News and Trends 4 Jan 2018 German Biotech Raises Record $270M Series A for Individualized Cancer Therapies BioNTech will dedicate its huge fundraising to develop personalized cancer immunotherapies using CAR-T, TCR and mRNA technologies. BioNTech is kicking off the new year with great news. The company has closed its Series A with $270M (€225M) — a record amount in Germany for such an early funding round. The fundraising was led by the […] January 4, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 20 Dec 2017 How to Deal with Regulations to Get Approval for CAR-T Cells The biotech industry is diving into the field of highly individualized gene and cell therapy products. The first CAR-T therapy has just been approved in the US and other breakthrough technologies like mRNA and CRISPR have a foot in the door. But getting to the market is not straightforward, not only for developers but also for […] December 20, 2017 - 8 minutesmins - By Timothé Cynober Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 13 Dec 2017 Off-the-Shelf CAR-T Cells Struggle to Improve Cancer Treatment Data presented at ASH 2017 shows that Servier and Pfizer’s UCART19, an allogeneic CAR-T therapy originally developed by Cellectis, might struggle to outperform autologous CAR-T cells. CAR-T cell therapy has proved to be effective at treating cancer in patients for whom scarce hope was left. Yet pricing is still a big concern. Companies like Cellectis are trying […] December 13, 2017 - 4 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 4 Dec 2017 Meet the CEO Leading Italy’s Charge to Become a Major Biotech Player Riccardo Palmisano is CEO of MolMed, the most important Italian biotech, which focuses on gene and cell therapies. We chatted about the company, which hopes to give the cancer therapies field a boost. You may have come across MolMed before, possibly in our recent piece on the top biotechs in Milan. The company was founded […] December 4, 2017 - 7 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 22 Nov 2017 Welsh Scientists Use CRISPR to Engineer Cancer-Killing T cells Scientists at Cardiff University have used CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology to produce highly specific killer T cell receptors. Researchers at Cardiff University have replaced the regular receptors found on T cells with their own, which are geared up to better tracking down and killing cancer cells. The research reported in Blood explained how the group removed receptors that interact with immune cells […] November 22, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 13 Nov 2017 Biotech Unicorn’s T-Cell Receptor Therapy “Nearly Doubles” Survival in Uveal Melanoma Immunocore, one of the only three European biotech unicorns, has presented Phase I results for its TCR immunotherapy IMCgp100 in patients suffering from metastatic uveal melanoma. Results are positive, but perhaps not to the level of expectation for a company with such a high valuation. On Saturday, Immunocore presented its latest clinical results at the Society […] November 13, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 26 Sep 2017 British Biotech Pockets Massive Series C for its CAR-T Cancer Therapies Autolus, based in London, has raised €68M in Series C to continue developing its T cell immunotherapies for cancer treatment. Autolus focuses on developing engineered T cell immunotherapies to beat cancer. Its pipeline includes therapies targeted at both hematological cancers and solid tumors. The Series C fundraising of $80M (€68M) is added to £70M (€80M) made in Series A […] September 26, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 31 Aug 2017 The FDA Approves the First CAR-T Cell Therapy for Cancer The FDA has approved Novartis’ CAR-T therapy Kymriah, opening the way for a new generation of cell therapy treatments against cancer. Novartis’ Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), formerly known as CTL019, has become the first gene-modified cell therapy approved in the US. The FDA has approved the therapy for relapsing B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children and young […] August 31, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 21 Aug 2017 German Biotech Starts Trials with a Personalized Cell Therapy for Multiple Cancers Immatics will start a first clinical trial to test IMA101, a personalized cell therapy with the potential to treat multiple types of solid tumors. Based in Tübingen, Germany, Immatics has announced today the start of its first clinical trial testing its cell therapy technology aimed at providing personalized treatments for multiple types of solid tumors. The […] August 21, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 2 Aug 2017 Scottish Biotech gets €4M from Horizon 2020 for Off-the-Shelf Cell Therapy TC Biopharm has just received the largest award of its kind to develop allogeneic gamma-delta T cell therapies for various cancers. Based in Glasgow, TC Biopharm was just selected to receive €4M from Horizon 2020 for its “off-the-shelf” gamma-delta T cell program. This grant brings the company’s fundraising total to €25M, and it’s the largest any UK […] August 2, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 11 Jul 2017 Regenerating the Body With Stem Cells – Hype or Hope? When the Japanese researcher Shinya Yamanaka managed to reprogram adult cells into an embryonic-like state to yield induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), this was supposed to herald a revolution in regenerative medicine. But 10 years after their discovery, a therapeutic breakthrough is still outstanding. “The overall stem cell therapy field has failed today to show […] July 11, 2017 - 9 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 29 Jun 2017 Servier Recruits Viral Vector Expert to Step Up its CAR-T Technology Transgene will help Servier develop new methods based on viral vectors to improve the precision of genetic modifications and the production of CAR-T cells. The French pharma Servier decided to enter the promising CAR-T field in 2015, when it acquired the rights to UCART19 from Cellectis. The therapy, currently in Phase I, has already saved two babies […] June 29, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email