News and Trends 15 Jun 2021 Patent Waiver on Covid-19 Vaccines Splits Opinions in Biotech Industry Attempts to increase global Covid-19 vaccine coverage with a temporary patent waiver have been met with hostility from many big pharma and biotech companies, but some smaller players welcome the idea. With the Covid-19 pandemic still rampaging through many countries and new viral variants popping up with alarming regularity, scuffles over who holds intellectual property […] June 15, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Anita Chakraverty Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 1 Jun 2021 Next-Generation mRNA Vaccine Technology Unveiled in Series A Round Messenger RNA vaccines have been at the forefront of the global struggle against the Covid-19 pandemic over the past year. Now scientists are working to upgrade the technology: enter the stage of saRNA, or self-amplifying RNA vaccines. Among the frontrunners to introduce saRNA technology is the Belgian startup Ziphius Vaccines, which recently raised €29.3M to […] June 1, 2021 - 4 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 22 Dec 2020 EMA Greenlights BioNTech and Pfizer mRNA Vaccine for Covid-19 BioNTech and Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, made from messenger RNA, has become the first of its kind to be approved by the EMA. The EMA has granted conditional approval to Comirnaty, a vaccine against Covid-19 developed by BioNTech and Pfizer. The approval comes weeks after the UK became the first country in the world to approve […] December 22, 2020 - 5 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 2 Apr 2020 Swiss and German Team to Develop Inhaled mRNA Coronavirus Treatment The Swiss antibody specialist Neurimmune and the German RNA biotech Ethris are collaborating to develop inhaled messenger RNA (mRNA) antibodies that can treat the catastrophic respiratory effects of coronavirus disease, also known as Covid-19. The therapeutic mRNA would be delivered directly into the lungs of symptomatic patients via nebulizers with nanoparticle aerosols. The mRNA could […] April 2, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Anita Chakraverty Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 30 Mar 2020 Could mRNA Vaccines Fulfill Their Potential Against Coronavirus? The first vaccine against coronavirus disease could one day be made of mRNA. How is mRNA showing promise against the pandemic, and what could it signify for the mRNA field? The global number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases has passed 600,000 and is threatening to bring healthcare systems worldwide to their knees. To control the […] March 30, 2020 - 7 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 17 Mar 2020 CureVac Receives €80M from EU to Fund Coronavirus Vaccine Amid US Dispute The German biotech CureVac — which is developing an mRNA vaccine against coronavirus — has been granted up to €80M by the European Commission, shortly after a dispute erupted over an alleged acquisition offer from the US. The money was awarded to help CureVac quickly scale up the production of its candidate Covid-19 vaccine. It […] March 17, 2020 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 8 Nov 2019 EU Project Receives €15M to Bring mRNA Therapy to a Wider Audience An EU research project has launched with the aim of bringing mRNA treatments to a wider range of patients and diseases. The EXPERT – Expanding Platforms for Efficacious mRNA Therapeutics – project is a collaboration among academics and industry experts from 11 countries who will work on a novel delivery system for messenger (m)RNA therapeutics […] November 8, 2019 - 4 minutesmins - By External Contributor Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Startup Scout 2 Aug 2019 This Biotech Uses Messenger RNA to Treat Lethal Lung Inflammation Based close to Berlin, Germany, the biotech startup Pantherna Therapeutics is developing a messenger RNA drug to treat a life-threatening lung condition that requires mechanical ventilation. Mission: To develop a messenger RNA (mRNA) drug to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome, an inflammatory lung reaction that kills up to half of patients with the condition. Acute […] August 2, 2019 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 9 Jul 2019 BioNTech Raises Whopping €290M to Fund Personalized mRNA Vaccines for Cancer In one of the biggest ever funding rounds in European biotech, the German company BioNTech has raised a Series B of €289.5M ($325M) to develop individualized cancer vaccines. BioNTech will use the money to fuel the clinical development of the company’s lead program — an individualized mRNA-based immunotherapy for treating melanoma, which completed a phase […] July 9, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 1 Mar 2019 Rapid Response mRNA Vaccine Facility Gets €30M Funding An mRNA vaccine facility, run by the German biotech CureVac, has received a €30M development grant to rapidly manufacture vaccines for regions hit by outbreaks of rabies, yellow fever and emerging diseases. CureVac is a company that develops vaccines made of mRNA, a molecule that lets cells translate genes into proteins. The company’s drug candidates […] March 1, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 11 Dec 2018 What Does the Largest Biotech IPO Ever Mean for European Biotech? With a massive €530M ($604M) raised, US-based Moderna has made a record biotech IPO. The news could give a significant boost to developers of messenger RNA, a technology that is still several years away from the market. Entering the Nasdaq with a €7B ($8B) market cap, Moderna made history last Friday with a technology that […] December 11, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 16 Aug 2018 Pfizer Offers €374M for German mRNA Flu Vaccine BioNTech, based in Mainz, Germany, has entered into a partnership with Pfizer worth up to $425M (€374M) to develop an mRNA-based flu vaccine, which could be produced much more quickly than current flu vaccines. Messenger RNA (mRNA) is one of the building blocks living organisms use to create proteins from genes. BioNTech is developing prophylactic […] August 16, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email