CELL AND GENE THERAPY, INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
ImmunoGen, Inc. | March 02, 2023
On March 1, 2023, ImmunoGen, Inc., a leading firm specializing in antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), announced a global, multi-target license and option agreement with Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The deal provides Vertex with the rights to use ImmunoGen's ADC technology to research and discover targeted conditioning agents to be used in gene editing.
After each research period, Vertex will have the option to obtain an exclusive worldwide license to research, develop, and commercialize conditioning agents using ImmunoGen's technology for that target. ImmunoGen will hol full rights to the ADC technology for any targets not covered by the Vertex license.
Vertex will pay an upfront payment of $15 million as part of the agreement. In addition, ImmunoGen is eligible to receive up to $337 million in option exercise fees, development, and commercial milestone payments for each target. ImmunoGen will also receive tiered royalties as a percentage of worldwide commercial sales of licensed targeted conditioning agents by Vertex. Vertex will be responsible for all research, development, and commercialization costs.
ImmunoGen's Executive Vice President, Research, Development, and Medical Affairs, Michael Vasconcelles, MD, commented, "Given Vertex's extensive experience discovering and developing transformative medicines for patients with serious diseases, we are thrilled they have chosen to explore ImmunoGen's technology to develop ADCs for transplant conditioning in connection with gene editing." He further emphasized, "This agreement reflects our continued innovation in the ADC space and demonstrates the value of our technology platform and related intellectual property."
(Source – Business Wire)
About ImmunoGen, Inc.
ImmunoGen is dedicated to improving the lives of people with cancer by developing precise, targeted cancer therapies. Its lead product candidate is a first-in-class ADC called mirvetuximab soravtansine, which targets folate receptor alpha (FRα) and is being studied in multiple ovarian cancer trials. The company's second program, IMGN632, is a CD123-targeting ADC being studied for the treatment of BPDCN and AML. ImmunoGen is also developing two earlier-stage assets: IMGC936, an ADAM9-targeting ADC co-developed with MacroGenics, and IMGN151, a next-generation anti-folate receptor alpha ADC. The company aims to keep cancer from disrupting people's lives and get them back to living today, tomorrow, and beyond.
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CELL AND GENE THERAPY, MEDTECH
Pear Therapeutics | January 09, 2023
Pear Therapeutics, Inc., the leader in commercializing and developing software-based medicines known as prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs), announced the expansion of its collaboration with Spero Health, an integrated healthcare services organization.
Spero Health, which has adopted reSET® and reSET-O® at 14 locations in Kentucky, plans to expand access to eligible patients at its remaining 99 locations in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Offering new FDA-approved treatment options is a part of Spero Health's mission to promote patient engagement and retention in recovery.
Steve Priest, Spero Health’s CEO said, “Spero Health continues to find innovative ways with new technologies to bring solutions to our communities that have been devastated by drug overdose, and we are looking forward to our collaboration with Pear Therapeutics to pursue even better outcomes in treatment.”
Adding to this, he further said, “Pear’s technology equips our clinicians with vital measurements via a clinician dashboard that allows us to provide quality care to our patients who suffer from substance use disorders. We believe having access to patient reported data via Pear’s clinician dashboard gives us better insight into patient behaviors. We expect that this approach will help to increase compliance and create efficiencies in how our treatment teams deliver care.” (Source: BusinessWire)
Spero Health's two implemented products, reSET® and reSET-O®, have been measured in real-world use, and their therapeutic content has been evaluated in randomized controlled trials, with the results published in peer-reviewed medical journals. reSET® is used for patients aged 18 or older with substance use disorder as a monotherapy, whereas reSET-O® is used in combination with buprenorphine-based medication-assisted treatment for patients 18 and older with opioid use disorder.
About Pear Therapeutics
Pear Therapeutics, Inc., the parent firm of Pear Therapeutics (US) Inc., is a leader in the development and marketing of software-based pharmaceuticals, also known as prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs). The company intends to transform care through the widespread adoption of clinically validated software-based therapeutics to provide improved patient outcomes, smarter engagement and tracking tools for clinicians, and cost-effective solutions for payers.
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MEDTECH, INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
Cybin | January 19, 2023
On January 18, 2023, Cybin Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical firm focused on advancing Psychedelics to Therapeutics®, announced the key findings from a feasibility study undertaken by its partner Kernel, which evaluated Kernel's Flow® wearable technology to assess ketamine's psychedelic effect on cerebral cortex hemodynamics. The findings of this Cybin-sponsored study are meant to guide the program's future direction.
The key highlights of the feasibility study are
It offered important proof-of-concept for Kernel Flow as a portable functional system that delivers real-time measurements of blood oxygenation changes in the brain linked with neural activity utilizing Time Domain Near Infrared Spectroscopy (TD-fNIRS).
Exhibited changes in functional brain biomarkers caused by ketamine that are related to potential therapeutic effects, including changes in cortical function associated with psychedelic experiences.
Compared to saline, ketamine reduces the global brain connectivity of the prefrontal region and decreases the brain-wide fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF). It has been proposed that fALFF is of particular functional significance within the default mode network, which has been demonstrated to be modulated by psychedelics and is associated with several neuropsychiatric conditions.
A model incorporating neurological and physiological metrics successfully predicted mystical experience scores on the Revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire, which has been shown to mediate reductions in depressive symptomatology in prior studies.
Displayed reliable pulse rate variability (PRV) and physiological measurements of pulse rate (PR) from TD-fNIRS recordings that correspond to those obtained from commercial external photoplethysmography sensors, thereby eliminating the need for external sensors to measure cardiac activity in future experiments.
Ketamine increased PR, decreased PRV, increased absolute oxy-hemoglobin concentrations and decreased deoxy-hemoglobin concentrations while increasing electrodermal activity (measured by an external sensor), providing additional physiological measures of the impact of the ketamine doses administered in the study.
The main goal of the feasibility study was to find out how people who had been given ketamine felt about wearing Kernel Flow while in an altered state of consciousness.
The feasibility study was granted FDA Investigational New Drug approval in October 2021 and US Institutional Review Board approval in January 2022.
About Cybin
Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Canada, Cybin is a biotechnology company that develops psychedelic pharmaceutical treatments for a variety of psychiatric and neurological disorders. It collaborates with a network of world-class partners and internationally recognized scientists to develop safe and effective treatments for patients dealing with a wide range of mental health conditions. The company is currently operating in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
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