Abcam’s Founder Threatens to Reignite Board Battle

 Abcam Plc founder Jonathan Milner is threatening to resume a boardroom battle at the biotechnology supplier he started 25 years ago, weeks after the company said it would explore a sale.

Milner, who owns about 6.1% of Abcam, has been agitating for change at the company, asking to be named executive chairman alongside the removal of three directors. Milner argued in an open letter to shareholders on May 30 that Abcam’s incumbents lacked a “shareholder mindset” — and urged them to seek a buyer. 

Milner paused his campaign in June after the company said it would explore “all options” including a potential sale of the company after receiving inquiries from “multiple parties.”

Read More: Life Sciences Firm Abcam Gets Approaches While Battling Founder

However, in an open letter due to be sent to the Abcam board on Wednesday, and reviewed by Bloomberg News, Milner said he was “disappointed” that his offer to rejoin the board hadn’t been acted upon. Since then, he said he had been provided with “one unsatisfactory call” with management. 

“Should you continue to refuse my offer, and continue to under-deliver, I will call the board accountable again and will resume my campaign in the autumn,” Milner said in his letter. He’s given the board a deadline of Aug. 31 to provide an update, when Abcam is due to report interim results. “I have been contacted by many shareholders who are similarly supportive of a sale of the company at a full and fair value.”

A spokesperson for Abcam responded by pointing to the company’s statement on June 23, in which it said it didn’t intend to comment further on its strategic review. It said in that statement it would “make further announcements in accordance with its ongoing disclosure obligations and pursuant to applicable laws and regulations.”

Abcam first listed on London’s junior market, Aim, and has been trading on the Nasdaq since 2020, dropping its UK listing last year. It runs an online store selling protein research tools to scientists and has been called the “Amazon of antibodies.” 

Milner, 58, started the company in 1998 and remained chief executive officer until 2014. He then became deputy chairman, before stepping down from the board in October 2020.

Bloomberg reported in June that Abcam had attracted initial interest from US life sciences companies Danaher Corp. and Agilent Technologies Inc.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/biotech-supplier-abcam-s-founder-threatens-to-reignite-board-battle-1.1959518

Amgen, Horizon Resolve FTC Lawsuit, Clearing Path to Close Acquisition

 Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Horizon Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:HZNP) today announced the entry into a consent order agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that resolves the pending FTC administrative lawsuit. This clears the path to take the final steps to close Amgen’s acquisition of Horizon.

As a result of the consent order agreement, Amgen and Horizon expect that the parties will jointly file stipulated proposed orders to dismiss the preliminary injunction motion and dissolve the temporary restraining order (TRO) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and that Amgen and Horizon will quickly seek the final approvals required under Irish law to close the acquisition.

Amgen has consistently stated to the FTC, the courts and the public that it has no reason, ability or intention to bundle Horizon’s TEPEZZA® (teprotumumab-trbw) or KRYSTEXXA® (pegloticase injection) with any of its products. This narrow assurance, formalized in the consent order with the FTC, will have no impact on Amgen’s business.

The companies anticipate being able to close the acquisition in early fourth-quarter 2023 and look forward to the opportunity to serve patients around the world suffering from rare diseases.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amgen-horizon-therapeutics-plc-resolve-132000619.html

Renovaro: GEDiCube Joins NVIDIA Inception for Early Cancer Detection in Clinical Trials

 

• GEDiCube, an AI/ML platform that combines differential molecular capabilities with multi-omic analysis to detect cancer early, to join NVIDIA Inception
• Initial focus is on pancreatic cancer: upcoming clinical trials will be an innovative multi-modal approach to building a predictive model

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830575428/en/GEDiCube-Joins-NVIDIA-Inception-to-Advance-Unique-Platform-for-Early-Cancer-Detection-in-Clinical-Trials

TRxADE Health 'Gearing Up for Big Splashes In $151 B Snacks Industry'

 TRxADE Health, Inc. 

MEDS+57.5%+ Free Alerts

, known for its pharmaceutical exchange platform, has recently merged with Superlatus, Inc., a leading food technology and distribution company. The combined entity has now announced a binding agreement to acquire The Urgent Company Inc. along with its portfolio of popular consumer brands Coolhaus, Brave Robot, Modern Kitchen, and California Performance Co. These brands are currently owned by Perfect Day, Inc.

This company expects the acquisition to significantly enhance its position in the development of sustainable and fair food products. The transaction should also enable the combined company to easily enter new markets and increase its market share. This is especially true because many of the acquired Superlatus brands are innovators in the industry.

Superlatus has announced plans to introduce a new type of snack called pulse-based twisted protein snacks through its Brave Robot brand. This innovation is made possible by the advanced food extrusion technology developed by Sapientia Technology, LLC, a subsidiary of Superlatus. Superlatus is committed to capitalizing on the synergies between its subsidiaries to drive growth, enhance competitiveness and generate returns. By combining the unique food technology of Dr. Gino Bortone with the distribution power of the Brave Robot brand, the company hopes to succeed in the snack food market, which is projected to grow to $736 billion by 2026.

"Over 100,000 schools and institutions serve school lunches to 29.6 million students daily. We know soft drinks and traditional chips are the most frequent items sold in vending machines at school," said Superlatus interim CEO Tim Alford. "By dominating and leading the better-for-you (BFY) snack category in the schools, colleges, and universities across the continental United States, we have the unique opportunity to grow rapidly as our products have a long shelf-life, no chemicals, and there are no freezing costs."

https://www.benzinga.com/general/biotech/23/08/34112362/trxade-health-nasdaq-meds-newly-merged-with-superlatus-is-gearing-up-to-make-big-splashes-in-the-

Oregon Drug Treatment Hotline Cost $7,000 Per Call

 In 2020, Oregon voted to decriminalize the possession and use of almost all drugs. Now, addicts do hard drugs in the open, and a treatment hotline has so far cost taxpayers $7,000 per call, according to The Economist, putting the spending at $1.4 million.

The Associated Press reported Oregon was “awash in treatment funds after decriminalizing drugs,” adding the state has allocated $265 million to recovery centers. The funding came from taxes levied on the sale of marijuana. Sadly, the rollout of these funds has been slow, with only $184 million distributed as of May 26.

Despite this massive funding, The Economist reported that “…help seems hard to come by.” The overdose death rate in Oregon almost doubled since 2019, twice the national average.

The New York Times has reported on the horrid conditions on the streets of Portland, including needles and humans feces littering the streets, drug addicts using drugs at all times of the day, and violent addicts in tents beating other homeless people with baseball bats.

One program that has been particularly costly and unsuccessful is the treatment hotline. Meant to be a resource for addicts to call for help after receiving a citation for using drugs, The Economist found that in its first two years of existence, fewer than 200 people called the hotline, and fewer than 40 callers were interested in treatment. That put its cost to taxpayers at $7,000 per call.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/08/30/oregon_drug_treatment_hotline_cost_7000_per_call_975339.html

JPMorgan processed more than $1 bln for Epstein, US Virgin Islands says

 A lawyer for the U.S. Virgin Islands said on Thursday that JPMorgan Chase told U.S. authorities it processed more than $1 billion for Jeffrey Epstein over 16 years.

JPMorgan reported the transactions as suspicious to the U.S. Treasury Department following Epstein's suicide in 2019, Mimi Liu, a lawyer for the territory, said at a hearing concerning its lawsuit against the largest U.S. bank.

Reuters did not view the bank's disclosures to the Treasury, which are not public. A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment.

Epstein had been a JPMorgan client from 1998 to 2013, when the bank fired him. The disgraced financier had been awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges at the time of his death.

The U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned two private islands, is suing JPMorgan for at least $190 million and likely much more, saying it ignored red flags that Epstein was running a sex trafficking operation because he was a lucrative client.

JPMorgan has denied knowing that Epstein was running a sex trafficking operation, and has faulted the territory for having a cozy relationship with him.

Liu mentioned the $1 billion amount, which had not been previously disclosed, in arguing that U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan should find before the case goes to trial that the bank participated in Epstein's sex trafficking.

She said no reasonable juror could find that JPMorgan was in the dark about its jet-setting client.

"JPMorgan was a full service bank for Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking," Liu said.

Felicia Ellsworth, a lawyer for JPMorgan, said it was not appropriate for the judge to determine the question of the bank's knowledge before trial, because current and former employees have testified that they were unaware of Epstein's sex trafficking.

She said JPMorgan notified the Treasury Department at least six times about Epstein's transactions, including as early as 2002.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jpmorgan-processed-more-1-bln-001948071.html

ADC Therapeutics calls it quits on solid tumor collaboration with Adagene

 ADC Therapeutics is stepping away from a solid tumor pact with Adagene rather than take the collaboration to the next stage.

Details were sparse in Adagene’s Thursday update, which said only that the deal had expired after ADC elected not to sign into a licensing option. Adagene says the two companies remain open to working together in the future. 

The two linked up in April 2019 to combine Adagene’s antibody production platform with ADC’s payload attachment to produce a new antibody-drug conjugate aimed at a solid tumor target. ADC also had the option to tack on one additional target.

Adagene received research funding plus an undisclosed upfront payment, with the potential for additional development and commercial milestone payments. A spokesperson for ADC did not immediately respond when asked whether any milestone payments were triggered.

ADC, like many of its biopharma colleagues, has been in cash preservation mode as it tries to maximize value for approved med Zynlonta. The company announced in May that it would focus on the lowest-risk R&D projects, culling two preclinical assets as a result. Corresponding layoffs left 17% of the company without a job, with the cuts mainly impacting preclinical researchers and employees working in “back office efficiencies.” 

More than two months later, the company scrapped a trial testing Zynlonta combined with Roche’s Rituxan to treat unfit or frail patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The FDA had placed a partial hold on the study after 12 respiratory-related events arose, seven of which led to death. The company concluded that 11 out of the 12 events were not related to the study drug. 

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/adc-therapeutics-calls-it-quits-2019-adagene-research-and-licensing-pact