In Depth 18 May 2020 Will Covid-19 Change the Face of Vaccine Development? The unprecedented scale of the current Covid-19 pandemic has led to a vaccine ‘race’ the like of which has never been seen before. This may change the face of vaccine development forever. Since the English physician Edward Jenner invented the first smallpox vaccine in 1796, vaccines have resulted in dramatic reductions in deaths from previously […] May 18, 2020 - 13 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 13 May 2020 Genfit’s Phase III Drug Fails to Treat NASH, But New Players On Horizon Patients with the chronic liver disease NASH must now wait even longer for an approved treatment, after French biotech Genfit’s phase III trial of its lead drug candidate elafibranor failed. But, newer players, such as Novo Nordisk, are edging closer to the market. This year, it is predicted that NASH — the full name of […] May 13, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 11 May 2020 Italian Pharma Getting Back to Normal With Two Biotech Acquisitions Despite the country being hard hit with Covid-19, Italian pharma seems to be getting back to business as usual with two oncology-related biotech acquisitions in the last week. The most recent acquisition was of French immuno-oncology company ElsaLys Biotech by Mediolanum Farmaceutici, a pharmaceutical group based in Milan. The French biotech has several candidate drugs […] May 11, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 7 May 2020 BioMarin Partners Swiss Biotech to Develop Cardiac Gene Therapies US biotech BioMarin has partnered Swiss startup DiNAQOR to develop gene therapies to treat rare, inherited cardiac diseases. DiNAQOR will initially receive an upfront payment from BioMarin, followed by developmental, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments and a percentage of royalties on later sales. No financial details of the collaboration were revealed by either company. “We […] May 7, 2020 - 2 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Expert Advice 4 May 2020 How Are Biotech VC Investments Changing with Covid-19? Covid-19 has been dominating the news for weeks on end, but what impact is the current pandemic having on biotech VC investments? Some key figures working in the field in Europe discussed their recent experiences, as well as advice for startups navigating this new funding challenge. The coronavirus pandemic has impacted us all in ways […] May 4, 2020 - 8 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 29 Apr 2020 Update: BioNTech and Pfizer’s mRNA Vaccine for Covid-19 Tested in Humans Update (29/04/2020): A vaccine developed by the German company BioNTech and its big pharma partner Pfizer has become the first European mRNA vaccine for Covid-19 to enter human testing in a phase I/II trial. Since dosing began last week, twelve volunteers in Germany have been given the vaccine. The first part of the trial — […] April 29, 2020 - 5 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 29 Apr 2020 Pluristem Scores €50M From EIB to Develop Covid-19 Cell Therapy Israeli cell therapy biotech Pluristem Therapeutics has secured up to €50M in non-dilutive funding from the European Investment Bank to progress its coronavirus-targeting cell therapy to phase III. The partners plan to sign the funding agreement at the end of April and Pluristem will initially receive €20M followed by two further installments totaling up to […] April 29, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 17 Apr 2020 Is New Enzyme Technology Key to Solving Society’s Plastic Problem? A new type of enzyme developed by the French company Carbios can break down more than 90% of the plastic PET, commonly used to make plastic bottles, and the byproducts can then be recycled into new PET. But how far does this go towards solving our plastic waste problem? PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, comprises around […] April 17, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 8 Apr 2020 Evotec Makes Move into Gene Therapy with Takeda Deal German biotech giant Evotec has moved into gene therapy and partnered with Takeda to develop new therapies in oncology, rare diseases, neuroscience, and gastroenterology. The two companies did not reveal financial details of the collaboration, but did say that it will be a multi-year alliance that adds to Evotec’s existing deal with the big pharma […] April 8, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 3 Apr 2020 Lilly Partners UK Immunometabolism Biotech in Deal Worth €811M Eli Lilly will partner Oxford-based Sitryx to develop up to four drug candidates to treat autoimmune disease in a deal worth €811M if development milestones are met. The UK biotech will receive an upfront payment of €46M from the US big pharma, which will also buy €10M of equity in the company. Sitryx can also […] April 3, 2020 - 2 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 23 Mar 2020 Riding the Wave of Cambridge Entrepreneurship The University of Cambridge is world-famous, but unlike its US equivalent, the city isn’t as well known for its startup culture. Jason Mellad, CEO of StartCodon — a new accelerator based there — believes the area is a great place to set up a new biotech. “When I arrived in 2004, there were several people, […] March 23, 2020 - 9 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Expert Advice 11 Mar 2020 Why Women’s Health Can Be a Good Investment Since the Hormone Replacement Therapy market was destroyed almost overnight in 2002 after side effects were reported by researchers, there has been a lot of caution about investing in companies with a focus on women’s health. Mary Kerr, CEO of KaNDy Therapeutics and NeRRe Therapeutics, knows this only too well, but has not let it […] March 11, 2020 - 13 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email