Interview 28 Sep 2020 From Big Pharma to Startup CEO: Lessons from Kymriah Developer Gaurav Shah Novartis’ Kymriah, one of the first CAR T-cell therapies to be approved to treat blood cancer, has revolutionized both oncology and gene therapy. Gaurav Shah, now CEO of Rocket Pharmaceuticals, led the team that developed it. Shah began his career as a clinician, but soon moved over into the biotech sector to work at ImClone, […] September 28, 2020 - 9 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 9 Sep 2020 Biotech Investment in Norway: An Alternative Approach Norway has not typically been an attractive region for biotech investors, so when Masha Strømme set up her own investment firm in 2008, she had to take a slightly different approach to investment. Masha Strømme and her husband, Dag Strømme, run a family office together called Paacs Invest in the Oslo area, which funds and […] September 9, 2020 - 6 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Expert Advice 24 Aug 2020 Why a US Presence Can Help European Biotechs Get Ahead While there is no doubt that Europe has a thriving biotech scene, it can really help a European company to succeed if it has a US presence. No one knows this better than Patricia Zilliox, CEO of French biotech company Eyevensys, who has lived and worked in the US for many years. Zilliox is French, […] August 24, 2020 - 5 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Expert Advice 10 Aug 2020 Keep an Open Mind for a Successful Career in Biotech It can pay to take your time and keep your options open when choosing a life sciences career. Henrijette Richter, Managing Partner at French VC Sofinnova Partners, knows this from her experience of becoming a successful biotech investor. Richter started out as a scientist working in the industry and completed a PhD with the Danish […] August 10, 2020 - 13 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 6 Aug 2020 DBV Technologies’ Peanut Allergy Patch Suffers FDA Setback A request for market approval of a skin patch developed by French biotech DBV Technologies to treat peanut allergy has been turned down by the FDA, which has requested more data and design changes. The response from the FDA is a blow for the company which had been working towards getting the patch onto the […] August 6, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Jul 2020 Record Series A for Italian Biotech Funds Autoimmune Therapy Italian biotech Enthera raised €28M in Series A funding to develop its drug candidate for type 1 diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease and take it to human trials. Enthera was founded in 2016 and is the first company to ‘graduate’ from the BiovelocITA accelerator program in Milan, which is supported by French life science investor […] July 28, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 17 Jul 2020 Russian Hackers Launch Cyber Attack on Covid-19 Vaccine Developers The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in the UK stated this week that several organizations involved in Covid-19 vaccine development in the UK, US, and Canada have been targeted in a cyber attack by a Russian hacking group known as APT29. The NCSC says that APT29, also known as ‘the Dukes’ or ‘Cozy Bear,’ is […] July 17, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 17 Jul 2020 Danish Wound Healing Biotech Raises €20M to Accelerate US Rollout Reapplix, a Danish biotech focusing on developing wound healing technology, has raised €19.8M in equity funding to commercialize a treatment for diabetic foot ulcers in the US. The company also announced it has received Medicare reimbursement instructions that it will receive an average of €1,420 ($1,623) for each patient in the US that receives its […] July 17, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 13 Jul 2020 The Three Obstacles Stopping Cell Therapy Becoming Mainstream While there are now more cell therapies on offer than ever before, there are obstacles still preventing them from becoming widely used. Cell therapy holds enormous promise for treating many different diseases. However, the field has also seen controversy regarding therapies using embryonic stem cells, as well as problematic fraud cases. Some forms of cell […] July 13, 2020 - 9 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 7 Jul 2020 UK Launches Clinical Trial Platform to Speed up Covid-19 Drug Development Researchers in the UK have set up a drug testing platform to bridge the gap between preclinical testing and large-scale trials for drugs being tested to treat Covid-19. The AGILE platform is a collaboration between the University of Liverpool, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit that aims to speed […] July 7, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 2 Jul 2020 Freeline Closes €106M Series C to Progress Hemophilia Gene Therapy UK biotech Freeline Therapeutics has extended its Series C round to take its gene therapy for hemophilia B to a pivotal trial, while hinting at the possibility of an IPO in the US later this year. This final closing adds an additional €70M to a €36M Series C investment by London-based VC Syncona in December […] July 2, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 29 Jun 2020 Enterome Secures €46M to Take Microbiome Therapies to Clinical Trials French microbiome biotech Enterome has raised €46.3M in Series E funding to progress its cancer and inflammatory bowel disease therapies to phase I trials in a few weeks. Two new investors to Enterome — SymBiosis, a US-based investor, and the Japanese big pharma Takeda — took part in the fundraise in addition to existing investors […] June 29, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email