This week's life sciences industry news includes a big push for local pediatric brain tumor research, a Big Pharma firm's partnership with a Philadelphia biotechnology company, a Malvern medical technology company's licensing deal and more.
Here's the roundup:
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
The Children's Brain Tumor Network based at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia announced it will, with support from the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative of the National Institutes of Health, be able to procure molecular characterization for thousands of brain tumor samples.
The effort, CHOP said, will give researchers an "unprecedented level of insight into devastating cancers" and potentially lead to future therapeutic interventions.
The NIH support is not coming in the form of a traditional monetary grant. Instead, its X01 Sequencing & Genotyping Resource Access program will provide key NIH-supported resources needed for investigators with the Children's Brain Tumor Network and its Center for Data Driven Discovery in Biomedicine at CHOP to conduct their research. This program will support molecular characterization of more than 3,000 germline samples and more than 1,500 tumor samples across all pediatric brain tumor types that have been collected by the Center for Data Driven Discovery in Biomedicine since 2011.
Adam Resnick, co-director of the Center for Data Driven Discovery and scientific co-chairman of the Children's Brain Tumor Network, said the network has been able to support the launch of more than 150 data science-based investigations with molecular data derived from just a quarter of the research participants who’ve donated brain tumor tissue to date. “Now, with whole genome sequencing available for this entire cohort, the potential for new insights into the biology of childhood brain cancer cannot be overstated," Resnick said.
Integral Molecular
Integral Molecular entered into an exclusive worldwide antibody license agreement with AstraZeneca to develop therapeutics for multiple cancers.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Philadelphia biotechnology firm will provide an exclusive license to AstraZeneca for a collection of highly specific monoclonal antibodies for use in oncology. AstraZeneca will be solely responsible for all research, development, and commercial activities.
Financial terms of deal are being kept confidential.
"Specificity is incredibly important for therapies designed to eliminate cancer cells, since mistargeting can have serious safety ramifications for patients," said Benjamin Doranz, CEO and co-founder of Integral Molecular. "Our program has produced antibodies with 'picomolar' affinity and high specificity even against conserved targets that have proven difficult to generate antibodies against."
Tela Bio
The Malvern medical technology company entered into a distribution agreement with Next Science of Sydney, Australia, that grants Tela exclusive rights to sell and market Next Science's proprietary antimicrobial surgical wash with XBIO technology across the United States plastic reconstructive market.
In addition, Tela Bio (NASDAQ: TELA) received a first right of negotiation for the European market should Next Science secure CE mark approval.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Next Science's XBIO technology is used for surgical infection control by addressing the biofilms that make bacteria more resistant to traditional antimicrobial agents, disinfectants, and host immune defenses.
Antony Koblish, CEO of Tela Bio, said including the infection control technology into its product portfolio will expand his company’s service offerings and diversify its supplier base. Tela Bio is focused on developing and marketing soft tissue restoration and reinforcement materials.
Quick hits
Plymouth Meeting-based Inovio (NASDAQ: INO) further expanded a global Phase 3 clinical trial for its experimental Covid-19 vaccine, INO-4800, with the addition of India. The company received approval to expand the study there from India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organization. Regulatory authorization in India follows authorizations for Inovio from health authorities in China, Brazil, the Philippines, Mexico and Colombia. … Context Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CNTX), a women’s oncology company that went public last month through a $28.75 million IPO, has expanded its management team with the additions of Jennifer Minai-Azary as chief financial officer and Alex Levit as chief legal officer. Minai-Azary was previously CFO at Millendo Therapeutics. Levit was previously vice president, deputy general counsel and assistant corporate secretary of OptiNose in Yardley. … PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PHAS) announced positive results from its Phase 2 study of bentracimab, the Malvern biopharmaceutical company's new drug candidate being developed to reverse the antiplatelet activity of ticagrelor in major bleeding and urgent surgery situations. The 200-person study, which was done concurrently with an ongoing later-stage trial, tested the new drug candidate in healthy, older volunteers 50 to 80 years old. Phase Bio is preparing to file a biologics license application for bentracimab with the Food and Drug Administration, should the Phase 3 trial generate positive data, in mid-2022.
