Tag Archives: media

Human Behavior

Amidst COVID-19, new Shapiro+Raj survey shows news media and government have a big impact on our collective vigilance – PRNewswire

CHICAGO, March 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --News, advice and trends around Covid-19 are shifting by the day. The media and government, not always the most trusted institutions, are trying to keep us informed and encouraging us to take responsible precautions. While their shortcomings have limited effects on daily life, a new survey shows the negative impact this trust gap can breed when challenges like these arise.

Shapiro+Raj surveyed 577 people, practically all of whom were aware of coronavirus. About 58% said they are concerned about its potential impact on them and their family, while 24% showed little to no concern. Roughly 51% said they have changed their lifestyle because of Covid-19, most in basic ways like being more hygienic (70% washing hands longer, using more hand sanitizer) and socially distancing themselves (55% staying home, avoiding crowded places).

In terms of the media's handling of Covid-19, about 39% think they are doing a very good job (media-positives) while 37% think they are doing a fair/poor job (media-negatives). Among people who term as media-positive, 63% have changed their lifestyle. But that figure drops to 38% among the media-negative. We also see far higher hygiene and social distancing rates in the media-positive group, who are also 400% more likely to feel an intense perceived risk compared to media-negatives.

The survey also found differences based on government performance ratings (federal, state and local). About 34% feel they're doing a good job while 30% say the opposite. Among government-positives, 57% made a lifestyle change compared to 51% of the government-negative folks. Also, 21% of government positive people feel at definite risk of exposure versus 12% of government negative folks. The good news is that both groups have similar incidence of taking both hygienic and social precautions.

"This like many other national challenges requires us to come together as a community," said Zain Raj, Chairman and CEO of Shapiro+Raj. "All institutions need to build trust, which is about deeds and not words, so we feel empowered to act as one and solve big problems as soon as possible."

About Shapiro+Raj

Shapiro+Raj is a research and strategy firm that uses social and behavioral sciences to solve the toughest business and marketing challenges. Our next-gen methods dig deep to unlock market-ready insights. Then our brand planners turn these into strategic marketplace actions that create brand evolution and innovation; customer experiences and loyalty; and new platforms for growth.

We have added future-first strategy and expansive analytic capabilities, powered by the latest technology stack and inspired by human behavior. This has created an integrated research, insights, and strategy consultancy with a mission to help our clients find new pathways to grow in this constantly changing landscape. Today we are recognized as one of the Top-25 Most Innovative Research Companies in the world.For more information, visit http://www.shapiroraj.com.

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Amidst COVID-19, new Shapiro+Raj survey shows news media and government have a big impact on our collective vigilance - PRNewswire

Anatomy

Sexual Violence And Rape: The Anatomy Of Reaction – Feminism in India

Trigger warning: Rape and Sexual Violence

Posted by Solanki Chakraborty

What is it about the act of rape that enrages the public so much?

The 3 rape cases that stirred the public the most in the last 7 years are that of Delhi, Kathua, and Hyderabad. In all 3 cases, the victims were murdered after the gang rape. The brutality of the violence got imprinted in the minds of the spectator public so much so that most people I spoke to could narrate the details of the respective crimes in perfect sequence verbatim. Meanwhile news of several other cases of rape went around, mostly in homogeneous circles that did not create such a stir. So, let me re-frame the initial question and ask, what is it about some acts of rape that enrages the public so much?

We cannot deny the intricate details of the act of each rape that had been discussed by the media. In the incident of the Kathua rape, her photo, the color of her dress, her eyes, her hair all became objects that stood for her innocence as a child. There were even cartoon images of her speaking to the soul of Nirbhaya after death. While the public was shocked that there had been rallies conducted to support the rapists, the public themselves displayed outrage only after the details of the rape were published in the media after the investigation which was about a month after the incident. Why this delay?

Where does the sympathy of the public vanish when news of other rape incidents surface? What happens to slogans like Rape is Rape and Rapists are Rapists when Kunan Poshpora is spoken of (23rd February just went by), the Kunduli rape allegation is forcibly falsified? Why does not the public remember the history of Bhanwari Devi and Phoolan Devi? Dont their experiences resonate with our idea of what an act of rape should be like? Or is it that their survival, resilience, and defiance of patriarchy undoes their trauma of the violence and therefore does not deserve much attention anymore?

In the incident of the Kathua rape, her photo, the color of her dress, her eyes, her hair all became objects that stood for her innocence as a child.

So, in order to answer the previous question, let me attempt to answer its negative: Why is it that some acts of rape DO NOT enrage the public so much?

Most of the incidents that make it to the news have taken place in popular cities, capital cities, etc. Nabanita Roy, in an article in Round Table India, has cited an invisibility of non-metropolis locations in national statistics and national media as one reason to overlook rapes that take place in villages and small towns. Reading the Crime in India- 2017 Statistics, she points out that locations are identified either as a State/Union Territory or as a Metropolitan city. Crimes that take place in locations apart from these (Kunduli or Sutia) are subsumed into numbers, not qualifying for an independent dialogue on itself. With a complete invisibility of such incidents from the national media, they do not figure even in the national memory.

Also read: The Protesting Lawyers In Kathua Are A Threat To The Justice System

The more the details/sequence of the violence gets published, the more chances for the sympathy of the reader/audience. There is almost a demand by the public to know more about the violence in order to win their solidarity. It is a price every survivor/victim will have to pay. What else can explain the delayed reaction of the public in the Kathua rape case but publics voyeurism?

On the one hand, the degree of violence involved in the act of rape is a determinant of the degree of victimhood to be conferred upon the woman. On the other, the circumstances leading to the woman being present at that moment in the location also plays a deciding role in whether we would be enraged or complacent. The reaction displayed as the aftermath of the Park Street rape long back where a middle- aged, single mother was gang raped by her peers on the pretense of dropping her home from a pub late at night makes it evident. While all these italicized descriptors should not matter while registering a complaint of sexual violence, it sure does determine how the public opinion would be of the incident. She did not, therefore, qualify to be a perfect victim.

Marginalized identities are often criminalized in the popular imagination. Working class identities like that of cab-drivers, truck-drivers, construction workers are looked at with suspicion and a certain bestiality and penchant for violence is expected of them. Hence, those incidents where the perpetrators belong to marginalized communities, receive more public attention. And it also becomes easier for us to demand the harshest of punishments for the accused- death sentence. One main reason for the outcry against #MeToo movement was the fact that our peers were being called out; those we had never IMAGINED to be capable of such violence; those social identities we too belong to- same caste-class-occupation-region, etc. It is too close to home then.

In the Kathua incident, for example, the victim, who belonged to the Bakharwal nomadic community, was subjected to violence by the upper caste community of the village to force the same community to migrate from the village. The public refused to communalize the issue and chose to condemn only the brutality of the act. The irrelevance of the outcry can be garnered from the fact that though we continued to rage over the incident, her family was not permitted to bury her body in the same village and was forced to do so in another.

Working class identities like that of cab-drivers, truck-drivers, construction workers are looked at with suspicion and a certain bestiality and penchant for violence is expected of them.

As I conclude, I realize that are many other reasons which I could have written of: oblivion of marital rapes, Intimate Partner Violence, sexual violence against trans persons, sex workers, homosexual persons, etc. The uncomfortable answer that emerges of the first question I had asked, is that it is mostly the identity of the perpetrator and the narrative that is woven around it that makes some acts of rape condemnable and others passable.

Also read: How Could The Media Have Done Better In Covering The Hyderabad Rape-Murder? | #GBVinMedia

So, it is not only the act that evokes reaction but the larger political economy in which it is taking place. We need to accept the fact that rape need not be read politically; it already is. And we need to introspect and realize our deep-seated prejudices of caste and class that not only prevents adequate attention to be paid to many cases of sexual violence around us but also enables and grants impunity to perpetrators close to us in social/caste circles.

Solanki is an independent researcher from Kolkata, based in Hyderabad. She is an M.Phil. graduate in Comparative Literature, University of Hyderabad. She is interested in food history and she swears by Bollywood. You can follow her on Facebook.

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Sexual Violence And Rape: The Anatomy Of Reaction - Feminism in India

Immunology

Hepalink Announces the Appointment of Healthcare Senior Executive Mr. Frank Sun as Executive Director and Vice Chairman of the Board – Financial Post

SHENZHEN, China Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. (SZSE: 002399), a China-based global pharmaceutical company targeting high-mortality diseases with significant unmet medical needs, announced the appointment of Mr. Frank Sun as Executive Director and the election of Mr. Sun as the Vice Chairman of the Board. Mr. Sun will work with the Board on strategy design, enhancement and implementation, and lead the efforts in strategic investment, capital markets, and the development of Hepalinks innovative businesses globally.

We are thrilled to have an industry veteran such as Frank joining us, said Mr. Li Li, Hepalinks co-founder and Chairman. He brings 20 years of experience in top global companies, and a broad set of expertise in the healthcare industry, investment, corporate finance and management. This is an exciting time for Hepalink, as we accelerate value realization driven by continued focus on innovation and global expansion. Franks leadership and expertise will be critical to helping Hepalink reach the next stage of growth.

Mr. Sun joins Hepalink from Yunfeng Capital, one of the largest China-based private equity funds, where he served as Managing Director responsible for global healthcare investment. Prior to Yunfeng, Mr. Sun worked at UBS AG, and served as Managing Director and Head of Asia Healthcare Investment Banking. Previously, he was a pharmaceutical sector equity research analyst with Morgan Stanley based in New York, and a research scientist at Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Mr. Sun graduated with distinction and received his MBA from NYU Stern School of Business. He has a Masters degree in pharmacology from Columbia University. Mr. Sun is a director of the China Healthcare Investment 50 Forum (H50).

About Hepalink

Founded by a group of seasoned polysaccharide-chemists with scientific insights and profound understanding of immunology, Hepalink is a leading China-based pharmaceutical company with global businesses in pharmaceutical, innovative biotech and CDMO sectors. We have built up a portfolio of both leading drugs in the anticoagulant and antithrombotic therapeutic areas and innovative drug candidates focusing on diseases with an immune system disorder axis, including oncology, autoimmune, metabolic and other areas.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200306005009/en/

Contacts

Media Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical Group Co.,Ltd. Peiyu Wang Peiyu.wang@hepalink.com (86) 755-2698 0200 ext. 2103

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Hepalink Announces the Appointment of Healthcare Senior Executive Mr. Frank Sun as Executive Director and Vice Chairman of the Board - Financial Post

Cell Biology

Fate Therapeutics Reports Fourth Quarter 2019 Financial Results and Operational Progress with 2020 Outlook – Yahoo Finance

Reported Initial Clinical Data from FT500 Phase 1 Study in Advanced Solid Tumors, Supporting Safety and Tolerability of Multi-dose Treatment Paradigm for Off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived NK Cells

First Patients Treated with FT516, the First-ever Engineered iPSC-derived Cellular Immunotherapy, for AML and for B-cell Lymphoma in Combination with Rituximab

Initiated Enrollment of First-in-human Clinical Trial of FT596, the First-ever Cellular Immunotherapy Engineered with Three Active Anti-tumor Modalities

Ended Quarter with $261 Million in Cash, Cash Equivalents and Marketable Securities

SAN DIEGO, March 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (FATE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of programmed cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders, today reported business highlights and financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2019.

In 2019, we made tremendous progress in pioneering the clinical development of off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived cancer immunotherapy. Our FT500 program demonstrated that multiple doses of iPSC-derived NK cells can be delivered off-the-shelf to a patient in a safe manner without patient matching. Additionally, our FT516 program provided initial clinical evidence that engineered iPSC-derived NK cells may confer anti-tumor activity and deliver clinically meaningful benefit to patients. We also showed the unmatched scalability of our proprietary iPSC product platform, having manufactured hundreds of cryopreserved, infusion-ready doses of our iPSC-derived NK cell product candidates at a low cost per dose in our new GMP manufacturing facility, said Scott Wolchko, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fate Therapeutics. In 2020, we look forward to additional clinical data from our FT500 and FT516 programs, and initial clinical data from FT596, our ground-breaking iPSC-derived CAR NK cell product candidate for the treatment of B-cell malignancies designed to overcome many of the limitations inherent in current CAR T-cell immunotherapies. We also expect to begin clinical investigation of our off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived NK cell programs in multiple myeloma with planned IND submissions for FT538, the first-ever CRISPR-edited, iPSC-derived cell therapy, and for FT576, our multi-antigen targeted, CAR-BCMA product candidate. Finally, under our collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering, we strive to be the first group in the world to bring off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived CAR T-cell therapy to patients.

Clinical Programs

Preclinical Pipeline

Fourth Quarter 2019 Financial Results

Today's Conference Call and Webcast

The Company will conduct a conference call today, Monday, March 2, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. ET to review financial and operating results for the quarter ended December 31, 2019. In order to participate in the conference call, please dial 877-303-6229 (domestic) or 631-291-4833 (international) and refer to conference ID 9879730. The live webcast can be accessed under "Events & Presentations" in the Investors & Media section of the Company's website at http://www.fatetherapeutics.com. The archived webcast will be available on the Company's website beginning approximately two hours after the event.

About Fate Therapeutics iPSC Product PlatformThe Companys proprietary induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) product platform enables mass production of off-the-shelf, engineered, homogeneous cell products that can be administered with multiple doses to deliver more effective pharmacologic activity, including in combination with cycles of other cancer treatments. Human iPSCs possess the unique dual properties of unlimited self-renewal and differentiation potential into all cell types of the body. The Companys first-of-kind approach involves engineering human iPSCs in a one-time genetic modification event and selecting a single engineered iPSC for maintenance as a clonal master iPSC line. Analogous to master cell lines used to manufacture biopharmaceutical drug products such as monoclonal antibodies, clonal master iPSC lines are a renewable source for manufacturing cell therapy products which are well-defined and uniform in composition, can be mass produced at significant scale in a cost-effective manner, and can be delivered off-the-shelf for patient treatment. As a result, the Companys platform is uniquely capable of overcoming numerous limitations associated with the production of cell therapies using patient- or donor-sourced cells, which is logistically complex and expensive and is subject to batch-to-batch and cell-to-cell variability that can affect clinical safety and efficacy. Fate Therapeutics iPSC product platform is supported by an intellectual property portfolio of over 300 issued patents and 150 pending patent applications.

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About FT500

FT500 is an investigational, universal, off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) cell cancer immunotherapy derived from a clonal master induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line. The product candidate is being investigated in an open-label, multi-dose Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of advanced solid tumors (NCT03841110). The study is designed to assess the safety and tolerability of three once-weekly doses of FT500 as a monotherapy and in combination with one of three FDA-approved immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapies nivolumab, pembrolizumab or atezolizumab in patients that have failed prior ICI therapy. Despite the clinical benefit conferred by approved ICI therapy against a variety of tumor types, these therapies are not curative and, in most cases, patients either fail to respond or their disease progresses on these agents. One common mechanism of resistance to ICI therapy is associated with loss-of-function mutations in genes critical for antigen presentation. A potential strategy to overcome resistance is through the administration of allogeneic NK cells, which have the inherent capability to recognize and directly kill tumor cells with these mutations.

About FT516

FT516 is an investigational, universal, off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) cell cancer immunotherapy derived from a clonal master induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line engineered to express a novel high-affinity 158V, non-cleavable CD16 (hnCD16) Fc receptor, which has been modified to prevent its down-regulation and to enhance its binding to tumor-targeting antibodies. CD16 mediates antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), a potent anti-tumor mechanism by which NK cells recognize, bind and kill antibody-coated cancer cells. ADCC is dependent on NK cells maintaining stable and effective expression of CD16, which has been shown to undergo considerable down-regulation in cancer patients. In addition, CD16 occurs in two variants, 158V or 158F, that elicit high or low binding affinity, respectively, to the Fc domain of IgG1 antibodies. Numerous clinical studies with FDA-approved tumor-targeting antibodies, including rituximab, trastuzumab and cetuximab, have demonstrated that patients homozygous for the 158V variant, which is present in only about 15% of patients, have improved clinical outcomes. FT516 is being investigated in an open-label, multi-dose Phase 1 clinical trial as a monotherapy for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia and in combination with CD20-directed monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of advanced B-cell lymphoma (NCT04023071). Additionally, the FDA has allowed investigation of FT516 in an open-label, multi-dose Phase 1 clinical trial in combination with monoclonal antibody therapy, including PDL1-, PD1-, EGFR- and HER2-targeting therapeutic antibodies, across a broad range of solid tumors.

About FT596FT596 is an investigational, universal, off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) cell cancer immunotherapy derived from a clonal master induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line engineered with three anti-tumor functional modalities: a proprietary chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) optimized for NK cell biology, which contains a NKG2D transmembrane domain, a 2B4 co-stimulatory domain and a CD3-zeta signaling domain, that targets B-cell antigen CD19; a novel high-affinity 158V, non-cleavable CD16 (hnCD16) Fc receptor, which has been modified to prevent its down-regulation and to enhance its binding to tumor-targeting antibodies; and an IL-15 receptor fusion (IL-15RF) that promotes enhanced NK cell activity. In preclinical studies of FT596, the Company has demonstrated that dual activation of the CAR19 and hnCD16 targeting receptors, in combination with IL-15RF signaling, convey synergistic anti-tumor activity. Increased degranulation and cytokine release were observed upon dual receptor activation in lymphoma cancer cells as compared to activation of each receptor alone, indicating that multi-antigen engagement may elicit a deeper and more durable response. Additionally, in a humanized mouse model of lymphoma, FT596 in combination with the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab showed enhanced killing of tumor cells in vivo as compared to rituximab alone. FT596 is being investigated in an open-label Phase 1 clinical trial as a monotherapy, and in combination with rituximab, for the treatment of advanced B-cell lymphoma and in combination with obinutuzumab for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (NCT04245722).

About Fate Therapeutics, Inc.Fate Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of first-in-class cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders. The Company has established a leadership position in the clinical development and manufacture of universal, off-the-shelf cell products using its proprietary induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) product platform. The Companys immuno-oncology product candidates include natural killer (NK) cell and T-cell cancer immunotherapies, which are designed to synergize with well-established cancer therapies, including immune checkpoint inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies, and to target tumor-associated antigens with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs). The Companys immuno-regulatory product candidates include ProTmune, a pharmacologically modulated, donor cell graft that is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 clinical trial for the prevention of graft-versus-host disease, and a myeloid-derived suppressor cell immunotherapy for promoting immune tolerance in patients with immune disorders. Fate Therapeutics is headquartered in San Diego, CA. For more information, please visit http://www.fatetherapeutics.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including statements regarding the Companys results of operations, financial condition and sufficiency of its cash and cash equivalents to fund its operations, as well as statements regarding the advancement of and plans related to its product candidates, clinical studies and preclinical research and development programs, the Companys progress, plans and timelines for the manufacture and clinical investigation of its product candidates, the timing for the Companys receipt of data from its clinical trials and preclinical studies, the Companys development and regulatory strategy, and the therapeutic and market potential of the Companys product candidates. These and any other forward-looking statements in this release are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk that results observed in prior studies of the Companys product candidates, including preclinical studies and clinical trials, will not be observed in ongoing or future studies involving these product candidates, the risk of a delay or difficulties in the manufacturing of the Companys product candidates or in the initiation of, or enrollment of patients in, any clinical studies, the risk that the Company may cease or delay preclinical or clinical development of any of its product candidates for a variety of reasons (including requirements that may be imposed by regulatory authorities on the initiation or conduct of clinical trials or to support regulatory approval, difficulties or delays in patient enrollment in current and planned clinical trials, difficulties in manufacturing or supplying the Companys product candidates for clinical testing, and any adverse events or other negative results that may be observed during preclinical or clinical development), and the risk that the Companys expenditures may exceed current expectations for a variety of reasons. For a discussion of other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause the Companys actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the risks and uncertainties detailed in the Companys periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the Companys most recently filed periodic report, and from time to time in the Companys press releases and other investor communications.Fate Therapeutics is providing the information in this release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Availability of Other Information about Fate Therapeutics, Inc.

Investors and others should note that the Company routinely communicates with investors and the public using its website (www.fatetherapeutics.com) and its investor relations website (ir.fatetherapeutics.com) including, without limitation, through the posting of investor presentations, SEC filings, press releases, public conference calls and webcasts on these websites. The information posted on these websites could be deemed to be material information. As a result, investors, the media, and others interested in Fate Therapeutics are encouraged to review this information on a regular basis. The contents of the Companys website, or any other website that may be accessed from the Companys website, shall not be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss(in thousands, except share and per share data)(unaudited)

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets(in thousands)(unaudited)

Contact:Christina TartagliaStern Investor Relations, Inc.212.362.1200christina@sternir.com

Link:
Fate Therapeutics Reports Fourth Quarter 2019 Financial Results and Operational Progress with 2020 Outlook - Yahoo Finance

Neuroscience

BioXcel Therapeutics to Host Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Operating and Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast – Yahoo Finance

NEW HAVEN, Conn., March 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc. (BTI or Company) (BTAI), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company utilizing artificial intelligence to identify improved therapies in neuroscience and immuno-oncology, today announced it will host a conference call and webcast on Monday, March 9, 2020 at 8:30 AM Eastern Time to discuss its fourth quarter and full year 2019 operating and financial results.

Conference Call & Webcast Details

Date/Time: Monday, March 9, 2020, 8:30 AM Eastern TimeDomestic: 877-407-2985International: 201-378-4915

The webcast will be accessible* under "Events" on the News & Media page of the Company's website at http://www.bioxceltherapeutics.com.

ReplayDomestic: 877-660-6853International: 201-612-7415Conference ID: 13696573

*Replay available through March 23, 2020

About BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc.:

BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on drug development that utilizes artificial intelligence to identify improved therapies in neuroscience and immuno-oncology. BTI's drug re-innovation approach leverages existing approved drugs and/or clinically evaluated product candidates together with big data and proprietary machine learning algorithms to identify new therapeutic indices. BTI's two most advanced clinical development programs are BXCL501, an investigational sublingual thin film formulation in development for acute treatment of agitation resulting from neuropsychiatric disorders, and BXCL701, an investigational orally administered systemic innate immunity activator in development for treatment of a rare form of prostate cancer and for treatment of pancreatic cancer in combination with other immuno-oncology agents. For more information, please visit http://www.bioxceltherapeutics.com.

Contact Information:

BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc.www.bioxceltherapeutics.com

Investor Relations: John Graziano jgraziano@troutgroup.com1.646.378.2942

Media: Julia Deutsch jdeutsch@troutgroup.com1.646.378.2967

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BioXcel Therapeutics to Host Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Operating and Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast - Yahoo Finance

Neuroscience

Minerva Neurosciences to Host Key Opinion Leader Meeting on Avolition, the Most Central Domain for the Successful Treatment of Negative Symptoms in…

WALTHAM, Mass., Feb. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: NERV), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative therapies to treat unmet medical needs of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, today announced that it will host a Key Opinion Leader (KOL) breakfast to discuss the importance of improving avolition in the successful treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia on Friday, March 6, 2020 in New York.

The event will be hosted by Dr. Remy Luthringer, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Minerva, and will feature a brief presentation and moderated discussion with Philip Harvey, PhD, from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and Greg Strauss, PhD, from the Georgia Psychiatric Risk Evaluation Program. They will discuss Dr. Strausss paper on the central role of avolition, defined as reductions in the desire for and initiation of motivated behavior, in treating negative symptoms in schizophrenia that was published recently in Schizophrenia Bulletin. A Q&A session will be held at the conclusion of the event.

Dr. Strauss will discuss his findings in the context of data from the Phase 2b study of Minervas lead product candidate, Roluperidone (MIN-101), a novel 5-HT2A and receptor antagonist. Roluperidone is currently in a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Greg Strauss, PhD directs the Clinical Affective Neuroscience Laboratory and Georgia Psychiatric Risk Evaluation Program (G-PREP). He has authored over 120 publications, and his research has been recognized by several awards, such as the Early Career Award from the National Academy of Neuropsychology, Early Career Award from the American Society for Clinical Psychopharmacology, Wechsler Early Career Award for Innovative Research on Cognition from the American Psychological Foundation, and Young Investigator Awards from the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research and the Schizophrenia International Research Society. He has received over $15M in grants as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator from the NIMH, NARSAD, VA MIRECC, APF, NSF and G-PREP. He serves on the editorial boards of Schizophrenia Bulletin, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Clinical Psychological Science, and Schizophrenia Research: Cognition.

Philip D. Harvey, PhD is Leonard M. Miller Professor of Psychiatry and director of the Division of Psychology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and a VA Senior Health Scientist. Dr. Harveys research has focused on cognition and functioning, and he has written extensively on aging in schizophrenia, negative symptoms in schizophrenia, functional impairments in severe mental illness, the cognitive effects of typical and atypical antipsychotics, and the effects of cognitive enhancing agents and cognitive training in various conditions. He is the author of over 1,000 scientific papers and abstracts, and he has written over 60 book chapters. Dr. Harvey is a widely cited author who was repeatedly designated by Thompson-Reuters as being in the top 1% of all researchers in citations in mental health each year since 2010. He has received numerous awards for his research in schizophrenia.

This event is intended for institutional investors, sell-side analysts, investment bankers, and business development professionals only. Please RSVP in advance if you plan to attend, as space is limited. Members of the media and the public are invited to participate via the live webcast.

About Minerva Neurosciences

Minervas proprietary compounds include: roluperidone (MIN-101), in clinical development for schizophrenia; seltorexant (MIN-202 or JNJ-42847922), in clinical development for insomnia and MDD; and MIN-301, in pre-clinical development for Parkinsons disease. Minervas common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol NERV. For more information, please visit http://www.minervaneurosciences.com.

Forward-Looking Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts, reflect managements expectations as of the date of this press release, and involve certain risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements herein with respect to the timing and scope of future clinical trials and results of clinical trials with roluperidone (MIN-101); the clinical and therapeutic potential of this compound; the timing and outcomes of future interactions with U.S. and foreign regulatory bodies; our ability to successfully develop and commercialize our therapeutic products; the sufficiency of our current cash position to fund our operations; and managements ability to successfully achieve its goals. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and may differ materially from actual results due to a variety of factors including, without limitation, whether roluperidone will advance further in the clinical trials process and whether and when, if at all, it will receive final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies and for which indications; whether any of our therapeutic products will be successfully marketed if approved; whether any of our therapeutic product discovery and development efforts will be successful; managements ability to successfully achieve its goals; our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations on terms acceptable to us; and general economic conditions. These and other potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the results predicted are more fully detailed under the caption Risk Factors in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter endedSeptember 30, 2019, filed with theSecurities and Exchange Commission on November 4, 2019. Copies of reports filed with theSECare posted on our website at http://www.minervaneurosciences.com. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Contact:

William B. BoniVP, Investor Relations/Corp. CommunicationsMinerva Neurosciences, Inc.(617) 600-7376

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Minerva Neurosciences to Host Key Opinion Leader Meeting on Avolition, the Most Central Domain for the Successful Treatment of Negative Symptoms in...

Biochemistry

Why COVID-19 is more insidious than other coronaviruses – Salon

Scientists around the world are racing to understandCOVID-19, the novel coronavirus that has infected more than 82,000 people worldwide and killed 2,817 people as of Thursday. While there are many known viruses in the same class of coronavirus as COVID-19, some of its peculiarities including its infectivity are perplexing researchers. Now, a recent research paper viewableon the Chinese research siteChinaxiv.organd previously reported on by theSouth China Morning Postnotes that the new coronavirus has an "HIV-like mutation" that gives it novel properties.

"Because of this mutation, the packing mechanism of the 2019-nCoV may be changed to being more similar to those of MHV, HIV, Ebola virus (EBoV) and some avian influenza viruses," the English abstract of the paper states.

Though the paper is yet to be peer-reviewed, the scientists involved hail from Nankai Unviersity in Tianjin, one of the top universities in the world's most populousnation.

The paper adds to the crucial body of research around COVID-19, which still includes more unknowns than knowns. Currently,scientists still do notknow COVID-19's origin, though suspect it is zoonotic, meaning it likely started in an animal before spreading to humans. As the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)note on theirwebsite, COVID-19 is an "emerging disease," and much of what we do know is "based on what is known about similar coronaviruses." More recently,news surfaced today that there are new cases in Germany and California inwhich the patient had no known risk factors.

TheNankai University researchers suggestthat COVID-19's ability to bind tocells is as much as1,000 times greaterthan SARS' ability. Like COVID-19, SARSis also a coronavirus. As explained by the South China Morning Post, SARSand the novel coronavirus share about 80 percent of their genetic structure. However, COVID-19 attacksa proteincalled furin the same proteinthat is attacked byEbola andHIV, which are not coronaviruses. A 2014 research paper suggested that the key to finding a cure for Ebola lay in understanding the protein furin.

According tothe World Health Organization, SARS is more deadly than COVID-19, but the novel coronavirus is more infectious.

This echoes a separate finding from researchers at the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine who analyzed the virus's spike architecture.

"The spike is the business part as far as viral entry is concerned," David Veesler, senior author of the report and assistant professor of biochemistry at the UW School of Medicine, said in a media statement."It is in charge not only of attachment at the host cell surface, but also of fusing the viral and host cell membranes to allow the infection to start. The spike is also the main target of neutralizing antibodies, so it's very important for vaccine and therapeutic design."

In their analysis, the researchers found "a furin cleavage site at a boundary between two subunits of the spike protein in the newly emerged coronavirus," according to the media release.

Considering what we do know about the novel coronavirus' genetic makeup, researchers are repurposing drugs used to treat other viral infections in various clinical trials to treat COVID-19.

"The general genomic layout and the general replication kinetics and the biology of the MERS, SARS and [SARS-CoV-2] viruses are very similar, so testing drugs which target relatively generic parts of these coronaviruses is a logical step," Vincent Munster, chief of theViral Ecology Unit at the U.S. National Institute of Health, told Nature.

Americans are bracing for a potential outbreak or even pandemic. In the United States, the CDC said it wasn't a matter of if there will be a disruptive outbreak, but when. Markets in the United States dropped precipitously this week over fears of global economic disruption stemming from COVID-19.

Despite the widespread fear over COVID-19,the seasonal fluremains a greater public health threatin the United States.

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Why COVID-19 is more insidious than other coronaviruses - Salon

Neuroscience

New California Bill Aiming to Eliminate Racial And Other Biases in Hiring – Sacramento Observer

(CBM) Imagine applying for a job online.

But instead of a hiring manager or some pre-screening software reviewing your application and pushing it along or eliminating it based on personal biases or other random criteria a company sets up, a smart computer program that is agnostic does the filtering, determiningwhether you are a good fit for the job or not.

Relying only on your qualifications and experience, the program does not consider factors like your name, your zip code, social connections or where you went to school in the screening process.

Sounds too futuristic? Well, the future may be right now at least in California.

On Friday, lawmakers in California introduced SB 1241 or the Talent Equity for Competitive Hiring (TECH) Act. The bill sets a new legal high bar against discrimination in hiring by writing clear guidelines for employers to follow that allow them to modernize their recruiting processes using technological tools that reduce bias, leading to a more diverse workforce.

Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) introduced the legislation in the Senate. Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-South Los Angeles), Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), and Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson (D-Carson) are co-authors.

California has a growing opportunity gap that leaves many families and communities in our state behind, said Gonzalez after she introduced the bill in Long Beach along with leaders from community based organizations and social justice groups. Hiring discrimination plays a significant role in our current inequality. The TECH Act will help ensure access to jobs that offer competitive wages and upward mobility for all our residents.

The TECH Act states assessment technologies will be considered in compliance with anti-discrimination rules if: 1) they are pre-tested for bias before being deployed and found not likely to have an adverse impact on the basis of gender, race or ethnicity; 2) outcomes are reviewed annually and show no adverse impact or an improvement of hiring among underrepresented groups; and 3) their use is discontinued if a post-deployment review indicates adverse impact.

Last September, the California Assembly voted unanimously to pass ACR 125, also known as the Fair Hiring Resolution. ACR 125 was a call to action for the states lawmakers to pass legislation that tackles implicit racial and social biases in corporate hiring by creating clear rules of the road for how employers can use these smart technologies.

Five months later, their motion has become a reality.

Innovative technologies for hiring and promotion, including artificial intelligence and algorithm-based technologies, have the potential to reduce bias and discrimination in hiring and promotion based on protected characteristics, such as socioeconomic status or status as a formerly incarcerated person, the resolution read.

At the same time, these technologies can help employers reach larger and more diverse pools of qualified talent and better identify candidates with the right skills and abilities to succeed, it went on to make the case for the merits of the legislation.

Jones-Sawyer and Gonzalez introduced the resolution in August last year. It was co-authored by Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles), Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), and Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Silicon Valley).

California is one of the most diverse states in the nation. Our diversity is our strength, but corporate executive offices and boardrooms across our state frequently fail to reflect the same diversity, Jones-Sawyer points out.

Just look at San Franciscos Silicon Valley high tech sector as an example, he explained. Women make up just 36.7 percent of the workforce; 3.3 percent of the workforce is Black; and only 6.6 percent is Hispanic. Thats unacceptable.

The TECH Act builds on a series of laws California has passed in recent years to fight discrimination in hiring, such as ban the box legislation prohibiting employers from asking about an applicants criminal history before giving a conditional job offer, according to Jones-Sawyer.

Frida Polli is a co-founder at Pymetrics, a company that makes neuroscience games using artificial intelligence that are designed to eliminate the biases in hiring the resolution intends to prevent.

Before we release the technology, we look at the outcomes and audit it. And we go through the audit, she told California Black Media. We are giving an objective data point or an objective score for employers. It is mitigating the human biases of employers. All of us are biased. The way a lot of these tools work are customized for each role. We have employees working with each of our clients. It is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

According to Pymetrics, the companys AI tools is based on decades of research and technology developed by the global neuroscience community.

They are widely considered the gold-standard of neuroscience research, and measure established building blocks of cognitive and emotional functioning, akin to the DNA of cognition and personality, the company website reads.

Jones-Sawyer says he realizes that there will be kinks to work out in what the law legislates but he hope this technology can be used everywhere, starting with large companies in the state.

At the beginning we will have to prove the technology, Jones-Sawyer concedes. We will have to offer it and hope their some companies are willing to take a chance. If we mandate it, it could sabotage us before we get out of the gate. We will have to be sure there is not government overreach with this.

California has some of the strongest legal employee protections in the country. But even with the existing state and federal laws that prohibit discrimination in hiring and firing, Black and Latino workers still face significant discrimination in hiring, according to a 2017 Harvard Business Review report.

The study found that employers called back White applicants 36 percent more times than they did Black applicants with identical resumes. For Latinx applicants, that differential was 24 percent. It also found that the standardized tests some employers use to screen potential employees have been proven to identify qualified candidates, but leads to biased outcomes.

In another study conducted in 2012, researchers switched the names on women resumes to male names. The swap improved ratings from professors who were reviewing the resumes to select candidates for STEM research positions.

This is an amazing, amazing initiative, says Rhonda Gregory, co-founder of the National Diversity Coalition, a non-profit social justice organization that supports the legislation. I think it needs to be sooner than later. Im all for it. For me, this is so compelling. You look at a persons name or gender or area where they are from and people tend to say oh no I dont want to deal with that.

By Tanu Henry | California Black Media

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New California Bill Aiming to Eliminate Racial And Other Biases in Hiring - Sacramento Observer

Human Behavior

Devastation hits close to home in ‘Dust Bowl,’ a warning from Dallas’ Verdigris Ensemble that it could happen again – The Dallas Morning News

The Dust Bowl isnt some ancient, remote event. The environmental disaster destroyed farmland and displaced populations across the southern U.S. plains less than 100 years ago, including in the Texas Panhandle 500 miles from Dallas.

Searching for subject matter for his choral groups next project, Verdigris Ensemble artistic director Sam Brukhman became interested in the story of dust storms that could turn day into night, in part because the devastation hit so close to home and shows signs of returning amid climate change and the human penchant for folly.

A major climatic event happened in our back yard, and were not talking about it at all, says Brukhman, who conceived the new work Dust Bowl on the suggestion of a friend.

He collaborated with filmmakers, a composer and librettist, bluegrass musicians and his singers to create a multimedia performance premiering Feb. 27-29 in the Arts District with an additional date March 1 in Fort Worth.

This is probably one of the most relevant things weve ever done because its happening as we speak all over the world, not with the frequency that it did in the 30s, but still happening, he says in an interview. Even in the Panhandle, dust storms still occur. Its part of Texas history. Its also a great dialogue to start having about how man-made and environmental catastrophe can happen with a combination of human error and natural events.

For instance, todays Australian bush fires have produced dangerous dust clouds. During the Great Depression, a combination of droughts and the introduction of modern farming techniques led to unprecedented erosion. The natural grasslands that were good at trapping moisture during the dry season had been replaced with cultivated cropland that exposed the topsoil.

Brukhman is interested in locating these larger questions in Dallas history and present-day culture. Last season, Verdigris Faces of Dallas told the stories of residents in ways that connected them to the citys often difficult past. The group also has performed avant-garde composer Julia Wolfes Anthracite Fields, which deals with the lives of Pennsylvania coal miners.

The son of Soviet immigrants and a transplant from central New Jersey, he formed Verdigris in 2017 with the goal of commissioning and performing relevant, contemporary choral music. This year, he quit his middle-school teaching job to focus on the ensemble.

For Dust Bowl, Brukhman immersed himself in the literature and other media that documented the era. John Steinbecks novel The Grapes of Wrath is probably the most famous, along with Dorothea Langes black-and-white photographs of displaced families and Pare Lorentzs 1936 documentary The Plow That Broke the Plains.

He watched Ken Burns 2012 series and read Timothy Egans book The Worst Hard Time. Last summer, Ron Witzke, director of vocal studies and opera at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., outside Kansas City, another area hit by the Dust Bowl, traveled the Texas Panhandle and surroundings to gather telling anecdotes for the libretto.

Brukhman met Witzke through another William Jewell professor, director of choral studies Anthony J. Maglione, who composed the score for Dust Bowl. It includes bluegrass music performed live by a band. The piece also features projected documentary footage compiled by filmmakers Camron and Courtney Ware and piles of sand that Brukhman obtained from a touring production of Once on This Island, the Broadway show that recently played the Winspear Opera House. Dust Bowl will be performed in Winspears Hamon Hall.

In newspaper articles and other historical documents containing eyewitness accounts, Witzke discovered scenarios that spoke to the extreme situations that people found themselves in. In Dalhart, Texas, for example, oilfield firefighter and charlatan Tex Thornton convinced locals to pay him the equivalent of $1 million today to launch dynamite into the air on the claim that it would produce rain.

There are moments in this libretto that really give you a sense of the type of characters that were around in the Dust Bowl, Brukhman explains. When people first saw the dust storms, they thought it was the end of the world. We deal with what that felt like.

After the minimalist first movement, The Promise, sets up the environmental dilemma, the Verdigris singers become the residents of Dalhart in the second section, The Peril. That includes protagonists like Thornton and events like the clubbing of jackrabbits that arrived en masse. The choir imitates the eras warning sirens and coughs to convey the effects of the dust.

The towns mayor is quoted about the peril as if its worthy of a tout: Let us all in stentorian tones boast of our terrific and mighty sandstorms and mighty end of a people, a city and a country that can meet the test of courage and still smile, even though we might be choking and our throats and nostrils so laden with dust that we cannot give voice to our feelings.

The third section, The Prophecy, asks whether weve learned from our mistakes without coming to its own conclusion, Brukhman says. At the time, some clergyman blamed sinful human behavior for the disaster.

We start and end at the same place, and we let the audience decide. The three movements, based on Handels Messiah, represent the cycle of human error and the nature cycle. And like the never-ending cycle of our disasters, we could just keep going, doing it forever.

Manuel Mendoza is a Dallas freelance writer and former staff critic at The Dallas Morning News.

Feb. 27-29 at 7:30 p.m. at Hamon Hall, 2403 Flora St., Dallas. $29. March 1 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Stephen Presbyterian Church, 2700 McPherson Ave., Fort Worth. Free. 214-880-0202. verdigrismusic.org. attpac.org.

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Devastation hits close to home in 'Dust Bowl,' a warning from Dallas' Verdigris Ensemble that it could happen again - The Dallas Morning News

Immunology

Neurology Professor from Harvard Medical School Wins Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research for Work Resulting in New Tools and Treatments to…

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Newswise Dr. Francisco J. Quintana, PhD, Professor of Neurology at Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Womens Hospital, Harvard Medical School, is the winner of the National Multiple Sclerosis Societys Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research.

While the genetic origins of MS are becoming better understood, its less known how environmental factorssuch as pollutants, diet and intestinal bacteriamight contribute to MS and its progression. It is also not yet known how risk factors influence the immune system to attack the central nervous system. To address these questions, Dr. Quintana uses cutting-edge technologies to study the regulation of immune responses and inflammation in MS, molecular changes that trigger MS and environmental factors that influence disease activity.

Through a series of high-impact publications, Dr. Quintanas work has contributed new tools to further the work of the MS research community. His research has led to potential drugs for treating progressive MS, and has contributed to the development of a designer treatment called nanoparticles to control autoimmune activity. He recently developed anti-inflammatory synthetic engineered probiotics as a novel approach to MS therapy, and his team is currently licensing these probiotics to a new biotech for their clinical testing.

I recently completed what is so far the largest single-cell analysis of central nervous system cells in MS and EAE models Since this work generated one of the largest datasets currently available, it provides a unique resource for the study of the CNS in health and disease, Dr. Quintana said. Thus, we expect these datasets and novel methods to have a deep impact on MS research.

As for future research plans, Dr. Quintana will serve as the lead researcher on an international collaboration to develop a pipeline to identify the origins of progressive MS and new or repurposed drugs to treat it. His long-term goal is to identify mechanisms of disease pathogenesis and develop therapies for progressive MS.

Dr. Quintana will receive the Barancik Prize and deliver the Prize lecture at the ACTRIMS Forum. ACTRIMS Forum brings together more than 1,200 researchers and clinicians annually to share developments in the rapidly changing field of MS. The 2020 Forum will be held Feb. 27-29, 2020, in West Palm Beach, Florida. Themed Networks in MS, this CME-accredited meeting stands apart from many traditional medical meetings by offering a single track of scientific and clinical presentations in an interactive environment.More information about ACTRIMS Forum appears on the events website. Follow the event at #ACTRIMS.

Dr. Quintana earned a diploma in biology from the University of Buenos Aires and a Ph.D. in immunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. He completed his postdoctoral training with a focus on neuroimmunology at the Weizmann Institute and at BWH. Among his many awards are Young Investigator Awards in Ireland and Italy, a Pathway to Independence Award from NIAID/NIH, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Societys 2014 Harry Weaver Research Scholar Award and 2017 Milestones in MS Research Award. The recipient of the 2016 Young Mentor Award from Harvard Medical School, he has trained more than 30 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and participates in several programs focused on training scientists from underrepresented minorities. He directs the Autoimmunity post-graduate course at Harvard Medical School, and the Seminars in Immunology post-graduate course at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The Barancik Prize seeks to recognize and encourage exceptional innovation and originality in scientific research relevant to multiple sclerosis, with emphasis on impact and potential of the research to lead to pathways for the treatment and cure for MS, and scientific accomplishments that merit recognition as a future leader in MS research. The international prize is made possible by the generosity of the Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation, and is administered through the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Read about the Barancik Prize and previous recipients

About ACTRIMS Founded in 1995, Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) is a community of leaders from the United States and Canada who are dedicated to the treatment and research in MS and other demyelinating diseases. ACTRIMS focuses on knowledge dissemination, education and collaboration among disciplines. ACTRIMS also provides a Forum for experienced and newer clinicians and researchers to exchange information, debate current issues and discuss advances related to basic research and clinical issues.

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Neurology Professor from Harvard Medical School Wins Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research for Work Resulting in New Tools and Treatments to...