Healthcare analytics, AI solutions for biological big data, providing an AI platform for the biotech, life sciences, medical and pharmaceutical industries, as well as for related technological approaches, i.e., curation and text analysis with machine learning and other activities related to AI applications to these industries.
2016 MassBio LIVE @ Sonesta — Welcome Remarks & Keynote – Kate Marshall @MassBio – Annual Meeting 03/31/2016 8:00 AM – 04/01/2016 3:00 PM Royal Sonesta Hotel, Cambridge, MA 3/31, 9AM – 10:15AM
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Twitter:
#AM2016,
#PatientDriven
@MassBio
Welcome Remarks, Overview of Meeting & MassBio Board Election
Robert K. Coughlin , President & CEO, MassBio
The highlight for the Program this year:
Microbiome
National Landscape
MA is a major player in Biotech as increase in square footage of LABS.
Healthcare, Life Sciences Community in MA – uniquely positioned to move ideas cost effectively to Patient Care — Solution, innovation in cost models
Saving Life by cure of disease
List of Sponsors & Exhibitors
Glenn Batchelder, Founder & Board Member, Civitas Therapeutics, Out going Chairman, MassBio Board of Directors, 2014-2016,
Starting a New Start Up in Cardiovascular, XyloCor Therapeutics
Kendall Square – Biotech – The Revolution in Life Sciences
HCV – therapy now available
Gene therapy
Immune Therapy in Oncoloyg
Massive capital infusion via IPO
Venture Capital lead to proliferation of start up companies in biotech
MassBio organization is one of a kind in assistance, Executive Committe worked very hard
Vigilent in focus on Patients and focus on lowering costs in HealthCare
Abbie Celniker, President & CEO, Eleven Biotherapeutics, Incoming Chairman, MassBio Board of Directors
MassBio is the most honorable biotech organization in the World
Honor to Chair the board of MassBio, roadmap and Plan
Innovation and problem solving
Program integration
company formation
Acamedia and companies cooperation will continue
policy maker and biotech industry
hype of Drug Pricing – MassBio will be engaged
counsel companies
strategic initiative helping small company formation in BioPharma
Diversity in labor force and in Biotech Leadership – STEM education for women
Leaders have few women and industry is not diverse enough
9:30 – 9:45AM
very qualified for his mission – get things done in MA and experience with Patients and HealthCare
Introduced by Robert Ward, CEO, Radius Health, on 3/30/2016 filed for first drug application in Osteoperosis. Other drugs in the Oncology field. Radius Health benefited from MA rich environment, Human Capital from HBS, VC and other LABS around in Cambridge, Waltham and other cities.
Opening Remarks – Honorable Charlie Baker, Governor, MA
Assistance with donations to Dana Farber
2010 – 2016 public poll 70% said wrong direction even though the economy added jobs, interest rate low, FACTS should lead to statements: right direction, POLLS shows the statement of wrong direction
biggest increase in Generics: lowers price of drugs
FDA approves Generics, 4,000 on the list
execution and follow through in government
Marvelous innovation, product development in biotech in MA — in the World, impact of biotech in MA is Worldwide: Science, Chemistry, Biology, IT and Informatics
HQS for GE in MA – bug accomplishment to MA, Seaport near an Airport, Financial Center in Boston is big and will support GE, multinational, multiproduct like GE
Selection of GE of Bosotn is for 40 years to come not a transaction but a decision to be part of the landscape
GE could go anywhere, but they selected MA, because education institutions and research organization in MA and ease of interaction with Boston Mayer and the Governor of MA
Education: produce the Talent to have qualifies people at every level
Life Science Center: is helping building the Talent
Transportation: MBTA is a core system signaling technology some was installed in 1910 !!
Energy supply in MA collaborate with initiatives
Collaborative — we wish to be investment made to support and leverage opportunities to be in MA
Administration: Keep the door open as Partners: MA EcoSystem in Biotech in the World, the most important one !!
Opening Keynote by Kate Marshall, high school honors student, athlete and CF advocate
9:45 AM–10:15 AM
Kate Marshall, high school honors student, athlete and CF advocate, will share her experiences as a patient and how the biotech industry has changed her life.
Diagnosis of CF in 4th grade
Athlete with excellence – rises above all the time
Excellence in Academics
LIVE Kate Marshall –
Thanks to CF Foundation – Parents involvement
Thanks to Mom
Thanks to Dad
Testified in front of the FDA
FDA approved a Drug
All CF Patients regardless of the genotype — are all a big Family
Favorable results – Vertex and CF Foundation made that happen
College in NC, CF Foundation is also in NC
Advancement in Science
Looking forward to say CF was my illness and I am cured
The list includes a few of the area’s largest firms — including Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ALNY) and Amag Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AMAG) — and mostly consists of those with little or no revenue. In fact, three of the companies had no revenue in 2015 at all.
At the top of the list is Radius Health (Nasdaq: RDUS), a company which is planning to submit its application for its first-ever drug in coming days, which grew from just 25 employees as of Dec. 31, 2014 to 73 employees a year later (the Waltham-based company has more than 100 employees today). Most of them (48) are in research and development, while 27 are engaged in administration, business development and finance.
“Since our initial IPO in 2014, we have grown exponentially as we evolve from a development stage biopharmaceutical company to a commercial organization,” CEO Robert Ward said in an email. ”We have established a robust and influential presence in Massachusetts, and are looking forward to continuing the momentum with the planned submission of our New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at the end of this month for our investigational drug abaloparatide for the reduction of fracture risk in postmenopausal osteoporosis.”
The second slot on the list is Tesaro (Nasdaq: TSRO), also in Waltham, which employed 286 people as of the end of last year.
All data is according to the latest federal filings from the companies as compiled by Bloomberg. Click through the attached slideshow to see what other companies made the list.
Philip Hemme, Interviewing Anker Lundemose in Zurich @ 9th Annual Sachs conference for European Biotech CEOs
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Philip Hemme, Co-Founder & CEO of Labiotech.eu
Anker Lundemose, CEO of Mission Therapeutics, from just outside of Cambridge (UK). Founded in 2011, Mission Therapeutics, a private drug discovery company which aims to commercialize highly expert research towards the treatment of cancer and other diseases via the ubiquitin cell signaling pathway.
9th Annual ELSCEO Forum & Exhibition, is being held on 15th-16th March 2016 at the Hilton Zurich Airport Hotel, Switzerland. This event will be highly transactional, bringing together an exciting cross-section of venture-funded and small-cap companies with leading investors, pharmas, and scientific thought leaders. We expect around350 delegates and 80 presenting companies. Event’s networking will be powered by online One-2-One meeting system and dedicated meeting facilities to make the event more transactional and productive.
Other related articles published on this Open Access Online Scientific Journal include the following:
14th ANNUAL BIOTECH IN EUROPE FORUM For Global Partnering & Investment 30th September – 1st October 2014 • Congress Center Basel
SACHS Associates, London http://www.sachsforum.com/zurich14/index.html
The late Cambridge Mayor Alfred Vellucci welcomed Life Sciences Labs to Cambridge, MA – June 1976
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
How Cambridge became the Life Sciences Capital
Worth watching is the video below, which captures the initial Cambridge City Council hearing on recombinant DNA research from June 1976. The first speaker is the late Cambridge mayor Alfred Vellucci.
Vellucci hoped to pass a two-year moratorium on gene splicing in Cambridge. Instead, the council passed a three-month moratorium, and created a board of nine Cambridge citizens — including a nun and a nurse — to explore whether the work should be allowed, and if so, what safeguards would be necessary. A few days after the board was created, the pro and con tables showed up at the Kendall Square marketplace.
At the time, says Phillip Sharp, an MIT professor, Cambridge felt like a manufacturing town that had seen better days. He recalls being surrounded by candy, textile, and leather factories. Sharp hosted the citizens review committee at MIT, explaining what the research scientists there planned to do. “I think we built a relationship,” he says.
By early 1977, the citizens committee had proposed a framework to ensure that any DNA-related experiments were done under fairly stringent safety controls, and Cambridge became the first city in the world to regulate research using genetic material.
1. Peter Fenton
Benchmark
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: Twitter, New Relic and Zendesk.
2. Fred Wilson
Union Square Ventures
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: Twitter, Tumblr and Etsy.
3. Chris Sacca
Lowercase Capital
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: Twitter and Instagram.
4. Josh Kopelman
First Round Capital
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: LinkedIn and OnDeck Capital.
5. Jim Goetz
Sequoia Capital
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: WhatsApp, Palo Alto Networks and Barracuda Networks.
6. Danny Rimer
Index Ventures
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: King Digital Entertainment, Etsy and Net-a-Porter.
7. Steve Anderson
Baseline Ventures
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: Instagram and ExactTarget.
8. Bill Gurley
Benchmark
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: GrubHub, OpenTable and Zillow.
9. Neil Shen
Sequoia Capital (China)
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: JD.com, Alibaba and Qihoo 360.
10. Scott Sandell
New Enterprise Associates
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: Workday, Tableau Software and Spreadtrum Communications.
11. Jim Breyer
Breyer Associates
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: Facebook, Etsy and Legendary Entertainment.
12. Peter Thiel
Founders Fund
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: Facebook, Yammer and Powerset.
13. Sir Michael Moritz
Sequoia Capital
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: LinkedIn and Zappos.
14. Mike Maples, Jr.
Floodgate
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: Twitter, Twitch.tv and Demandforce.
15. Marc Andreessen
Andreessen Horowitz
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: Skype (a deal that was led by his co-founder, Ben Horowitz) and Kno.
16. Aydin Senkut
Felicis Ventures
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: Meraki, Fitbit and Shopify.
17. Jenny Lee
GGV Capital
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: YY.com, Pactera Technology International and 21Vianet.
18. Roelof Botha
Sequoia Capital
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: Instagram and Square.
19. Brad Feld
Foundry Group
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: Zynga, Fitbit, MakerBot and Rally Software.
20. Rebecca Lynn
Canvas Ventures
GOT A PAYDAY FROM: Lending Club, FutureAdvisor and Check.
Maxim Group analysts recommended 6 Israeli biotech firms, with price targets up to 400% higher than market value.
“We recently visited Israel and met with more than 40 companies from stem cell treatments to innovative specialty startups and established diagnostics firms; we returned from our visit impressed and inspired,” wrote analysts at the American investment banking firm Maxim Group about the Israeli biomed industry.
The Maxim analysts have made “buy” recommendations for six Israeli biomed companies: Brainstorm, BioLine, Galmed, Intec Pharma, and Pluristem. The target price set by Maxim for their shares is 100-400% higher than their market value.
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Meanwhile, Teva also received a “buy” from Maxim, at a price 32% higher than market value. The report considers the prospect of 40 public and private companies.
“We saw a medical renaissance in Israel,” wrote Maxim analysts, Jason Kolbert and Jason McCarthy. They warned of a value gap between companies traded in Israel and similar companies in the US. “We are expecting the gap to close through dual-listing of the companies as they near commercialization. At those stages we will see global joint ventures, capital funding, and a greater presence in the US market.”
Maxim drew emphasis on several Israeli companies involved in “paradigm-changing technologies”, including private firms BioSight, PolyPid, Anima Biotech, Quark, and Izun and public companies Bonus, CollPlant, Kadimastem, VBL, Brainsway, Alcobra, and Compugen.
“The biotech industry has developed uniquely, with innovation centers around the globe. Israel is one of them,” wrote the analysts, noting the country has a high ratio of PhDs per capita. They said “the small companies are becoming the source for innovation while their large counterparts provide their expertise in production, regulation, and commercialization.”
They believe Israel has increased its importance to the global biotech field, estimating the number of Israeli companies in the sector to have passed 600, with revenue of $2 billion.
They further wrote, “The Israeli government is involved in a variety of efforts to encourage global companies to expand their direct involvement in research & development or production facilities in Israel.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com – on March 10, 2016
SHARK TANK FOR WOMEN Entrepreneurs in LIFE SCIENCES
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Next week Women in Bio (WIB), JLABs, and Johnson & Johnson Innovation are co-hosting The LobsterPot. This will be a “Shark Tank” style event eight female executives from startups raising funds will pitch to five senior-level women at investment firms.
Here’s some additional info on the event:
Date: March 16th, 2016
Time: 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm (ET)
6:00 pm – 6:30 pm Registration & Networking
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm Company Pitches & Investor Feedback
In premises of finance, a unicorn is a startup company having valuation at or more than $1 billion. The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones VentureSource has compiled a list of 146 venture-backed private unicorn companies. Interestingly, it also includes ten companies in healthcare industry. It is exciting to observe that many biotech companies have made it to the list, which is another assurance of the global renaissances in biotech industry and hence securing the faith of the investors.
In this post, I would like to introduce you to these companies as it is worth knowing how they did it. Hope you will find it interesting!
1. Stemcentrx Inc. : Cancer Stem Cells Killer Biotech ‘unicorn’
Valuation: $5bn
Total equity funding: $250M
Specialties: Solid Tumor Cancer Stem Cell Discovery & Targeted Therapeutics
Location: South San Francisco, USA
Founded: 2008
Investors: Artis Ventures, Founders Fund (A Peter Thiel Company)
CEO: Brian Slingerland (co-founder)
Mission
Stemcentrx mission is to develop therapies that cure and significantly improve survival for cancer patients by pioneering new approaches to eliminate cancer stem cells, which initiate and perpetuate tumors.
Why a unicorn company?
Advancing from a stealth startup to this valuation, the biotech company showed new approach towards cancer research and drug development with already five investigational drugs in human clinical trialsto their credit. The three out of the five molecules have demonstrated clinical responses in patientswith small cell lung cancer, triple-negative breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and peritoneal cancer. In the pipeline they have additional novel targets for other major cancer types.
2. Moderna- modern future of messenger RNA therapeutics?
Investors: Alexion Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Flagship Ventures, Invus Group, RA Capital Management, Viking Global Investors, Wellington Management
CEO: Stéphane Bancel
Mission
This Company is enabling messenger RNA science to develop a new generation of transformative medicines for patients with their Core “Expression” Platform: messenger RNA Therapeutics (a trademark platform).
Why a unicorn company?
Moderna has already started the first-in-human clinical trials of its inaugural candidate early this year and proposed to move 5 more into the clinic trials by the end of 2016. Comprehensively, this company has developed more than 200 patent applications with more than 10,000 claims which diversely ranges from novel nucleotide chemistries to specific drug compositions. With load of cash and significant partnerships with other giants such as–AstraZeneca, Merck and Alexion, this company have many clinical ambitions for coming years.
3. Intarcia Therapeutics- changing the picture of Type 2 Diabetes
Valuation: $1.8bn
Total equity funding: $598M
Specialties: proprietary subcutaneous delivery system
Location: Boston, MA, United States
Founded: 1995
Investors: Adams Street Partners, Alta Partners, Bank Jullus Baer, Baupost Group, Bay City Capital, BIM, Bio21 Venture Capital, Brentwood Venture Capital, BSI Industries, CBG Compagnie Bancaire, Charter Venture Capital, Delphi Ventures, Farallon Capital Management, Fidelity Investments, Foresite Capital Management, Franklin Resources, Garfin, GC&H Investments, GGV Capital, Glynn Capital Management, Greenspring Associates, InterWest Partners, LGT Bank, Vienna, Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie, New Enterprise Associates, New Leaf Venture Partners, Omega Fund Management UK, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Pacific Growth Equities, PAC-LINK Management, Picet, Quilvest Ventures, RA Capital Management, Raiffeisen Centrobank, Trefoil, Triazis Trust, Venrock Associates
CEO: Kurt Graves
Mission
Intarcia is committed to develop disruptively innovative and life-changing therapies that merge medicine with technology and transform therapeutic categories.
Why a unicorn company?
Intarcia have a proprietary subcutaneous delivery system platform technology and a lead product named ITC 650, which is poised to transform the global diabetes market, as it can be a potential once-a-year type 2 diabetes treatment. ITC 650 is currently in phase 3 development and the company expects to file for regulatory approval in the U.S. in 2016.
4. Oxford Nanopore: the Next-Gen Sequencing master
Valuation: $1.5bn
Total equity funding: $344M
Specialties: Immuno-oncology
Location: Oxford, U.K
Founded: 2005
Investors: Illumina, Invesco Perpetual, Invesco Private Capital, IP Group, Lansdowne Capital, Odey Asset Management LLP, Redmile Group, Top Technology Ventures
CEO: Gordon Sanghera (co-founder)
Mission
Oxford Nanopore is developing and selling a new generation of nanopore-based electronic systemsfor analysis of single molecules, which can includes DNA, RNA and proteins.
Why a unicorn company?
This company wants to get your DNA online, which is almost reality with their next-gen gene sequencer known as MinION which can plugs into USB ports. Other than that they have developed PromethION and GridION systems for the high-throughput/high sample number real-time biological analyses.According to company, their products can be ubiquitously used in scientific research, personalized medicine, crop science, security and defense and environmental applications.
5. CureVac: oldest player of messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics
Valuation: $1.2bn
Total equity funding: $265M
Specialties: messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics
Location: Tubingen, Germany
Founded: 2000
Investors: Dievini Hopp BioTech Holding, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
CEO: Ingmar Hoerr (co-founder)
Mission
CureVac stands for creating diverse therapeutic possibilities based on revolutionary vaccination with the utilization of natural, chemically unmodified mRNA.
Why a unicorn company?
CureVac is the first company in messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics area with two candidates in phase III and diverse portfolio in the different stages of clinical trials. This company has partnerships with various multinational corporations and organizations which also includes Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Most recently, CureVac announces that its mRNA-based, first-in-man prophylactic vaccine against rabies “MERAN” has been approved by the WHO as suffix for mRNA drug substances.
6. Adaptive Biotechnologies: the immuno-oncology master
Valuation: $1bn
Total equity funding: $425M
Specialties: immuno-oncology
Location: Seattle, USA
Founded: 2009
Investors: Alexandria Real Estate Equities, BD Biosciences, Casdin Capital, Celgene, Illumina, Lab Corp. of America Holdings, Matrix Capital Management, Rock Springs Capital, Senator Investment Group, Tiger Management, Viking Global Investors
CEO: Chad Robins (co-founder)
Mission
Developing revolutionary immune-based discoveries which combines high-throughput sequencing and state-of-art bioinformatics to profile T-cell and B-cell receptors which can be utilized to transform the diagnosis and treatment of immune-mediated diseases including cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious disease.
Why a unicorn company?
This company has ground-breaking immunosequencing technology which can help in translating into clinical diagnostics and therapeutic development. Also it is validating a novel clinical diagnostic as a reliable measure of “immunocompetence” to predict and monitor response to immune-modulating cancer therapies. The immunoSEQ®Assayis another major product to characterize immune reconstitution post-cord blood transplantation. Adaptive also has a sensitive and definitive method to diagnose cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. A new proprietary pairSEQ™ Assay enables high-throughput pairing of T cell receptor (TCR) α and β sequences and thus provides ultimate chances of the identification of highly promising TCRs for adoptive T-cell therapy.
The MassBio Annual Meeting focuses on the most critical challenges facing the Massachusetts life sciences industry. The meeting program is designed by a steering committee of industry leaders and the agenda encompasses keynote presentations, panel discussions, interactive working sessions and extensive networking opportunities.
The MassBio Annual Meeting also includes the Innovative Leadership Award Luncheon, which honors an industry leader for his or her contribution to moving the life sciences industry forward.
AGENDA
Day 1
UPDATED on 3/21/2016
John Maraganore to be Honored with Innovative Leadership Award
MassBio is pleased to announce that John Maraganore, Ph.D., CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals will be awarded the 2015 Henri A. Termeer Innovative Leadership Award at MassBio’s 2016 Annual Meeting.
John will accept his award and make keynote remarks at the Awards Luncheon on March 31.
Read a few recent news stories on John Maraganore and Alnylam:
Just Announced: Kate Marshall to Deliver Opening Keynote!
MassBio is thrilled to announce that Kate Marshall, high school honors student, athlete and CF advocate, will share her experiences as a patient and how the biotech industry has changed her life.
John Orloff, Executive Vice President, Head of Research & Development and Chief Scientific Officer, Baxalta
Helen Sabzevari, CSO & Co-Founder, Compass Therapeutics
Biosimilars
Sige Gutman, Chair, Life Sciences Patent Practice, Proskauer Rose (Moderator)
Jim Roach, CMO, Momenta
Alex Waldron, Vice President of Global Commercial Operations, Epirus Biopharmaceuticals
Science in Space
Dr. George Church, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School & Director, PersonalGenomes.org
Kris Kimel, Co-Founder & Chairman of the Board, Space Tango
Mike Roberts, Deputy Chief Scientist, Center for the Advancement of Science in Space
Dr. Ting Wu, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Director, Consortium for Space Genetics and Director, Personal Genetics Education (pgEd.org) Project(Moderator)
Tony Coles to give closing keynote at Annual Meeting!
Dr. Coles is a founding investor and the chairman and chief executive officer of Yumanity Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company focused on transforming drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases caused by protein misfolding such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Dr. Coles also serves as chairman and chief executive officer of TRATE Enterprises, LLC, a privately held company.
Previously, Dr. Coles was chairman and chief executive officer of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by Amgen in late 2013. Under his leadership, Onyx introduced two new innovative cancer medicines to patients and established the company’s international presence outside of the U.S. Prior to joining Onyx in 2008, he was president, chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Before joining NPS Pharmaceuticals in 2005, Dr. Coles was senior vice president of commercial operations at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., and earlier, held a number of executive positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Additionally, from 1992 until 1996, Dr. Coles held a number of positions of increasing responsibility at Merck & Co., Inc.
Educated at Johns Hopkins University, he earned an M.D. from Duke University and a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University. He completed his cardiology and internal medicine training at Massachusetts General Hospital and was a research fellow at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Coles currently serves on the board of CRISPR Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for patients with serious diseases He also serves as a member of the board of directors of McKesson Corporation (NYSE: MCK), is vice chair of the board of trustees for Johns Hopkins University and is a member of the board of trustees for Johns Hopkins Medicine. In March 2015, Dr. Coles was named to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) working group tasked with charting the course for President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative, now part of the PMI Cohort Program Advisory Panel. Dr. Coles also serves as a member of the council for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.; a member of the board of trustees for The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher.
Governor Charlie Baker to make opening remarks at the Annual Meeting!
Since taking office in January, 2015, Governor Charlie Baker has been making Massachusetts a great place to live, work, start a business and raise a family while delivering a customer service oriented state government that is as thrifty, creative and hard working as the people of Massachusetts.Governor Baker called on an expert, bipartisan team of Republicans, Democrats and Independents to lead his cabinet.
Together, they are fulfilling his commitment to building stronger and safer communities for our children and families; keeping our roads and bridges safe and reliable; protecting our natural resources; and ensuring our schools and students are successful and safe.
From resolve in the face of unprecedented snow and freezing temperatures, to working to fix the MBTA, the Department of Children and Families, the Health Connector and Registry of Motor Vehicles, to balancing budgets despite billions in deficits all without raising taxes – the Baker Political Administration is making state government truly work for the people of Massachusetts.
Avvinity will have exclusive rights in oncology to use Alphamer therapeutic platform, invented by a Nobel Laureate and developed by Centauri: A Case of a Joint Venture Model, Volume 2 (Volume Two: Latest in Genomics Methodologies for Therapeutics: Gene Editing, NGS and BioInformatics, Simulations and the Genome Ontology), Part 1: Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)
Avvinity will have exclusive rights in oncology to use Alphamer therapeutic platform, invented by a Nobel Laureate and developed by Centauri: A Case of a Joint Venture Model
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Horizon Discovery Group plc Enters Immuno-Oncology Therapeutic Development and Forms Joint Venture with Centauri Therapeutics Limited
·Newly formed company Avvinity Therapeutics will be jointly managed by Horizon, via its Research Biotech business, and Centauri
·Joint venture creates a differentiated new player in the rapidly growing immuno-oncology market, currently valued at £25 billion
·Avvinity will have exclusive rights in oncology to use Alphamer therapeutic platform,invented by a Nobel Laureate and developed by Centauri
·Horizon to invest up to £5.3 million, with an initial outlay of £2.5 million, in a joint venture to identify novel immuno-oncology therapeutics
·Horizon will contribute its gene editing technology platform and oncology expertise and will also benefit from service revenues from the joint venture
·Formation of the joint venture represents a strategic move by Horizon to capture the upside potential of its IP, platform technologies and capabilities in immuno-oncology, synthetic lethality and cell therapy based therapeutics
Cambridge, UK, 2 March 2016: Horizon Discovery Group plc (LSE: HZD) (“Horizon” or “the Company”), the leading international gene editing company, announces today that it has formed an immuno-oncology joint venture, Avvinity Therapeutics (“Avvinity”), with Centauri Therapeutics Limited (“Centauri”), a UK-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel molecules targeting life-threatening infectious diseases. This transaction represents part of Horizon’s previously outlined strategy to invest up to £10 million, further leveraged by its IP, technology platforms and know-how, to identify the next generation of molecular and cellular cancer therapeutics.
Avvinity will combine Horizon’s gene editing, immunology, oncology and drug discovery capabilities with Centauri’s Alphamer technology to provide a powerful and proprietary platform to discover and develop novel immuno-oncology therapeutics, for both solid tumours and leukaemias. Avvinity will be targeting an immuno-oncology market currently worth £25 billion per year and expected to grow to approximately £50 billion per year by 2020.(1)
Under the terms of this agreement, Horizon will out-license certain background intellectual property relating to its translational genomics and drug discovery platforms, and will invest up to £5.3 million over two tranches with the first tranche of £2.5m committed, and the second to be committed at Horizon’s discretion pending the progress of three development programs. Centauri will license background IP and expertise on its Alphamer technology to Avvinity, which will have exclusivity for the field of oncology for an initial three year period and can be extended via the issue of further equity concurrently with the raise of new investment.
Avvinity will be managed jointly by Horizon and Centauri, and based on the investment of IP, technology and the first tranche of funding; Horizon will own 33% of Avvinity’s equity, representing 50% of the most-preferred class of voting shares. Upon completion of the 2nd tranche of funding Horizon will own 49.99% of Avvinity’s equity, representing 50% of the most-preferred class of voting shares. The joint venture will be managed within Horizon as part of the Company’s Research Biotech business (formerly Horizon’s Leveraged business unit).
Neither Horizon nor Centauri will be obliged to provide further funding to Avvinity, though both retain pre-emption rights and may elect to participate in future funding rounds. Subject to achieving key development milestones, Avvinity plans to raise significant new external investment to take its innovative drugs into clinical trials, at which time the value of Horizon’s stake in the business would be highly-material.
Dr. Darrin M. Disley, Chief Executive Officer, President Research Biotech of Horizon Discovery Group plc, said: “By combining Horizon’s deep understanding of the genetic basis of cancer alongside its gene editing, drug discovery and emerging immuno-oncology toolbox, with Centauri’s unique Alphamer technology and knowledge of its use, we have created an exciting new company to spearhead Horizon’s move into targeted therapeutic development. We are confident this joint venture will break new ground in the development of immunotherapies, and bring significant value creation to Horizon shareholders.
“The establishment of Avvinity is in line with our hybrid Research Biotech strategy to not only work with partners but also take advantage of the therapeutic upside potential of the most exciting new areas of personalised and genomic medicine in a risk-managed way.”
Dr. Mike Westby, Chief Executive Officer of Centauri Therapeutics Limited, commented: “Alphamers are an entirely novel way to target disease and represent an exciting new approach for recruitment of host immunity. At Centauri we have invested to build the Alphamer platform and assembled the drug discovery expertise necessary to exploit the platform in infectious diseases. Through this joint venture with Horizon, we look forward to applying our combined know-how and capabilities to develop Alphamers as important new immuno-oncology medicines, particularly for cancer indications that have proven intractable to date.”
Alphamer technology is based on chemically synthesized molecules that redirect naturally occurring antibodies in the human immune system to selected pathogens or cancer cells. One end of a molecule binds a cell-surface target on a pathogen or cancer cell using an aptamer, while the other end presents specific epitopes that attach to the circulating antibodies. The result of this redirection is cell death and subsequent recruitment of the T-Cell mediated pathways to clear the body of the pathogen or cancer cell.
Alphamers promise key advantages over conventional antibody and antibody-drug conjugate molecules in immuno-oncology applications, including the ability to target cancers driven by both wild type (“normal”) gene overexpression as well as mutant (”abnormal”) gene overexpression, and by exhibiting a short half-life in the body yielding reduced toxicity and systemic side-effects. Considerable investment has been made in the Alphamer technology over the past four years and its ability to engage the immune system to destroy bacteria has been confirmed.(2)
Platform technologies based around alternative immuno-oncology approaches have secured high valuations once early positive results in clinical trials have been achieved: Amgen’s 2012 acquisition of Micromet valued Micromet at $1.16b, and in 2013, Spirogen was acquired by AstraZeneca for up to $440m.
A conference call for analysts, investors and media will take place at 09:30 GMT today hosted by Darrin Disley, Chief Executive Officer and President, Research Biotech, and Richard Vellacott, Chief Financial Officer, who will run through a presentation followed by a Q&A session. The presentation will be made available shortly before the call at: https://www.horizondiscovery.com/about-us/investor-relations/corporate-videos-and-presentations.
The dial-in numbers for the conference call are:
UK: 08006940257
Standard International: +44 (0) 1452 555566
Conference call ID: 62637628
A replay of the call is available approximately four hours after the call concludes. For those unable to attend it live, or who would like to listen to it again, call +44 (0)1452550000 and quote the conference call ID: 62637628.
Horizon is a leading international gene-editing company that supplies products, services and research programmes that enable genomics research and the development of personalised and genomic medicines. Horizon has a diverse and global customer base of over 1,400 unique organisations across more than 50 countries, including major pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostic companies as well as leading academic research centres. The Group supplies its products and services into multiple markets, estimated to total in excess of £29 billion in 2015.
Horizon’s core capabilities are built around its proprietary translational genomics platform, a highly precise and flexible suite of gene editing tools (rAAV, ZFN and CRISPR) able to alter almost any gene sequence in human or mammalian cell-lines.
Horizon offers over 23,000 catalogue products, almost all of which are based on the application of gene editing to generate in vitro and in-vivo models that accurately model the disease-causing genetic anomalies found in diseases like cancer. These ‘patients-in-a-test-tube’ are being used by customers to: understand the genetic drivers of disease; identify targets of therapeutic intervention that can moderate or correct these genetic drivers; develop novel medicines and companion diagnostic tests that result in the right patient getting the right medicine.
Horizon also provides custom in vitro and in vivo disease model generation services, biopharmaceutical manufacturing cell lines and generation services, quantitative molecular reference standards and contract research and custom screening services.
In addition, Horizon through its Research Biotech business deploys the Company’s intellectual property, gene-editing platform, products, services and know-how in cancer research, drug discovery and immunology to develop its immuno-oncology, synthetic lethality and cell therapy platforms which aim to deliver novel drug treatments into the pharmaceutical pipeline.
Horizon is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, and is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market under the ticker “HZD”. For further information please visit: www.horizondiscovery.com.
Centauri Therapeutics is a UK-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel molecules targeting life threatening diseases.
Centauri Therapeutics has established a core R&D facility at Discovery Park in Sandwich, Kent, with an experienced team of industry scientists focused on discovery, optimisation and development of novel Alphamers targeting acute hospital acquired infections. The company is currently focussed on the development of Alphamers against anti-microbial resistant (AMR) pathogens, which pose an increasing threat to human health.
Centauri Therapeutics’ Executive team is led by Mike Westby, Chief Executive Officer (previously Pfizer, Roche) and Stuart Lawson, Chief Financial Officer (CEO of the private investment group Animatrix Capital LLP, and previously KPMG). Clive Dix is Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Board (previously Convergence Pharmaceuticals, PowderMed, PowderJect, Glaxo Wellcome).
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