Category: Press Releases

TEMECULA, Calif., Nov. 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nikkiso Clean Energy & Industrial Gases Group (Group), a subsidiary of Nikkiso Co., Ltd (Japan), is proud to announce the expansion of our Busan Korea facility to accommodate their new Marine Center. This expansion represents their commitment to and support of the growth of the Korean shipbuilding industry.

The new, larger facility provides full-system Marine solutions, and will serve as the Group’s home base for all marine activities in Korea. As a unified Nikkiso facility, they will provide marine solutions including pump skids, vaporizers, controls, high-pressure fuel gas skids, service and more. The facility includes complete cryogenic testing capabilities and expanded staff including design engineers, production and project managers.

Marine has been a major focus of the Group, and this expansion provides a strong support structure for future growth. The new facility is ideally located within the region to support their key customers and provide anticipated growth of the Marine industry’s focus on clean energy. Approximately 4,000 square meters, the facility is outfitted to manufacture and fabricate cryogenic pumps, FGSS Vaporizer skid, LH2 station skids, process skids, and will feature the latest LN2 pump skid test facility. It also includes a 342 square meter service center.

According to Daryl Lamy, President of Nikkiso Cryogenic Pumps, “Nikkiso ACD has been the preferred supplier for Fuel Gas skids to the Korean shipbuilding industry for over 20 years! With our new skid packaging and testing facility located near the shipyards in Korea, we now have even greater capacity and local support to meet the significant global increase and demand for new build LNG fueled cargo and transport vessels.”

According to Peter Wagner, CEO of Cryogenic Industries and President of the Group, “This is an exciting next step and important milestone for our Group and the LNG powered Marine market and a significant benefit for our Marine customers. Nikkiso CE&IG will now be able to provide complete systems and support our customers with a complete factory supported solution.”

Contact Information:

Nikkiso Clean Energy and Industrial Gases – Korea
Head office & Factory         : 83, Nosan sanup jung-ro, Gangseo-gu, Busan, 46752, Korea
Branch office                : #1912, 170 Ganggyo jungang-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon,
Gyuenggi 16614 Korea
info@NikkisoCEIG-Korea.com

ABOUT CRYOGENIC INDUSTRIES
Cryogenic Industries, Inc. (now a member of Nikkiso Co., Ltd.) member companies manufacture engineered cryogenic gas processing equipment and small-scale process plants for the liquefied natural gas (LNG), well services and industrial gas industries. Founded over 50 years ago, Cryogenic Industries is the parent company of ACD, Cosmodyne and Cryoquip and a commonly controlled group of approximately 20 operating entities.

For more information, please visit www.nikkisoCEIG.com and www.nikkiso.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Anna Quigley
+1.951.383.3314
aquigley@cryoind.com

ApplyBoard’s data-driven trends report shows how international student preferences and trends in the international education space are shifting

KITCHENER, ONTARIO, CANADA, Nov. 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ApplyBoard, the EdTech platform revolutionizing the international student journey, launched their first annual trends report on the future of international education.

To help shape recruitment plans and improve global access to education around the world, ApplyBoard gathered data to uncover the latest trends in sector recovery, key factors motivating student decision-making, emerging markets for student recruitment, and predictions for the next decade. The report is designed to inform and guide international students, recruitment partners and higher education institutions.

“As we head into 2022, we’re seeing lots of excitement and pent-up demand from international students eager to study abroad. The pandemic has led to shifting interests among international students who are paying closer attention to lower tuition prices, access to post-graduation work opportunities, and in-person learning opportunities,” says Meti Basiri, Chief Marketing Officer and Co-Founder of ApplyBoard. “Despite the challenges the industry faced during the pandemic, the data shows that international students are more interested in studying abroad now than ever before, and our team is doing everything we can to help them achieve their dreams.”

ApplyBoard has assisted more than 250,000 students with their educational journeys and was co-founded by three brothers who were all international students themselves: Martin, Meti, and Massi Basiri. During the pandemic, ApplyBoard helped transform the international education recruitment and application processes through its intuitive digital platform. Today, the platform is home to over 1,500 schools and is used by over 10,000 recruitment partners, which makes it simple for international students to discover and apply to the country, school, and program best suited to their needs.

“ApplyBoard is building an education revolution, and this report puts everything that has happened during the pandemic into perspective so that we can build in 2022 and the years to come,” says Jo Johnson, Chair of the ApplyBoard Advisory Board. “Grounded in in-depth research, the report identifies key trends unfolding in the higher education industry whilst demonstrating ApplyBoard’s deep industry expertise and knowledge.”

Read the full report online. Notable findings from the report include:

Application Data Shows Pent-Up Demand From International Students

• According to data from the ApplyBoard Platform, student application volumes are booming across the world. From March to October 2021, UK student applications on the ApplyBoard Platform rose by more than 300%, Canadian applications grew by over 200%, and US applications spiked by 750% compared to the same period in 2020.

New Factors Influencing the Student Decision-Making Process 

• As we move past the pandemic, international students are increasingly looking for lower tuition prices and access to post-graduation work opportunities. They are also considering alternative destination markets. Prior to the pandemic, most students browsing programs on the ApplyBoard Platform searched for programs with tuition fees up to C$100,000 per year. During the first 10 months of 2021, more than half of all students chose to view only programs with annual tuition fees of C$30,000 or less.

Prioritizing Student Diversity 

• Major players India and China will remain large source markets for the future of recruitment. But economic and demographic shifts point to a number of smaller markets primed to capture growing shares of the international student market. ApplyBoard modelling and industry data has identified Nigeria, Kenya, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, and Indonesia as high-growth potential markets.

Attachment

• Trends Report

Alessandra Manieri
ApplyBoard
2262209826
alessandra.manieri@applyboard.com

Xencor receives rights to additional equity in Zenas as upfront payment and is eligible for up to $480 million in potential milestone payments and royalties on net sales of commercialized products

Obexelimab is a novel bifunctional antibody with first-in-class potential to treat autoimmune diseases

MONROVIA, Calif., HONG KONG and BOSTON, Nov. 21, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ: XNCR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing engineered monoclonal antibodies and cytokines for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, and Zenas BioPharma (“Zenas”), a global biopharmaceutical company based in the USA and China committed to the development and delivery of immune-based therapies, today announced that Zenas has acquired from Xencor exclusive worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize the investigational antibody obexelimab.

Obexelimab is a potential first-in-class bifunctional antibody that targets CD19 with its variable domain and uses Xencor’s XmAb^® Immune Inhibitor Fc Domain to target FcγRIIb, a receptor that inhibits the function of B-cells, which are important components in the immune system. Xencor demonstrated through early-stage clinical studies that obexelimab effectively inhibits B-cell function without depleting the cells and generates an encouraging treatment effect in patients with multiple autoimmune diseases.

“Zenas is advancing a broad pipeline of differentiated drug candidates that are intended to bring best-in-class innovation to patients with underserved medical needs,” said Hua Mu, Ph.D., MD, president and chief executive officer at Zenas. “Today, we are pleased to add obexelimab to our portfolio, and based on its clinical profile, we believe it is positioned as a first-in-class candidate with the potential to treat numerous autoimmune diseases.”

“Obexelimab’s highly potent and broad blockade of B-cell activation—without depleting B cells—differentiates it from other B-cell targeting therapies, and it has demonstrated disease-modifying activity in settings where B-cell inhibition is a proven strategy,” said Bassil Dahiyat, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer at Xencor. “In Zenas BioPharma, we have found a partner committed to broadly and aggressively developing therapeutics like obexelimab for patients with autoimmune diseases, enabling Xencor’s continued focus on the growing opportunities provided by our XmAb bispecific antibody and cytokine pipeline.”

Under the terms of the new agreement, Zenas will issue to Xencor a warrant giving Xencor the right to acquire additional Zenas equity, such that Xencor’s total equity in Zenas would be 15% of its fully diluted capitalization following the closing of Zenas’ next round of equity financing, subject to certain requirements. Xencor previously received equity in Zenas under a separate license agreement. Xencor is also eligible to receive up to $480 million based on the achievement of certain clinical development, regulatory and commercialization milestones and is eligible to receive tiered, mid-single digit to mid-teen percent royalties upon commercialization of obexelimab, dependent on geography. Zenas will have sole responsibility for advancing the research, development, regulatory and commercial activities of obexelimab worldwide.

About Xencor, Inc.

Xencor is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing engineered monoclonal antibodies and cytokines for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. Currently, 22 candidates engineered with Xencor’s XmAb^® technology are in clinical development internally and with partners. Xencor’s XmAb antibody engineering technology enables small changes to the structure of proteins resulting in new mechanisms of therapeutic action. For more information, please visit www.xencor.com.

About Zenas BioPharma

Zenas BioPharma is a global biopharmaceutical company based in the USA and China committed to becoming a leader in the development and delivery of immune-based therapies for patients in the US, China and around the world. Zenas is rapidly advancing a deep pipeline of innovative therapeutics that continues to grow through our successful business development strategy. Our experienced leadership team and network of business partners drive operational excellence to deliver potentially transformative therapies to improve the lives of those facing autoimmune and rare diseases. For more information about Zenas BioPharma, please visit www.zenasbio.com and follow us on Twitter at @ZenasBioPharma and LinkedIn.

Xencor Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements include statements that are not purely statements of historical fact, and can generally be identified by our use of words such as “potential,” “can,” “will,” “plan,” “may,” “could,” “would,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “seek,” “look forward,” “believe,” “committed,” “investigational,” and similar terms, or by express or implied discussions relating to the development of obexelimab as a potential treatment for patients with autoimmune diseases; the commercial potential of obexelimab; the safety, tolerability, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of obexelimab; the quotations from Xencor’s president and chief executive officer; and other statements that are not purely statements of historical fact. Such statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions of the management of Xencor and are subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements and the timing of events to be materially different from those implied by such statements, and therefore these statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such risks include, without limitation, the risks associated with the process of discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing drugs that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics and other risks described in Xencor’s public securities filings. For a discussion of these and other factors, please refer to Xencor’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 as well as Xencor’s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. This caution is made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended to date. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement and Xencor undertakes no obligation to revise or update this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, except as required by law.

Contacts

Xencor Investor Contact:
Charles Liles
cliles@xencor.com

Xencor Media Contact:
Jason I. Spark
Canale Communications
619-849-6005
jason@canalecomm.com

Zenas Investor Contact:
IR@zenasbio.com

Zenas Media Contact:
Lauren Bartlett
lauren.bartlett@zenasbio.com