News and Trends 29 Jul 2019 €43M Series C to Launch UK Company’s Home Hemodialysis Kit Quanta Dialysis Technologies has raised €43.2M ($48M) to fund the commercial launch of a device that makes home hemodialysis more straightforward and economical for kidney failure patients. The UK-based Quanta will use the money to launch its technology in the UK later this year, and also apply for FDA approval. The technology previously obtained a […] July 29, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Startup Scout 26 Jul 2019 This Biotech Makes Food for Space Missions Using Bacteria Time to head to Helsinki, Finland, this week! We’re visiting Solar Foods, a biotech using bacteria to produce protein-rich flour out of carbon dioxide and water. Mission: To develop a protein-rich powder that can be made with little more than bacteria, electricity and water. This production method could be more efficient and sustainable than traditional […] July 26, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 25 Jul 2019 French Biotech Aims for Chikungunya Vaccine First with €21M Fundraise The French vaccine developer Valneva has received a €21M ($23.4M) grant to catch up with the competition in commercializing the first potential vaccine for the chikungunya virus. Coming from the nonprofit Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the grant will boost the manufacturing and development of Valneva’s vaccine for the tropical disease chikungunya, which causes […] July 25, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 25 Jul 2019 German Biotech Breath Therapeutics Acquired in Deal Worth up to €500M The Italian company Zambon has acquired the German biotech Breath Therapeutics for up to €500M, getting hold of its treatment for a rare lung disease known as popcorn lung. The deal includes an upfront payment of €140M and up to €360M upon reaching undisclosed regulatory milestones. Zambon will take over the development of a treatment […] July 25, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 23 Jul 2019 HIV Drug Suppresses Virus for Almost Two Years When Other Treatments Fail A first-in-class HIV treatment developed by the UK company ViiV Healthcare has suppressed the virus in people who have become resistant to other antiretroviral drugs, providing protection for at least 96 weeks. The phase III trial tested ViiV Healthcare’s first-in-class drug fostemsavir in 272 HIV-infected people who had failed to respond to approved antiretroviral drugs. […] July 23, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 22 Jul 2019 Turning Shelved Drugs into a New Promise for Immuno-Oncology After working for 12 years at Merck, Catherine Pickering decided to take a risk and create iOnctura, a spin-out company exploring a new application in immuno-oncology for a drug candidate that had been shelved. In the last decade, there has been a massive boom in the development of cancer therapies that use and enhance the […] July 22, 2019 - 5 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 19 Jul 2019 Mallinckrodt Teams up with UK RNAi Biotech in Deal Worth up to €553M The UK-based biotech Silence Therapeutics has signed a deal worth up to €553M ($693M) with the UK pharma company Mallinckrodt to develop RNA interference (RNAi) therapies for autoimmune diseases. Mallinckrodt will pay Silence Therapeutics €17.8M ($20M) upfront, and up to €600M ($673M) in developmental milestone payments. In exchange, it will get a license for an […] July 19, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Startup Scout 19 Jul 2019 This Biotech Breaks Down ‘Undruggable’ Proteins to Treat Cancer In the Polish city of Wrocław, Captor Therapeutics is developing cancer treatments that destroy disease-causing proteins. Mission: To develop cancer treatments able to degrade proteins that are normally outside the reach of traditional drugs, called the ‘undruggable proteome’. Small molecule drugs are able to target a small minority of proteins in the cell, such as […] July 19, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 19 Jul 2019 UK VC Medicxi Closes Third Fund with €400M to Boost European Biotech The UK-based venture capital investment firm Medicxi has closed its third fund, totaling €400M, to nurture early- and late-stage healthcare biotech companies in Europe. The firm will begin investing in the first beneficiary companies of this fund in the next few months. The big round was raised in just six weeks, and dwarfs Medicxi’s previous […] July 19, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 18 Jul 2019 Genmab’s Huge IPO Raises €450M to Develop Antibody Drugs The Danish biotech Genmab has made a big splash on the Nasdaq, raising a €450M ($506M) IPO to fuel its antibody drug programs in cancer, autoimmune diseases, and more. This IPO is one of the biggest in biotech history, behind the whopping €530M Nasdaq entry from US mRNA biotech Moderna last year. It’s also to […] July 18, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 18 Jul 2019 Swiss Pneumonia Antibiotic Abandoned in Phase III The Swiss biotech Polyphor has discontinued two phase III trials of its antibiotic for treating pneumonia after halting both trials due to safety concerns in May. The two phase III trials were testing Polyphor’s intravenous antibiotic murepavadin in hospitalized patients with pneumonia. In May, Polyphor halted the two trials due to an unexpectedly high incidence […] July 18, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 17 Jul 2019 Scientists in Belgium Cure Anthrax in Mice by Smashing Bacteria’s Armor Belgian researchers have developed a potential treatment for anthrax that breaks down the bacteria’s thick protein armor. Anthrax is a deadly type of bacteria famous for its use in terrorist attacks in 2001. Although anthrax infections can be treated with antibiotics, they can prove hard to treat when the bacteria are inhaled or ingested. Scientists […] July 17, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email