News and Trends 6 Feb 2017 French Biotech’s Checkpoint Inhibitor Fails Phase II Leukemia Trial Innate Pharma’s checkpoint inhibitor candidate lirilumab missed its primary endpoint in a Phase II trial, which gave a hard blow to the company’s stock. When the stock market opened this morning, Innate Pharma‘s stock went down by almost 25%. The company had just announced the results of a Phase II trial that failed to prove its […] February 6, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 23 Jan 2017 French Biotech partners with Merck to Fight Tumor Resistance Domain Therapeutics and Merck have partnered up to develop immuno-oncology drug candidates that can boost the performance of checkpoint inhibitors. Domain Therapeutics has entered a collaboration and licensing agreement with German Merck in immuno-oncology. The big pharma is offering over €240M in milestones and will support research activities in exchange for worldwide rights to new drug candidates targeting […] January 23, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 6 Jan 2017 Servier offers up to €1.7B for Dual Cancer Checkpoint Inhibitors Servier has signed a deal that could give it access to up to eight bispecific drug candidates with immuno-oncology applications from Pieris Pharmaceuticals. Servier, one of France’s biggest pharma companies, is offering up to €1.7B to US-based Pieris Pharmaceuticals. The team will initially develop five programs that can be later expanded to up to eight. For […] January 6, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Best in Biotech 22 Dec 2016 The 10 Biggest Clinical Success Stories of 2016 in European Biotech What are the most impressive advances in medical biotechnology this year? From cancer to peanut allergy, here’s a list of the best success stories of 2016. Biotech is becoming a powerful driving force in medicine, providing innovative therapies that could end some of the most severe diseases. To celebrate the advances in the area of […] December 22, 2016 - 5 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 16 Dec 2016 Young Immuno-Oncology Biotechs attract Funding to Cure Metastasis Amcure and TILT Biotherapeutics announced yesterday new financing rounds supporting the development of unique strategies to cure cancer metastasis. Amcure, in Germany, is fighting highly metastatic forms of cancer by targeting angiogenesis. The company just closed a Series B round with a total of €6M from already existing investors. With the funds, Amcure plans to accelerate […] December 16, 2016 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 5 Dec 2016 Video: Chatting with Immunocore about the Potential of Immuno-oncology At Refresh in Paris, I had the opportunity to ask Eva-Lotta Allan,CBO of one of Europe’s hottest companies, Immunocore, some pointed questions. Immunocore is famous as one of the biggest biotech successes in Europe: the company raised the largest round ever on the continent (€300M!), built a solid technological platform and recruited top talents to manage […] December 5, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 30 Nov 2016 FDA and EMA review the First Therapy for a Deadly Skin Cancer Merck and Pfizer have been granted priority review by the FDA for the first treatment dealing with one of the most aggressive forms of skin cancer. The FDA has accepted Merck and Pfizer‘s market application for avelumab in metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) with priority review. Just a month ago, the EMA also accepted their application. If […] November 30, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Oct 2016 TCR and Checkpoint inhibitors: A Match made in Heaven for Blood Cancer Adaptimmune and MSD are collaborating to test a therapy for multiple myeloma that combines some of the most promising technologies in immuno-oncology: TCR and checkpoint inhibitors. Adaptimmune is an immuno-oncology billion-euro Biotech from the British Golden Triangle. Despite some trouble with the FDA recently, the company continues to forge ahead with its promising TCR technology. Now, […] October 28, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Oct 2016 UPDATE: Immuno-Oncology Combo works on Lung Cancer Regardless of PD-L1 Type AstraZeneca’s MedImmune (UK) has published phase Ib study results in The Lancet Oncology. These showed anti-tumour activity of a combination of investigational antibodies in patients with lung cancer. The trial considered patients undergoing treatment with durvalumab and tremelimumab, to see whether the drug combo could act therapeuticaly against locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), irrespective of […] October 28, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Dani Bancroft Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 19 Oct 2016 The ‘First and Only’ Metastatic Lung Cancer Immunotherapy is approved Roche’s Genentech has received FDA approval for an immunotherapy targeting the highly sought-after PD-L1. The treatment may be able to outperform its competitors in lung cancer therapies. In May, Roche received approval for Tecentriq (atezolizumab) in bladder cancer. Now, the drug is expanding its indications to become the first and only cancer immunotherapy in the market to target […] October 19, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 12 Oct 2016 Transgene teams up with big Players against HPV Head and Neck Cancer Transgene is partnering with Merck and Pfizer to develop a combined therapy for head and neck cancer squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) caused by human papiloma virus (HPV) infections. A successful outcome will let the team access a €2B market niche. Transgene has been struggling for a while: last year it had to fire 40% of its workforce […] October 12, 2016 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 23 Sep 2016 The Munich Biotech Mafia are at it again, raising €40M for an I/O Startup A new immuno-oncology startup has taken off with a booming round of VC fundraising. Details on its programs are sparse, but the company’s leadership is a veritable who’s who in German biotech, much like the PayPal Mafia. Immuno-oncology is surely an exciting field, but high-profile leadership is a huge bonus when it comes to attracting […] September 23, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email