News and Trends 17 Jan 2020 International Collaboration on Brink of Resurrecting Northern White Rhinos An international collaboration called BioRescue has taken a step forward in bringing back the Northern White Rhino with the creation of three embryos, which it hopes to bring to term in a surrogate in the coming months. The BioRescue team, including researchers based at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Germany, extracted egg […] January 17, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Startup Scout 17 Jan 2020 This Biotech Is Developing a Pill to Rival Antibiotics in Vaginal Infections Gedea Biotech is nestled in the historic city of Lund, Sweden. The company is developing a pill that could tackle recurrent bacterial vaginosis infections without harming the vaginal microbiome like current antibiotics do. Mission: To develop a pill that can clear bacterial vaginosis by restoring normal acidity levels in the vagina, which helps good bacteria […] January 17, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 16 Jan 2020 Biotech Investment Firm Jeito Capital Launches with €200M Fund The French investment firm Jeito Capital has launched this week with a €200M fund that will support up to 15 drug-development start-ups with a focus on European companies. Jeito Capital is the brainchild of Rafaèle Tordjman, whose background in medicine and research as well as investment in life sciences led her to setting up the […] January 16, 2020 - 2 minutesmins - By External Contributor Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 16 Jan 2020 BioNTech Expands Cancer Portfolio With US Biotech Acquisition German cancer specialist BioNTech will acquire US T-cell therapy biotech Neon Therapeutics in a deal worth €60M, both to expand its cancer therapy pipeline and establish a US base. The deal is expected to complete in the second half of 2020, after which Neon will operate as a subsidiary of BioNTech. BioNTech has arguably scooped […] January 16, 2020 - 2 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 15 Jan 2020 Adaptimmune to Take Off-The-Shelf CAR-T to Phase I with Astellas The UK biotech Adaptimmune Therapeutics has inked a deal worth up to €806M with Japanese Astellas Pharma to complete phase I trials of candidate off-the-shelf T-cell therapies for cancer including CAR T-cell and TCR therapies. According to the deal, Adaptimmune will collaborate with Universal Cells, a subsidiary of Astellas. The partners will aim to identify […] January 15, 2020 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Expert Advice 15 Jan 2020 How to Spot a Biotech Winner: Investment Lessons from Sofinnova Making one biotech a success is hard enough, but correctly predicting multiple winners is the bread and butter of Antoine Papiernik, Managing Partner of Sofinnova Partners, one of the biggest and most prosperous life science venture capital investors in Europe. Papiernik began his career in corporate finance. In 1995, he was working in investment in […] January 15, 2020 - 10 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 14 Jan 2020 Update: Horizon Discovery to Offer Partners Precise CRISPR Gene Editing Update (14/01/20): Horizon Discovery will offer partners access to a precise version of CRISPR gene editing technology it has licensed from researchers at Rutgers University in the US. After a year of research and development, the UK biotech has incorporated the base-editing technique into its drug discovery platform and will use it to develop better […] January 14, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 14 Jan 2020 Bluebird Bio Launches First Gene Therapy for Beta Thalassemia in Germany The US company bluebird bio has launched the first gene therapy for the blood disorder transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia in the EU, with a hospital in Germany becoming its first qualified treatment center. Bluebird bio’s gene therapy, branded as Zynteglo, was given conditional market approval by the EU in June 2019. It was the first gene […] January 14, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 14 Jan 2020 What’s the Secret to Making Returns in Industrial Biotech? As industrial biotech starts gaining more and more traction, investors need to change their mindset in order to start making returns in this promising field. Microorganisms have been helping us make food and drink since ancient times. Thanks to the industrial biotech revolution, these microbes could soon be responsible for manufacturing anything from clothing to […] January 14, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 13 Jan 2020 KaNDy’s Menopause Treatment Tackles Hot Flashes in Phase II A non-hormonal menopause treatment that targets the brain’s ‘thermostat’, developed by the UK company KaNDy Therapeutics, has significantly reduced hot flashes and improved quality of life in postmenopausal women in a phase IIb trial. The 199 women recruited into the study were experiencing a minimum of seven hot flashes per day. After 12 weeks of […] January 13, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 10 Jan 2020 Eyevensys’ Gene Therapy for Blindness Boosted with €27M Series B The French company Eyevensys has raised €27M to fund the launch of a phase II trial for its lead candidate, a non-viral gene therapy for an eye condition called uveitis that can lead to blindness. The Series B round was led by the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund. New investors to Eyevensys in this round included […] January 10, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Startup Scout 10 Jan 2020 This Biotech Makes Easily Implantable Artificial Cornea Transplants CorNeat Vision, based in Israel, is developing an easily-implantable and affordable artificial cornea that could one day replace donor corneas in people needing transplants and therefore address the shortage of donor tissue. Mission: To develop a cornea made from plastic that is easier to supply and implant than donor corneas. The implant is also designed […] January 10, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email