News and Trends 10 Dec 2018 Scientists Repurpose Skin Cells to Fight Cancer Researchers have reprogrammed skin cells to make them behave like immune cell sentinels called dendritic cells, which can recruit the immune system to fight tumors. This discovery makes a step toward better cancer immunotherapy. “We are merging two different areas of research,” Carlos-Filipe Pereira, from Lund University, Sweden, said to me. “One of them is […] December 10, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 5 Dec 2018 Llama-Inspired Antibodies Succeed in Clinical Trials and Financial Deal Autoimmune disease and acute myeloid leukemia may have a llama-inspired antibody treatment one day. The Dutch company argenx’s antibodies have shown positive results in clinical trials, and have attracted Janssen into a collaboration to advance their use in cancer immunotherapy. In a phase II trial, the company’s lead antibody, efgartigimod, reduced the number of bleeding […] December 5, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 30 Nov 2018 Update: UK Biotech Scores £5M Series A to Boost Next-Generation Cancer Antibodies Update (30/11/2018): IGEM Therapeutics has increased the total raised in Series A to £5M (€5.6M) with the participation of two new investors, Alsa Holdings and UCL Technology Fund. The funding will go towards the development of a new generation of antibody drugs for cancer. Published on 20/06/2017 IGEM Therapeutics has raised £2M (€2.3M) in Series A […] November 30, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Startup Scout 23 Nov 2018 This Biotech Arms Tumor-Busting Cells to Treat Cancer In the medieval city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, Lava Therapeutics is developing a cancer immunotherapy that arms a rare type of immune cell called gamma delta T cells. Mission: Develop antibodies that recruit innate immune cells near tumors and activate them to kill cancer cells. T cells are immune cells that have a strong potential […] November 23, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 22 Nov 2018 First Drug for Rare Inflammation Syndrome Approved by FDA The FDA has approved the first drug for the treatment of a rare condition in which the body produces too many active immune cells, developed in a Swiss-Swedish partnership. The antibody drug, emapalumab, is approved to treat primary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. This condition is a rare, often fatal syndrome in which the immune system produces too […] November 22, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 20 Nov 2018 Genentech and Immunocore Expand Partnership to Develop Cancer Immunotherapy Immunocore and the US biotech giant Genentech are building on their existing partnership to boost the clinical development of Immunocore’s immunotherapy for treating solid tumors. In the agreement, Genentech, a member of the Roche group, will pay UK-based Immunocore €87.3M ($100M) in an upfront payment and further undisclosed milestone payments as the immunotherapy progresses towards […] November 20, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 12 Nov 2018 This UK Biotech Wants to Make Antibodies Easy to Swallow Say goodbye to painful antibody injections. The UK biotech Intract Pharma has received a €1.6M grant to advance oral immunotherapy based on approved antibodies, causing less discomfort for patients. The grant, awarded by public agency Innovate UK, will help Intract develop oral versions of existing antibody therapies. This could make the treatments easier for patients […] November 12, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 31 Oct 2018 Multiple Myeloma Antibody Therapy Achieves Positive Phase III Results An antibody therapy for the blood cancer multiple myeloma achieved positive results at Phase III, decreasing the risk of the disease getting worse and patient death by 45% in a Phase III trial. The blockbuster antibody daratumumab, developed by Janssen using a license from the Danish company Genmab, was given to patients in combination with […] October 31, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 25 Oct 2018 Mastering the Competitive World of Immuno-oncology In recent years the oncology world has focused on using the immune system to target cancer, with CAR-T cell therapy and other success stories revolutionizing the field. Ulf Grawunder, CEO and founder of NBE Therapeutics, a company using antibody drug conjugates to target cancer, discussed how to navigate the competitive area of immuno-oncology at our […] October 25, 2018 - 5 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 22 Oct 2018 Innate’s Cancer Immunotherapy Combo Beats Standard Treatment Twofold A combination cancer immunotherapy from French biotech Innate Pharma was twice as effective at treating recurrent squamous cell carcinoma as standard therapy in a Phase II trial. Squamous cell carcinoma is a head and neck cancer that forms lesions in the mucous membranes of body cavities such as the mouth, nose and throat. “Patients are […] October 22, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 16 Oct 2018 Cancer Immunotherapy Biotech Raises €34M on Nasdaq Stockholm The Swedish biotech Immunicum has issued shares worth up to almost €34M on Nasdaq Stockholm, in an effort to accelerate the development of its cancer immunotherapy. Immunicum plans to use most of the funding to run a Phase Ib/II clinical trial that will test its lead cell therapy candidate in combination with checkpoint inhibitors to […] October 16, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 10 Oct 2018 Cancer Immunotherapy Phase I on Hold After Patient Death The German biotech Affimed has halted two Phase I trials of its cancer immunotherapy after three patients suffered neurotoxicity due to the treatment, causing the death of one of them. Affimed was testing its immunotherapy AFM11 in 33 patients diagnosed with white blood cell cancer in two Phase I trials. One trial tested the therapy […] October 10, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email