Japan Archives

News and Trends 30 Mar 2023

Could new riboswitch make gene therapy safer?

Turning genes on and off as easily and predictably as flicking a switch could be a powerful tool in medicine and biotech. A type of technology called a riboswitch might be the key.The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) in Japan, in collaboration with Astellas Pharma Inc., has developed a new toolkit that uses […]

March 30, 2023 - 5 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall

News and Trends 14 Mar 2023

Astellas menopause study meets endpoints but leukemia drug disappoints

There was good and bad news this week from Japanese company Astellas Pharma Inc. as one of its trials yielded positive results, while another didn’t meet its endpoints. Astellas Pharma announced pivotal phase 3 results for its study of fezolinetant, an investigational oral, nonhormonal compound being studied for the treatment of moderate to severe vasomotor […]

March 14, 2023 - 4 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall

More News! 2 Mar 2023

Could new dementia treatment come from intestinal bacteria discovery?

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), one of the most common forms of dementia, has no cure. Previous studies suggested that gut bacteria play a role in Parkinson’s disease, another neurodegenerative disorder, but the bacteria involved in dementia with Lewy bodies had not been identified. Now, a group led by researchers at the Nagoya University Graduate […]

March 2, 2023 - 4 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall

News and Trends 2 Mar 2023

New lipid nanoparticle CRISPR delivery system developed

Lipid nanoparticles have been used to encapsulate CRISPR-Cas9 and deliver it to cells in mice, where it was highly effective at knocking down expression of a target protein. Gene therapy is a potential mode of treatment for a wide variety of diseases caused by genetic mutations. While it has been an area of diverse and […]

March 2, 2023 - 3 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall

News and Trends 10 Feb 2023

Heartseed and Novo Nordisk dose first patient in heart failure cell therapy study

Heartseed Inc. and Novo Nordisk A/S say Heartseed has successfully dosed the first patient in a phase 1/2 clinical study (LAPiS Study) with HS-001 – an investigational cell therapy for heart failure. An independent safety evaluation committee has evaluated four-week data on the patient, who lives with advanced heart failure and has given approval for […]

February 10, 2023 - 4 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall

News and Trends 10 Feb 2023

Beyond Biotech podcast 33: Astellas Pharma, Innovation Agency Lithuania, 4basebio

This week, our guests are Romualda Stragienė, director at Innovation Agency Lithuania and Andrius Sliuzas, export key account manager of high tech industries at Innovation Agency Lithuania; 4basebio CEO Heikki Lanckriet; and Yoshitsugu Shitaka, chief scientific officer at Astellas. 4basebio 4basebio, a spinout of 2Invest AG in 2020, is a life sciences company engaged in […]

February 10, 2023 - 2 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall

News and Trends 9 Feb 2023

New method to design new peptide therapeutics

Researchers at Hokkaido University in Japan have developed a novel method to design and develop peptide antibiotics in large numbers, which could prove critical to controlling antibiotic resistance. Applications of new molecules as drugs are expected to be effective in treating diseases that are difficult to cure with currently used conventional drugs. Peptides are one […]

February 9, 2023 - 3 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall

News and Trends 26 Jan 2023

Lupus treatment hope from Japanese miRNA research

A group of researchers from the Graduate School of Medicine at Nagoya University in Japan have discovered the impact of microRNA (miRNA) on inflammation in lupus in mice. They identified two miRNAs that are downregulated in the disease and an uncommon situation that occurs in which multiple miRNAs regulate the same set of genes. Although […]

January 26, 2023 - 5 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall

antibody drug conjugate adc small cancer treatment

News and Trends 12 Jan 2023

Ajinomoto and Exelixis to discover and develop novel ADCs to treat cancer

Ajinomoto Co., Inc. has signed a license agreement with Exelixis, Inc. to incorporate AJICAP, Ajinomoto Co.’s proprietary site-specific bioconjugation and linker technologies, in the development of some of Exelixis’ antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) programs. Exelixis is an oncology-focused biotechnology company looking to accelerate the discovery, development and commercialization of new medicines for difficult-to-treat cancers. Utilizing its […]

January 12, 2023 - 2 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall

News and Trends 9 Jan 2023

Selecta and Astellas sign LOPD treatment agreement

Selecta Biosciences, Inc. and Astellas Pharma Inc. have announced an exclusive licensing and development agreement for IdeXork (Xork). Xork is being studied as a potential next generation immunoglobulin G (IgG) protease that will be developed by Astellas for use with AT845, an investigational, adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based treatment for late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD) in adults. Pompe […]

January 9, 2023 - 3 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall

News and Trends 22 Dec 2022

Japanese companies look to reduce environmental impact

Japanese companies Astellas Pharma Inc., Eisai Co., Ltd., Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited have agreed a collaboration to reduce the environmental impact of pharmaceutical packaging. Based on the agreement, the four companies will aim to promote the use of more environmentally-friendly packaging for pharmaceutical products by sharing knowledge on packaging technologies […]

December 22, 2022 - 2 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall

News and Trends 21 Dec 2022

Artificial DNA can kill cancer

Researchers at the University of Tokyo in Japan have used artificial DNA to target and kill cancer cells in a new way. The method was effective in lab tests against human cervical cancer- and breast cancer-derived cells, and against malignant melanoma cells from mice. The team created a pair of chemically synthesized, hairpin-shaped, cancer-killing DNA. […]

December 21, 2022 - 4 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall

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