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
News and Trends 19 Jun 2020 Cancer Drug Inspired by Sea Animal Gets FDA Green Light The Spanish company PharmaMar’s stock price has shot up by 30% as its cancer drug lurbinectedin was given accelerated approval for the second-line treatment of metastatic small cell lung cancer in the US this week. Lurbinectedin will be marketed under the brand name Zepzelca and will be made commercially available in the US in early […] June 19, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Manuela Callari Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 3 Jun 2020 What Did European Oncology Players Offer at ASCO 2020? Despite widespread clinical trial delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic, many oncology biotechs have been able to continue their fight against cancer. With advances in CAR T-cell therapies, cancer vaccines, RNA drugs, and more, European companies held a strong presence at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) this year. The huge ASCO conference has […] June 3, 2020 - 10 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 24 Apr 2020 Big €10M Seed Round Funds New Class of Cancer Drugs in Switzerland The Swiss biotech FoRx Therapeutics has raised an impressive €10M in seed funding to develop a new generation of drugs that target DNA repair in cancer cells. The drugs will block a DNA repair process called break-induced replication, which was discovered by the company’s scientific founder Thanos Halazonetis. This process is used by cancer cells […] April 24, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Laura Cowen Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 24 Mar 2020 Vaccitech’s Prostate Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise in Phase II The UK immunotherapy company Vaccitech has announced promising initial results from a phase IIa trial of a therapeutic vaccine that could offer a new way to treat advanced prostate cancer. In the open-label trial, the University of Oxford spin-off enrolled 23 patients with advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer. The patients received the company’s viral vector vaccine […] March 24, 2020 - 2 minutesmins - By Anita Chakraverty Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 18 Mar 2020 OncoOne Raises €13M Series A to Develop First-in-Class Cancer Treatments Austrian startup OncoOne has closed its first round of venture capital funding after raising €13M to investigate a new treatment target against solid tumor cancers. Investment in the Series A funding included public grants from the Austrian Research Promotion Agency and the promotional bank of the Austrian federal government, the Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft, along with […] March 18, 2020 - 2 minutesmins - By Anita Chakraverty Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email