Interview 8 Nov 2017 Interviewing Europe’s Most Intense Investor about Trends in Biotech I interviewed Kate Bingham of SV Health Investors about Alzheimer’s, checkpoint inhibitors, gender diversity and more at BIO Europe. BIO Europe 2017 was off to a racing start on Monday morning when I chatted with Kate Bingham, Managing Partner of SV Health Investors, formerly SV Life Sciences. Since she joined the firm in 1991, she […] November 8, 2017 - 6 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 6 Nov 2017 Swiss Biotech Pulls Major Investors into €42M Series B for Cancer Vaccines NousCom is developing semi-personalized medicine that convinced investors like Abingworth to go in big for its off-the-shelf neoantigen vaccines. Based in Basel and run by a team of serial entrepreneurs with over 15 years of experience, NousCom is finding the middle ground between broadly applicable treatments and personalized medicine. “We are the only company working […] November 6, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 1 Nov 2017 Swiss Biotech & French Pharma Reverse Damage in Multiple Sclerosis A candidate multiple sclerosis treatment from GeNeuro and its partner Servier showed some remyelination in a post hoc analysis of Phase IIb data. GeNeuro’s stock rose by 30% on Monday following an announcement of promising results from its relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis drug, GNbAC1. After six months, the highest dose demonstrated an anti-inflammatory effect and seemed to stimulate […] November 1, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 30 Oct 2017 Meet the Covagen Co-Founder that Closed Europe’s Biggest Acquisition in 2014 Dragan Grabulovski co-founded the biotech that became 2014’s largest acquisition in Europe. I caught up with him to hear about the journey and what happens to a founder after his or her company is acquired. Dragan Grabulovski was doing a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences at ETH Zurich in the group of Dario Neri when he […] October 30, 2017 - 9 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 26 Oct 2017 Meet John Beadle, the Serial Entrepreneur with the Key to Oncolytic Viruses Serial entrepreneur John Beadle is now at the helm of PsiOxus, an Oxford biotech with some promising virus-based cancer treatments. Oncolytic viruses have been around for a while without much to show for themselves besides Amgen’s Imlygic, but PsiOxus, one of our top Oxford biotechs, has some ideas to make them bear fruit. The company […] October 26, 2017 - 8 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 16 Oct 2017 Meet the Former Banker at the Helm of Denmark’s Healthcare Giant, Novo Holdings Kasim Kutay has ridden the biotech investment wave. First, he helped build Morgan Stanley’s European healthcare group, then did the same at Moelis & Co and now he heads Novo Holdings, the majority shareholder of Danish household biotech names NovoZymes and Novo Nordisk. I asked him about the company’s healthcare investment strategy and his CEO […] October 16, 2017 - 7 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 4 Oct 2017 4th-Generation ADCs: Meet the Swiss Startup Perfecting the Technology ADC development has progressed to the fourth generation. Serial entrepreneur Ulf Grawunder told me what NBE is doing differently from its predecessors. Ever since the first antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) was approved in 2001, there has been a lot of excitement about the technology. “Some people even referred to ADCs as a ‘magic bullet,’” recalls Ulf […] October 4, 2017 - 5 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Sep 2017 French Microbiome Biotech Gets a €6.5M Leg Up to Market Launch LNC Therapeutics is ready to take its oral microbiome-based therapeutic to market for obesity. Investors have contributed a bit of cash to get it there. Bordeaux-based LNC Therapeutics has raked in €6.5M in a Series C. It has raised a total of €16.5M since it was founded in 2010. Seventure Partners, a leading VC focused […] September 28, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Sep 2017 Everyone Wants a Piece of this Scottish Biotech’s AI Evotec has doubled down on its investment in Exscientia: the German outfit just announced it has invested €15M to take a minority stake. Sanofi, GSK and Evotec have all jumped at the opportunity to work with Exscientia, a Scottish startup founded in 2012 and incubating in Dundee. Now, Evotec has gone beyond the initial immuno-oncology deal […] September 28, 2017 - 1 minutemin - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Sep 2017 Oxford Spinout goes for $75M IPO on Nasdaq to Fund Gene Therapy Programs Nightstar has gone public on the American market with the aim of raising $75M for its gene-based retinal disease cures. Spun out from Oxford in 2013, Nightstar is developing and commercializing one-shot gene therapies for various eye diseases that could lead to blindness. This morning, it debuted on the Nasdaq with a projected $75M (£56M / €64M) […] September 28, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 28 Sep 2017 Ethical Drug Development can Start with Charity Investors: A Conversation As the furor over drug pricing has driven the biopharma industry to reflect on its ethics, I sat down with David Pardoe of LifeArc to discuss the involvement of charity investors. In August, a story emerged that Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez not only responded to a patient’s letter but met with him soon thereafter to […] September 28, 2017 - 6 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 27 Sep 2017 How to Survive the Valley of Death: Tips from Europe’s Largest Research Hospital Taking research from the bench to the bedside is an infamous graveyard in biotech. Researchers from Charité and their colleagues have a plan to help startups survive. “Many basic research approaches currently fail far too late in their development,” write researchers from Charité University Hospital, based here in Berlin, in collaboration with colleagues from the University […] September 27, 2017 - 4 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email