progress on the midkine antibody programs

Not sure why this collaboration didn't warrant an announcement in it's own right.  Several questions come to mind

1.  Is this an extension of the Westmead outcomes as the ending sentences of this paragraph seem to separate that activity and the newly stated UTSW collaboration.

2.  Is this work independent to the pathway for Orphan Drug status for CAB102

3.  What is the connection between this collaboration and the 2015 approval for CAB102 noted here

USPATENT FOR ANTI-MIDKINE ANTIBODIES GRANTED

4.  The collaboration work also appears to support the work conducted by Complutense University with Professor Velasco developing a Co-Therapy with Brain Cancers ?   

ComplutenseUniversity Study for CAB102  Is the Pre-clinical ongoing in Spain ? Has the lead molecule been selected and what are the next steps ?

"Cellmid and Complutense University are now expanding their collaboration to a fullpre-clinical validation program. Cellmid will provide a number of its anti-MKantibodies to Complutense University for testing, including already humanisedantibody CAB102, with the aim of selecting a lead molecule to advance specificallyin a glioma/GBM clinical program."

PROGRESS ON THE MIDKINE ANTIBODY PROGRAMSCOLLABORATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SOUTHWESTERN (UTSW)

Cellmid has recently commenced an exciting collaboration with Professor RolfBrekken and his team at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.Professor Brekken, a leading cancer researcher, will lead the midkine program to testthe efficacy of Cellmid’s therapeutic antibodies in preclinical tumour models.Professor Brekken is a principal investigator with the Hamon Center for TherapeuticOncology at the University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas. He is internationallyrecognised for his research into various aspects of cancer biology including immunetherapies, tumour angiogenesis, microenvironment and metastasis.Cellmid has developed a panel of monoclonal antibodies targeting midkine,including humanised forms of the antibodies in preparation for clinical deployment.These reagents have previously shown promising results in slowing growth of the rarebrain tumour glioblastoma. Tapping into Professor Brekken’s expertise in trackingmetastatic spread as well as characterising immune cell responses to tumours willenable Cellmid to evaluate the potential of the midkine antibodies as co-therapiesalongside other immune therapies.Immune checkpoint inhibitor drugs have revolutionised cancer treatment during thepast five years and were the subject of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology orMedicine. The opportunity for Cellmid to collaborate with Professor Brekkenrepresents a significant boost to the Company’s midkine cancer program.Focal segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) RESULTS SUPPORT ORPHAN APPLICATIONWe were pleased to report in September that our pre-clinical study conducted at theWestmead Children’s Institute produced positive efficacy results from our lead antimidkineantibody, CAB102, in the rare kidney disease, FSGS. This study confirmedprevious findings that blocking midkine alleviates damage to the kidney andprevents ensuing defects in renal function. This is a critical finding for Cellmid inprogre

sing our antibody asset portfolio towards orphan drug application.