News and Trends 2 Nov 2017 Swedish Biotech Team Steps Up in the Fight Against Type 2 Diabetes Two Swedish biotechs, Betagenon and Baltic Bio, have announced promising preliminary Phase IIa results for their Type 2 Diabetes candidate. Betagenon develops therapies for chronic energy balance disorders and has received funding from the EU’s program for research and innovation, Horizon 2020. Privately funded Betagenon has partnered up with Baltic Bio to share the profits from a type […] November 2, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 2 Nov 2017 German Biotech Pockets €18M in its Series A to Propel Autoimmune Disease Candidate Forward Topas Therapeutics received an extra €4M from Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund to help its autoimmune disease candidates accelerated through trials. Hamburg-based Topas Therapeutics, a spin-off from Evotec, develops products for autoimmune diseases with high medical need. With the announcement of a €18M Series A, it hopes to take begin moving its candidates into the clinic. It had raised €14M thanks to investment from Epidarex […] November 2, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 2 Nov 2017 Meet the Top Biotech Investor Who Picked His Career By Accident Kevin Johnson, Partner at Medicxi, joined us last week for our Meetup in London. He told us how he ended as an investor despite starting in biotech. Fresh from his PhD at Cambridge, Johnson stepped into biotech and led the development of a number of human antibodies at Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT). The company was eventually responsible for […] November 2, 2017 - 4 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 1 Nov 2017 Belgian Biotech Launches IPO, Readying Itself to Fight Multiple Sclerosis Apitope develops highly specific peptide therapeutics for multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases, and will now launch an IPO on Brussels Euronext. Apitope hopes to treat a number of autoimmune diseases affecting many systems throughout the body. The company has developed peptides, ‘apitopes‘, that tackle the immunological basis of the disease. The company has just […] November 1, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 30 Oct 2017 German Pharmacist Finds a Way to Put the Brakes on Gallbladder Cancer Research has identified a protein that drives tumor growth, which opens up a new therapeutic target for gallbladder cancer. Gallbladder cancer is often detected too late to be treated effectively as it shows few symptoms. Research, published in Oncotarget, has identified a pathway that could help to improve prognosis and treatment of the disease. Sonja Kessler discovered […] October 30, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 27 Oct 2017 French Biotech Gets Together with L’Oréal to Clean up our Streets Carbios and L’Oréal have had enough of the plastics bags and packaging littering our streets and will form a consortium for the bio-recycling of plastic on an industrial scale. Today, you’ll struggle to walk along a street without seeing plastic bottles, bags, and wrappers dropped by the wayside… but thankfully, help is at hand. Carbios, […] October 27, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 27 Oct 2017 Lack of Permanent Academic Roles is Frightening News for PhD Students With Halloween around the corner, PhD students probably felt safe from any nasty surprises for a few more days but their careers in academia may have hit a snag. PhD students work very hard, but surely it is all worth it for the guarantee of a good job at the end of it all? A study […] October 27, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 26 Oct 2017 New and Improved CRISPR: More Precise Genome Editing Now Possible US Scientists have developed a new form of CRISPR, base editing, which can repair tiny genome segments, smaller than a single gene. Here at Labiotech, we focus on European biotech, but this was too big to miss: Researchers based at MIT and Harvard have described a new way of editing DNA and RNA — base […] October 26, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 25 Oct 2017 Shire’s Hemophilia Gene Therapy Boosted by Orphan Drug Designation The FDA has granted orphan drug designation to Shire’s hemophilia A gene therapy, giving it the boost it needs to catch up with others in the field. Shire specializes in the development of drugs for rare diseases, including hemophilia A – a bleeding disorder caused by a lack of clotting factor VIII activity in the […] October 25, 2017 - 1 minutemin - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 25 Oct 2017 British Researchers Develop Clever Nanoparticles to Kill Cancer Cells The University of Surrey has developed nanoparticles that heat up to kill cancer cells, but can then be controlled to protect healthy tissue. Research from the University of Surrey, published in Nanoscale, has been put forward as a new form of thermotherapy. Although it has been available for a long time, thermotherapy’s use is limited by […] October 25, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 25 Oct 2017 What Could RNA Therapies Do for the Treatment of CNS Disorders? Evelyn chatted with Thomas de Vlaam to find out what his company, Amylon, is working on and how it hopes to change the field fighting CNS disorders. De Vlaam came up with AT-010, a drug candidate for the treatment of Katwijk‘s disease, during his time at ProQR. When it became clear that he had something […] October 25, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 24 Oct 2017 Update: GSK’s Shingles Vaccines Impresses FDA Panel who Push for its Approval Update (24/10/2017): Shingrix has been approved by the FDA and will cost $280 (€238) for the required two shots, which should be covered by most insurance plans. Originally published on 13/9/2017 An FDA panel voted 11-0 to support the approval of GSK’s new shingles vaccine based on “impressive” efficacy and safety results in a Phase III […] October 24, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email