News and Trends 4 Dec 2020 EU Launches Pharma Strategy, Raising Both Hopes and Questions The public’s response has been cautious after the European Union unveiled a pharmaceutical strategy last week designed to spur domestic innovation and the production of affordable, state-of-the-art therapies. Amid a boom in biotech funding driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, the European Commission (EC) is scrambling to bring its sometimes fragmented pharma regulatory framework up to […] December 4, 2020 - 6 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev 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 27 Nov 2020 uniQure Stocks Up With First Phase III Results of Hemophilia B Gene Therapy Gene therapies for the rare blood clotting disorder hemophilia B have taken a step closer to the market as Dutch developer uniQure became the first to release interim phase III results last week. Hemophilia is an inherited disease caused by mutations to genes encoding blood clotting proteins, resulting in uncontrollable bleeds. In severe cases of […] November 27, 2020 - 5 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 26 Nov 2020 AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 Vaccine Proves Its Worth in Phase III A much anticipated Covid-19 vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, achieved 70% efficacy in phase III interim data. While less effective on paper, it could prove cheaper and easier to distribute than its most advanced competitors. Scientists and politicians heartily received the announcement of promising interim clinical trial results from the Covid-19 […] November 26, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Kostas Vavitsas Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Expert Advice 25 Nov 2020 How to Weather Bad Press as a Biotech Company Biomedical companies face unique challenges when it comes to media communication. Crisis communication, in particular, can make or break a company — all the more so in a sector as sensitive as healthcare. Crises can strike a biotech company at any point — the dream partner company that had shot you to fame dumps you […] November 25, 2020 - 7 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev 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
Interview 23 Nov 2020 CDMOs Are the Unsung Heroes of the Gene and Cell Therapy Revolution Cell and gene therapy is booming amid the ongoing pandemic, and this is driving up demand for synthetic DNA products, often produced and delivered by CDMOs. Karen Fallen started her career at Celltech Biologics in the UK, which was acquired in 1996 by Swiss giant Lonza, a world leader in the pharmaceutical manufacturing space. She […] November 23, 2020 - 5 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 20 Nov 2020 Breakthroughs in Decentralized Testing Could Contain Covid-19 Hospital facilities in Europe are being pushed to their limits as the Covid-19 pandemic continues into winter. Coronavirus testing that doesn’t require a central lab is now arriving on the scene, and it could be the solution to effectively monitor and contain the disease. Despite the recent announcements of promising phase III data on Covid-19 […] November 20, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Kostas Vavitsas 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
In Depth 11 Nov 2020 GMO Regulations in Europe Are “Not Fit for Purpose” The controversial decision by the European courts in 2018 to regulate gene-edited organisms as GMOs has had a damaging effect on biotech companies working in this area. The current GMO regulations were established in Europe in 2001 and were designed to strictly regulate the introduction of DNA from other species into animals and plants. These […] November 11, 2020 - 8 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email