Day: July 6, 2021

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CoImmune, Inc. Appoints Michael Fekete and Greg Tibbitts to its Board of Directors

DURHAM, N.C., July 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CoImmune, Inc., a clinical stage immuno-oncology company that will redefine cancer treatment using best-in-class yet more affordable cellular immunotherapies, today announced the appointments of Michael Fekete and Greg Tibbitts, to the Company’s board of directors. Mr. Fekete and Mr. Tibbitts bring with them a wealth of financial, capital markets and strategic expertise, and prior board level experience.

Mr. Fekete is an advisor and board member for companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. His areas of expertise include business strategy, capital markets, M&A and corporate governance developed through 35 years as an investment banker, independent advisor and board member for U.S. and international public and private companies. He currently serves as a member for SeaSpine, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPNE), a California based medical technology company focused on surgical solutions for the treatment of spinal disorders, and DFB Pharmaceuticals, a Texas based, private investment and development company focused on the formation and building of businesses in the pharmaceutical industry. He previously worked as an investment banker for Wells Fargo/Wachovia Securities, CIBC World Markets, Oppenheimer & Co., and L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin. He obtained his B.S. in Finance from The Pennsylvania State University.

Mr. Greg Tibbitts is a Certified Public Accountant and has over 30 years of experience as a financial executive and a public accountant. His expertise includes addressing technical accounting issues, multiple public and private equity financings, complex operations, and direct interactions with the SEC on IPO and secondary offerings. He has worked as a Chief Financial Officer for both public and private companies and now operates a business advisory firm. He served as a board member for IDMI Pharma, Inc., a NASDAQ listed biotech company prior to its acquisition. He obtained a B.B.A. in Accounting at University of San Diego and a M.B.A. at San Diego State University.

“We are excited to welcome Mike and Greg to the CoImmune board,” stated Dr. Charles Nicolette, chief executive officer and member of the board of directors. “These gentlemen bring considerable biotechnology industry and strategic expertise that will benefit CoImmune as we seek to advance our novel pipeline of cell-based immunotherapies directed at important diseases, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia and advanced renal cell carcinoma.”

About CoImmune, Inc.
CoImmune is a privately held, clinical stage immuno-oncology company that will redefine cancer treatment using best-in-class yet more affordable cellular immunotherapies. Our allogeneic CAR-CIK technology platform for liquid and solid tumors is a variation on CAR-T therapy that promises enhanced efficacy with greatly reduced toxicity. Our autologous RNA-loaded dendritic cell technology for solid tumors uses amplified total tumor mRNA to program highly engineered dendritic cells to generate immune responses against neoantigens without the need to identify them.

For more information, visit www.coimmune.com.

Contact:
Lori Harrelson
Chief Financial Officer
lharrelson@coimmune.com
919-287-6349

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TRIO Completes Enrolment for Phase 2 Giredestrant Early Breast Cancer Trial Ahead of Schedule

58 Clinical Trial Sites, 11 Countries

EDMONTON, Alberta, July 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Translational Research in Oncology (TRIO), a global academic clinical research organization, announced today enrolment completion in coopERA Breast Cancer (WO42133/TRIO038), a Phase 2 randomized, multi-center, open-label clinical trial of giredestrant (GDC-9545) sponsored by F. Hoffmann-La Roche. This comes shortly after completion of the planned study interim analysis provided encouraging results and supported continuation of the study.

Giredestrant is an oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) that was shown to be well tolerated with encouraging tumour activity both alone and in combination with palbociclib in estrogen-receptor positive (ER+) metastatic breast cancer patients.

The trial is investigating the ability to expand the safety and efficacy of giredestrant as monotherapy and in combination with palbociclib into the early breast cancer setting. Enrolment of 221 patients was completed three months ahead of schedule. The trial design evaluates the efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetics of presurgical treatment with giredestrant plus palbociclib compared with anastrozole plus palbociclib for postmenopausal women with ER+ and HER2-negative untreated early breast cancer.

“To have patient enrolment completed three months ahead of schedule, despite the global pandemic, reinforces the strength of commitment of TRIO’s investigator network,” stated Dr. Vanesa Quiroga, a member of the trial’s Steering Committee, GEICAM and Catalan Institute of Oncology. “The scale of interest from patients further underlines the urgency to bring forward new treatment options to treat early stage breast cancer.”

More information on the coopERA Breast Cancer trial (WO42133/TRIO038/coopERA) can be found at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04436744).

About TRIO
TRIO advances translational cancer research by introducing innovative and novel targeted therapeutic concepts into the clinical trial setting. With international offices in Edmonton (Canada), Paris (France), Montevideo (Uruguay), TRIO’s global reach is expansive. Our goal as an academic clinical research organization is to find the shortest path to saving lives. Additional information on TRIO can be found by visiting https://www.trioncology.org. Interested parties may also follow TRIO on Twitter (twitter.com/TRIOncology).

TRIO Media Inquiries:
Launa Aspeslet, PhD
CEO, TRIO
Email: launa.aspeslet@trioncology.org
Phone: 780-702-2260

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The Globe and Mail’s Sophi.io Wins WAN-IFRA’s North American Digital Media Award

TORONTO, July 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sophi.io, The Globe and Mail’s artificial intelligence-based automation, optimization and prediction engine, won WAN-IFRA’s 2021 North American Digital Media Award in the category of Best Paid Content Strategy. This is Sophi’s fourth award in the last month.

The North American Digital Media Awards honour news publishers that have delivered cutting-edge, unique and original digital media projects in the past year.

“Through the use of this [dynamic paywall] technology, The Globe and Mail truly understands its readers’ habits, leading to best practices in advertising and paid content, smartly adjusting their business strategy,” WAN-IFRA said when announcing the decision.

Phillip Crawley, CEO and Publisher of The Globe and Mail, said: “Winning a WAN-IFRA North American Digital Media Award for the second year in a row demonstrates Sophi’s ability to show the publishing industry what the future looks like. We are proud to be able to bring these AI and ML-powered tools to organizations across the globe.”

Sophi was developed by The Globe and Mail to help the newsroom make important strategic and tactical decisions. It is a suite of tools that includes Sophi Automation and Sophi for Paywalls as well as Sophi Analytics, a newsroom decision-support system.

Sophi is an artificial-intelligence system that helps publishers identify and leverage their most valuable content. It has powerful predictive capabilities – using natural language processing, Sophi Dynamic Paywall is a fully dynamic, real-time, personalized paywall engine that analyzes both content and user behaviour to determine when to ask a reader for money or an email address, and when to leave them alone.

As the North American award winner, Sophi is now a contender for the WAN-IFRA World Digital Media Awards, where the winners from North America, Latin America, Asia, Europe, Africa, India, and the Middle East compete.

About Sophi.io

Sophi.io (https://www.sophi.io) is a suite of AI-powered optimization and prediction tools developed by The Globe and Mail, Canada’s foremost news media company, to help content publishers make important strategic and tactical decisions. Sophi solutions range from Sophi Site Automation and Sophi for Paywalls to Sophi Analytics, a decision-support system for content publishers. Sophi is designed to improve the metrics that matter most to any business, such as subscriber retention and acquisition, engagement, recency, frequency and volume.

Contact

Jamie Rubenovitch
Head of Marketing, Sophi.io
The Globe and Mail
416-585-3355
jrubenovitch@globeandmail.com

 

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Neology Strengthens Nordic Footprint with Norwegian Public Roads Administration by Deploying Advanced Mobile ANPR Solution for Safer Communities

Multi-year Agreement for Mobile Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) Solutions Support Road Safety and More Efficient Customs and Border Enforcement

Mobile ANPR Solution for Norwegian Public Roads Administration

Multi-year Agreement for Mobile Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) Solutions Support Road Safety and More Efficient Customs and Border Enforcement in Norway

SAN DIEGO, July 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Neology, Inc., a global innovator that is re-imagining mobility for smart cities and safer communities, today announced an expanded, multi-year agreement with Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) for its traffic enforcement solutions driven by the latest in mobile ANPR camera and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to support real-time analytics and decision making.

Safeguarding the national road network and enabling border security agencies and their officers the capability to make accurate, informed decisions while keeping travel and trade flowing is the ultimate goal for NPRA. Neology’s ANPR safer community solutions provide enhanced performance, creating immediate impact where other solutions fail. The dual camera system, coupled with advanced AI-powered vehicle recognition technology, enables officers to detect and focus on non-compliant vehicles with enhanced vision system capabilities.

“We are thrilled that NPRA has expanded its partnership with Neology to meet its mobile ANPR requirements. Against a strong set of competitors, our solutions demonstrated both superior value and strong quality, plus our leading AI-based solutions outperformed our competitors in real-world testing during the tender evaluation stage,” said Luke Normington, General Manager of Neology. “When demands on transport authorities and law enforcement agencies are increasing, our innovative solutions help create safer, cleaner, more efficient mobility experiences that support sustainable growth and help communities thrive.”

About Neology, Inc.
Neology is re-imagining mobility to help our customers accelerate their vision for smart cities and safer communities. Our Mobility Platform™ is setting the industry standard through a unique combination of AI-powered adaptive solutions, a proven integration process, and unparalleled lifecycle support. Backed by a culture of innovation, our mobility experts work closely with global customers and a top-tier partner ecosystem to connect existing infrastructure assets with next-generation technology to modernize the way people move. To create safer, cleaner, more efficient mobility experiences, visit www.neology.net.

About NPRA
The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) intends to lead the way in the development of an efficient, safe, comprehensive and coherent transport system adapted to tomorrow’s needs and technology. Our responsibility for national and European roads, as well as for road users and vehicles makes the NPRA the most prominent participant in the road transport sector in Norway. Accounting for two thirds of all traffic, our national and European roads make up the main transport system artery tying our country together. The NPRA is responsible for planning, building, operating and maintaining this part of the road network. We have national responsibility for emergency preparedness on the road as well as developing clear rules and standard specifications for smart transport and modern road construction for all roads. Through our work to supervise and inspect road users and vehicles, new technology and development of digital services, we will ensure that road users, businesses and industries have simple, efficient, safe and environmentally friendly transport options.

Neology Media Contact:
Kelly Foster
kelly@johnkellyfoster.com
+1 619-224-1261

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/78e279e1-6140-400f-859d-eac3d9b5c683

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Collapsed Florida Condo Death Toll Reaches 36

Search crews in South Florida are expected to get a break from hazardous weather conditions Wednesday as they continue searching for people who were inside a condominium building that collapsed nearly two weeks ago.

The search had to be halted for about two hours Tuesday due to lightning and high wind gusts from Hurricane Elsa. The storm is impacting Florida but moving away from the site of the collapse in Surfside, north of Miami.

Crews recovered eight bodies on Tuesday, bringing the overall death toll to 36 people.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters at an evening briefing that 109 people remained unaccounted for.

Workers are continuing to go through the pile of rubble, a process officials called delayering, as they search for people and any evidence as to help explain why the 12-story building partially collapsed early on June 24.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky said Tuesday 112 metric tons of debris had been removed from the site. Police are cataloguing and storing the material in a secure location in order to aid with their ongoing investigation into what happened.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett has pledged that the search operation will go on “until everybody is pulled out of that site.”

He praised the search crews Tuesday for their work amid dangerous conditions.

“They truly have performed way above and beyond the call of duty,” Burkett told reporters.

Source: Voice Of America

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Russia, Bangladesh Report One-Day COVID-19 Records

As many countries ease pandemic restrictions amid rising vaccination rates, Bangladesh and Russia both broke one-day COVID-19 records.

Moscow announced that it would ease travel restrictions on Russians who had been vaccinated as it also reported over 700 deaths from COVID-19 — a one-day record for the country — on Tuesday.

According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, some 140,000 Russians have died from the virus. But the true death toll is believed to be much higher.

Bangladesh reported 11,525 positive cases Tuesday, the highest one-day case number since the beginning of the pandemic. The country also saw 163 deaths in the past 24 hours, the government reported.

The country shares a border with India, where the more contagious and serious delta variant emerged. Health experts in Bangladesh believe infection and death numbers are likely higher.

Meanwhile, in Europe, some countries announced Tuesday the easing of some restrictions imposed to quell the spread of the virus.

Germany announced it was lowering travel restrictions due to the delta variant on Britain and four other nations.

The Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s public health agency, said it had downgraded Britain, Portugal, Russia, India and Nepal from its highest risk category of “areas of variant concern” to “high-incidence areas.”

The change means travelers from those countries can avoid going into mandatory quarantine if they can prove they have received a COVID-19 vaccine, while those who have not been vaccinated must enter a 10-day isolation period. The quarantine period can be shortened to five days if a person tests negative for COVID-19.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday that the government is aiming to end its latest lockdown on July 19, despite a growing number of coronavirus cases caused by the highly transmissible delta variant.

Johnson said the mandatory indoor mask wearing and social distancing requirements will end but that businesses could still require them.

He said a final decision on the reopening date would take place next week.

Meanwhile, Israel and South Korea have announced an even swap of COVID-19 vaccines as both countries seek to jump-start their vaccination campaigns.

The deal calls for Israel to send 700,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to South Korea later this month, with South Korea sending back an equal amount of Pfizer vaccine it has already ordered as soon as September.

“This is a win-win deal,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a written statement Tuesday announcing the deal.

The spread of the delta variant, first identified in India, has led to a jump in cases in countries around the world, including in South Korea. Health officials in Seoul reported 711 new cases Monday, the third consecutive day of more than 700 cases. Most cases came from the populated Seoul metropolitan area.

The pandemic continues to affect the international sports world, with organizers of the Australian Grand Prix auto racing event announcing Tuesday that it is canceling the Formula One race for the second consecutive year because of Australia’s strict travel and quarantine mandates.

The race, initially scheduled for March 21, was pushed to November 21, just two weeks after the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo, making it impossible for the drivers and their teams to complete Australia’s mandatory 14-day quarantine and prepare for the race. The 2020 race at Melbourne’s Albert Park street circuit was abruptly canceled as the pandemic began to take hold globally.

The Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, which was scheduled for October, has also been scrapped for a second year.

As of late Tuesday, there were more than 184.4 million global COVID-19 cases, including 3.9 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins. The United States continues to lead both categories with 33.7 million total cases and 605,857 deaths.

Johns Hopkins is also reporting more than 3.2 billion vaccine doses have been administered around the world.

Source: Voice Of America