OncXerna Therapeutics to Present at Jefferies Virtual Healthcare Conference

WALTHAM, Mass., May 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OncXerna Therapeutics, Inc., a precision medicine company using an innovative RNA-expression based biomarker platform to predict patient responses to its first-in-class targeted oncology therapies, today announced that Laura Benjamin, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of OncXerna, will present at the Jefferies Virtual Healthcare Conference taking place June 1-4, 2021.

The live presentation will occur on June 4, 2021 from 10:30 a.m. to 10:55 a.m. ET. A link to the live webcast of the presentation can be found here.

About OncXerna Therapeutics, its Xerna™ RNA-based Biomarker Platform, and Xerna™ TME Panel

OncXerna plans to deliver next-generation precision medicine to a larger group of cancer patients by leveraging the company’s Xerna™ platform to prospectively identify patients based on the dominant biology of their cancer. This allows OncXerna to pair those patients with OncXerna’s clinical-stage therapies and known mechanism of action that directly address these biologies, to dramatically improve patient outcomes. The Xerna™ TME Panel uses proprietary RNA-based gene expression data and a machine learning-based algorithm to classify patients based on the interplay between angiogenic and immunogenic dominant biologies of the TME, and has been developed as a clinical assay. The Xerna™ TME Panel is an investigational assay that has not been licensed or approved, and has not been demonstrated to be safe or effective for any use.

For more information on OncXerna, please visit oncxerna.com.

About Navicixizumab

Navicixizumab is an anti-DLL4/VEGF bispecific antibody that demonstrated antitumor activity in patients who have progressed on Avastin® (bevacizumab) in a Phase 1a/b clinical trial. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Fast Track designation to navicixizumab for the treatment of high-grade ovarian, primary peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer in patients who have received at least three prior therapies and/or prior treatment with Avastin. OncXerna is targeting patients whose dominant tumor biology is driven by angiogenesis with a focus beyond VEGF to include broader anti-angiogenic pathways. Navicixizumab is an investigational agent that has not been licensed or approved, and it has not been demonstrated to be safe or effective for any use, including for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer.

About Bavituximab

Bavituximab is an antibody that reverses immune suppression by inhibiting phosphatidylserine (PS) signaling and is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials to treat a specific subset of patients with advanced gastric cancer to improve their response to anti-PD-1 treatment. The mechanism of action of bavituximab is to block tumor immune suppression signaling from PS to multiple immune cell receptor families (e.g., TIMs and TAMs). The dominant biology targeted by bavituximab may be relevant for patients with many types of solid tumors whose immune systems are too suppressed to benefit from currently available immune oncology therapies. OncXerna’s clinical trials currently combine bavituximab with KEYTRUDA® to test the hypothesis that relieving immunosuppression can enhance responses to checkpoint inhibitors. Bavituximab is an investigational agent that has not been licensed or approved, and it has not been demonstrated to be safe or effective for any use, including for the treatment of advanced gastric cancer.

KEYTRUDA® is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA.

Investor and Media Contact:

Ashley R. Robinson
LifeSci Partners, LLC
arr@lifesciadvisors.com