News and Trends 26 Jul 2018 EU Court of Justice Makes Restrictive Ruling on Genome Editing Genetically-edited organisms that were until now excluded from GMO regulation will now be subject to EU GMO law, which according to experts could harm Europe’s leading position in genome editing. Following a petition from France’s Council of State, the Court of Justice of the EU has stated that mutagenesis techniques should be regulated under GMO […] July 26, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 26 Jul 2018 Plastic Type Key to Eco-Friendly Breakdown by Soil Microbes Swiss research shows that bacteria and fungi in the soil are able to comprehensively break down some types of plastic, but not others. Thin plastic ‘mulch’ films are commonly used by farmers on fields to prevent weeds, but it is often extremely difficult to collect these films after they have been used. “While plastic that […] July 26, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 26 Jul 2018 Replimune’s €85M IPO set to Boost Oncolytic Immunotherapy Pipeline The US-UK biotech completed its $100M (€85M) IPO on the NASDAQ stock exchange to further develop ‘oncolytic’ immunotherapies that use the herpes virus to target and attack tumor tissue. Replimune’s immunotherapies use the virus to deliver proteins into tumor tissue that help it fuse with the tumor cells. When the virus fuses to tumor cells, it activates […] July 26, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 26 Jul 2018 AI Company Raises €8.6M to Find Drugs for Rare Diseases Faster and Cheaper Than Ever Cambridge-based Healx has raised $10M (€8.6M) in a Series A round to scale up its AI technology, which could significantly reduce the time and cost of developing drugs for rare diseases. Backed, among other investors, by the founder of Abcam, Healx plans to use the fundraising to double its workforce from 15 to over 30 […] July 26, 2018 - 4 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 25 Jul 2018 Could These Groundbreaking Therapies Make Conventional Antibiotics a Thing of the Past? With the rise of antimicrobial resistance across the globe, and with a dire lack of new antibiotics in the pipeline, more attention is going towards developing innovative treatments and technologies that kill superbugs in completely new ways. Here, we take a closer look at some of the most promising of these technologies emerging from the […] July 25, 2018 - 5 minutesmins - By Farhan Mitha Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 25 Jul 2018 Two Drugs as Good as Three for Treating HIV ViiV Healthcare reports promising data from two HIV treatments with two drugs instead of the usual three, which have the potential to reduce the side effects of antiretroviral therapy in the long term. People infected with HIV are treated with lifelong antiretroviral therapy, which traditionally consists of three or more different drugs. The British […] July 25, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 25 Jul 2018 Austrian Researchers Grow Cancerous Mini Brains in a Dish Researchers in Vienna are growing mini brains that mimic the onset and development of brain cancer, which could be used to compare the efficacy of different treatments. Because of their cellular complexity, brain cancers have been difficult to study in animals. Glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer, is particularly difficult to treat because […] July 25, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 24 Jul 2018 Celyad’s Donor Cell CAR-T Therapy Gets Closer to the Clinic Celyad has received FDA approval to start clinical trials for its CAR-T cell therapy, which is engineered to avoid side effects associated with using donor cells for this kind of treatment. The Belgian biotech has been cleared to test its CAR-T cell therapy, made from donor cells, in patients with unresectable colorectal cancer in combination […] July 24, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 24 Jul 2018 Meet the Dutch Scientists who Invented Keytruda, “The President’s Drug” Known for curing US President Jimmy Carter’s cancer, Keytruda continues to benefit many other cancer patients. The inventors told us their story, from the drug’s early days to their current role as executives of the biotech unicorn Aduro. Since 2014, the cancer drug Keytruda, also known as pembrolizumab, continues to be widely sought after due […] July 24, 2018 - 6 minutesmins - By Editorial Team Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 23 Jul 2018 UK Biotech to Launch Rapid, Accurate HIV Test in Europe UK-biotech Owen Mumford plans to launch an HIV diagnostic test in Europe that can produce an accurate result within 15 minutes. Current rapid diagnostic tests for HIV can lead to misdiagnosis, for example when steps in the procedure are not followed in the right order, or too little blood is drawn. The new test, called […] July 23, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 23 Jul 2018 Sangamo Acquires French Biotech to Develop CAR-T Therapies for Autoimmune Disease Sangamo Therapeutics has acquired TxCell with a view to utilizing its CAR-T technology to prevent organ transplant rejections and treat autoimmune disease. Sangamo, based in California, is known for bringing the first in-vivo gene therapy to the market. The company entered into an agreement to purchase TxCell for €72M. Sangamo plans to combine its zinc […] July 23, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 21 Jul 2018 Somewhere in Between: Exploring Art and Science Collaborations The latest art and science exhibition at the Wellcome Collection, Somewhere in Between, explores ideas about cattle farming, multisensory synaesthesia, sexual health and virus transmission, and the human capacity to breathe. In an unprecedented level of collaboration, the exhibition is comprised of four art-science projects stemming from projects funded by the Wellcome Trust with the […] July 21, 2018 - 4 minutesmins - By External Contributor Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email