In Depth 23 Dec 2020 Humble Beginnings: The Origin Story of Modern Biotechnology The history of modern biotechnology began around four decades ago with the invention of genetic engineering. Genentech, one of the fundamental companies in this field, set many trends for modern biotech companies today. Biotechnology doesn’t necessarily involve labs. In fact, humans have been using forms of biotechnology for millennia, for example, using fermentation to brew […] December 23, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 22 Dec 2020 EMA Greenlights BioNTech and Pfizer mRNA Vaccine for Covid-19 BioNTech and Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, made from messenger RNA, has become the first of its kind to be approved by the EMA. The EMA has granted conditional approval to Comirnaty, a vaccine against Covid-19 developed by BioNTech and Pfizer. The approval comes weeks after the UK became the first country in the world to approve […] December 22, 2020 - 5 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 7 Dec 2020 Swiss Startup Tackles Tourette’s Syndrome Despite Recent Failures In spite of recent failures of clinical trials from others in the field, Swiss company Noema Pharma is gearing up to develop better treatments for the neurological condition Tourette’s syndrome. Noema Pharma will use a recent €49M Series A round to bankroll the phase I development of a candidate for Tourette’s syndrome along with the […] December 7, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 30 Nov 2020 Can Anti-Aging Research Keep Us Healthy in the Long Run? Searching for the fountain of eternal youth has been the dream of humanity for millennia. While this is still in the realm of science fiction, anti-aging companies are hoping to tackle age-related diseases by targeting the underlying biology of aging. While we’ve been hunting for immortality for millennia, there hasn’t been much success. However, an […] November 30, 2020 - 10 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 23 Nov 2020 SynOx Joins Wave of Biotechs Attacking Solid Tumor ‘Comfort Zone’ The newly founded SynOx has become the latest startup to attack solid tumors via their ‘comfort zone’, known as the tumor microenvironment. SynOx was spun out of the UK firm Celleron Therapeutics last week with a huge Series A round of €37M. The fledgling company is developing an antibody drug that Celleron licensed from Roche […] November 23, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 19 Nov 2020 mRNA Stocks Soar with Final Results of BioNTech’s Covid-19 Vaccine The field of messenger RNA therapeutics is flying high as BioNTech and Pfizer conclude a phase III trial with their Covid-19 vaccine showing 95% effectiveness. The phase III trial recruited over 43,000 volunteers to gauge whether Covid-19 infections could be prevented by a vaccine made out of messenger RNA (mRNA). One group received two doses […] November 19, 2020 - 6 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 16 Nov 2020 Innate Immunity in Cancer Gains Recognition with Affimed’s €1.8B Deal Last week’s €1.75B deal between the German biotech Affimed and Swiss giant Roivant backs up an emerging trend of harnessing our innate immune system to treat cancer. According to the deal’s terms, Affimed will receive €51M upfront to license to Roivant a preclinical-stage antibody drug for several undisclosed types of cancer. Roivant will handle the […] November 16, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Best in Biotech 16 Nov 2020 12 Biotech-Themed Online Courses to Try at Home During Lockdown With national lockdowns forcing millions to stay home in the Covid-19 era, this could be a big opportunity to take an online course about the biotech industry and how to run a business in this exciting field. Over the past decade, universities have started offering courses on online platforms such as Coursera and FutureLearn that are […] November 16, 2020 - 8 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 3 Nov 2020 Kiadis’ Natural Killer Cell Therapies Earn €308M Acquisition by Sanofi The French big pharma Sanofi has offered €308M to acquire the Dutch firm Kiadis Pharma and get hold of cancer cell therapies based on a type of immune cells called natural killer cells. The offer comes not long after Sanofi inked a deal worth up to €857.5M to license a preclinical-stage cancer cell therapy from […] November 3, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 29 Oct 2020 Universal Flu Vaccines Yield Second Clinical Failure This Year In a blow to hopes for better protection from seasonal flu, last week’s phase III failure of BiondVax’s universal flu vaccine follows the phase II flop of Vaccitech’s flu vaccine in January. Last week proved a major setback for the Israeli biotech BiondVax. The company’s vaccine — designed to protect against multiple strains of flu […] October 29, 2020 - 5 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 14 Oct 2020 Spatial Transcriptomics Landscape Shifts With Two Major Acquisitions The Swedish firm Cartana and US-based ReadCoor have recently been snapped up by the US giant 10x Genomics to get hold of their spatial transcriptomics technology. What impact will these acquisitions have on the burgeoning field going forward? Last week, 10x Genomics took over ReadCoor for a smooth €298M ($350M). This followed the acquisition of […] October 14, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 5 Oct 2020 Galapagos’ Arthritis Drug Approved in EU and Japan Amid US Rejection The recent EU and Japan approvals of the rheumatoid arthritis drug filgotinib contrast with the FDA’s rejection in August. What does this signal for Galapagos, Gilead, and other biotechs working in inflammatory disease? For Galapagos and Gilead, it’s been a rollercoaster few months. In August, the FDA decided against approving their drug filgotinib for treating […] October 5, 2020 - 5 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email