patients, Dr Marron told Cancer Therapy Advisor. We need toidentify biomarkers in order to identify who will benefit from therapy, so asto not waste our patients time, and cause unnecessary personal, physical, andfinancial toxicity.

He said in the metastatic setting, somepatients with HCC, NSCLC, or HNSCC have shown responses to immunotherapy. InNSCLC and HNSCC, the response rate to immunotherapy seems to increase whencombined with chemotherapy, but still, half of patients do not respond. Ourgoal is to use upfront immunotherapy to prime an immune response and decreasethe chance of recurrence, said Dr Marron. We believe that [in] patients withlocoregional disease, [and] with smaller, less heterogeneous tumors, there willlikely be a higher response rate than seen in the metastatic setting.

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New Investigation Into PD-1 Blockade for Hepatocellular Carcinoma - Cancer Therapy Advisor

Immunology

Victims of Iranian plane crash ‘represented the best of us,’ mourners hear at U of Manitoba vigil – CBC.ca

A memorial service was held at the University of Manitoba Friday afternoon to mournthe victims of Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752, which crashed in Iran earlier this week.

"As the days go by, we're learning more about each of the passengers on Flight PS752, and our interconnectedness in our world is becoming evermore apparent," said U of M president David Barnard.

"It is written that the passengers on this flight represented the best of us," he said. "It's easy to understand why this is so."

CBC News has confirmed that at least eight people on board the flight were from Winnipeg.

The flight from Tehran to Kyiv, Ukraine crashed minutes after takeoff, around 6:15 a.m. local time in Tehran Wednesday. All of the 176 people on board were killed. Earlier figures put the number of Canadians on the flight at 63, but Foreign Affairs Minister Franois-Philippe Champagne announced Friday that the number of Canadian victims now stands at 57.

Jude Uzonna, who teachesimmunology and is the associate dean (research) at the U of M'sfaculty of health sciences, said hedid not prepare a speech for the memorial, wantingto speak from his heart about his friend Forough Khadem, who was among those killed in the crash.

She graduated with a PhD in immunology from the university in 2016, and wasa budding scientist, he said.

"Forough touched my life and she changed me as a mentor," Uzonna said.

He recalled that healways told Khadem that if she had been born in Canada, she would have becomeprime minister.

When the two started working together, though, there were many challenges, he said. Khadem was dealing with health issues shortly after coming to Canada, and there was pressure on Uzonna to let her go, he said.

"At the time, she says, 'Boss, please let me go,'" Uzonna recalled his student asking him.

His response, he said, was "'Forough, I can't let you go because we started this together. You're going to finish,'" he said, his voice cracking with emotion.

"And she finished."

Ayda Mohammadian says she is still in shock after the loss of her boyfriend,Amir Hossein Ghorbani.

Ghorbani, 21,was a science studentat the University of Manitobawhowanted to be a physician.

He worked hardto attain his goals, Mohammadian said. But he was also concerned for the safety of his family who still live in Iran, and who worked hard to help him come toCanada, she added.

Mohammadian said she hugged Ghorbani and cried just hoursbefore heboarded his flight fromWinnipeg to Iran.

"'I feel if you go, I'm going to lose you,'" she recalled telling him.

With tears in his eyes, he replied,"'Don't be silly. Am I going to die? I will be back in 20 days,'" said Mohammadian.

"But he didn't come back."

Mohammadiantold CBC News after the ceremony that she had planned a party for his return on Wednesday, but received the call about the crash Tuesday.

"For two, three hours, I was just laughing because I couldn't believe. I was really shocked," she said.

After a few hours, Mohammadian started looking at the list of names of people who were on board. She says she scanned it six or seven times.

"Then I was like, 'Who am I kidding? The name is there. I'm not going to change anything,'" she said, breaking down into tears.

"I don't have the chance to hug him again, to kiss him again, to smell him."

As people mourn, Canada is demandinganswers.

Though Iranian officials have denied the allegations, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday thatintelligence suggeststhe plane wasshot down by an Iranian missile possibly by mistake.

The Transportation Safety Board announced Thursday that it was invitedto Iran to investigate.

But Friday evening, Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced that representatives from various countriesare coming together to pushthe Iranian government "for a full and thorough investigation of the destruction of Flight PS752."

Meanwhile, inside the engineering building at the University of Manitoba, candles were lit for each of the victims with ties to Winnipeg.

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Victims of Iranian plane crash 'represented the best of us,' mourners hear at U of Manitoba vigil - CBC.ca

Immunology

ANP Technologies, in Partnership with Fulgent Pharma, Teams with Moffitt Cancer Center to Develop a New Class of Leukemia Therapies – Business Wire

NEWARK, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ANP Technologies Inc. (ANP) and Fulgent Pharma LLC through their partner Moffitt Cancer Center have successfully licensed the rights to develop a novel targeted therapy in the area of leukemia to Celgene (CELG), now Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), a landmark deal that leverages ANPs nanotherapeutic platform technology. The partners will work together to develop a new cancer therapy for Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). The potential new therapy will target a novel pathway receptor.

The Moffitt research team recently discovered that a specific pathway receptor is up-regulated in MDS and AML malignant cells, and in particular the malignant stem cells, thus offering a potentially favorable disease-specific target for therapies. By utilizing a ligand specific for this pathway receptor along with a covalently linked nanoparticle developed by ANP and licensed to Fulgent Pharma, the team was able to show potential for treating this type of leukemia at the stem cell level.

Moffitt takes a team approach when it comes to cancer care and research. Our immunology and hematology teams worked together on this novel therapy. We are taking it to the next level, partnering with ANP/Fulgent Pharma to help accelerate translating this discovery from the laboratory to patients in need, said Jarett Rieger, Sr. Director, Innovation & Industry Alliances of Moffitt.

With our proprietary nano-delivery and nanotherapeutic technology platform, ANP has successfully developed multiple therapies including nanoencapsulated pactlitaxel, which is currently in clinical and licensed to Fulgent Pharma, as well as a nanoencapsulated antibody cocktail of drugs for the treatment of Ebola infection, which was funded for nonhuman primate testing by the US Department of Defense, says Dr. Ray Yin, President and CEO of ANP. The Moffitt collaboration expands our nanotechnology platform and spectrum of drug development, enabling ANP and Fulgent Pharma to develop new targeted therapies to benefit cancer patients.

About Moffitt Cancer Center

Moffitt is dedicated to one lifesaving mission: to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer. The Tampa-based facility is one of only 51 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitts scientific excellence, multidisciplinary research, and robust training and education. Moffitt is a Top 10 cancer hospital and has been nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report since 1999. Moffitts expert nursing staff is recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center with Magnet status, its highest distinction. With more than 6,500 team members, Moffitt has an economic impact in the state of $2.4 billion. For more information, call 1-888-MOFFITT (1-888-663-3488), visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the momentum on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

About ANP Technologies, Inc.

ANP Technologies, Inc. is a world leader in developing innovative nano-therapeutics. In addition to the novel targeted therapy, ANP has also developed nanoencapsulated chemotherapeutics, antibody therapies, immune-oncology and mRNA-based vaccines. Visit ANPTINC.com for more information.

About Fulgent Pharma

Fulgent Pharma is a clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company developing oncology therapies that leverage a proprietary nano-drug delivery technology. Fulgent Pharmas pipeline features three unique drug platforms: nanoencapsulated chemotherapy drugs being developed via the 505(b)(2) pathway, novel targeted therapies, and small molecule based immuno-oncology drugs. The Companys lead asset, FID-007, is a nanoencapsulated paclitaxel with improved drug solubility and efficacy, as well as decreased toxicity, and is currently tested in clinical trials. Fulgent Pharma was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Temple City, California. Fulgent Pharma was spun off from Fulgent Genetics, Inc., (NASDAQ:FLGT) a comprehensive genetic testing company, in 2016.

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ANP Technologies, in Partnership with Fulgent Pharma, Teams with Moffitt Cancer Center to Develop a New Class of Leukemia Therapies - Business Wire

Immunology

OncoMyx Therapeutics Announces Formation of Scientific Advisory Board – Business Wire

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OncoMyx Therapeutics, a privately-held oncolytic immunotherapy company, announced today the formation of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), comprised of experts in tumor immunology, oncology drug discovery and development, and oncolytic viruses. The SAB will work closely with the OncoMyx leadership team as the company advances a therapeutic pipeline of oncolytic immunotherapies based on the myxoma virus (MYXV) platform. The companys pipeline includes both monotherapies and therapies to be used in combination with immune checkpoint blockade and other immuno-modulatory approaches, offering significant therapeutic promise to a wide range of cancer targets.

This is a group of highly-accomplished scientists and drug hunters, some whom I have known for many years, said Leslie Sharp, Ph.D., chief scientific officer (CSO) of OncoMyx. We are thrilled to welcome Tobias, Neil, Grant, Ronan, and Dominic to our SAB, and I look forward to working with the team to develop new therapeutic options for cancer patients.

The SAB will be comprised of the following members:

Tobias Bald, Ph.D. is the Head of the Oncology and Cellular Immunology Laboratory at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. He is a leading expert in tumor immunology with a strong focus on the role of the innate immune system during tumor development, progression and cancer immunotherapy.

Neil Gibson, Ph.D. is President and CEO of PDI Therapeutics and Senior Vice President of COI Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Gibson has more than 30 years of drug development experience and has been involved in the successful discovery, development and commercialization of four approved oncology drugs (including temozolomide, sorafenib, erlotnib, and crizotinib). Dr Gibsons extensive oncology experience includes being CSO of Pfizer Oncology Research Unit, CSO of Regulus Therapeutics and CSO of OSI Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Gibson also serves on the board of TCR2, a new public company focused on T-cell therapies.

Grant McFadden, Ph.D. is founder, research advisor, and director at OncoMyx. He is one of the top global leaders in oncolytic viruses with a specialization in pox viruses, including myxoma. The McFadden lab pioneered the field of viral immune subversion (also called anti-immunology) and is credited with the discovery of a wide spectrum of virus-derived inhibitors of the immune system.

Ronan OHagan, Ph.D. is Senior Vice President of Research and Translational Sciences at Akrevia Therapeutics. Prior to Akrevia, Ronan served as Executive Director, Oncology Discovery at Merck Research Laboratories. In this role he led the oncology discovery program at Merck with a particular emphasis on approaches to enable and enhance immune-modulatory therapies in cancer. Earlier at Merck, he led target identification and validation for oncology and generated an early-discovery pipeline including both biologics and small-molecule programs. He has helped to bring multiple small-molecule and biologics programs into clinical development during his time in industry. His academic career included undergraduate and graduate work in Canada followed by post-doctoral work at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). In Dr. Ron DePinhos laboratory at DFCI, he focused on genetically engineered mouse models of cancer and novel approaches to target discovery.

Dominic Spinella, Ph.D. has over 25 years of experience in drug research and development and the discipline of Translational Medicine. He has been an executive leader at Chugai Biopharmaceuticals USA, where he was Vice President of Exploratory Research; at Pfizer where he served as head of Translational Medicine for the Oncology division; and at Amgen where he was Executive Director of Medical Sciences and head of Biomarkers and Diagnostics. A former professor of Medicine and Immunology at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine and Howard Hughes postdoctoral fellow at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, he also served on several national and international cancer biomarker development bodies.

We are assembling a world-class team with deep expertise in developing and commercializing innovative therapeutics, said Steve Potts, Ph.D., MBA, founder and chief executive officer of OncoMyx. Our SABs collective strategic, scientific, and clinical experience, together with our existing team, will help transform OncoMyx into a high growth clinical-stage therapeutics company.

About OncoMyx Therapeutics

OncoMyx Therapeutics, a startup launched from Arizona State University (ASU), develops oncolytic immunotherapies based on the myxoma virus (MYXV) platform to orchestrate an immune response and treat cancer. Successful immuno-oncology (IO) cancer treatment generally requires combination therapy, and oncolytic viruses (OVs) have emerged as a safe and effective IO complement. The companys MYXV platform, spun out from ASU, is poised to be a best-in-class OV approach, and the top OV team has assembled around MYXV to create important new therapeutic options for cancer patients. For more information, please visit http://www.oncomyx.com.

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OncoMyx Therapeutics Announces Formation of Scientific Advisory Board - Business Wire

Immunology

AbbVie Sets up Allergan Aesthetics Ahead of Finalizing its $63 Billion Acquisition – BioSpace

While Allergan and AbbVie prepare to complete their $63 billion merger later this year, plans are being laid out for a new, stand-alone company called Allergan Aesthetics that will include Botox as a tent pole.

AbbVie announced the proposed company Wednesday, along with a dedicated leadership team. The new division of AbbVie will include Botox, as well as the Juvederm collection of dermal fillers, the CoolSculpting body contouring treatments and other aesthetic products. It will also have its own research and development functions to continue to build out its aesthetics programs, AbbVie said.

The new division will be headquartered in Irvine, Calif. and will be helmed by Carrie Strom, who is currently senior vice president of U.S. Medical Aesthetics at Allergan. When the merger of the two companies is completed this quarter, Strom will be named senior vice president of AbbVie and president of Global Allergan Aesthetics. She will oversee the worldwide operations of the new company and will be assisted with an experienced team of other Allergan aesthetics veterans. As a division of AbbVie, Strom will report directly to AbbVie Chief Executive Officer Richard Gonzales.

Allergans eye care and specialty businesses, which include the use of Botox as a therapeutic for migraine headaches and other indications, as well as treatments of the central nervous system, womens health and gastrointestinal diseases, will be integrated into the current AbbVie pipeline. The combined companies will have several strong franchises across immunology, hematologic oncology, medical aesthetics, neuroscience, women's health, eye care and virology.

Gonzales said they are enthusiastic about the changes coming to AbbVie due to the Allergan acquisition. At the time the deal was announced, Gonzales said it would be transformational for the company. The announcement of the new aesthetics division, as well as the leadership changes, marks an important step forward for the company.

We are fortunate to have a leadership team with a deep breadth of both industry and company experience and we are excited to welcome the new Allergan leaders to our company, Gonzales said in a statement.

The new executive leadership team of AbbVie includes:

The new leadership team will certainly be tasked with integrating a number of pipeline-boosting therapeutics that AbbVie could gain from a number of collaborative deals over the past several months. In December, AbbVie and The Scripps Research Institute entered into a research collaboration focused on oncology, immunology, neurology and fibrosis. In November, AbbVie and Dragonfly Therapeutics struck a deal to advance new treatment options for autoimmune and oncology indications. At the center of the agreement are Dragonflys novel NK cell engager-based immunotherapies. AbbVie also entered into a collaboration with Idera Pharmaceuticals targeting metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. AbbVie snapped up Seattle-based Mavupharma and its STING (STimulator of INterferon Genes) pathway-focused treatments in July. The STING pathway plays an important role in the innate immune system, which is the bodys first line of defense against various pathogens, including the development of cancerous tumors.

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AbbVie Sets up Allergan Aesthetics Ahead of Finalizing its $63 Billion Acquisition - BioSpace