Prohost Letter #456 Treatments for Untreatable Diseases The revolution in biotechnology is not meant to offer just improvements on approved and marketed drugs. We are witnessing novel investigational products demonstrating safety, efficacy, statistically significant and clinically meaningful results in treating diseases that used to be considered untreatable. They include life-threatening, devastating and fast killers’ diseases. Important To Know   Biotech firms with solid fundamentals are …

Bayer and BlueRock Therapeutics Berlin, Germany and Cambridge, M.A., U.S.A., June 28, 2023 – Bayer AG (BAYRY) and its subsidiary firm BlueRock Therapeutics LP announced positive top-line results from a Phase I clinical trial of the investigational drug bemdaneprocel (BRT-DA01), a potential first-in-class cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease. Bemdaneprocel was well-tolerated in all 12 patients in the study to date with no major safety events.    Secondary …

Prohost Portfolio PLUS #3 CureVac N.V. We were looking forward to learning more important details about the German firm, CureVac N.V. (CVAC), when the company announced business updates and financial results for its fourth quarter and full-year 2020. The reason for our interest was the fact that the U.S. was looking to take over this firm two years ago to no avail. A more important …

The Compugen Story For those who are still asking about the value of Compugen’s (CGEN) discoveries our answer is that the best story written about this firm is its own autobiography.   We believe Compugen's accomplishments are extremely valuable in improving the treatment of cancers. As small as the firm is, Compugen . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe …

Compugen Exclusive License Agreement with AstraZeneca In April 2018 Compugen (CGEN) and AstraZeneca (AZN) entered into . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

CRISPR Therapeutics Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, Co-Founder CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) announced on October 7, 2020 that Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier has been awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her groundbreaking work on the CRISPR/Cas9 system.  Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier is the co-founder of CRISPR Therapeutics together with Rodger Novak and Shaun Foy. Dr. Charpentier is the Founding, Scientific and Managing . . . This content is …

Compugen Compugen (CGEN) cancer immunotherapy’s predictive target computational discovery platforms enabled it to identify two checkpoint proteins, PVRIG and TIGIT, when nobody else could. Compugen’s technological capability has also enabled it to create therapeutic inhibitors of its two discovered targets. The discoveries happened to be important in improving cancer immunotherapy. The lead therapeutic candidate, COM701 . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please …

The Week in Review #44 Quarterly Financial Results What Was Seen and What Was Ignored History and self-experiences enabled investors to expect and swallow biased reactions following the announcements of the biotech sector’s firms’ quarterly results. Investors have long been expecting negative reactions towards small development-stage biotech firms following the announcement of their quarterly financial results. What they did not expect is for the same …

Bayer Decision to Advance IONIS-FXI-LRx for Clotting Disorders On October 9, 2019 Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) announced it had been notified by its partner Bayer (

RegenxBio Rebounding RegenxBio (RGNX) has the viral vectors which could safely deliver genes into the cells. The firm has improved the adeno-associated viruses making them safe and effective gene delivery vehicles. One of the three currently approved gene therapy products, Zolgensma® for pediatric spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), marketed by Novartis, used RegenxBio’s adeno-associated . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to …

From the American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU) Prostate Cancer A presentation by Bayer demonstrated improvement in the treatment of non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Separate presentations by Bristol-Myers and Janssen also demonstrated improvement in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Non-Metastatic Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer Bayer Results from pivotal Phase 3 ARAMIS trial with Bayer’s (BAYRY) and Orion Corporation’s jointly-developed product darolutamide plus …

As we expected in our posting yesterday under Today’s Highlights, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Loxo Oncology’s (LOXO) Vitrakvi® (larotrectinib), the first oral TRK inhibitor for adult and pediatric patients with solid tumors having a neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase (NTRK) gene fusion. The approval is for the cancers that have no known acquired resistance mutation, are metastatic or where surgical resection is likely to result …

Compugen Again On Sept 10, 2018, we posted in The Week in Review #28 news we found very interesting about Compugen (CGEN). The news announced that Compugen has dosed its first patient in Phase 1 clinical trial with its first-in class immunotherapy antibody product COM701 targeting the firm's in house discovered immune checkpoint protein PVRIG. In The Week in Review article we wrote in the beginning, investors …

Finally, we are hearing what we were constantly expecting to hear coming out of Compugen’s (CGEN) technological capability. Yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared Bayer AG’s investigational new drug (IND) application for BAY 1905254, a first-in-class immuno- oncology therapeutic antibody targeting ILDR2. The target ILDR2 is a novel immune checkpoint protein discovered by Compugen through its predictive computational capabilities, which enable …

When we reiterated that Illumina (ILMN) is the engine of the biotechnology evolution we meant it. We have to add, though, that the evolution made possible by Illumina’s sequencers and next-generation sequencing (NGS) engine is tremendously improving research and medical practice.  Regarding medical practice, the most recent news announced a global strategic partnership between Illumina and Loxo Oncology (LOXO) to co-develop and commercialize a multi-gene panel for broad tumor …

CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) and Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center (MGHCC) have entered into a two-year research collaboration and license option agreement to develop Novel T cell therapies for cancer. As part of the collaboration, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology will be utilized to improve upon current T cell therapies in development addressing unmet needs in both hematologic and solid tumors.  This improvement is expected to occur by combining the …

Prohost Letter #403 Part 2 Continued From Wednesday Instead of continuing yesterday article about Agenus, we decided to post it all so that the reader can find it in one place. Important changes and additions have been made especially under the headline “Near-­Term Priorities, Possibilities and Catalysts”, which are important to read. Learning More About AGENUS Since its inception, Agenus (AGEN), previously known as Antigenics, …

Another gene editing firm, CRISPR Therapeutics decided to become publicly traded. On Friday, the private firm filed with the SEC planning for a $90 million initial public offering (IPO). CRISPR Therapeutics is headquartered in Switzerland, but also exists in Cambridge. It was cofounded by Emmanuelle Charpentier, who, together with Jennifer Doudna claim discovering CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing recipe. The firm aim is to use CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing …

Pfizer accepted to pay $14 billion in cash to acquire Medivation. It is important for investors to know what Pfizer is after with regard to this acquisition so that investors could sense the current deep-pocketed biopharmaceutical firms’ preferences in selecting their takeover targets. Recognizing the facts behind Pfizer’s decision could also protect investors from being mislead by negative bloggers who, while serving their own agendas, …

Prohost Letter #390 COMPANIES USING CRISPR GENE EDITING TOOLS - The Firms Launched with CRISPR Patents Either Pending or Disputed! What Does This Mean? What are these Firms’ Priorities? But First: A Reminder In the last issue, Prohost #389, we pinpointed the gene editing technologies and techniques and demonstrated the difference between gene editing, which is genetic engineering, i.e., making changes in the genes themselves, and antisense …