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[Preciouslife1]

Posted by Hutschi: How Will Small-Cap Biotech Fare in 2016?
The Life Sciences Report | Thursday, 28 January 2016 06:55 (EST)

https://www.equities.com/news/how-will-small-cap-biotech-fare-in-2016

Seach for Peregrine

Quote: Finally, Zavoico named Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. (PPHM:NASDAQ), a $215M market cap company, to the Watchlist.

"By now everyone has heard of the immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting CTLA-4 and PD-1 for treating certain cancers, and we'll probably have a PD-L1 inhibitor on the market soon as well. But this is just the tip of the iceberg, as a dozen or more immune checkpoints have now been identified and targeted for drug discovery and development." Zavoico said. "While most of these are just beginning Phase 1 trials, what is little appreciated is that Peregrine Pharmaceuticals has an immune checkpoint inhibitor, called bavituximab, already in a Phase 3 trial for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

"Bavituximab targets phosphatidylserine (PS), a key cell membrane phospholipid with powerful immunosuppressive properties when expressed on the surface of tumor cells. PS has only recently been recognized as an important immune checkpoint," Zavoico continued, noting final results of the Phase 3 trial are expected by year-end, with two interim looks during the year. He also said Peregrine has commenced, or is planning to commence, Phase 2 and 2/3 trials of bavituximab in combination with other drugs, including other immune checkpoint inhibitors, in NSCLC, HER2-negative and triple negative breast cancer.