News and Trends 17 Dec 2020 Covid-19 Leaves Lasting Impact on Hematology at ASH 2020 Conference Under the heavy shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, last week’s annual conference of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) displayed the achievements of many innovative treatments for blood conditions, including gene and cell therapies. A sweeping new wave of Covid-19 infections that is forcing new lockdowns across the northern hemisphere is already reshaping the biotech […] December 17, 2020 - 6 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 23 Nov 2020 SynOx Joins Wave of Biotechs Attacking Solid Tumor ‘Comfort Zone’ The newly founded SynOx has become the latest startup to attack solid tumors via their ‘comfort zone’, known as the tumor microenvironment. SynOx was spun out of the UK firm Celleron Therapeutics last week with a huge Series A round of €37M. The fledgling company is developing an antibody drug that Celleron licensed from Roche […] November 23, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 16 Nov 2020 Innate Immunity in Cancer Gains Recognition with Affimed’s €1.8B Deal Last week’s €1.75B deal between the German biotech Affimed and Swiss giant Roivant backs up an emerging trend of harnessing our innate immune system to treat cancer. According to the deal’s terms, Affimed will receive €51M upfront to license to Roivant a preclinical-stage antibody drug for several undisclosed types of cancer. Roivant will handle the […] November 16, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Reports 11 Nov 2020 Navigating the Immunotherapy Maze Today, the global immunotherapy drugs market is valued at €139B ($163B) and is estimated to reach a staggering value of €149.3B ($174.6B) by 2025. Without a doubt, it is a flourishing field with new research emerging as you read. Discover now how antibodies, T cells, and exosomes are changing the immunotherapy field! While antibodies have […] November 11, 2020 - 2 minutesmins - By Larissa Warneck-Silvestrin Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 3 Nov 2020 Kiadis’ Natural Killer Cell Therapies Earn €308M Acquisition by Sanofi The French big pharma Sanofi has offered €308M to acquire the Dutch firm Kiadis Pharma and get hold of cancer cell therapies based on a type of immune cells called natural killer cells. The offer comes not long after Sanofi inked a deal worth up to €857.5M to license a preclinical-stage cancer cell therapy from […] November 3, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 28 Oct 2020 Do Natural Killer Cells Hold the Key to Treating Blood Cancers? Novel immunotherapies, like T cell therapy, may have shown recent successes but they also come with a number of setbacks, such as long timelines and serious adverse reactions. As CEO of the Dutch biotech Kiadis Pharma, Arthur Lahr has been leading the development of a technology that could overcome these limitations by using natural killer […] October 28, 2020 - 7 minutesmins - By Larissa Warneck-Silvestrin Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 28 Sep 2020 From Big Pharma to Startup CEO: Lessons from Kymriah Developer Gaurav Shah Novartis’ Kymriah, one of the first CAR T-cell therapies to be approved to treat blood cancer, has revolutionized both oncology and gene therapy. Gaurav Shah, now CEO of Rocket Pharmaceuticals, led the team that developed it. Shah began his career as a clinician, but soon moved over into the biotech sector to work at ImClone, […] September 28, 2020 - 9 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 14 Sep 2020 T-Cell Therapy Firm Wins Massive €93M Series A to Treat Solid Tumors The Dutch startup Neogene Therapeutics has become the second T-cell therapy developer to raise a spectacularly large Series A round in Europe this year. The Series A round was co-led by the VC firms EcoR1 Capital, Syncona, and Jeito Capital. Neogene Therapeutics will use part of the €93M proceeds to advance its T-cell therapy immuno-oncology […] September 14, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 11 Aug 2020 How European Startups Have Advanced Cancer T-Cell Therapy in 2020 With the help of a huge €66M Series A round last week, the German startup T-knife is developing cancer T-cell immunotherapies with the help of genetically modified mice. However, this is just one of several cancer T-cell therapy startups making advances this year, with other innovations including off-the-shelf treatments and a potential universal cancer therapy. […] August 11, 2020 - 8 minutesmins - By Kostas Vavitsas Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 24 Jul 2020 Swiss Company Raises €23M to Smash Cancer with Bacteria Basel-based T3 Pharmaceuticals has closed its third financing round, worth over €23.3M (CHF 25M), to develop a bacterial cancer therapy. Since T3 Pharma was spun off from the University of Basel in 2015, the firm has raised €37M (CHF 40M). The fundraiser included investors such as Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Reference Capital, and Wille Finance. […] July 24, 2020 - 2 minutesmins - By Antara Mazumdar Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 17 Jul 2020 Two UK Startups Raise Seed Funding to Revolutionize Cancer Treatment Unfazed by the financial turmoil caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Edinburgh-based firm Macomics and University of Cambridge spinout Spirea have each closed seed rounds this week to finance the development of novel cancer immunotherapies and more precise forms of chemotherapy. Macomics bagged €3.5M (£3.2M) in seed funding from the transatlantic VC firm Epidarex Capital […] July 17, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Kostas Vavitsas Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 13 Jul 2020 Sanofi Enlists Cell Therapy Firm Kiadis in €875M Immuno-Oncology Deal The Dutch biotech Kiadis Pharma has licensed an off-the-shelf cell therapy program to the pharma giant Sanofi for up to €857.5M in a deal aiming to develop a combination immunotherapy for the blood cancer multiple myeloma. The preclinical-stage cell therapy that Kiadis licensed is based on genetically modifying donor immune cells called natural killer cells, […] July 13, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By David Wilson Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email