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Human Genetics Market Analysis with Key Players, Applications, Trends and Forecasts to 2026 – Farmers Ledger

June 19, 2020 medical

The Human Genetics market report Added by Market Study Report, LLC, enumerates information about the industry in terms of market share, market size, revenue forecasts, and regional outlook. The report further illustrates competitive insights of key players in the business vertical followed by an overview of their diverse portfolios and growth strategies.

The research report on Human Genetics market offers a thorough analysis of this industry vertical, while evaluating all the segments of the market. The study provides significant information concerning the key industry players and their respective gross earnings. Additionally, crucial insights regarding the geographical landscape as well as the competitive spectrum are entailed.

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Highlighting the main pointers of the Human Genetics market report:

In-depth analysis of the regional scope of Human Genetics market:

Emphasizing on the competitive spectrum of Human Genetics market:

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Other insights associated with the Human Genetics market research report:

This report considers the below mentioned key questions:

Q.1. What are some of the most favorable, high-growth prospects for the global Human Genetics market?

Q.2. Which products segments will grow at a faster rate throughout the forecast period and why?

Q.3. Which geography will grow at a faster rate and why?

Q.4. What are the major factors impacting market prospects? What are the driving factors, restraints, and challenges in this Human Genetics market?

Q.5. What are the challenges and competitive threats to the market?

Q.6. What are the evolving trends in this Human Genetics market and reasons behind their emergence?

Q.7. What are some of the changing customer demands in the Human Genetics Industry market?

Table of Contents:

Executive Summary: It includes key trends of the Human Genetics market related to products, applications, and other crucial factors. It also provides analysis of the competitive landscape and CAGR and market size of the Human Genetics market based on production and revenue.

Production and Consumption by Region: It covers all regional markets to which the research study relates. Prices and key players in addition to production and consumption in each regional market are discussed.

Key Players: Here, the report throws light on financial ratios, pricing structure, production cost, gross profit, sales volume, revenue, and gross margin of leading and prominent companies competing in the Human Genetics market.

Market Segments: This part of the report discusses about product type and application segments of the Human Genetics market based on market share, CAGR, market size, and various other factors.

Research Methodology: This section discusses about the research methodology and approach used to prepare the report. It covers data triangulation, market breakdown, market size estimation, and research design and/or programs.

For More Details On this Report: https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-human-genetics-market-size-status-and-forecast-2020-2026

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Human Genetics Market Analysis with Key Players, Applications, Trends and Forecasts to 2026 - Farmers Ledger

Genetics

Podcast: The dark connection between cancer research and the eugenics movement – Genetic Literacy Project

June 19, 2020 medical

Geneticist Dr. Kat Arney explores the stories of two women one a scientist fascinated by dancing mice, the other a seamstress with a deadly family legacy who made significant contributions to our understanding of cancer as a disease driven by genetic changes. Yet while their work paved the way for lifesaving screening programs for families, it was used by some as justification for eugenics the idea of removing genetic defectives from the population.

Born in Minnesota in 1879, Maud Slye was a cancer pathologist who dedicated her career to studying patterns of cancer inheritance in more than 150,000 mice. But as well as being a dedicated scientist (as well as a part-time poet), she was also wedded to eugenic ideas, suggesting that If we had records for human beings comparable to those for mice, we could stamp out cancer in a generation. At present, we take no account at all of the laws of heredity in the making of human young. Do not worry about romance. Romance will take care of itself. But knowledge can be applied even to romance.

While her ideas were controversial, Slyes work earned her a gold medal from the American Medical Society in 1914 and from the American Radiological Association in 1922. She was also awarded the Ricketts Prize from the University of Chicago in 1915 and an honorary doctorate from Brown University in 1937. She was even nominated for a Nobel prize in 1923.

Over the decades since Slyes death in 1954, weve come to understand that the hereditary aspects of cancer susceptibility are much more complicated than she originally suggested, although her work was vital in establishing inherited gene variations as an essential thread of cancer research.

Running parallel to Slyes work in mice was the research carried out by Aldred Warthin, a doctor working at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. One day in 1895, a chance meeting between Warthin and a local seamstress, Pauline Gross, set the two of them off on a 25-year-long quest to understand why so many members of Paulines family had died from cancer at a young age.

Pauline spent years compiling detailed family histories, enabling Warthin to trace the pattern of inheritance through Family G, as it became known. Like Slye, Warthin was a fan of eugenic ideas, describing Paulines family as an example of progressive degenerative inheritance the running-out of a family line through the gradual development of an inferior stock.

He was also quoted as saying in a 1922 lecture: Today it is recognized that all men are not born equal. We are not equal so far as the value of our bodily cells is concerned.

Perhaps as a direct result of growing public concern about eugenics, Warthins work fell out of favor. Paulines detailed genealogy lay undisturbed in a closet in the university until the 1960s, when American doctor Henry Lynch and social worker Anne Krush rediscovered her work and continued extending and investigating Family G.

Nearly a decade on from that first meeting between Pauline and Warthin, researchers finally pinned down the underlying genetic cause of this deadly legacy: an inherited variant of the MSH2 gene, which normally repairs mismatched DNA strands. Today, members of Family G and others around the world carrying dangerous variants in mismatch repair genes can undergo genetic testing, with a range of preventative and screening options available.

The story of Pauline and Family G, and the impact that their genetic legacy has had on the family down the generations, is beautifully told in the book Daughter of Family G, a memoir by Ami McKay.

Full transcript, links and references available online atGeneticsUnzipped.com

Genetics Unzippedis the podcast from the UKGenetics Society,presented by award-winning science communicator and biologistKat Arneyand produced byFirst Create the Media.Follow Kat on Twitter@Kat_Arney,Genetics Unzipped@geneticsunzip,and the Genetics Society at@GenSocUK

Listen to Genetics Unzipped onApple Podcasts(iTunes)Google Play,Spotify,orwherever you get your podcasts

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Podcast: The dark connection between cancer research and the eugenics movement - Genetic Literacy Project

Genetics

In Brief This Week: Thermo Fisher Scientific, Myriad Genetics, Fulgent Genetics, and More – 360Dx

June 19, 2020 medical

NEW YORK Thermo Fisher Scientific said this week that the US Food and Drug Administration has granted Breakthrough Device Designation for its Oncomine Precision Assay to identify low-grade glioma patients with isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 and 2 mutations and who may be eligible for treatment with vorasidenib (AG-881). The assay is designed to run on the Ion Torrent Genexus sequencing platform. Thermo Fisher is codeveloping a companion diagnostic for vorasidenib with Agios Pharmaceuticals.

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In Brief This Week: Thermo Fisher Scientific, Myriad Genetics, Fulgent Genetics, and More - 360Dx

Genetics

Genetic risk score is effective in diagnosing type 1 diabetes in Indians – News-Medical.Net

June 19, 2020 medical

A new way of using genetics to diagnose diabetes could pave the way for better diagnosis and treatment in Indians, new research has concluded.

Misdiagnosis of diabetes could be an issue in India because of features of diabetes in Indians which might vary from the standard western textbooks. Until recently, it was widely believed that type 1 diabetes appeared in children and adolescents, and type 2 diabetes in obese and older (typically after 45 years of age). However, recent findings have shown that type 1 diabetes can occur later in life, while type 2 diabetes is on the rise among younger and thinner Indians. Distinguishing the two types of diabetes has therefore, become more complex. The two types follow different treatment regimes with type 1 diabetes needing lifelong insulin injections but type 2 diabetes often being managed with diet or tablet treatment. Misclassification of the type of diabetes may lead to sub-standard diabetes care and possible complications.

A new publication conducted between researchers at the KEM Hospital, Pune, CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, and the University of Exeter in the UK shows that a genetic risk score is effective in diagnosing type 1 diabetes in Indians.

The genetic risk score, developed by the University of Exeter, takes into account detailed genetic information known to increase the chance of developing type 1 diabetes. The score may be used at the time of diabetes diagnosis to help decide if someone has type 1 diabetes.

Up to now, the bulk of research in this field has been conducted in European populations. Now, in a paper published in Scientific Reports, researchers have analysed whether the European risk score is effective in diagnosing type 1 diabetes in Indians. The team studied people with diabetes from Pune, India. The team analysed 262 people with type 1 diabetes, 352 people with type 2 diabetes, and 334 people without diabetes. All were of Indian (Indo-European) ancestry. Outcomes from the Indian populations were compared with those of Europeans from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium study.

The research, supported by Diabetes UK, the KEM Hospital Research Centre, Pune and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in India, found that the test is effective in diagnosing the right type of diabetes in Indians, even in its current form, which is based on European data. Authors also found genetic differences between the populations which mean the test could be further improved to enhance outcomes for Indian populations.

Diagnosing the right diabetes type is an increasingly difficult challenge for clinicians, as we now know that type 1 diabetes can occur at any age. This task is even harder in India, as more cases of type 2 diabetes occur in people with low BMI. We now know that our genetic risk score is an effective tool for Indians, and can help get people on the treatment they need to avoid life threatening complications such as diabetic ketoacidosis and to achieve the best health outcomes."

Dr. Richard Oram, University of Exeter Medical School

Dr Chittaranjan Yajnik of the KEM Hospital & Research Centre, Pune agrees with Dr Oram. He said, that the escalating epidemic of diabetes in young Indians makes it imperative that we diagnose the type of diabetes correctly to avoid mistreatment and its long term biological, social and economic implications. The new genetic tool will be a great help in this. It will help decide when diabetes is mainly caused by autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells (type 1 diabetes), and when diabetes is mainly caused by reduced action of insulin due to excess fat and smaller muscle mass in the body of Indians ('thin-fat Indians'), as is the case in type 2 diabetes. He said, "we look forward to using this test in diabetic patients from different parts of India where the physical characteristics of diabetic patients differ from the standard description".

The authors found nine genetic areas (called the SNPs) that correlate with type 1 diabetes both in Indian and European populations, and can be used to predict the onset of type 1 diabetes in Indians. Dr GR Chandak, Chief Scientist leading the study at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), said: "It's interesting to note that different SNPs are more abundant among Indian and European patients. This opens up the possibility that environmental factors might be interacting with these SNPs to cause the disease."

Given the genetic diversity of the population of India, the study's results need to be validated in other ethnic groups of the country too. Dr Rakesh K Mishra, Director of the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), said: "Since more than 20 per cent of people with type 1 diabetes below the age of 15 years of age are in India, developing a genetic test kit to reliably detect type 1 from type 2 diabetes holds a lot of significance for the country."

Source:

Journal reference:

Harrison, J.W., et al. (2020) Type 1 diabetes genetic risk score is discriminative of diabetes in non-Europeans: evidence from a study in India. Scientific Reports. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65317-1.

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Genetic risk score is effective in diagnosing type 1 diabetes in Indians - News-Medical.Net

Immunology

How does the body fight COVID-19? U of T researcher’s work could aid vaccine development – News@UofT

June 18, 2020 medical

JenGommerman, an immunologist at the University of Toronto, wants everyone to know one important point about the COVID-19 pandemic: The human immune system is working to fight off this novel coronavirus.

Many thousands of people have died from the virus. But many more thousands have contracted it and survived. That is because when the virus first enters your body, usually through your nose or mouth, it triggers the immune system to send antibodies in response. Antibodies are proteins in your blood that your body uses to fight infection. In diseases such as chicken pox, the antibodies usually prevent you from getting the illness again. The formal term for the generation of antibodies is a humoral immune response.

But COVID-19 the illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus is puzzling scientists with some challenging questions: If a person recovers from COVID-19, will the antibodies keep that person from being infected again? Why dont some people show symptoms? What happens as soon as the virus enters the body?

Gommerman, a professor in the department of immunology in the Faculty of Medicine, has received support from the Ontario COVID-19 Rapid Research Fund to conduct research in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of scientists to answer these and other questions.

She emphasizes that the greatest challenge in understanding anything to do with COVID-19 is the fact that it is new.

Understanding how SARS CoV-2 induces a humoral immune response is vital to scientists eventually developing a vaccine, she says. But the world has only known about this virus since December or January. It is brand new. The science community doesnt fully understand yet how the immune system responds to the virus.

So my teams work will shed some light on that, which, in turn, could help with the development of a vaccine.

The provinces rapid research fund is also supporting the work ofJean-Philippe Julien, senior scientist in molecular medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children and an assistant professor in biochemistry and immunology at U of T. His projectwill usemolecular technology to develop a potent and broad antiviral treatment.

As forGommerman, she will be developing an assay (the scientific term for a test or experiment) to identify antibodies in saliva in the hopes of better understanding the early immune response when the virus enters the oropharyngeal tract (a part of the throat behind the mouth and nasal cavity).

Like so much of the COVID-19 research being conducted now, the work being spearheaded byGommermanis a collaboration with a number of other scientists at U of T and the universitys partner hospitals.

Gommermansresearch into saliva, for example, will be compared with assays being done byAnne-Claude Gingras, a senior investigator at Sinai Healths Tanenbaum Lunenfeld Research Institute and a professor of molecular genetics at U of T.

Gingras has led the development of a blood test that can detect antibodies in the immune system of infected patients. The test has the potential to enable hospitals and other institutions to screen up to 10,000 samples at once. This type of analysis is called serosurveillance the study of blood serum, especially as it relates to the work of the immune system response to pathogens entering the body.

Serosurveillanceis an important weapon in our fight against COVID-19,Gommermansays. It has the power to tell us what is the true scope of the pandemic. This is what the blood experiments at Mount Sinai get us.

For the saliva experiments, we will learn more about what is happening early in the immune response in asymptomatic patients in the oropharyngeal tract where the virus is first introduced. This has the potential to reveal what aspects of the immune response might confer protection to those people who never show symptoms or only show mild symptoms.

Key to understanding the early immune response is a collaboration withDarrell Tan, an infectious diseases physician and clinician-scientist at St. Michaels Hospital. Tan, who is also an assistant professor in U of Ts Faculty of Medicine and at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, is enrolling 1,000 subjects, via contact tracing, who have been linked to patients infected with COVID-19. Tan and his team will test the saliva of these people regularly over a number of weeks.

The contacts are called a ring of associates.

Because the people in that ring have a higher chance of contracting COVID-19 than the general public, we will presumably have people who are just getting infected, saysGommerman. This will allow us to learn why some people dont show symptoms but still have the illness and how the early immune response actually works.

BothGommermanand Gingras are using proteins produced by U of TsJames Rini, professor in the departments of molecular genetics and biochemistry. The proteins are highly purified pieces of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that are used as bait to catch antibodies in the saliva or in the blood so that the researchers can measure them.

Without Jims work on these proteins, we wouldnt be able to go further in our research, saysGommerman. Hes been studying coronavirus proteins since SARS first hit North America in 2003. The science community doesnt know nearly as much about coronaviruses as we do, for example, influenza.

We owe a lot to researchers like Jim who have been building up a knowledge base about coronaviruses. Were relying on them now.

Further to the collaborative nature of the research,Gommermansteam is using saliva samples from patients who have had the virus, andwho have recovered. The samples were collected by:Mario Ostrowski, a professor in the departments of medicine, immunology and laboratory medicine and pathobiology at U of T;AllisonMcGeer, director of the Infectious Diseases Research Unit at Mount Sinai Hospital and a U of T professor in the departments of medicine and laboratory medicine and pathobiology (LMP), as well as at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health; andSamiraMubarekaan assistant professor in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology who is at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

The multidisciplinary nature of the research is what enabledGommermanto pivot from her usual work on autoimmune diseases, especially multiple sclerosis, and gut immunology. The ability to draw on the skills and experiences of members of her team was also key.

Our research associate, Dr.Olga Rojas, had worked on saliva antibodies to a disease called rotavirus when she was studying in Columbia, South America.

Also key to the pivot were three first-year doctoral students BaweletaIsho,Annie PuandMichelle Zuo.

I didnt want to pull more senior students from their doctoral work, so I asked these first-year students to help with the work,Gommermansays. Theyve been amazing, as well as our project manager, Dr.Gary Chao,who organized all the samples and made sure we were compliant from a biosafety and ethics perspective. This was urgent work and they all rose to the occasion under a lot of pressure.

with files from Amanda Ferguson

Immunology

Want to Avoid Another Shutdown? Wear a Mask, Experts Advise – Duke Today

June 18, 2020 medical

DURHAM, N.C. -- If youre in public and see someone wearing a mask, that person is doing it for your benefit.

So return the favor.

That was one of several themes to emerge Thursday from a media briefing featuring two Duke medical scholars with vast expertise in vaccines, immunology and the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19.

Drs. Sallie Permar and Cameron Wolfe took questions for an hour on myriad issues. Here are excerpts:

Dr. Cameron Wolfe, infectious disease specialist

The scientific consensus is actually quite clear. The consensus exists on both the types of masks and their protective efficacy of the individual wearing it, and also the collective benefit for the community.

That second part has really not been emphasized sufficiently. People have sort of viewed a mask as something designed to protect them. While that may be true in a hospital ward in the community the drive is very clearly to protect everyone else.

We understand now very clearly this virus has a pre-symptomatic phase of shedding. Even though I may not be symptomatic today, even though I may have no idea of the fact I may become sick in a day or two I can pass it to other people unwittingly. So my wearing a mask fundamentally protects you when I dont know Im sick or infectious. That part of the science is actually pretty clear.

The wearing of any mask, including cloth masks that folks will now see for sale widely, is very satisfactory at me preventing you getting sick. Thats the public health part of this. When I walk down the street wearing a mask, Im doing that for other folk around me, not fundamentally for me.

Dr. Sallie Permar, pediatric infectious disease specialist

The data has really shown that wearing a mask and preventing those respiratory droplets from spreading on other people is really effective.

The masks are super useful in protecting those that you are around. You wear a mask to prevent infecting others. It does play some role in protecting yourself as well. When we think about requiring masks I think its something that the benefit versus the inconvenience weighs towards the benefit.

Permar

Its hard to remember to wear a mask, and its uncomfortable, so the more you see other people doing it, the more youll be reminded to do it.

I went out and bought some designer masks. I think everyone can show their personality in what masks they choose. The more we require masks, the more it will become normal in our everyday lives.

Wolfe

A lot of it is about good leadership and good example-setting. That is something I wish we could do better on as a community. We have almost politicized mask-wearing. That is some sort of dystopian reality where the wearing of a mask has become something that can be judged.

It comes from political leaders buying into this, it also comes from state and federal politics, with leaders visibly taking this to heart. That has not yet happened, and that needs to change if we want people to buy into this.

Wolfe

Being prepared to put a pause on things should be the first step. Im heartened that our state health departments are finally talking about the implications of what a pause to phase 3 for us would look like. If we consider ourselves to be data-driven and we see the data heading in the wrong way, its nonsense to think we can continue doing the same thing and expect that trajectory to change.

Re-crunching down can still be avoided if you put your efforts into the right mitigation strategies.

If you want to keep opening and if we want to allow businesses to function, an individual choice on behalf of our collective, for me to wear a mask, seems like a smaller move than closing down again.

Permar

School reopening is a really difficult decision that were facing. We will dig into the data that shows that children have a very different course of the infection. They are mostly asymptomatic. Whats really important to understand is how much do they transmit the virus? How much do they transmit virus to their peers? How much do they transmit virus to the staff and teachers? What about when we wear masks? Can we reduce that risk?

What I hope will transpire over the next couple months is the development of child-specific metrics. How many children who are presenting with routine health care test positive? How many children are testing positive in our community? Another example might be absenteeism for influenza-like illness.

What I hope is that the education leaders and the public health leaders can think about schools differently than how we treat bars and restaurants. The appropriate metrics for opening up the community in many places where adults are going to congregate -- the number that are hospitalized, the percent testing positive every day -- I dont know (if) we should apply those same metrics to children and schools.

We know that as much as teachers try and as much as parents try, the virtual learning will not be the same, especially (for) the youngest children who really need the face-to-face interaction.

Wolfe

Many of us, frankly, are starting to see some fatigue in the community. I think that fatigue expands to many things. It extends to mask-wearing, it extends to social-distancing fatigue. Those things have played into disease transmission. Unfortunately, the phased reopening has, I suspect, encouraged a little bit of a letdown of folks guard. You really are seeing that steady march of increasing cases, increasing hospitalizations. Weve got to figure out a way to turn that around.

Permar

I often think about what are going to be the impacts on children now and for the future. They are the ones who will be living with the impacts of this virus the longest.

Its a respiratory virus where children are not often severely affected during the acute infection. However, one thing that has been very new and still developing is seeing this post-infectious syndrome that happens almost exclusively in children. Theres an inflammatory syndrome that can be very severe.

It can land children in the hospital. Were still really understanding what that post-infectious syndrome is. But it has reminded us that children are not completely unaffected by this pandemic.

We know that despite them being a minority of the hospitalizations, they have been impacted majorly when it comes to their development, their education and even their routine health care that has fallen behind in this time.

As we look towards a vaccine, the vaccine is being developed at a most amazing speed. As a vaccinologist, I never thought Id see a vaccine developed within a year. Thats being solely focused on adults, and I think we need to consider adding children to that vaccine development as well. We know children are the targets of most vaccines.

They, of course, are often routes to adults becoming infected as well. Adding children into vaccine development is very important for us to think about now rather than waiting until all adults are vaccinated.

Wolfe

Id be nave not to be concerned. I think it is going to be really incumbent upon public health leaders and federal government leaders to demonstrate a clarity of message here that needs to be uniquely available and visible to the public. Yes, I am worried about skepticism. We have to continue to reiterate active demonstrations of safety.

Permar

If we roll out a vaccine to a large percent of the population and then have a safety concern, that will diminish the faith in vaccines. While were going at this with the most rapid speed because the pandemic is not ending until we have a vaccine, we are also facing the challenge of making sure its the safest vaccine we can put out in a rapid fashion.

Faculty Participants

Dr. Sallie PermarDr. Sallie Permarisa professor of pediatric infectious disease, immunology and molecular genetics atthe Duke School of Medicine. Permar can address how COVID-19 affects mothers and children, how viruses transmit between people and general questions on vaccine development. Read her USA Today op-ed.sallie.permar@duke.edu

Dr. Cameron WolfeDr. Cameron Wolfeis an associate professor of medicine and who can discuss transplant-related infectious diseases, general infectious diseases, biological and emergency preparedness for hospital systems, and influenza and respiratory viral pathogens.cw74@duke.edu

Duke experts on a variety of other topics related the coronavirus pandemic can be found here.

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Want to Avoid Another Shutdown? Wear a Mask, Experts Advise - Duke Today

Immunology

Asthma Not Associated With Increased Risk of Hospitalization Among COVID-19 Patients – PR Web

June 18, 2020 medical

More studies must be done to look at the underlying immune modulation caused by asthma or asthma treatment to see what impact it may have on COVID-19 outcomes. - Anju T. Peters, MD, MSCI, FAAAAI

MILWAUKEE (PRWEB) June 18, 2020

According to research from The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI), patients with asthma were not more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19 than those without asthma. This finding comes despite asthmatics being more prevalent in the studys cohort than would be expected given the estimates of asthma prevalence nationwide.

This study set out to examine the prevalence of asthma and comorbidities in asthmatics with COVID-19. In addition, researchers determined the risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19 in asthmatics and looked at inhaled corticosteroid use and risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19.

The retrospective study was conducted across 10 hospitals affiliated with NorthwesternMedicine via automated chart review using Northwestern Medicines Enterprise Data Warehouse, an electronic repository of health records. In total, 1,526 patients with COVID-19 were identified and used in the study. Of those, 220 (14.4%) had asthma, which is significantly higher than the national asthma prevalence rate of eight to nine percent. These numbers were in line with published U.S. data from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report during the study period.

Two models were used to examine if asthma was a risk for hospitalization due to COVID-19. The first model adjusted for demographic data including age, gender, and ethnicity, while the second model also adjusted for multiple risk factors, including smoking and obesity. In both models, there was no significant difference in the risk of hospitalization between asthmatics and non-asthmatics.

The prevalence of many comorbidities including obesity, hypertension, sleep apnea, COPD, and gastroesophageal reflux disease was higher in patients with asthma and COVID-19 than in non-asthmatics with COVID-19. However, these comorbidities did not translate to a higher rate of hospitalization in asthmatics compared to non-asthmatics with COVID-19. Patients with asthma also had a higher prevalence of allergic rhinitis, rhinosinusitis, and immunodeficiencies. Interestingly, rhinosinusitis was associated with a lower risk of hospitalization.

Dramatic racial disparities have been reported during the COVID-19 pandemic and this was true in this study. Non-Hispanic African Americans and Hispanics or Latinos comprised a significant proportion of the asthma cohort with COVID-19 and had higher likelihood of COVID-19 related hospitalizations in general.

Chart review was completed to document which asthmatic patients with COVID-19 had a prescription of an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), combination inhaled corticosteroid plus long-acting beta-agonist (ICS/LABA), and/or systemic corticosteroids. Only one patient was on a biologic. Just under half (48.2%) of the patients were prescribed the aforementioned medications, and in general the risk of hospitalization for these patients was not significantly greater than for those not on them.

There was also no observable difference in mortality rates between patients with COVID-19 who had asthma and those who did not. Laboratory assessment actually saw lower levels of biomarkers used to identify COVID-19 severity in patients with asthma, though additional studies must be performed to understand why this is and if asthmatics may have any protection against the virus.

We would usually expect for asthmatic patients to have worse outcomes, as viral illness often can set off asthma exacerbations, said Anju T. Peters, MD, MSCI, FAAAAI, corresponding author of the study. More studies must be done to look at the underlying immune modulation caused by asthma or asthma treatment to see what impact it may have on COVID-19 outcomes.

Another limitation of the study, according to Dr. Peters, was that they were not able to assess the contribution of asthma severity or asthma endotypes to COVID-19 disease severity and cautioned that healthcare workers need to be vigilant of older patients, those with certain comorbidities, African Americans, and Hispanics as they are at increased risk of hospitalization in general due to COVID-19.

You can learn more about asthma and COVID-19 on the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology website, aaaai.org.

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) represents allergists, asthma specialists, clinical immunologists, allied health professionals and others with a special interest in the research and treatment of allergic and immunologic diseases. Established in 1943, the AAAAI has more than 7,100 members in the United States, Canada and 72 other countries. The AAAAIs Find an Allergist/Immunologist service is a trusted resource to help you find a specialist close to home.

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Asthma Not Associated With Increased Risk of Hospitalization Among COVID-19 Patients - PR Web

Immunology

Peter Svennilson Elected to RAPT Therapeutics Board of Directors – GlobeNewswire

June 18, 2020 medical

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., June 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RAPT Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: RAPT), a clinical-stage immunology-based biopharmaceutical companyfocused on discovering, developing and commercializing oral small molecule therapies for patients with significant unmet needs in oncology and inflammatory diseases, today announced the election of Peter Svennilson, Managing Partner of The Column Group, to its Board of Directors. Mr. Svennilson will replace David Goeddel, Ph.D., who did not stand for reelection to RAPTs Board of Directors due to other responsibilities, but will remain a member of RAPTs Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).

Peter has been integrally involved with RAPT over the course of the last several years, helping to steer our strategic direction and expanding our network within the industry, and we welcome his consistent counsel as an active Board member moving forward, said Brian Wong, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of RAPT Therapeutics. On behalf of the Board and the entire Company, Id like to thank David for his guidance and strategic direction, as well as his mentorship over the course of the last five years. We very much appreciate his contributions and are thrilled he will continue his involvement with RAPT through our SAB.

Mr. Svennilson was elected to the Board of Directors at RAPTs Annual Stockholder Meeting on Thursday, June 18, 2020. He is currently Managing Partner and Founder of The Column Group, a San Francisco-based biotechnology venture capital firm. Prior to founding The Column Group, Mr. Svennilson founded Three Crowns Capital, where he served as Managing Partner, and before that was Associate Managing Director in charge of European Investment Banking Origination at Nomura Securities in London. In addition to serving on RAPTs Board of Directors, Mr. Svennilson serves on the Boards of Directors of ORIC Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ribon Therapeutics, Circle Pharma and Revolution Medicines, Inc. Previously, he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Seragon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Svennilson also served as a member of the Boards of Directors of Gritstone Oncology, Inc., Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc., NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., PTC Therapeutics, Inc., Immune Design, Rosetta Inpharmatics LLC, ChemoCentryx, Inc. and Somalogic, Inc. and as Board Observer of Arcus Biosciences. Mr. Svennilson is currently a Trustee for The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He received his M.B.A. from the Stockholm School of Economics and Finance.

Im delighted to join the Board of Directors at this exciting time in RAPTs history, commented Mr. Svennilson. With proof-of-concept data expected for both FLX475 and RPT193 this year and a robust early-stage portfolio of small molecules advancing through development, the Company is poised for growth. I look forward to working with the experienced management team to support the Companys evolution and advancement across a number of segments and therapeutic areas within our industry.

AboutRAPT Therapeutics, Inc.RAPT Therapeutics is a clinical stage immunology-based biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing oral small molecule therapies for patients with significant unmet needs in oncology and inflammatory diseases. Utilizing its proprietary discovery and development engine, the Company is developing highly selective small molecules designed to modulate the critical immune drivers underlying these diseases. RAPT has discovered and advanced two unique drug candidates, FLX475 and RPT193, each targeting C-C motif chemokine receptor 4 (CCR4), for the treatment of cancer and inflammation, respectively. The Company is also pursuing a range of targets, including hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1) and general control nonderepressible 2 (GCN2), that are in the discovery stage of development.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Each of these statements is based only on current information, assumptions and expectations that are inherently subject to change and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about clinical development progress and the timing of results from clinical trials of FLX475 and RPT193. Detailed information regarding risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by statements in this press release may be found in RAPTs Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 14, 2020 and subsequent filings made by RAPT with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. RAPT disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Media Contact:Angela Bittingmedia@rapt.com(925) 202-6211

Investor Contact:Sylvia Wheelerswheeler@wheelhouselsa.com

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Peter Svennilson Elected to RAPT Therapeutics Board of Directors - GlobeNewswire

Immunology

Biomarker combo forecasts improved survival with antiPD-1/L1 agents in bladder cancer – Urology Times

June 18, 2020 medical

The dual biomarker of ARID1A mutations and CXCL13 expression at baseline predicted improved overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced bladder cancer, according to a retrospective analysis published in Science Translational Medicine.1,2

Researchers have struggled to develop predictive biomarkers for outcomes with immune checkpoint agents in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma. Single-biomarker research with PD-L1 level and tumor mutation burden (TMB) status have shown potential, but each has its pitfalls.

Most biomarker studies have been limited to a single biomarker, such as tumor mutational burden or PD-L1 expression, leadstudy author Sangeeta Goswami, MD, PhD, assistant professor ofGenitourinary Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, stated in a press release. Our study indicates that combinatorial biomarkers that reflect both the tumor mutational status and immune response will improve predictive capability of the biomarker and may enable better patient selection for treatment with immune checkpoint therapy.

For the discovery component of their research, the investigators used tumor samples from 2 clinical trials (NCT02387996 and NCT01928394) obtained at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Using these samples in multiplatform analyses with mouse models, the researchers found strong clinical activity with checkpoint inhibitors in patients whose tumors cells had ARID1Amutations and enriched expression of CXCL13 in surrounding immune cells

The researchers followed this discovery by retrospectively assessing data from the IMvigor210 and CheckMate-275 trials to independently confirm the predictive value of the biomarkers. The single-arm phase 2 IMvigor210 study (NCT02108652) examined atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer. The IMvigor210 study supported the FDA accelerated approval of atezolizumab for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who are cisplatin ineligible.

The phase 2 single-arm CheckMate-275 trial (NCT02387996) explored nivolumab (Opdivo) in patients with metastatic or unresectable bladder cancer who progressed or recurred after treatment with a platinum agent. The CheckMate-275 trial supported the FDA accelerated approval of nivolumab for use in this setting.

Analysis of the IMvigor210 data showed that the median OS was 7.2 months higher in patients with ARID1A mutations versus those without, at 15.4 versus 8.2 months, respectively. The median OS in patients with high versus low CXCL13 expression was 17.1 versus 8 months, respectively. The median OS was 17.8 months in patients who had both biomarkers. Among those without either ARID1A mutations or CXCL13 expression, the median OS was only 7.1 months.

Similar outcomes were observed in the CheckMate-275 trial data. The median OS was 11.4 versus 6 months in patients with and without ARID1A mutations, respectively. The median OS was improved by 7.8 months in patients with high versus low CXCL13 expression, at 13.5 versus 5.7 months, respectively. The median OS increased to 19.1 months in patients with both biomarkers. Patients without either biomarker had a median OS of just 5.3 months.

We hope that our study will highlight the importance of developing combinatorial biomarkers that consider both tumor cells and immune cells, corresponding author Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD, professor of Genitourinary Medical Oncology and Immunology at MD Anderson, stated in the press release. This approach may identify better biomarkers that can reliably predict response to immune checkpoint therapy across various tumor types.

Regarding next steps the investigators plan to launch a prospective study to assess the dual biomarker in patients receiving immune checkpoint therapy.

References

1. Combination biomarker predicts response to immune checkpoint therapy in patients with advanced bladder cancer. Published June 18, 2020. https://bit.ly/2AGKzt8. Accessed June 18, 2020.

2. Goswami S, Chen Y, Anandhan S, et al. ARID1Amutation plus CXCL13 expression act as combinatorial biomarkers to predict responses to immune checkpoint therapy in mUCC. Sci Transl Med. 2020;12(548):eabc4220. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abc4220

See the article here:
Biomarker combo forecasts improved survival with antiPD-1/L1 agents in bladder cancer - Urology Times

Immunology

Tonix Pharmaceuticals and Southern Research Announce Expansion of COVID-19 Vaccine Collaboration – BioSpace

June 18, 2020 medical

NEW YORK, June 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: TNXP) (Tonix or the Company), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced today an expansion of its strategic collaboration with Southern Research to include a study of T cell immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in volunteers who have recovered or remain asymptomatic after exposure to COVID-19. The research is part of an ongoing and broader collaboration between Tonix and Southern Research to develop and conduct animal testing of Tonixs TNX-1800, which is a live replicating virus vaccine designed to protect against COVID-19. The data will support the interpretation of animal trial results with TNX-1800, which are expected in the fourth quarter of 2020 and subsequent human trials.

More than 200 years of vaccine experience, beginning with Dr. Edward Jenners landmark discoveries with horsepox and cowpox vaccines, have shown that T cell eliciting vaccines are particularly effective against viruses, said Seth Lederman, M.D., President and CEO of Tonix. We believe that protective vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus will be similar in that regard. The data we plan to collect from recovered and asymptomatic COVID-19 volunteers will inform vaccine development on how to safely provide to vaccine recipients the same immune responses that others got from recovering from actual CoV-2 infection. If approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in healthy, non-pregnant adults without moderate or severe eczema, TNX-1800 would feature single-dose immunity without the use of adjuvants, ease of manufacturing on readily available systems, and glass-sparing distribution since we believe 100 doses of TNX-1800 could be packaged in a single vial. Our goal with TNX-1800 is to develop a vaccine that is well tolerated, produces strong, long-lasting immunity, and can be rapidly and broadly deployed.

Dr. Lederman, a former tenured professor at Columbia Medical School, who has made original contributions to immunology and virology, continued, Tonixs TNX-1800 is based on a virus that we believe is closely related to Dr. Jenners first vaccine. Vaccines that descended from Dr. Jenners vaccine were used to eradicate smallpox globally, the only virus ever successfully eradicated. Smallpox was spread through the respiratory route, but it was eradicated with a vaccine administered in the arm. Tonixs lead COVID-19 vaccine candidate, TNX-1800, is designed to elicit a predominant T cell response, with some antibody response, while three other early candidates in the Companys vaccine portfolio are designed to elicit almost pure T cell responses. Dr. Lederman added, The features of a protective immune response to SARS-CoV-2 remain unknown. But since SARS-CoV-2 is a virus, we believe that T cell responses, in particular T Helper Type 1, or TH1 responses, will play an important if not dominant role in protecting against serious illness from COVID-19. These studies will provide us with a blueprint for interpreting the results of planned animal and human studies with TNX-1800.

Raj Kalkeri, Ph.D., from Southern Research and technical lead for this study, said, This is groundbreaking research with regards to COVID-19. As scientists, we know that the most successful vaccines mimic and potentiate how the immune system responds to an invader. This additional work we are doing with Tonix will add focus to that objective. We are looking forward to a timely completion of this study, utilizing readouts from a variety of assays that can provide information about TH1 or other types of immunity.

An expert team of scientists from Southern Research, including Raj Kalkeri, Ph.D., Elizabeth Wonderlich, Ph.D., John Farmer, Ph.D. and Fusataka Koide, Director of Virology, is working on this collaboration.

About TNX-1800, TNX-1810, TNX-1820, TNX-1830 and TNX-801*

TNX-1800 is a live modified horsepox virus vaccine for percutaneous administration that is designed to express the Spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 and to elicit a predominant T cell response. TNX-1810, TNX-1820 and TNX-1830 are modified horsepox viruses that are designed to express different SARS-CoV-2 proteins than Spike and to elicit almost pure T cell responses. TNX-801 is a live horsepox virus vaccine 1. Horsepox and vaccinia are closely related orthopoxviruses that are believed to share a common ancestor. Live replicating orthopoxviruses, like vaccinia or horsepox, can be engineered to express foreign genes and have been explored as platforms for vaccine development because they possess; (1) large packaging capacity for exogenous DNA inserts, (2) precise virus-specific control of exogenous gene insert expression, (3) lack of persistence or genomic integration in the host, (4) strong immunogenicity as a vaccine, (5) ability to rapidly generate vector/insert constructs, (6) readily manufacturable at scale, and (7) ability to provide direct antigen presentation. Relative to vaccinia, horsepox has substantially decreased virulence in mice1. TNX-801 vaccinated macaques showed no overt clinical signs after monkeypox challenge2. Horsepox-based vaccines are designed to be single dose, vial-sparing vaccines, which can be manufactured on conventional cell culturing systems, with the potential for mass scale production.

1Noyce RS, et al. (2018) PLoS One. 13(1):e01884532Noyce, RS, et al. Synthetic Chimeric Horsepox Virus (scHPXV) Vaccination Protects Macaques from Monkeypox* Presented as a poster at the American Society of Microbiology BioThreats Conference - January 29, 2020, Arlington, VA. (https://content.equisolve.net/tonixpharma/media/10929ac27f4fb5f5204f5cf41d59a121.pdf )

*TNX-801 and TNX-1800 are in the pre-IND stage and have not been approved for any indication

About Southern Research

Founded in 1941, Southern Research (SR) is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, scientific research organization with more than 400 scientists and engineers working across four divisions: Drug Discovery, Drug Development, Engineering, and Energy & Environment. SR supports the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, defense, aerospace, environmental, and energy industries. SR works on behalf of the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Energy, NASA, major aerospace firms, utility companies, and other private and government organizations. SR pursues entrepreneurial and collaborative initiatives to develop and maintain a pipeline of intellectual property and innovative technologies that positively impact real-world problems. SR is developing 18 drugs to combat various forms of cancer, ALS, Alzheimers, diabetes, kidney disease, Parkinsons and tuberculosis, among others. SR has developed 20 other drugs, including seven FDA-approved cancer drugsa number rivaling any other U.S. research institute. SR is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama with additional laboratories and offices in Wilsonville, Alabama; Frederick, Maryland; Cartersville, Georgia; and Houston, Texas.

Further information about SR can be found at https://southernresearch.org

About Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp.

Tonix is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, licensing, acquiring and developing small molecules and biologics to treat and prevent human disease and alleviate suffering. Tonixs portfolio is primarily composed of central nervous system (CNS) and immunology product candidates. The immunology portfolio includes vaccines to prevent infectious diseases and biologics to address immunosuppression, cancer and autoimmune diseases. The CNS portfolio includes both small molecules and biologics to treat pain, neurologic, psychiatric and addiction conditions. Tonixs lead vaccine candidate, TNX-1800*, is based on the horsepox viral vector platform to protect against COVID-19, primarily by eliciting a T cell response. Tonix expects data from animal studies of TNX-1800 in the fourth quarter of this year. TNX-801*, live horsepox virus vaccine for percutaneous administration, is in development to protect against smallpox and monkeypox and serves as the vector platform on which TNX-1800 is based. Tonixs lead CNS candidate, TNX-102 SL**, is in Phase 3 development for the management of fibromyalgia. The Company expects results from an unblinded interim analysis in September 2020 and topline data in the first quarter of 2021. TNX-102 SL is also in development for agitation in Alzheimers disease and alcohol use disorder (AUD). The agitation in Alzheimers disease program is Phase 2 ready with FDA Fast Track designation, and the development program for AUD is in the pre-Investigational New Drug (IND) application stage. Tonixs programs for treating addiction conditions also include TNX-1300* (T172R/G173Q double-mutant cocaine esterase 200 mg, i.v. solution), which is in Phase 2 development for the treatment of cocaine intoxication and has FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation. TNX-601 CR (tianeptine oxalate controlled-release tablets) is another CNS program, currently in Phase 1 development as a daytime treatment for depression while TNX-1900, intranasal oxytocin, is in development as a non-addictive treatment for migraine and cranio-facial pain. Tonixs preclinical pipeline includes TNX-1600 (triple reuptake inhibitor) , a new molecular entity being developed as a treatment for PTSD, TNX-1500 (anti-CD154), a monoclonal antibody being developed to prevent and treat organ transplant rejection and autoimmune conditions, and TNX-1700 (rTFF2), a biologic being developed to treat gastric and pancreatic cancers.

*TNX-1800, TNX-801 and TNX-1300 are investigational new biologics and have not been approved for any indication.

**TNX-102 SL (cyclobenzaprine HCl sublingual tablets) is an investigational new drug and has not been approved for any indication.

This press release and further information about Tonix can be found at http://www.tonixpharma.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as anticipate, believe, forecast, estimate, expect, and intend, among others. These forward-looking statements are based on Tonix's current expectations and actual results could differ materially. There are a number of factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, risks related to failure to obtain FDA clearances or approvals and noncompliance with FDA regulations; delays and uncertainties caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic; risks related to the timing and progress of clinical development of our product candidates; our need for additional financing; uncertainties of patent protection and litigation; uncertainties of government or third party payor reimbursement; limited research and development efforts and dependence upon third parties; and substantial competition. As with any pharmaceutical under development, there are significant risks in the development, regulatory approval and commercialization of new products. Tonix does not undertake an obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement. Investors should read the risk factors set forth in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) on March 24, 2020, and periodic reports filed with the SEC on or after the date thereof. All of Tonix's forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by all such risk factors and other cautionary statements. The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date thereof.

Jessica Morris (corporate)Tonix Pharmaceuticalsinvestor.relations@tonixpharma.com(212) 688-9421

Travis Kruse (media)Russo Partnerstravis.kruse@russopartnersllc.com(212) 845-4272

Peter Vozzo (investors)Westwickepeter.vozzo@westwicke.com(443) 213-0505

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Tonix Pharmaceuticals and Southern Research Announce Expansion of COVID-19 Vaccine Collaboration - BioSpace