Category Archives: Immunology

Immunology

New Allergy Insights May Improve Diagnosis and Treatment – Technology Networks

Results from a study led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital may help to improve the diagnosis and treatment of allergies, pointing to a potential marker of these conditions and a new therapeutic strategy.

Nearly one third of the world's population suffers from allergies. These conditions are caused by certain antibodiescalled IgE antibodiesthat bind to allergens such as peanuts and trigger a reaction that releases an array of molecules that cause allergic symptoms, and in extreme cases, potentially life-threatening anaphylaxis.

Scientists have been perplexed by the fact that many individuals have circulating allergen-specific IgE antibodies without ever developing allergy symptoms. For example, about half of the people who have peanut-specific IgE antibodies (or test positive to a peanut skin prick test) do not have peanut allergies. In addition, some allergic individuals outgrow their symptoms yet still retain detectable levels of circulating allergen-specific IgE.

To look into these mysteries, Robert Anthony, PhD, of the Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases, and his colleagues compared IgE from individuals with peanut allergies with IgE from individuals without any allergies. The analyses revealed an increase in a particular sugar residue called sialic acid on IgE from peanut allergic individuals.

The researchers also found that adding sialic acid to IgE enhanced allergic reactions triggered by IgE in animal models, while removing sialic acid from IgE dampened these reactions and reduced anaphylaxis.

"Our results indicate that quantifying sialic acid on IgE may serve as a marker for more accurate diagnoses of allergic disease, and that removal of sialic acid from IgE is a novel strategy for treating affected patients," said Dr. Anthony.

Additional research on the mechanisms behind sialic acid's effects on IgE activity could provide additional insights into allergies and their causes. The team is currently planning studies to determine how removing sialic acid from IgE attenuates allergy, and develop strategies to exploit this therapeutically.

Reference:Shade, K. C., Conroy, M. E., Washburn, N., Kitaoka, M., Huynh, D. J., Laprise, E., . . . Anthony, R. M. (2020). Sialylation of immunoglobulin E is a determinant of allergic pathogenicity. Nature. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2311-z

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Immunology

Allakos Announces Multiple Presentations Related to Eosinophil and Mast Cell-Driven Diseases at the Digital EAACI Annual Congress 2020 – GlobeNewswire

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Allakos Inc. (the Company) (Nasdaq: ALLK), a biotechnology company developing antolimab (AK002) for the treatment of eosinophil and mast cell related diseases, today announced the acceptance of two oral abstract presentations at the upcoming European Academy of Allergy & Clinical Immunology (EAACI) Annual Congress being held virtually from June 6 to 8, 2020.

The following virtual oral abstract presentations will be available starting on June 6, 2020.

Following the presentations, the slides will be available on the Allakos website.

AboutAllakos

Allakos is a late-stage biotechnology company developing antibodies that target immunomodulatory receptors present on immune effector cells involved in allergic, inflammatory, and proliferative diseases. The Companys lead antibody, antolimab (AK002), is being evaluated in a Phase 3 study in eosinophilic gastritis (EG) and/or eosinophilic duodenitis (EoD) and a Phase 2/3 study in eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). Antolimab targets Siglec-8, an inhibitory receptor selectively expressed on human mast cells and eosinophils. Inappropriately activated eosinophils and mast cells have been identified as key drivers in a number of severe diseases affecting the gastrointestinal tract, eyes, skin, lungs and other organs. Antolimab has been tested in multiple clinical studies, in which antolimab eliminated blood and tissue eosinophils, inhibited mast cells and improved disease symptoms in patients with eosinophilic gastritis and/or eosinophilic duodenitis, eosinophilic esophagitis, mast cell gastrointestinal disease, severe allergic conjunctivitis, chronic urticaria and indolent systemic mastocytosis. For more information, please visit the Company's website at http://www.allakos.com.

Source: Allakos Inc.

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Allakos Announces Multiple Presentations Related to Eosinophil and Mast Cell-Driven Diseases at the Digital EAACI Annual Congress 2020 - GlobeNewswire

Immunology

Vividion and Roche Partner on Research Pact Worth "Several Billion Dollars" – BioSpace

San Diego-based Vividion Therapeutics has entered into a collaboration deal with Roche. The companies will leverage Vividions proteomics screening platform and small molecule library to target novel E3 ligases in addition to a variety of oncology and immunology therapy targets.

When proteins are no longer needed or become damaged, they are degraded by proteasomes. E3 ligases are a class of proteins whose job it is to direct target proteins to the proteasome for degradation. Drugs that interact with E3 ligases have the potential for treatments for a broad range of therapies.

Under the terms of the deal, Roche is paying Vividion $135 million in cash up front. Vividion is eligible for several billion dollars in preclinical, development and commercial milestones in addition to royalties on sales of products that might come out of the partnership.

Roche has the exclusive right to license compounds that come out of the collaboration at different stages of development. Vividion is responsible for early drug discovery and preclinical activities for chosen programs. For a subset of the programs, Vividion holds the right to run clinical development up to proof-of-concept with an option to share development costs and split U.S. profits and losses with Roche.

We are thrilled to partner with Roche, marking the second major collaboration for Vividion focused on developing small molecule drugs against promising, untapped therapeutic targets, said Diego Miralles, chief executive officer of Vividion. This collaboration with Roche will further expand a new pillar of our pipeline focused on leveraging distinct E3 ligases to bring cutting-edge treatments to patients in need.

A year ago, in April 2019, Vividion announced an oversubscribed Series B financing worth $82 million. The round was led by Nextech Invest with participation from new investors BVF Partners, Casdin Capital, Mubadala Ventures, Trinitas Capital, Mirae Asset Capital, Altitude Life Science Ventures, and Alexandria Venture Investments. Existing investors ARCH Venture Partners, Versant Ventures, Cardinal Partners and Celgene Corporation also participated.

The companys approach is based on the work of Benjamin Cravatt at The Scripps Research Institute. It allows for screening of small molecules against every protein in native biological systems.

A year before that, in March 2018, Vividion inked a strategic research collaboration with Celgene Corporation, now part of Bristol Myers Squibb. The multi-year deal focused on identifying and developing unique small molecules against oncology, inflammatory and neurodegenerative indications.

Under that deal, Celgene paid Vividion $101 million up front that included an equity investment from Celgene. The initial length of the collaboration was four years, with Celgene able to extend for another two years for an additional fee.

Of the deal with Roche, Fred Aslan, Vividions president and chief business officer, stated, Our proprietary platform has demonstrated the ability to identify molecules that can drug challenging protein classes, such as transcription factors, adaptor proteins, and E3 ligases. We look forward to discovering new therapies with Roche while simultaneously advancing our wholly owned pipeline.

On Roches part, James Sabry, Global Head of Roche Pharma Partnering, noted, Partnering is a cornerstone of Roches research strategy to transform novel ideas into medicines. We are excited about Vividions approach to small molecule discovery and are looking forward to working with their team to discover potential new medicines for patients with cancer and immunological diseases.

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Immunology

Roche enters $135m drug discovery deal with Vividion Therapeutics – Pharmaceutical Technology

]]> The companies discover and develop small molecules for various therapeutic targets. Credit: Steve Buissinne from Pixabay.

Roche has signed an exclusive worldwide option and licence agreement with US-based biotechnology firm Vividion Therapeutics to discover and develop small molecules for various therapeutic targets.

Under the alliance, Vividion Therapeutics will use its proteomics screening platform and small molecule library for E3 Ligases, as well as certain oncology and immunology targets.

E3 ligases are a class of proteins that direct target proteins to the proteasome for degradation. Small molecules directed to E3 ligases could possess the potential for a variety of therapeutic applications.

Roche holds the exclusive right to licence compounds resulting from the collaboration at different development stages.

Our parent business intelligence company

Vividion Therapeutics president and chief business officer Dr Fred Aslan said: Our proprietary platform has demonstrated the ability to identify molecules that can drug challenging protein classes, such as transcription factors, adaptor proteins and E3 ligases.

We look forward to discovering new therapies with Roche while simultaneously advancing our wholly-owned pipeline.

Under the agreement, Vividion will carry out early drug discovery and pre-clinical development for select programmes.

The company holds the right to perform clinical development up to proof-of-concept for a subset of programmes, with an option to share development costs and split profits and losses in the US with Roche.

Roche Pharma Partnering global head James Sabry said: We are excited about Vividions approach to small molecule discovery and are looking forward to working with their team to discover potential new medicines for patients with cancer and immunological diseases.

Roche will pay $135m in an upfront payment to Vividion, which is also eligible for several billion dollars in preclinical, development and commercial milestones, as well as sales royalties.

Last month, Roche entered a collaboration and licence agreement with Arrakis Therapeutics to discover RNA-targeted small molecule (rSM) drugs against various targets.

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Roche enters $135m drug discovery deal with Vividion Therapeutics - Pharmaceutical Technology

Immunology

Innovating in inflammation and immunology – – pharmaphorum

For World Inflammatory Bowel Disease day we spoke to Pfizers Matt Shaulis, president of international developed markets for inflammation and immunology, to hear how the company hopes to harness innovation to address the many unmet needs in these disease areas.

What would you say are the biggest challenges in the area at the moment?

One of the biggest challenges in the area of immune-mediated and inflammatory diseases is the lack of understanding of the true burden of these diseases, which has meant that these patients have historically been underserved.

While significant advances have been made in the treatment of rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS), many patients still experience the daily burdens of living with these diseases.

Whether a patient is unable to reach remission with his or her current treatment or is settling for good enough, uncontrolled disease can lead to irreversible joint damage and may also impact overall wellbeing and daily functioning.

For this reason, different treatment options in addition to timely diagnosis and access to advanced therapies are needed.

As for gastroenterology, chronic inflammatory diseases of the digestive tract can be painful, inconvenient and embarrassing, dramatically affecting how patients live their lives. Many patients have not been able to achieve optimal symptom control with current therapies and lead a life profoundly impacted by ongoing symptoms.

Wearable technologies commonly seen in the fitness field can be employed to measure itching and sleep disturbance in atopic dermatitis

There is also a critical unmet need for diseases such as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a leading cause of liver transplant, for which there are no approved drug therapies.

In dermatology, despite significant recent advances in inflammatory skin diseases, there are still many such as atopic dermatitis (AD), alopecia areata (AA) and vitiligo where new treatments are needed to make a meaningful impact in patients lives.

Are there any particular issues in diagnosis and detection youre hoping to address?

The treatment landscape for immune-mediated diseases has evolved significantly, from broad immunosuppression with steroids to targeted immune modulation through selective agents. However, improved treatment options will only really make a difference to patients lives if they go hand in hand with an increase in awareness among physicians and other healthcare providers.

We need to work with the medical community to enable a deeper understanding of immunological disease management, triggers, and the importance of treatment adherence. The resulting improvement in patient wellbeing can soften the impact on healthcare systems.

What does innovation mean to you when it comes to inflammation and immunology?

Innovation comes in many forms for the inflammation and immunology (I&I) team. Innovation in research and development is crucial and we are relentlessly pursuing new breakthroughs such as next generation kinase inhibitors, novel biologics, biosimilars and topicals.

But we also strive to innovate in how we run clinical trials both in terms of the technology we use for example employing wearable technologies commonly seen in the fitness field to measure itching and sleep disturbance through to the means to undertake testing in patients homes to obtain true real world evidence.

Finally, we partner with a variety of organisations who are driving innovation in helping patients make informed lifestyle choices, manage treatment adherence and facilitate doctor/patient relationships.

What kind of beyond-the-pill measures are important for patients in these disease areas?

There are improvements that could be proposed at all levels of the healthcare ecosystem to help address immunological and inflammatory diseases, but a critical step is for stakeholders to collaborate and drive meaningful change at the policy level.

This begins with establishing guidelines to ensure standardised treatment paradigms. Further assistance can be provided to patients through holistic patient and family support programmes that integrate disease management with good overall health and wellness practices.

One organisation we are partnering with in this regard is Sidekick Health, which offers technology-based solutions for patients suffering from the two main IBD conditions ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohns disease (CD), and also for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), atopic dermatitis (AD) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

The platform provides these patients with a rich user experience, where they earn rewards for managing their nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress and medication adherence. They also receive condition-specific education, and a connection to a community of health professionals and patients on a similar health journey.

Finally, expanded general awareness of AD can break the stigma associated with its flare-ups. When patients concerns are met with understanding and support, it can lessen their embarrassment and anxiety. This in turn may make them more likely to seek the help they need to manage their condition successfully.

Whats your overall view on how digital technology fits into I&I research, treatment and care?

There is a lot of interesting work being done in I&I research utilising technologies from the broader health arena. For example, our own Pfizer Innovation Research (PfIRe) lab is looking at solutions such as using wearable devices to help scientists monitor treatment for atopic dermatitis.

The lab equips patients with a device that can monitor sleep disruption caused by scratching. The team assesses that sleep disruption both with treatment and without treatment to determine how effective a particular therapy is for that particular endpoint. This is particularly critical in assessing scratching and sleep disruption in younger patients who would have trouble recalling or indeed articulating these symptoms themselves.

Do you think eczema and other inflammatory skin diseases are overlooked compared to other conditions?

Chronic inflammatory skin diseases can have a devastating impact on a persons mental and emotional wellbeing, although they are often overlooked as being simply cosmetic. This leads to a vast discrepancy in how patients are managed around the globe. Furthermore, the physical and social pressure that this disease creates goes hand in hand with a financial burden as patients pay for various products and treatments in search of symptom relief.

One recent study found that the average AD patient spends an additional 927 per year on health care expenses. Add to this the potential cost of doctors visits and treatments for co-morbidities, and the economic impact of absenteeism and time off work, and we start to get a true picture of the cost this condition imposes on health care systems at large.

We are now seeing an increased focus on developing treatments for chronic inflammatory skin diseases, but there is still a long way to go.

How do you see I&I evolving in the future?

The JAK pathways are believed to play an important role in inflammatory processes as they are involved in signalling for over 50 cytokines and growth factors, many of which drive immune-mediated diseases. JAK inhibition may offer patients with these conditions a potential new advanced treatment option.

Were taking a different R&D approach to that of other companies involved in JAK research instead of studying a single molecule for all its potential uses, where it may not be optimal for some, we purposefully match Pfizers candidates with unique selectivity profiles to the conditions where, if approved, we believe they have the greatest potential to address unmet need.

Ultimately, we are working toward supporting fast, accurate diagnoses, providing effective treatment options and enabling appropriate patient choices which lead to freedom from the burden of immune-mediated and inflammatory diseases.

About the interviewee

Matt Shaulis currently serves as the president of Pfizer inflammation and immunology for international developed markets. He has approximately 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry across several functions including: in-line and global strategic marketing, sales management, strategic customers group, licensing and acquisitions, finance, and compound and indication launches across multiple disease states. He joined Pfizer from Teva Pharmaceuticals, where he was vice president, global CNS, multiple sclerosis.

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Innovating in inflammation and immunology - - pharmaphorum

Immunology

La Jolla Institute for Immunology study: Analysis of immune response to SARS-CoV-2 bodes well for COVID-19 vaccine development – Scientists around the…

La Jolla Institute for Immunology study: Analysis of immune response to SARS-CoV-2 bodes well for COVID-19 vaccine development

San Diego Community News Group

Alba Grifoni, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the Sette lab and the study's co-first author, tests the T cell response in blood samples collected from individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.Photo courtesy of La Jolla Institute for Immunology

Scientists around the world are racing to develop a vaccine to protect against COVID-19 infection, and epidemiologists are trying to predict how the coronavirus pandemic will unfold until such a vaccine is available. Yet, both efforts are surrounded by unresolved uncertainty whether the immune system can mount a substantial and lasting response to SARS-CoV-2 and whether exposure to circulating common cold coronaviruses provides any kind of protective immunity.

A collaboration between the labs of Alessandro Sette, Dr. Biol. Sci. and Shane Crotty, Ph.D., at La Jolla Institute for Immunology is starting to fill in the massive knowledge gap with good news for vaccine developers and is providing the first cellular immunology data to help guide social distancing recommendations.

Published in an online edition of Cell, the study documents a robust antiviral immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in a group of 20 adults who had recovered from COVID-19. The findings show that the bodys immune system is able to recognize SARS-CoV-2 in many ways, dispelling fears that the virus may elude ongoing efforts to create an effective vaccine.

If we had seen only marginal immune responses, we would have been concerned, says Sette, a professor in the Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research, and adds, but what we see is a very robust T cell response against the spike protein, which is the target of most ongoing COVID-19 efforts, as well as other viral proteins. These findings are really good news for vaccine development.

All efforts to predict the best vaccine candidates and fine-tune pandemic control measures hinge on understanding the immune response to the virus, says Crotty, also a professor in the Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research. People were really worried that COVID-19 doesnt induce immunity, and reports about people getting re-infected reinforced these concerns, but knowing now that the average person makes a solid immune response should largely put those concerns to rest.

In an earlier study, Sette and his team had used bioinformatics tools to predict which fragments of SARS-CoV-2 are capable of activating human T cells. The scientists then, in this newest research, tested whether T cells isolated from adults who had recovered from COVID-19 without major problems, recognized the predicted protein fragments, or so-called peptides, from the virus itself.

The scientists pooled the peptides into two big groups: The first so-called mega-pool included peptides covering all proteins in the viral genome apart from SARS-CoV-2s spike protein. The second mega-pool specifically focused on the spike protein that dots the surface of the virus, since almost all of the vaccines under development right now target this coronavirus spike protein.

We specifically chose to study people who had a normal disease course and didnt require hospitalization to provide a solid benchmark for what a normal immune response looks like, since the virus can do some very unusual things in some people, says Sette.

The researchers found that all COVID-19 patients had a solid CD4, or helper, T cell response, which helps antibody production. Almost all patients had produced virus-specific CD8, or killer, T cells, which eliminate virus-infected cells. Our data show that the virus induces what you would expect from a typical, successful antiviral response, says Crotty.

And, although these results dont preclude that the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 may be detrimental, they provide an important baseline against which individuals immune responses can be compared; or, as Sette likes to put it, if you can get a picture of something, you can discuss whether you like it or not but if theres no picture theres nothing to discuss.

We have a solid starting foundation to now ask whether theres a difference in the type of immune response in people who have severe outcomes and require hospitalization versus people who can recover at home or are even asymptomatic, adds Sette. But not only that, we now have an important tool to determine whether the immune response in people who have received an experimental vaccine resembles what you would expect to see in a protective immune response to COVID-19, as opposed to an insufficient or detrimental response.

The teams also looked at the T cell response in blood samples that had been collected between 2015 and 2018, before SARS-CoV-2 started circulating. Many of these individuals had significant T cell reactivity against SARS-CoV-2, although they had never been exposed to SARS-CoV-2. But everybody has almost certainly seen at least three of the four common cold coronaviruses, which could explain the observed crossreactivity.

It is still unclear, though, whether the observed crossreactivity provides at least some level of preexisting immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and therefore could explain why some people or geographical locations are hit harder by COVID-19.

Given the severity of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, any degree of cross-reactive coronavirus immunity could have a very substantial impact on the overall course of the pandemic and is a key detail to consider for epidemiologists as they try to scope out how severely COVID-19 will affect communities in the coming months, says Crotty.

The work was funded by the NIH NIAID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Johnathan and Mary Tu Foundation, and internal LJI institutional funds.

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Immunology

Success for Virtual Summit on Cancer and Immunology Research – SelectScience

Science industry comes together online to share knowledge and provide technology solutions for cancer and immunology research

Thousands of scientists and scientific manufacturers from across the globe have come together online at the SelectScienceVirtual Summit on Cancer and Immunology Research, as COVID-19 forces the postponement of key events in the science industry calendar.

The SelectScienceVirtual Summits offer a crucial platform for the science industry to continue to connect, share knowledge and provide technology solutions in order to advance science and health at this critical time.

With more than 9,400 total attendees of live webinar presentations and virtual exhibit booths over 3 days of lastweeks Virtual Summit on Cancer and Immunology Research, the event featured talks by eminent speakers, technology workshops, video interviews, virtual exhibitor booths featuring leading brands, product and application news, as well as live Q&As and the first online Scientists' Choice Awards event.

With 31presentations, the most popular drew crowds of 450+ live viewers, far more than most physical shows. The event content reached over a further 780,000people online as word quickly spread on social media.

SelectScience Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, Kerry Parker, said: Our new Virtual Summits are designed to support the industry at this difficult time to ensure communication and collaboration continues to flourish. Weve been delighted by the response from across the industry.

Virtual Summit on Cancer and Immunology Research 2020 attendee breakdown by industry

Speakers at the Summit includedDr. Amanda Hummon, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the Ohio State University, Prof. Steve Conlan, professor of molecular and cell biology, University of Swansea, Dr. Bruno Sainz, Ramn y Cajal Investigator, Autnoma University of Madrid, Dr. Marzia Del Re, pharmacogenetics lab associate director, University of Pisa, Greg Poore, MD/PhD Candidate in the lab of Prof. Rob Knight, University of California School of Medicine, Dr. M. Laura Martin, Ex Vivo Models Director, Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, Dr. Herve Tiriac, assistant research scientist, University of California, Dr. Aram Chung, associate professor, Korea University and University of York scientists, Dr. Peter O'Toole, head of imaging and cytometry, Dr. William Brackenbury, senior lecturer in biomedical sciences, and Dr. Nidhi Dey, postdoctoral research associate.

A number of manufacturers also presentedinformation the latest technologies available to the field, including Bio-Rad, BD Biosciences, Fluidigm Corporation, Sony Biotechnology Inc., Nexcelom Bioscience, ForteBio, Sartorius Group, GenScript, Indica Labs, QIAGEN, Analytik Jena AG, Streck Inc., BioAgilytix, MicroGEM, Twist Bioscience, Molecular Devices, PHCbi, INTEGRA Biosciences. All presentations are now availableto view on demand.

Headline themes up for discussion included topics from COVID-19 and CAR T-cell therapy to CRISPR technology, liquid biopsies, and the microbiome.

Great scientific advances come through collaboration and joint effort. Participating in the summit allows us to share our most recent advances in cancer immunotherapy said Prof. Conlan, University of Swansea Interestingly this event will be attended by more people than a physical meeting would, so it expands the opportunity to meet new researchers and businesses, which will only serve to grow global collaboration.

Dr. Peter OToole, head of imaging and cytometry, University of York, said: It was another great opportunity to introduce technologies that we are involved with, and better still we managed to bring William Brackenbury and Nidhi Dey in to talk about how they were applying these technologies to their exciting science. The talks are now available to watch on demand: I can actually share this with my group that couldnt attend at the time. It was so digestible in the short slots that we had; it makes it very approachable, so we are also encouraging others to tune in afterwards, Dr. OToole concluded.

The Virtual Summit also saw the first online Scientists Choice Awards presentation, with scientists and industry leaders joining together to celebrate the most loved life sciences technologies and SelectScience content from the previous year. The winner of Best New Life Sciences Product of 2019, as voted for by scientists worldwide, was the DeNovix CellDrop Cell Counter. The 10 latest products to earn a SelectScience Seal of Quality were also announced during the online event.

Forthcoming SelectScience Virtual Summits include:

Forthcoming event-themed Webinar Seriesinclude:

SelectScience Virtual Summits and Webinar Series available to watch on demand include:

Manufacturers should contactsalesteam@selectscience.nettoday for further information or to book booth space.

All presentations from Virtual Summit on Cancer and Immunology Research 2020 are now available to watch on demand>>

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Immunology

Vividion Therapeutics Announces Drug Discovery Collaboration with Roche Focused on Novel E3 Ligases – BioSpace

SAN DIEGO, May 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Vividion Therapeutics, a biotechnology company discovering and developing highly selective small molecule medicines that drug traditionally inaccessible targets, today announced that it has entered into an exclusive worldwide option and license agreement with Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) to leverage its proteomics screening platform and proprietary small molecule library to target novel E3 ligases, as well as a range of oncology and immunology therapeutic targets. Roche has the exclusive right to license resulting compounds at different stages of development.

E3 ligases are an important class of proteins responsible for directing target proteins to the proteasome for degradation. Small molecules directed to novel E3 ligases with potentially differentiated properties, such as tissue-restricted bioactivity or stronger target recognition, have the potential to unlock a wide range of valuable therapeutic applications.

As part of the agreement, Vividion will be responsible for early drug discovery and pre-clinical development for selected programs. For a subset of such programs, Vividion has the right to conduct clinical development up to proof-of-concept with the option to share development costs and split U.S. profits and losses with Roche.

Vividion will receive $135 million in a cash upfront payment from Roche and is eligible to receive several billion dollars in payments based on the achievement of preclinical, development and commercial milestoness, as well as royalties on sales of commercialized products resulting from the collaboration.

"We are thrilled to partner with Roche, marking the second major collaboration for Vividion focused on developing small molecule drugs against promising, untapped therapeutic targets," stated Dr. Diego Miralles, Chief Executive Officer of Vividion. "This collaboration with Roche will further expand a new pillar of our pipeline focused on leveraging distinct E3 ligases to bring cutting-edge treatments to patients in need."

"Our proprietary platform has demonstrated the ability to identify molecules that can drug challenging protein classes, such as transcription factors, adaptor proteins, and E3 ligases," stated Dr. Fred Aslan, President and Chief Business Officer of Vividion. "We look forward to discovering new therapies with Roche while simultaneously advancing our wholly owned pipeline."

"Partnering is a cornerstone of Roche's research strategy to transform novel ideas into medicines. We are excited about Vividion's approach to small molecule discovery and are looking forward to working with their team to discover potential new medicines for patients with cancer and immunological diseases," said James Sabry, Global Head of Roche Pharma Partnering.

About Vividion Vividion Therapeutics, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on transforming the future of human health through the creation of highly selective small molecule medicines that drug traditionally inaccessible targets. The company is advancing a broad, diversified pipeline of multiple, selective small molecule therapeutics for highly sought-after disease-causing target proteins in oncology and immunology. The company's cutting-edge platform was spun out of the labs of Vividion's scientific founders, a team of experts in chemical biology and synthetic chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. For more information, please visit http://www.vividion.com.

Contact:Nick Veomettmedia@vividion.com (858) 257-1535

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Company Codes: OTC-PINK:RHHBY, Swiss:RO, Swiss:ROG, OTC-QX:RHHBY

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Vividion Therapeutics Announces Drug Discovery Collaboration with Roche Focused on Novel E3 Ligases - BioSpace

Immunology

Asthma linked to longer intubation time in younger COVID-19 patients – News-Medical.Net

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.May 18 2020

New data suggest that asthma is associated with longer time on ventilators for hospitalized younger patients with COVID-19.

Patients with COVID-19 between the ages of 20 and 59 years old who also had asthma needed a ventilator to assist with breathing for five days more on average than non-asthmatic patients with COVID-19, according to researchers at Rush University Medical Center, who published their findings today in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.

Among the patients who developed severe respiratory symptoms requiring intubation (the use of a ventilator), asthma was associated with a significantly longer intubation time in the younger group of patients who would seemingly have a better disease course than patients over the age of 65."

Dr. Mahboobeh Mahdavinia, Chief of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, Rush University Medical Center

"Our findings suggest that younger individuals with asthma may require extra attention, as they could develop a sustained pulmonary failure with COVID-19 infection, leading to prolonged mechanical ventilation."

Some signs and symptoms of COVID-19 are similar to worsening of asthma, which can lead to a late diagnosis of COVID-19 in asthmatics. "Therefore, we looked at a large group of patients to understand the impact of preexisting asthma on the outcome of patients with COVID-19," Mahdavinia said.

"We found that asthma and obesity are connected in COVID-19 patients, which means that obesity coupled with asthma puts a patient at a significantly higher risk. This is the first report, to our knowledge, to study the role of asthma on the outcome of COVID-19 patients."

Mahdavinia's team of physician-scientists, medical residents, basic scientists, and students used an electronic medical record algorithm created by the information services team at Rush to identify patients with asthma and COVID-19 who were either hospitalized or tested for COVID-19 at Rush between the dates of March 12 and April 3.

IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows was used for the analysis of COVID-19 outcomes in association with asthma and was adjusted for demographic variables and body mass index (BMI).

Initially, data emerged for 1,003 patients who tested positive for COVID-19. Complete data on demographic variables, asthma, and COVID-19 management was available in 935 patients, who were used for analysis. Overall, 241 were found to have an established diagnosis of asthma, which was broken into three groups by age range.

Asthma was significantly associated with longer intubation time in patients between 18 and 49 years of age and between 50 and 64 years of age, but not in the age group 65 years of age and older.

The duration of hospitalization was longer among patients with a history of asthma compared to those without this history in patients aged 50 to 64 years, but not in the younger or older age groups.

The patients aged 50 to 64 on average spent two more days in the hospital than the non-asthmatics in this age group.

Asthma was not associated with a higher rate of death or with acute respiratory distress syndrome among COVID-19 patients.

"In other studies, both obesity and gender have been shown to affect COVID-19 hospitalization," said Mahdavinia. "In our study, asthma was also associated with female gender and higher BMI."

The analysis, which was adjusted for both obesity and gender, indicates that asthma is independently linked to the number of times patients needed to be on ventilators.

"We were able to confirm asthma in prior clinical documentation among 73% of patients, but some cases were self-reported upon screening. We think that patients with a history of asthma may have sought out COVID-19 testing more than others due to concern and overlapping symptoms," Mahdavinia said.

Source:

Journal reference:

Mahdavinia, M., et al (2020) Asthma prolongs intubation in COVID-19. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. doi.org/10.1016/j.jaip.2020.05.006.

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Asthma linked to longer intubation time in younger COVID-19 patients - News-Medical.Net

Immunology

Ex-Northwestern professor charged in sex killing again cites immunology expertise in bid to leave jail and fig – Chicago Tribune

Prosecutors have alleged that Lathem lured his boyfriend to his high-rise apartment in Chicagos Near North neighborhood. Early on the morning of July 27, 2017, Warren stood in the doorway to the bedroom with his cellphone in hand as Lathem repeatedly stabbed Cornell-Duranleau as he slept, according to prosecutors. Lathem had asked Warren to video-record the killing, prosecutors said, but he never did.

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Ex-Northwestern professor charged in sex killing again cites immunology expertise in bid to leave jail and fig - Chicago Tribune