News and Trends 14 Jan 2022 Europe Trailed US Despite Record Gene and Cell Therapy Funding in 2021 Cell and gene therapy developers globally raised an all-time annual record in 2021. However, European firms missed out on the funding growth. Companies around the world developing cell and gene therapies raised €20.1B ($23.1B) over 2021, said the advanced therapy advocacy organization the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) in a briefing this week. This bumper […] January 14, 2022 - 6 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 17 Dec 2021 UK Startup Lands €5M Seed Round to Produce Gene-Edited Crops with AI Phytoform, a London- and Boston-based startup, has received a €5M ($5.7M) investment to develop gene-edited crops with the help of artificial intelligence tools. The firm expects to bring its first product, a weather-resistant tomato, to market in early 2022. The seed financing will fuel the development of Phytoform’s precision crop breeding platform, which specializes in […] December 17, 2021 - 4 minutesmins - By Dan Samorodnitsky Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Oct 2021 DNA Manufacturing Startups Net Venture Capital Windfalls Touchlight Genetics and DNA Script have closed major venture financing rounds in the last month as investor excitement mounts over the next generations of DNA manufacturing. DNA Script made a big splash in Paris this week as it raked in €142M in Series C funding. The company will ramp up the commercialization of its benchtop […] October 28, 2021 - 6 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 22 Oct 2021 Gene-Edited T Cell Therapy Players Battle Safety Doubts Confidence in gene-edited T cell therapies from donor cells has faltered as Allogene Therapeutics paused all clinical development following the detection of an unexpected genetic change in a clinical trial. Industry experts see these events as a reality check for the nascent field. Off-the-shelf treatments that use genetically engineered T cells to treat diseases suffered […] October 22, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Anita Chakraverty Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 6 Aug 2021 Artios’ €129M Series C Pushes Limits of DNA Repair in Cancer The UK firm Artios Pharma raised a huge Series C round last week in one of many efforts to develop cancer drugs that target the DNA repair systems of our cells. Artios Pharma bagged €129M (£110M) last week in a venture capital round led by the US-based firms Omega Funds and TCG X. The proceeds […] August 6, 2021 - 4 minutesmins - By Anita Chakraverty Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Best in Biotech 30 Jun 2021 Scotland’s Top 10 Biotech Companies to Watch Out For Scotland has a thriving life sciences ecosystem with strengths in oncology, genetic engineering, and industrial biotech. Let’s pick up the bagpipes as we tour the top 10 biotech companies in Scotland. Scotland is the UK’s second-most populous country, boasting picturesque scenery, a rich history, and a strong focus on sustainability. There is a diverse range […] June 30, 2021 - 11 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 5 Apr 2021 Base Editing: The Next Frontier in Genome Editing Technology Jonathan Frampton, Corporate Development Partner at Horizon Discovery, a Perkin Elmer company, shares his insights into the promises of base editing technology. In less than a decade, the advent of CRISPR-Cas9 has made gene editing easier and faster than ever. But CRISPR, as well as earlier genome editing tools, have a series of technical limitations, […] April 5, 2021 - 4 minutesmins - By Larissa Warneck-Silvestrin Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 3 Mar 2021 The Promises of CRISPR Genome Editing in Biomedicine Tony Ho, Head of Research and Development at CRISPR Therapeutics, offers his insights into the advantages of CRISPR gene editing over other technologies and what the future holds for the genome editing field. For decades, gene editing required engineering DNA-cutting enzymes, such as zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), for every specific […] March 3, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Larissa Warneck-Silvestrin Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 1 Mar 2021 How Are European Biotechs Tackling the Cardiovascular Disease Problem? Cardiovascular diseases may not regularly grab the headlines, but they’re the leading cause of mortality globally, making up over 30% of all deaths worldwide. While there are many established treatments on the market, there’s still a need for more effective treatments – can biotech companies provide the answer? We all know that frequent exercise, a […] March 1, 2021 - 9 minutesmins - By Farhan Mitha Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 3 Feb 2021 Detecting Gene-Edited Food: The EU’s Nightmare The EU imposed stringent controls on the commercialization of gene-edited food back in 2018. Years later, regulators are still working in the dark, with no established tests in place. The EU has some of the strictest food regulations in the world surrounding the cultivation and commercialization of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which it defines as organisms whose […] February 3, 2021 - 10 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 1 Feb 2021 Democratized DNA Synthesis: A Game-Changer Against Covid-19 DNA synthesis is one of the pillars of Covid-19 research that has suffered supply disruptions during lockdowns. Thomas Ybert, CEO of DNA Script, discusses the French company’s plans to protect research from future disruptions by giving every lab the ability to synthesize its own DNA molecules. The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted more than ever the […] February 1, 2021 - 6 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Best in Biotech 11 Jan 2021 The 21 European Biotech Companies To Watch in 2021 As we enter 2021, the biotech industry is already bustling with activity. Here’s a list of 21 European biotech companies likely to make a big splash in the biotechnology sector over the next year. There were many memorable moments for the European biotech industry in 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic took over the media and many […] January 11, 2021 - 11 minutesmins - By Larissa Warneck-Silvestrin Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email