Day: October 19, 2022

New cost-effective tool for monitoring diets uses data from 41 countries to show vast gaps in diets

Geneva, Oct. 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Gallup, Harvard University, and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) have today published a new report on diet quality entitled Measuring What the World Eats. It is the first report from the Global Diet Quality Project, with data based on the Diet Quality Questionnaire (DQQ), a standard questionnaire which takes just five minutes to complete. It is a new, rapid, cost-effective method for accurately tracking data about diets and diet adequacy across the world. And the data is actionable and tailored for each country. It can be used to inform how to improve diets.

Diet is a central component of health and wellbeing. However, nearly 90% of countries experience a high level of at least two forms of malnutrition due in part to poor diets, leading to long-term health issues, including nutrient deficiencies and noncommunicable diseases. Food systems that produce our diets also have a large impact on the environment. The result is that unhealthy diets cost an estimated $3.5 trillion per year globally.

Andrew Rzepa, Gallup Partner said, “We all need better diets. But how do we make that happen? The DQQ is game changing: it gives us the detailed information we need to look at diet quality issues at a granular level, meaning we have the data to design interventions that can make a real difference. After all, we can only manage what we can measure.”

“The first step to solving a problem is describing it clearly. We knew that diets can be unhealthy in many different ways – these results put data behind it. No country, at no income level, is immune to the effects of unhealthy diets,” added Anna Herforth, principal investigator of the project at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The DQQ results provide country-level data that can also be disaggregated by gender, age, urban or rural locality, and socioeconomic indicators. The data underlying this first report were collected in 41 countries, representing two thirds of the world’s population. In more than half of these countries, this was the first nationally representative dietary survey in adults ever done. The DQQ is planned to be administered to 140 countries in the future.

Key insights from the data:

• The majority of the people worldwide are not consuming diets that would even minimally adhere to dietary guidelines. This is typically worse in rural areas in low- and middle-income countries.
• Men and urban residents consume more unhealthy foods and fewer foods that protect their health. This pattern is driven by higher consumption of soft drinks, processed meats, and deep-fried foods among men than women and among urban residents than rural residents.
• Populations that consume more healthy foods also tend to consume more unhealthy foods. This means that all populations are at high risk for diet-related noncommunicable diseases.
• In many low- and middle-income countries the majority of women are not getting the diverse diets they need, increasing their risk for vitamin and mineral deficiencies and related health issues. The problem is higher in rural areas and among poorer women.

Lawrence Haddad, GAIN’s Executive Director said, “It is particularly important that we understand what is happening to diets in low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Asia. With this fast, cheap, accurate measurement tool, we can now track progress. The richness of this new data means we can work with governments, the food industry, and other NGOs to build tailored strategies to improve dietary diversity, fortification, and supplementation. This is essential to reduce undernutrition and diet-related noncommunicable diseases and their widespread consequences.”

The DQQ examined six core diet quality indicators:

1. Micronutrient adequacy
2. Food group adequacy
3. Dietary factors protective against noncommunicable diseases
4. Risk factors for noncommunicable diseases
5. Consumption of no fruits or vegetables
6. Consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks

Each country was given a score for each indicator.

The 41 countries included in this first report are:

Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Greece, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, United States of America, and Viet Nam.

Measuring What the World Eats is available now here.

Contact Information:
Ty Beal
Research Advisor
tbeal@gainhealth.org

Edwin Shankar
Media Relations
edwin.shankar@leidar.com

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

Nyxoah to Release Third Quarter Financial Results on November 8, 2022

Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium – October 18, 2022, 10:30pm CET / 4:30pm ET – Nyxoah SA (Euronext Brussels/Nasdaq: NYXH) (“Nyxoah” or the “Company”), a medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative solutions to treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), today announced that the Company will release financial results for the third quarter of 2022 on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, after market close. Company management will host a conference call to discuss financial results that day beginning at 10:30pm CET / 4:30pm ET.

Investors interested in listening to the conference call may do so by registering for a unique personal PIN at the following link: https://register.vevent.com/register/BI0d7e0daed6e34e548b85e51146400c1a. A live and archived webcast of the event will be available on the Company’s investor relations website at https://investors.nyxoah.com/events.

About Nyxoah
Nyxoah is a medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative solutions to treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Nyxoah’s lead solution is the Genio® system, a patient-centered, leadless and battery-free hypoglossal neurostimulation therapy for OSA, the world’s most common sleep disordered breathing condition that is associated with increased mortality risk and cardiovascular comorbidities. Nyxoah is driven by the vision that OSA patients should enjoy restful nights and feel enabled to live their life to its fullest.

Following the successful completion of the BLAST OSA study, the Genio® system received its European CE Mark in 2019. Nyxoah completed two successful IPOs: on Euronext Brussels in September 2020 and NASDAQ in July 2021. Following the positive outcomes of the BETTER SLEEP study, Nyxoah received CE mark approval for the expansion of its therapeutic indications to Complete Concentric Collapse (CCC) patients, currently contraindicated in competitors’ therapy. Additionally, the Company is currently conducting the DREAM IDE pivotal study for FDA and US commercialization approval.

For more information, please visit http://www.nyxoah.com/.

Caution – CE marked since 2019. Investigational device in the United States. Limited by U.S. federal law to investigational use in the United States.

Contacts:
Nyxoah
Loic Moreau, Chief Financial Officer
corporate@nyxoah.com
+32 473 33 19 80

Jeremy Feffer, VP IR and Corporate Communications
jeremy.feffer@nyxoah.com
+1 917 749 1494

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• ENGLISH_Q3 2022 Earnings Call Save-the-Date_FINAL

– Internationally renowned researchers Gordon Freeman, Ph.D., Thomas Gajewski, M.D., Ph.D., Jason Luke, M.D., Ignacio Melero, M.D., Ph.D., and Anthony Tolcher, M.D., to advise Bright Peak in its mission to develop next-generation multifunctional precision immunotherapies for cancer –

SAN DIEGO & BASEL, Switzerland, Oct. 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bright Peak Therapeutics, a privately held biotechnology company leveraging a revolutionary chemical protein engineering platform to develop next-generation multifunctional cytokine-based immunotherapies, today announced the formation of a Scientific Advisory Board (“SAB”) comprised of world-renowned experts in immuno-oncology basic, translational and clinical research.

“Bright Peak is truly privileged and excited to have such an accomplished and dedicated group of scientific and clinical experts to advise on our discovery and clinical development programs,” said Fredrik Wiklund, Chief Executive Officer of Bright Peak. “Their combined resume includes some of the most groundbreaking discoveries in immuno-oncology, from basic biology through clinical investigation.” Jon Wigginton, M.D., President of Research and Development at Bright Peak added, “We are honored to welcome this outstanding group of investigators to the Bright Peak SAB and look forward to leveraging their expertise in our shared mission to develop transformative precision immunotherapies that address significant unmet needs for patients with cancer.”

The members of Bright Peak’s Scientific Advisory Board include:

Gordon Freeman, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and Harvard Medical School, is renowned for discovering the PD-L1 and PD-L2 proteins. Dr. Freeman showed that PD-L1 and PD-L2 bound to PD-1 to turn off the immune response and that blockade of PD-L1/PD-1 enhanced immune responses. He further showed that PD-L1 is highly expressed on many tumors and allows these tumors to resist immune attack. Dr. Freeman’s work led directly to the development of a successful strategy for cancer immunotherapy – blocking the PD-1-ligand interaction. Dr. Freeman has published over 400 scientific papers and holds over 90 US patents on immunotherapies. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors, is a Fellow of the AACR and SITC Academies, and has received numerous awards, including the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Tumor Immunology, the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, and the Richard Smalley, MD, Memorial Award. Dr. Freeman received his Ph.D. degree in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Harvard University.

Thomas Gajewski, M.D., Ph.D., is the AbbVie Foundation Professor in Cancer Immunotherapy, leader of the Immunology and Cancer program, and Director of Melanoma Oncology at the University of Chicago. Dr. Gajewski’s notable discoveries include the identification of the STING pathway and how it stimulates the body’s innate immune system to attack cancer, downstream pathways including Wnt/β-catenin that enable tumors to evade immune responses, and the connection between the immune system’s response to cancer and the gut microbiota. An author of more than 250 manuscripts, Dr. Gajewski is past president of SITC, a founding editor of the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer, past chair of the Cancer Immunopathology and Immunotherapy grant review study section at the NIH, has served on the program committees for ASCO and AACR, a grant reviewer for the Melanoma Research Alliance and Cancer Research Institute, and editor for Cancer Research. Among numerous honors, Dr. Gajewski has received the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Tumor Immunology, the ESMO award in Immuno-oncology, the American Cancer Society-Jules L. Plangere Jr. Family Foundation Professorship in Cancer Immunotherapy, and Distinguished Professor designation at the University of Chicago. He holds a B.S., Ph.D. in Immunology, and M.D. degrees from the University of Chicago where he also completed Internal Medicine Residency and Hematology/Oncology Fellowship.

Jason Luke, M.D., is the Director of the Immunotherapy and Drug Development Center at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Luke is an internationally recognized investigator in translational immuno-oncology, early phase drug development and the clinical management of cutaneous malignancies. Dr. Luke has designed and led two practice-changing studies in melanoma – the combination of anti-PD1 + low-dose anti-CTLA4 Ab in PD1 refractory disease, and establishing the role for, and FDA/EMA approval of, adjuvant anti-PD1 for stage IIB/C melanoma. More generally, Dr Luke has been a lead investigator for many first-in-human trials of novel immunotherapies and a major contributor toward the investigation of radiation, the microbiome and bioinformatic approaches in relation to cancer immunotherapy. Dr. Luke is an At Large member of the Board of Directors for SITC and has held leadership roles in SMR, AACR & ASCO. He is a member of the NCI Investigational Drug Steering Committee and the Immunotherapy Task Force co-Chair. He has received numerous awards including the Melanoma Research Foundation Humanitarian Award, ASCO Merit Award, and the NCI Cancer Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award. Dr. Luke received an M.D. from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science/Chicago Medical School, completed Internal Medicine Residency at Boston University Medical Center and Medical Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Ignacio Melero, M.D., Ph.D., is Co-Director of the Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy and Professor of Immunology at the Clinica Universidad de Navarra and at the Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA) of the University of Navarra, Spain. Dr. Melero is an international leader in translational tumor immunotherapy research who focuses on cytokine gene therapy, immune-stimulatory monoclonal antibodies, and cell therapy for cancer. Dr. Melero is renowned for seminal discoveries in the function of NK cell inhibitory receptors (KIRs) and T-cell co-stimulation via CD137 (4-1BB). Dr. Melero has served as principal investigator in numerous clinical trials of cancer immunotherapy and has won multiple awards including the BIAL Prize of Medicine, the Conde de Cartagena Award from the Royal Academy of Medicine, Doctor Durantez LAIR Foundation Award and a Cancer Research Institute research award. Dr. Melero earned an M.D. degree from the University of Navarra School of Medicine, completed Residency in Immunology at the Hospital Universitario de la Princesa (Madrid) and earned a Ph.D. in Immunology at La Princesa Hospital, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain.

Anthony Tolcher, M.D., is founder and CEO of NEXT Oncology, one of the most successful and respected Phase 1 programs in oncology research. Prior to founding NEXT Oncology, Dr. Tolcher was President and Co-Founder of START LLC, one of the world’s largest Clinical Phase I and early drug development operations in cancer medicine. Dr. Tolcher is a medical oncologist with over 25 years’ experience in early drug development and clinical trials and has been involved in more than 21 of the initial Phase 1 studies of new oncology agents that subsequently were FDA approved, including PD-(L)1 inhibitors, antibody-drug conjugates, anti-tumor-associated antigen antibodies, and numerous targeted therapies, and he is currently the principal investigator of over 20 Phase 1 studies. He has over 130 peer‐reviewed publications in scientific journals and has chaired the Developmental Therapeutics Review Committee for ASCO. Dr. Tolcher obtained his M.D. degree from the University of British Columbia and then completed Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Toronto, Oncology Fellowship at the University of British Columbia and a research fellowship at the NCI, Bethesda.

About Bright Peak Therapeutics
Bright Peak is a privately held biotechnology company based in Basel, Switzerland and San Diego, CA. We are rapidly advancing a robust portfolio of next-generation, multi-functional, cytokine-based immunotherapies for the treatment of patients with cancer and autoimmune disease. We accomplish this by leveraging our world class protein engineering capabilities and our unique cell-free technology platform to chemically synthesize and conjugate novel protein therapeutics that reflect state-of-the-art insights into cytokine and immune checkpoint biology. Our pipeline stretches from discovery to IND-enabling and encompasses enhanced cytokines, antibody-cytokine conjugates and other novel formats. Bright Peak is funded by a syndicate of leading healthcare investors.

Contact:
info@brightpeaktx.com