News and Trends 18 Aug 2020 Women’s Health Gains Traction as Bayer Pays €736M for UK Firm Bayer’s recent €736M ($875M) acquisition of KaNDy Therapeutics could herald growing investor interest in women’s health – a historically neglected field in the biotech and pharma industry. Through this deal, Bayer has snapped up KaNDy Therapeutics’ first-in-class drug for treating hot flashes and night sweats, which often occur during the menopause. In a phase IIb […] August 18, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 1 Jul 2020 UK Startup Bags €3M to Develop Psychedelic Medicines for Mental Health A €3.3M (£3M) Series A round raised by the Oxford-based biomedicine company Beckley Psytech will allow the company to study the use of a psychedelic compound for the treatment of mental health disorders and neuropsychiatric disease. The investors include the UK VC firms Mediqventures and Jamjar Investments, which was set up by Richard Reed, co-founder […] July 1, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Kostas Vavitsas Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 11 Jun 2020 Evox and Lilly Partner to Develop Neuro RNA Drugs in Deal Worth €1.1B British biotech Evox Therapeutics has signed a collaboration deal worth up to €1.1B with US big pharma Eli Lilly to develop RNA drugs that are delivered in exosomes to the brain to treat neurological diseases. As part of the deal, Evox will get €17.6M upfront to fund research for the next three years and Lilly […] June 11, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 5 Jun 2020 Israeli-Dutch Biotech Raises €55M to Fight Huntington’s Disease and ALS Prilenia Therapeutics has raised €55M in Series A funding to launch late-stage clinical trials of its small molecule candidate drug in Huntington’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, incurable conditions that have very limited treatment options. Dutch life sciences VC Forbion led the round and was joined by new Chinese investor Morningside Venture Investments and the […] June 5, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 29 May 2020 Spanish Neurology Biotech Launches with €7.6M Series A Accure Therapeutics, a neurology biotech targeting central nervous system (CNS) conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease, has launched in Barcelona with a Series A of €7.6M. Alta Life Sciences, a life science venture capital firm based in the same city, and the Spanish governmental institution The Centre for Technological and Industrial Development funded […] May 29, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 8 May 2020 Phase III Failure Sinks Drug for Rare Neurological Disorder The Italian biotech Newron is halting the development of the experimental drug sarizotan after it failed to meet efficacy endpoints in phase III, dashing hopes for an approved drug for Rett syndrome. Expectations had been high that the oral drug might be able to treat breathing difficulties associated with the rare genetic disorder after promising […] May 8, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Anita Chakraverty Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Apr 2020 AskBio Takes Over French Gene Therapy Company to Treat Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s The Paris-based BrainVectis, a biotech developing gene therapies for Huntington’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, has been acquired by the US clinical-stage gene therapy company AskBio. AskBio’s gene therapy experience and manufacturing capacity will help to accelerate BrainVectis’ lead candidate for Huntington’s into phase I testing. In return, AskBio gets to expand its list of target […] April 28, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By David Kirk Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 21 Apr 2020 Idorsia’s Drug Improves Sleep in First Phase III Trial for Insomnia The Swiss pharmaceutical company Idorsia has announced that its drug candidate daridorexant significantly improved sleep onset, sleep quality, and daytime functioning of insomnia patients in a pivotal phase III trial. The trial recruited 930 adult patients with insomnia. The company used a technique called polysomnography to measure the time taken to fall asleep and sleep […] April 21, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Karen O’Hanlon Cohrt Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 9 Apr 2020 Two European Alzheimer’s Disease Treatments Show Promise in Phase II An epigenetics drug developed by the Spanish biopharmaceutical company Oryzon has reduced aggressive behavior in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and improved the experience of their caregivers in a phase IIa trial. At the same time, an Alzheimer’s vaccine developed by the Austrian biotech Axon Neuroscience has lowered a key blood biomarker of neurodegeneration by almost […] April 9, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By David Kirk Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 24 Mar 2020 Eli Lilly Sweetens AC Immune Alzheimer’s Treatment Deal by €38M A deal between Swiss biotech AC Immune and Eli Lilly to develop an oral Alzheimer’s disease drug has increased in worth by €38M with a new milestone payment. AC Immune and Eli Lilly modified a deal signed in late 2018 to co-develop a small molecule treatment to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Specifically, the […] March 24, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 11 Mar 2020 Phase III Fail for MedDay’s Multiple Sclerosis Treatment A drug developed by the French company MedDay Pharmaceuticals has failed to treat progressive forms of multiple sclerosis in a phase III trial. The 642 patients recruited into the trial received either a placebo or a high dose of pharmaceutical-grade Biotin, also known as vitamin B₇. The patients had various forms of the autoimmune condition […] March 11, 2020 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 27 Feb 2020 Scientists Connect Brain Cells to Machines Over the Internet An international group of researchers has set up a brain-machine interface between cultured nerve cells and electronic chips linked over the internet, which could lead to the development of AI implants for treating neurological disorders. As described in a study published in Nature Scientific Reports, the team set up a system where cultured rat nerve […] February 27, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email