Epitomics, Inc.

Apexigen is implementing a corporate restructuring, including laying off 55% of its workforce, with the aim of extending its cash runway. Where did it all go wrong for Apexigen? Seven months after going public via a SPAC merger, the Epitomics spinout is already culling half its workforce and looking for a potential buyer or other escape route. In August last year, Apexigen hit the public markets via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company. At the time, the company touted emerging phase 2 data claiming to show a “significant opportunity” for its lead candidate, a CD40 agonist dubbed sotigalimab, in solid tumors. Back in the summer, the biotech suggested sotigalimab’s potential could lie in combinations with PD-1 and other checkpoint inhibitors, cell therapies and even therapeutic cancer vaccines. In November, Apexigen decided to focus its energies on developing sotigalimab as a treatment for liposarcoma, after a phase 2 trial showed median progression-free survival of 12.45 months across the study’s 10 participants. Based on those results, the company planned to expand the trial to a further 10 patients. Last month, the company revealed data at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium showing that sotigalimab turned immunologically “cold” tumors “hot” by inducing significant inflammatory responses in the tumor microenvironment in patients with esophageal/gastro-esophageal junction cancer. The data did little to revive Apexigen’s slumping stock price, which after debuting at $10 in August, sunk to below $3 within a month. The company’s shares currently sit at around $1.30 apiece. Now, the biotech has enlisted Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. to explore a possible acquisition, company sale, merger, divestiture of assets, licensing deal or another strategic transaction. Alongside this, the company is implementing a corporate restructuring, including laying off 55% of its workforce, with the aim of extending its cash runway. “While it was a difficult but prudent decision to reduce our workforce to focus on critical areas as we conduct this comprehensive review of strategic alternatives, we strongly believe this process will maximize stockholder value and the likelihood of sotigalimab’s successful development,” CEO Xiaodong Yang, M.D., Ph.D., said in the release. The biotech had $20.7 million in cash and equivalents as of the end of September, which it expected to last into the second quarter of 2023. Since then, the company has sold $2.8 million worth of shares, with the proceeds used to fund the phase 2 study of sotigalimab in combination with doxorubicin for liposarcoma.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced the signing of a worldwide distribution agreement with Visiopharm, enabling Agilent to co-market Visiopharm’s portfolio of CE-IVD marked artificial intelligence (AI)-driven precision pathology software in addition to Agilent’s portfolio of automated pathology staining solutions. With an initial focus on Europe, this agreement marks Agilent's first entry into the growing digital pathology market and strengthens the relationship between the two companies by further expanding the scope of their long-term collaboration. Digital pathology is experiencing rapid growth worldwide, with its adoption expected to double by the end of this decade. As the use of digital pathology increases, AI-driven pathology solutions are emerging as the new standard. These solutions can provide diagnostic decision support and productivity enhancements that enable pathologists to improve diagnostic accuracy and workload management. This adoption has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has found pathologists increasingly reviewing cases remotely. In the United Kingdom, for example, pathologists have received guidance for remote reporting of digital pathology slides in times of exceptional service pressure and support in the adoption of technologies, such as digital pathology, that have the potential to aid in their assessment. “This is an exciting next step in our partnership with Visiopharm,” said Lou Welebob, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s Pathology Division. “Being able to offer our customers digital pathology software alongside our range of automated staining solutions is a powerful combination that can support pathologists in their assessment and help improve patient care. We look forward to our continued collaboration with Visiopharm as we work together toward the fully digitalized pathology lab of the future.” Michael Grunkin, CEO, Visiopharm said: “We're delighted to further expand our partnership with Agilent. With strong complementary solutions, we will be able to address recognized and currently unmet needs for both standardization and automation. This distribution agreement is a logical first step towards supporting those labs who share our joint vision of automated AI-driven precision pathology." Prior to this announcement, Agilent and Visiopharm have collaborated to validate Visiopharm’s existing HER2 APP to include Agilent’s new HercepTest™ mAb pharmDx for Dako Omnis, both CE-IVD marked and available for sale in Europe. Released in October 2020, this product enables pathologists to use the Visiopharm HER2 APP for objective decision support in the assessment of HercepTest™ mAb pharmDx stained slides, saving valuable time for both pathologists and patients. For in vitro diagnostic use in Europe. HercepTest™ mAb pharmDx (Dako Omnis) (Code GE001): The licensed antibody is created by Epitomics Inc. (an Abcam company), using Abcam’s proprietary rabbit monoclonal antibody technology covered under Patent No’s 5,675,063 and 7,402,409. HercepTest™ and Herceptin® are trademarks owned by Genentech, Inc. About Agilent Technologies Agilent is a leader in life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets, delivering innovative technology solutions that provide trusted answers to researchers’ most challenging scientific questions. The company generated revenue of $5.34 billion in fiscal year 2020 and employs 16,400 people worldwide. Information about Agilent is available at . To receive the latest Agilent news, please subscribe to the Agilent Newsroom. Follow Agilent on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

BioVision has supplied Abcam with research tools since 1999, and now the two are making it official as part of a merger unveiled Monday. Abcam will buyout BioVision as part of a $340 million acquisition deal to bring aboard the supplier’s biochemical and cell-based assays for biological research, as well as recombinant proteins, antibodies and enzymes. The deal will give Abcam control of BioVision’s portfolio and allow for both the expansion of research existing areas of focus such as oncology, neuroscience and epigenetics and preparation to expand into new products. As a part of the deal, Abcam will develop and supply products and services to NKY, the previous owner of BioVision and receive support for ongoing development and commercialization of in vitro diagnostic products. In a conference call with management Monday, Abcam’s CEO Alan Hirzel said that the transaction is right in line with the company’s goals going forward. “We’re looking forward to seeing the regulatory approvals come through so we can begin to shape and drive the growth from the business in the way that we hope, and we look forward to providing a bit more detail when the market reviews allow us to do so,” he said. BioVision brought on $33.9 million in revenue in 2020, the company said in a release, and has nearly $22 million in assets and an operating profit of $12.6 million. Of that revenue, $5 million of it comes from Covid-19 related product sales, which are not projected to occur again, the company said again. Abcam bought the antibody company Epitomics in 2018, and Expedeon AG’s proteomics and immunology activities for $142.5 million in 2019.