News and Trends 17 Jun 2022 ImCheck raises €96M in funding round French biotech company ImCheck has announced funding of €96 million ($101.5 million) to investigate antibody drugs with the ability to activate the powerful immune cells called gamma delta T (gdT). The Marseille-based company hopes it will reach a wider range of cancer immunotherapy with the antibody drugs that include a lead candidate in the development […] June 17, 2022 - 3 minutesmins - By Liza Laws Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Sponsored by Biovian 7 Jun 2022 Gene therapy: can CDMOs solve the manufacturing bottleneck? The gene therapy market is booming. Viral vectors, the key delivery systems for gene therapies, are playing an increasing role in the development of biologics. But the growing need for viral vectors and their plasmid building blocks have resulted in a manufacturing bottleneck. Can contract manufacturing organizations cope with the rising demand? In 2019, Zolgensma, a […] June 7, 2022 - 7 minutesmins - By Ute Boronowsky Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 25 May 2022 Duke Street Bio enters stage with next-generation cancer therapies The UK startup Duke Street Bio has exited stealth mode with funding to develop PARP enzyme inhibitors that treat cancer by blocking the repair of DNA in tumor cells. London-based Duke Street Bio said Tuesday that it has a portfolio of PARP1 and PARP7 enzyme inhibitors and has raised enough cash to fund its pipeline […] May 25, 2022 - 3 minutesmins - By Susannah Rodgers Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 6 Apr 2022 Immunocore Approvals Open Door for TCR Cancer Drugs The EU has followed the FDA in granting market approval to Kimmtrak, the first-ever bispecific drug based on a cancer-hunting protein called a T-cell receptor (TCR). These regulatory wins by the UK firm Immunocore pave the way for other treatments deploying TCRs. TCRs have become a hot topic in immuno-oncology. Many companies are developing cancer […] April 6, 2022 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 26 Jan 2022 Norwegian Biotech Put on the Map with €18M Oncology Round The immuno-oncology startup Cytovation has raised €17.7M (NOK 180M) in one of Norway’s biggest Series A rounds in life sciences. Historically, Norway’s biotech scene has not seen the kind of venture capital funding characteristic of health and biotech in the UK and US. However, Norwegian biotech is growing and has seen more successes than many […] January 26, 2022 - 3 minutesmins - By Dan Samorodnitsky Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 14 Dec 2021 ATP Blazes US Venture Capital Trail into European Biotech Startups The US venture capital firm Apple Tree Partners (ATP) is making its first transatlantic foray by launching the UK immuno-oncology company Adrendra Therapeutics. This happens as US investors increasingly search for value-for-money opportunities in early-stage European biotech startups. Last week, the life science-focused investor ATP contributed €47M (£40M) to the Series A launch of immunotherapy […] December 14, 2021 - 4 minutesmins - By Anita Chakraverty Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 11 Oct 2021 A Cure for Cancer? How CAR-T Cell Therapy is Revolutionizing Oncology CAR-T therapy has been hailed as a cure for cancer, but what really is this ‘miraculous technology’ and what can we actually expect from it? The field of immuno-oncology is booming with billions of euros in investment. The ability to rewire our own immune system to fight cancer has certainly created huge expectations. After the […] October 11, 2021 - 10 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Jul 2021 Microbiome Medicines Could Power Up CAR-T Cell Therapies The microbiome could pave new cancer immunotherapy inroads for European biotechs, bolstered by preclinical findings that gut bacteria metabolites may help CAR-T cell therapies penetrate and kill solid tumors. A recent study conducted by researchers at Philipps-University Marburg, University Hospital Würzburg, and the Leeds-based company 4D Pharma showed that metabolites produced by the gut bacteria […] July 28, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 26 Jul 2021 Europe’s TCR Therapy Scene Gains Traction with €40M Series B Swedish firm Anocca’s fundraising is the first major venture capital round to go to a European TCR therapy developer this year; another sign that the technology is gaining momentum. Last year was a busy one for companies developing cell therapies for cancer based on engineering T-cell receptors (TCRs), known as TCR or TCR-T cell therapies. […] July 26, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 8 Jul 2021 The Top European Biotech Funding Rounds in June While oncology and psychedelics dominated European biotech’s biggest funding rounds last month, startup seed financing focused more on gene therapy and drug discovery. Last month saw some momentous events for Europe’s biotech heavyweights. GSK paid an impressive €524M ($625M) upfront to co-develop an immuno-oncology candidate with iTeos Therapeutics in Belgium. Meanwhile, the German antibody drug […] July 8, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 30 Jun 2021 GSK Raises Eyebrows in Checkpoint Inhibitor Megadeal with iTeos Analysts are abuzz over GSK’s co-development deal with immuno-oncology specialist iTeos Therapeutics earlier this month, wondering if it overpaid for the Belgian company’s next-generation checkpoint inhibitor. GSK’s oncology deal with iTeos earlier this month centered on an antibody drug that blocks an immune checkpoint called TIGIT. The candidate is currently in phase I testing for […] June 30, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 10 Jun 2021 The Top European Biotech Investment Rounds in May Last month saw huge biotech investment rounds dedicated to Covid-19 vaccines in Europe, including IPOs by Valneva and Vaccitech. However, a €227M (£195M) private round by the DNA sequencing giant Oxford Nanopore Technologies made the biggest splash. Last month was a difficult one for a number of public biotech companies. Biotech stock indices proved volatile […] June 10, 2021 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email