News and Trends 10 Dec 2018 Scientists Repurpose Skin Cells to Fight Cancer Researchers have reprogrammed skin cells to make them behave like immune cell sentinels called dendritic cells, which can recruit the immune system to fight tumors. This discovery makes a step toward better cancer immunotherapy. “We are merging two different areas of research,” Carlos-Filipe Pereira, from Lund University, Sweden, said to me. “One of them is […] December 10, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Startup Scout 7 Dec 2018 This Hypoallergenic Vaccine Could Alleviate Hay Fever Faster Than Approved Vaccines We decided to make a visit to Espoo, Finland, this week, to visit Desentum. The company is developing allergy vaccines that could be safer and faster than approved vaccines. Mission: To make a vaccine that decreases the time taken to reduce allergies compared with approved vaccines, which contain the natural allergen. Desentum plans to do […] December 7, 2018 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 5 Dec 2018 Llama-Inspired Antibodies Succeed in Clinical Trials and Financial Deal Autoimmune disease and acute myeloid leukemia may have a llama-inspired antibody treatment one day. The Dutch company argenx’s antibodies have shown positive results in clinical trials, and have attracted Janssen into a collaboration to advance their use in cancer immunotherapy. In a phase II trial, the company’s lead antibody, efgartigimod, reduced the number of bleeding […] December 5, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 4 Dec 2018 Gene Therapies for Blood Disorders Marching Through the Clinic Gene therapy holds great potential as a cure for blood disorders such as hemophilia and sickle cell disease, which have limited treatment options. This week, several gene therapy companies have released promising clinical trial results in hemophilia and sickle cell anemia. Presenting at the 2018 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, Dutch company uniQure […] December 4, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 3 Dec 2018 First-in-Class Cancer Drug Gets €50M Boost The biopharmaceutical company Aprea Therapeutics has raised €50M to fund a Phase III trial of its first-in-class cancer drug candidate, which kills tumor cells by restoring the function of a key anti-cancer protein called p53. Aprea’s planned Phase III trial will test the company’s lead candidate small molecule drug combined with the chemotherapy drug azacitidine. […] December 3, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Startup Scout 30 Nov 2018 This Biotech Speeds Up Blood Infection Diagnosis In the city of Cardiff, UK, Momentum Bioscience aims to trim down the unnecessary use of antimicrobial drugs in hospitals. To do this, it is developing molecular diagnostics that, within hours, tell doctors when or when not to use antibiotics in patients with a suspected blood infection. Mission: When diagnosing blood infections, physicians often need […] November 30, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 29 Nov 2018 Long-Lasting Placenta Organoids Could Improve Pregnancy Research Researchers have made 3D placenta organoids from human cells that can last for over a year, improving over the current models to study disease in pregnancy and develop drugs. Researchers at the University of Cambridge grew the organoids from stem cells extracted from donated placenta tissue at 6-9 weeks of pregnancy. The organoids replicated the […] November 29, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 28 Nov 2018 Navigating the Rare Disease Space: Insights from a Danish CEO Developing drugs for rare diseases is a tough nut for biotech companies to crack. Labiotech’s Helen Albert interviewed the CEO of the Danish company Orphazyme, Anders Hinsby, at the recent BIO-Europe conference in Copenhagen, who told her about the appeals and challenges of making it in the rare disease space. Traditionally, the low number of […] November 28, 2018 - 5 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 26 Nov 2018 Smart Asthma Inhaler Fails Phase III It is bad news for asthma sufferers, as a UK biotech has abandoned the development of its smart inhaler after finding that it was no better than placebo in a Phase III trial. Over 52 weeks of treatment, the company Vectura tested whether the inhaler reduced the worsening of asthma symptoms, such as wheezing and […] November 26, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Startup Scout 23 Nov 2018 This Biotech Arms Tumor-Busting Cells to Treat Cancer In the medieval city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, Lava Therapeutics is developing a cancer immunotherapy that arms a rare type of immune cell called gamma delta T cells. Mission: Develop antibodies that recruit innate immune cells near tumors and activate them to kill cancer cells. T cells are immune cells that have a strong potential […] November 23, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 22 Nov 2018 First Drug for Rare Inflammation Syndrome Approved by FDA The FDA has approved the first drug for the treatment of a rare condition in which the body produces too many active immune cells, developed in a Swiss-Swedish partnership. The antibody drug, emapalumab, is approved to treat primary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. This condition is a rare, often fatal syndrome in which the immune system produces too […] November 22, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 21 Nov 2018 Leo Pharma Enters Partnership to Develop Topical Treatment for Rare Skin Cancer The Danish company Leo Pharma and the US biotech PellePharm have joined forces to develop a topical treatment for rare forms of skin cancer. In the partnership, dermatology specialist Leo Pharma is paying PellePharm €61M. This is to fund a Phase III trial of PellePharm’s topical drug to treat the skin cancer Gorlin syndrome, which has no […] November 21, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email