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Surface Oncology and ProBioGen Sign Second Antibody Manufacturing Program

Berlin, Germany — ProBioGen AG, a premier German service & technology provider for complex therapeutic glycoproteins announced signing the second antibody development project with Cambridge, MA-based Surface Oncology Inc., an immuno-oncology company developing next-generation antibody therapies that target the tumor microenvironment.

Under the terms of the agreement Surface Oncology will contract with ProBioGen to develop and manufacture another antibody for potential use in clinical trials. ProBioGen will develop several stable cell lines in parallel, gradually reduce the candidate number and conclude with process development and GMP manufacturing for a single antibody product candidate. The advantage of this approach is the meticulous analysis of several candidates at the same time while strongly reducing time lines.

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WuXi Biologics and Adagene Announce Strategic Development and Manufacturing Partnership of New Antibody Therapeutics

SHANGHAI  — WuXi Biologics (2269.HK), a leading global open-access biologics technology platform company offering end-to-end solutions for biologics discovery, development and manufacturing, and Adagene Inc., an emerging biotech company discovering and developing innovative antibody therapeutics for the global market, today announced a strategic collaboration agreement.

Adagene is building a global biotech company with an internal pipeline of antibody therapeutics focused on difficult antigens, and therapeutic candidates with enhanced biophysical properties. The collaboration with WuXi Biologics will support supply of Adagene’s products for clinical trials under Investigational New Drug (IND) applications in both China and United States.

“The strategic collaboration with WuXi Biologics will enable Adagene to focus on our core competency in the discovery of novel antibody therapeutics and by leveraging the process development and manufacturing capabilities of WuXi Biologics will accelerate Adagene’s next wave of innovative products into the clinic,” said Dr. Peter Luo, Co-Founder and CEO of Adagene.

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Kensho Acquisition S&P Global Makes Largest A.I. Deal In History

Daniel Nadler, the CEO and founder of artificial intelligence start-up Kensho , kicks off a pair of Ugg boots and sits cross legged on a chair in his boardroom on the 46th New York’s One World Trade Center as a powerful nor’easter rages outside.

The scene, like the name Kensho (to see nature) is intentionally Zen: Nadler wears prayer beads on each wrist, drinks green tea from a cast iron Japanese pot and eats oranges, precisely sliced, from black earthenware bowl. There is a Buddha on one wall. Yet, all this meditative calm betrays the frantic pace in which Nadler has grown and evolved the tech start-up.

Nadler launched Kensho five years ago out of the kitchenette of venture firm, General Catalyst, in Cambridge while simultaneously finishing a mathematics PhD. at Harvard. Fast forward to today and Nadler is selling the company (now 120 plus employees strong and profitable) to S&P Global SPGI +0.33% for $550 million–the largest price on an A.I. company to date. Despite the sale, Kensho will remain a stand alone brand, with Nadler remaining at the helm.

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VitalWare’s™ Medical Necessity Edits Now Used Nationwide with New Partnership

VitalWare™, the leading provider of healthcare mid-revenue cycle SaaS solutions, confirmed another major partnership with a nationally known large healthcare IT company serving providers, payers and consumers. These partnerships center on utilizing VitalIntelligence™, VitalWare’s comprehensive Medical Necessity data files to power multiple applications.

VitalIntelligence is VitalWare’s B2B solution, giving partners on demand access to over 175 proprietary and public regulatory coding, compliance and reimbursement data sets through integration tools and web services. Partners often site VitalIntelligence’s ability to quickly deliver data in many formats (to meet needs) as a core reason for choosing VitalWare. Whether it’s through web services, raw data feeds, or private-labeled web components, VitalIntelligence is chosen consistently by partners for its amazing flexibility, and comprehensive content delivery system via VitalWare’s private cloud.

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Tiny biotech takes on Glaxo’s $730,000 gene therapy

GlaxoSmithKline has seen precious few takers for its $730,000 gene therapy for a rare and life-threatening immune illness known as “bubble-boy disease.” Now a tiny startup thinks it can succeed where the British giant is struggling.

In almost two years since Glaxo’s Strimvelis came to the market, just five patients have received the treatment, offered only through a single center in Milan. Orchard Therapeutics, a closely held company in London with about 80 employees and no products on the market, is preparing to sell a competing version that may reach more sick children.

Orchard, whose team includes three former Glaxo executives, wants to one-up the larger company by taking aim at a Strimvelis shortcoming. While Glaxo’s therapy can’t be transported, Orchard is planning to use frozen cells that can travel to markets all over the world.

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OTA Insight’s Rate Intelligence Solutions Now in 20,000 Hotels Worldwide

LONDON — OTA Insight, the cloud-based data intelligence platform for the hospitality industry continues its strong momentum in 2018 by announcing NH Hotel Group is joining as global partner to supply its industry-leading rate intelligence tools across its portfolio. As one of the top 25 hotel groups in the world, NH Hotels operates nearly 400 properties across 30 destinations worldwide across the NH Collection, NH Hotels, NHow Hotels and Hesperia brands. With this partnership, 20,000 hotels around the world are now enjoying the benefits of the OTA Insight platform.
OTA Insight’s rate intelligence will enable the NH Group to implement its revolutionary dashboard technology to inform and support its revenue management strategy with competitor benchmarking. Utilizing the latest rate-shopping technology, the Group will have access to innovative rate parity management tools that work to deliver real-time analysis of locally targeted OTA promotions to ensure all properties can market the best available rate on their own websites and remain competitive at all times.

“We’re thrilled to be working in partnership with the NH Hotel Group to help drive forward its pricing and distribution strategies and enable them to realize their ambitions for increased profitability worldwide,” says Adriaan Coppens, OTA Insight’s CEO and Co-Founder. “We are pleased to welcome another globally recognized name in the hospitality sector to our growing portfolio and look forward to working with the team and supporting the Group with our own portfolio of tools to help maximise their revenues.”

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Denali Therapeutics Collaborates With Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center to Explore New Endpoints for Clinical Studies

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–The Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center and Denali Therapeutics today announced a partnership to explore new clinical endpoints for studies in patients with Parkinson’s Disease (PD).

The Institute and Denali aim to support the development of new PD therapeutics by better understanding the potential of new endpoints for clinical studies. Known clinical endpoints for PD can be affected by current standard treatments which, in turn, may confound the measurement of new therapeutics’ impact.

The agreement brings together the unique expertise of the Institute and its broad patient experience with Denali as it continues the development of its LRRK2 inhibitor clinical program for Parkinson’s Disease.

“This collaboration will allow us to explore new clinical endpoints that may help determine whether therapeutics like Denali’s LRRK2 inhibitors have a measurable effect on Parkinson’s patients,” said Chief Executive Officer, Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center, Carrolee Barlow, M.D., Ph.D.

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Acacia Pharma Group raises €40m at IPO for US growth

Acacia Pharma Group in Cambridge UK has raised €40 million (£35.69m) via an IPO on Euronext Brussels at €3.60 per share. The stock is due to start trading on Monday with unconditional dealings underway next Tuesday (March 6). The business, which also has US operations in Indianapolis, is using the cash for a targeted push at a specialised market in North America.

Founder and CEO Dr Julian Gilbert (pictured above) said: “The successful completion of our Initial Global Offering is a significant milestone for Acacia Pharma. The new funds provide us with a strong basis from which to build a successful US hospital-focused pharmaceutical business initially focused on commercialising our lead product: BAREMSIS® for the rescue treatment of patients with post-operative nausea & vomiting (PONV).

“The new funds will be used to build the sales and marketing infrastructure and undertake marketing, supply chain and other preparatory activities to launch BAREMSIS to the US hospital market in 2019, assuming US regulatory approval late 2018.

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Cancer immunotherapy biotech Unum Therapeutics files for an $86 million IPO

Unum Therapeutics, which is developing antibody-coupled T cell immunotherapies for cancers, filed on Friday with the SEC to raise up to $86 million in an initial public offering.

The Cambridge, MA-based company was founded in 2014 and plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol UNUM. Unum Therapeutics filed confidentially on November 3, 2017. Morgan Stanley and Cowen & Company are the joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.
The article Cancer immunotherapy biotech Unum Therapeutics files for an $86 million IPO originally appeared on IPO investment manager Renaissance Capital’s web site renaissancecapital.com.

Investment Disclosure: The information and opinions expressed herein were prepared by Renaissance Capital’s research analysts and do not constitute an offer to buy or sell any security. Renaissance Capital, the Renaissance IPO ETF (symbol: IPO) or the Global IPO Fund (symbol: IPOSX) , may have investments in securities of companies mentioned.

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Snapsheet Brings Virtual Claims Technology to Canada

TORONTO – Snapsheet, the industry-leading provider of virtual claims technology for the personal and commercial insurance marketplace, expanded its North American presence to Canada by partnering with Aviva Canada, a property and casualty insurance group.

“We’re thrilled to expand our services to the Canadian market with a partner who works to provide cutting-edge solutions to its customers,” said Brad Weisberg, Snapsheet’s CEO and founder. “Aviva is an industry leader who shares our core goal of making the claims process easier for everyone, so they’re an ideal choice as our first Canadian partner.”

How does Snapsheet work?

Once a customer files a claim, he or she takes photos of the damage and submits them through the carrier’s branded app – AvivaExpress, powered by Snapsheet. Snapsheet’s team of appraisers processes and inspects vehicle damage based on the photos using specialized software and engagement tools in order to provide an estimate for repairs. The customer then receives payment from their insurance carrier and can take their car to the body shop of their choosing. Snapsheet’s customer service team walks customers through the entire journey.

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