News and Trends 9 May 2017 Hypermutation could be the Key to Biofuels – and Antibiotic Resistance Instead of taking a spa vacation, stressed out bacteria start mutating their DNA fast. This nearly suicidal behavior can yield a lucky survivor in nature. For us, it could mean new strategies for biofuel production and fighting antibiotic resistance, researchers say. Researchers from the Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics at KU Leuven, in Belgium, are shining […] May 9, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Denise Neves Gameiro Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 2 May 2017 Novartis Gains Access to Celyad’s allogenic CAR-T cell patents Belgian Celyad is giving Novartis access to its IP for the production of allogeneic CAR-T cells in a non-exclusive license agreement, worth up to €88M. Celyad is developing “off-the-shelf” therapies, based on engineering donor-derived allogeneic T cells. Despite a recent public dispute with its key rival Cellectis regarding the validity of Celyad’s US patents, Novartis has now entered a non-exclusive […] May 2, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 19 Apr 2017 Galapagos Shoots Past its IPO in a New Public Round of €315M After its record €277 IPO on Nasdaq in 2015, Galapagos announced the pricing of its new US public offering at a massive €315M ($338M). Galapagos is clinging to its position as one of the biggest biotechs in Europe. While the Belgian biotech is currently pushing its rheumatoid arthritis candidate filgotinib through Phase III, the new US public offering could give […] April 19, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 13 Apr 2017 Belgian Research takes first steps to make Biofuel out of Grass Researchers from the University of Ghent are using bacteria to turn grass into chemicals for bioplastics and biofuel. Could this process be scaled up to fuel planes? A grass bioconversion project is being developed at the Centre for Microbial Ecology and Technology (CMET) of the University of Ghent, and it has recently taken an important step forward. […] April 13, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Denise Neves Gameiro Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 3 Apr 2017 Massive €800M Acquisition of Belgian Biotech treating Menopause Astellas Pharma is acquiring Ogeda, getting hold of its promising Phase II candidate to treat menopause without hormonal therapy. After acquiring Ganymed Pharmaceuticals last October for a record €1.3B in German biotech, the Japanese Astellas Pharma is making a second massive acquisition in Europe. Its new addition is Ogeda, a Belgian biotech targeting GPCRs to treat gynecological […] April 3, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 23 Mar 2017 Galapagos Enters Clinical Trials with New Cystic Fibrosis Drug Galapagos has announced to kick off a Phase I trial with its novel Cystic Fibrosis potentiator GLPG3067, triggering a €7M milestone payment from AbbVie. Galapagos and AbbVie teamed up in 2013, with the aim of developing a triple combination therapy for the treatment of Cystic Fibrosis (CF). Now, Galapagos announced the start of a Phase […] March 23, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Best in Biotech 15 Mar 2017 What are the Best Countries to Recruit Biotech Talents in 2017? Before the “who to recruit” phase, an important question is “where?” We ran through the top countries in which to look for talent in biotech and had a look at what you can expect from each cluster. For each one of them, we also referenced some data on the biotech, life science and research ecosystems to […] March 15, 2017 - 10 minutesmins - By External Contributor Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 13 Mar 2017 New Cardiac Stem Cell Therapy passes Phase I/II Trials TiGenix announces positive one-year results for its phase I/II trial of donor-derived cardiac stem cell therapy in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The Belgian biotech TiGenix is developing allogeneic stem cell therapies. Now the company has announced that its cardiac stem cell therapy AlloCSC-01 reached its primary endpoints in a phase I/II trial. In 2015, the company acquired Coretherapix in a €292M deal for its allogeneic cardiac stem […] March 13, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 10 Mar 2017 Galapagos finds a Partner to Boost its Pipeline with Drug Combinations Galapagos and Pharnext will work together to develop low-dose drug combinations that improve drug efficacy and target new indications. Galapagos, the biggest biotech in Belgium, has closed an R&D agreement with the French Pharnext to develop drug combinations of the billion-euro biotech’s drug candidates with already approved drugs. While Pharnext’s focus has been neurodegenerative diseases, the […] March 10, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 2 Feb 2017 Galapagos kicks off a Phase IIa trial for Cystic Fibrosis After Galapagos and AbbVie expanded their collaboration on cystic fibrosis, Galapagos now announces the start of their Phase IIa trial for a novel cystic fibrosis corrector. Since entering their collaboration with AbbVie on cystic fibrosis (CF) in 2013, Galapagos has received almost €40M in milestone payments from AbbVie. Galapagos now announced the start of a Phase […] February 2, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 1 Feb 2017 Young Belgian Biotech will tackle Fibrosis with a New Grant Confo Therapeutics has received a €1.6M grant to support the discovery of drugs against fibrosis, one of the most deadly conditions in Western countries. Confo Therapeutics is a young biotech in Brussels developing a unique technology to target historically undruggable G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The company just announced it received a €1.6M grant from Flanders Innovation & […] February 1, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 1 Feb 2017 Stem Cell Therapy for Sepsis in Pneumonia advances to Phase II TiGenix has treated the first patient in a new early-stage clinical trial to test its candidate Cx611 as a treatment for sepsis in patients with pneumonia. TiGenix, based in Belgium, develops stem cell therapies derived from donors. This morning, the first patient was treated in a Phase Ib/IIa clinical trial for its candidate therapy Cx611 in […] February 1, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email