Startup Scout 30 Nov 2018 This Biotech Speeds Up Blood Infection Diagnosis In the city of Cardiff, UK, Momentum Bioscience aims to trim down the unnecessary use of antimicrobial drugs in hospitals. To do this, it is developing molecular diagnostics that, within hours, tell doctors when or when not to use antibiotics in patients with a suspected blood infection. Mission: When diagnosing blood infections, physicians often need […] November 30, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 29 Nov 2018 Long-Lasting Placenta Organoids Could Improve Pregnancy Research Researchers have made 3D placenta organoids from human cells that can last for over a year, improving over the current models to study disease in pregnancy and develop drugs. Researchers at the University of Cambridge grew the organoids from stem cells extracted from donated placenta tissue at 6-9 weeks of pregnancy. The organoids replicated the […] November 29, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 26 Nov 2018 Smart Asthma Inhaler Fails Phase III It is bad news for asthma sufferers, as a UK biotech has abandoned the development of its smart inhaler after finding that it was no better than placebo in a Phase III trial. Over 52 weeks of treatment, the company Vectura tested whether the inhaler reduced the worsening of asthma symptoms, such as wheezing and […] November 26, 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 8 Nov 2018 Epigenetics Test Can Distinguish Between Huntington’s Disease Stages A study run by Oxford BioDynamics suggests that we could predict Huntington’s more easily by analyzing epigenetic changes in the patient’s DNA. Epigenetics describes the way that the expression of our genes is regulated, often influenced by environmental exposure, without changing the genetic code. Ways of modifying gene expression include attaching chemical groups to DNA […] November 8, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 1 Nov 2018 Gene Therapy Company’s IPO Shoots it to Billion-Euro Biotech List Orchard Therapeutics, a British company developing gene therapy for rare genetic diseases, has launched its Nasdaq IPO and is now reportedly worth $1.25B (€1B). This IPO propels Orchard to the handful of European biotechs worth €1B or more. The new money might help with the marketing and manufacture of Strimvelis, an EMA-approved gene therapy for […] November 1, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 31 Oct 2018 Forget Daily Pills: HIV Could Be Treated With Monthly Injections A monthly antiviral injection may be as good as daily HIV drugs for suppressing infections, reports the British biotech ViiV Healthcare. This could make the treatment of HIV easier for patients and improve compliance. In the first five months of a Phase IIb trial, the company gave 274 HIV-infected adults three daily oral antiretrovirals. After […] October 31, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 30 Oct 2018 British Diagnostics Firm Develops More Accurate Fetal Health Screen A lab kit from British diagnostics company Angle could make non-invasive fetal health screens more accurate by analyzing whole fetal cells in the mother’s blood. To screen your unborn baby for genetic conditions, the most accurate current option is invasive techniques such as amniocentesis. These techniques take samples directly from the womb that contain fetal […] October 30, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 25 Oct 2018 Parkinson’s Disease Gene Therapy Clinical Trial Launched in UK A gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease developed by Swiss biotech Axovant has been used on the first patient in a Phase I/II trial at University College London. Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease, caused by a lack of the neurochemical dopamine in regions of the brain handling motor functions causing debilitating symptoms such as rigidity […] October 25, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 24 Oct 2018 UK Microbiome Company Gets Financial Boost for Live Bacterial Therapy UK-based Microbiotica has received a £4M investment from Seventure’s fund dedicated to investments in the microbiome space. With Seventure coming on board as a new investor, Microbiotica has now raised a total of £12M since its foundation in 2016. The company, a spin-out of the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, seeks to find and exploit precise […] October 24, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 15 Oct 2018 Microsoft Signs its First Microbiome Partnership Microsoft Genomics will work with Cambridge-based Eagle Genomics to scale up its artificial intelligence platform for microbiome research. In recent years, it has become evident that the microbes that inhabit our body are key to our health. The microbiome has been linked to conditions such as diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and many more. However, large-scale studies […] October 15, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email