In Depth 25 Oct 2021 Biotech Startups Face a Growing Wave of Cyberattacks The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic last year triggered a wave of cyberattacks in the life sciences industry, and the problem is likely to get worse. Biotech startups need to improve their cybersecurity, but where should they start? In January 2020, it was time to open the champagne for Andrew Sewell, Professor of Infection and […] October 25, 2021 - 11 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 22 Oct 2021 Gene-Edited T Cell Therapy Players Battle Safety Doubts Confidence in gene-edited T cell therapies from donor cells has faltered as Allogene Therapeutics paused all clinical development following the detection of an unexpected genetic change in a clinical trial. Industry experts see these events as a reality check for the nascent field. Off-the-shelf treatments that use genetically engineered T cells to treat diseases suffered […] October 22, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Anita Chakraverty Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 20 Oct 2021 Arming Biological Nanobots to Deliver Drugs Inside Our Bodies Nanobots are tiny biological machines that can deliver drugs to the target destination to make them more efficacious and reduce side effects, which are the biggest challenges of drug delivery. Traditional drug treatments, for example cancer chemotherapy, can come with toxic compounds that indiscriminately damage healthy tissues. Nanobots could circumvent this issue by protecting the […] October 20, 2021 - 7 minutesmins - By Carlos de Rojas Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 19 Oct 2021 Biotech VCs Face Funding Bulge Amid Struggling Stock Markets Despite volatile biotech stocks limiting options for exit, Sofinnova Partners’ latest €472M fund highlights ballooning European venture capital and its growing focus on early-stage biotech investments. Biotech fundraising broke records in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic swept the globe. This year seems set to continue biotech’s winning streak in private fundraising. One example is a […] October 19, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 15 Oct 2021 Third-Generation DNA Sequencing Shines with Oxford Nanopore’s IPO Oxford Nanopore Technologies, until recently one of very few unicorns in the European biotech industry, had a stellar IPO on the London Stock Exchange late last month. This is ushering in a whole new generation of DNA sequencing, genetics research, and diagnostics. During the first day of the IPO, which bagged the firm over €400M […] October 15, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 13 Oct 2021 Thinking About Risk Early on Is Key for Cell Therapy Success For cell therapy to become mainstream, important issues such as management of risk and quality control need to be addressed, argues Duncan Borthwick, Global Marketing Manager at cell therapy manufacturing firm Solentim. Research and development of cell therapies, along with other advanced medicines like gene therapies, has increased exponentially over the last few years. According […] October 13, 2021 - 7 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 12 Oct 2021 The Top European Biotech Investment Rounds in September Initial public offerings by European biotech companies were hot in September, and companies developing technologies including sequencing and bioinformatics received big private and public investments. Last month, European and Israeli biotech companies raised over €1.5B in 42 deals, which included initial public offerings (IPOs) and private financing rounds. This was more than triple the total […] October 12, 2021 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 11 Oct 2021 A Cure for Cancer? How CAR-T Cell Therapy is Revolutionizing Oncology CAR-T therapy has been hailed as a cure for cancer, but what really is this ‘miraculous technology’ and what can we actually expect from it? The field of immuno-oncology is booming with billions of euros in investment. The ability to rewire our own immune system to fight cancer has certainly created huge expectations. After the […] October 11, 2021 - 10 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 11 Oct 2021 Longevity Foundation to Fund Geroscience Research with €860M The newly-created Longevity Science Foundation aims to extend the human lifespan to more than 120 years by channeling over €860M ($1B) into early-stage geroscience research in the next decade. Experts say that’s a worthy if complex goal. Based in Zug, Switzerland, the Longevity Science Foundation will prioritize four areas of research: personalized medicine, therapeutics, artificial […] October 11, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 7 Oct 2021 Exscientia IPO Attracts Tech Investor Bets to AI Drug Discovery Exscientia’s lucrative entry onto the Nasdaq last week demonstrated investors are still excited by efforts to use artificial intelligence to fuel drug discovery, with global tech investors often taking the lead. The Oxford, UK-based company Exscientia has one of the most mature artificial intelligence (AI)-focused drug discovery pipelines, alongside companies like BenevolentAI in the UK, […] October 7, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Expert Advice 5 Oct 2021 How to Choose the Right Headquarters for Your Biotech Startup Choosing where to plant your biotech company’s roots is a fundamental question driven by access to capital, talent, and infrastructure. But the pandemic is accelerating a decentralization movement, changing the way companies think about headquarters. Regions like the Bay Area and Boston in the US, or the UK’s golden triangle remain huge draws for biotech […] October 5, 2021 - 6 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 4 Oct 2021 Non-Viral Gene Therapies Get €51M Boost, Though Challenges Remain Although most gene therapy still relies on non-infectious viral vectors for delivery, a recent venture financing round for the Swiss company Anjarium Biosciences has shone the spotlight on alternative vectors, including lipid nanoparticles and electric pulses. Last month, Anjarium Biosciences raised €51M (CHF55.5M) in a Series A financing round to advance its gene delivery system […] October 4, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email