News and Trends 5 Apr 2017 Heptares Takes Home €11M for its Next-Generation Checkpoint Inhibitor Heptares Therapeutics has achieved a new milestone in its immuno-oncology collaboration with AstraZeneca triggering an €11M payment from AstraZeneca. Heptares has announced the wrap-up of its preclinical programme for a new checkpoint inhibitor, AZD4635 that reverses adenosine-mediated T cell suppression and enhances anti-tumor immunity. The British company will now receive an €11M ($12M) milestone payment from AstraZeneca, who obtained exclusive global rights […] April 5, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 20 Mar 2017 Immuno-oncology is Overcrowded – Here is Where Startups Can Succeed The unprecedented competition in the field represents a daunting challenge for companies trying to break in. A BIO-Europe Panel discussed remaining niches. BIO Europe’s panel on immuno-oncology was perhaps the most popular of the day, as attendees filled the room to hear the thoughts of John Haurum, CEO of F-star; Christophe Quéva, CSO of iTeos; and […] March 20, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 16 Mar 2017 “In the Coming Decade, Off-the-Shelf Cell Therapy will Become a Reality” David Sourdive, co-founder of Cellectis, discusses his pioneering work developing off-the-shelf CAR-T for cancer and the future directions of cell therapy. Last week I had the opportunity to attend the World ADOPT Summit and hear from some of the world leaders in cell therapy. There I met David Sourdive, co-founder and EVP Technical Operations at Cellectis, […] March 16, 2017 - 4 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 16 Mar 2017 Researchers Develop New Virus to Selectively Attack Tumor Cells Researchers from Barcelona have developed a new genetically engineered oncolytic virus, which can selectively infect and kill tumor cells. Eneko Villanueva and colleagues from the IDIBAPS Biomedical Research Institute and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) have engineered a virus that infects tumor cells without affecting healthy tissues. Their new cancer therapy approach is based […] March 16, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 16 Mar 2017 UK Immunotherapy Biotech raises Massive Funding in Series C The UK biotech Cell Medica picked up a massive €69M (£60M) in its recent Series C funding round to advance its cancer immunotherapy programs. Cell Medica is a clinical stage company developing cell-based therapies to treat cancer. With the aim of advancing the clinical development of its immunotherapies, the company was able to raise an impressive […] March 16, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 21 Feb 2017 New Immunotherapy Candidate receives FDA Fast Track Designation Cell Medica’s Orphan Drug CMD-003 has received fast track designation by the FDA to advance immunotherapy of patients with Epstein Bar Virus (EBV)-associated malignancies. The FDA’s fast track designation has been designed to facilitate and accelerate the development of drugs which fill a major unmet medical need. It has now been granted to Cell Medica’s lead EBV immunotherapy […] February 21, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 14 Feb 2017 Suffering from House Dust Mite Allergy? A New Therapy is on its Way Allergy Therapeutics, a UK-based biotech company, just announced the approval of its clinical trial application in Spain to advance its next-generation house dust mite allergy vaccine into phase I clinical development. The company Allergy Therapeutics is developing immunotherapeutic vaccines for the treatment of allergies and has been quite successful. Their Pollinex Quattro range of vaccines against […] February 14, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Infographics 13 Feb 2017 Infographic: What’s in Europe’s Immuno-oncology Pipeline? While some might accuse the field of being over-hyped, immuno-oncology continues to attract attention and investment for its potential to cure cancer. What new therapies are European biotech cooking up? Since the dawn of immuno-oncology broke with checkpoint inhibitors, innovative therapies like Keytruda and Rituxan from big pharma have taken the world by storm. European biotech’s pipeline is […] February 13, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 7 Feb 2017 British Synbio’s Llama Antibodies recruited for Cancer T-Cell Therapy Isogenica has licensed its synthetic llama antibody library to Maverick Therapeutics, which develops cancer T-cell therapies designed to reduce side effects. Isogenica is a synthetic biology company near Cambridge that develops libraries of therapeutic antibodies. The biotech has granted US-based Maverick Therapeutics licenses to its llamdA VHH antibody library for the discovery, development and commercialization of […] February 7, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 25 Jan 2017 Update: From Lupus to a Vaccine for Diabetes Type I? Dates Announced Update (25/01/2016): NeoVacs has announced plans to obtain preclinical proof of concept in 2017 for its type 1 diabetes program and to initiate clinical development in the first half of 2018 with the recommendation of its Scientific Advisory Board. Published on 13/10/2016 Neovacs has announced a research collaboration that could lead to the development of […] January 25, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 23 Jan 2017 French Biotech partners with Merck to Fight Tumor Resistance Domain Therapeutics and Merck have partnered up to develop immuno-oncology drug candidates that can boost the performance of checkpoint inhibitors. Domain Therapeutics has entered a collaboration and licensing agreement with German Merck in immuno-oncology. The big pharma is offering over €240M in milestones and will support research activities in exchange for worldwide rights to new drug candidates targeting […] January 23, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 23 Jan 2017 “Senior Staff Snobbery separates Academia from the Biotech Industry” We caught up with Mark Lowdell, Director of Cellular Therapeutics and the RFH/UCL Cancer Biobank. As one of the few successful scientist-entrepreneurs, he has some ideas about bridging academia and industry in biomedicine. Mark Lowdell was introduced to me by his business partner, RJ Tesi. Tesi co-founded INmune Bio, a promising California-based startup, on Lowdell’s […] January 23, 2017 - 6 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email