News and Trends 24 Oct 2016 Here comes the First-ever Combination Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Actelion is overcoming the upcoming expiration of one of its most profitable patents and it’s using its strong position to make the leap into the crowded market of multiple sclerosis with the first-ever combination therapy. Actelion is one of the top billion-euro Biotechs in Europe and a leader in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Although the patent for […] October 24, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 20 Oct 2016 CRISPR Thx’ surprisingly low IPO… why are Investors Discouraged? Troubled waters in the CRISPR field: CRISPR Therapeutics’ IPO hits an unexpectedly low price. It seems that the investors are starting to switch from hype to uncertainty, but why now? CRISPR Therapeutics has just announced the results of a surprisingly low IPO: €51M ($56M), way lower than its €80M target. Its competitors in the therapeutics CRISPR field, Editas […] October 20, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 19 Oct 2016 And the highest funding in Europe this year goes to… Antibody-Drug Conjugates! AstraZeneca has contributed to ADC Therapeutics’ €96M fundraising, the biggest round so far in Europe this year. Will this huge investment pay out for the British-Swedish Big Pharma? ADC Therapeutics (ADCT) is a Swiss Biotech that develops antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for oncology applications. Its founder Auven Therapeutics and its partner AstraZeneca have participated in the biggest […] October 19, 2016 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 30 Sep 2016 Tailored Cancer Vaccines? NousCom is working on it! We aren’t leaving Switzerland yet! We took a scenic train to Basel in order to meet nousCom, a very young biotech developing cancer vaccines. City: Basel, Switzerland Founded: 2015 Employees: unknown Financial Data: €12M raised in series A Mission: NousCom is a Biotech that develops next generation cancer vaccines with patient- and tumor-specific antigens. Their vaccines combine viruses […] September 30, 2016 - 1 minutemin - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 30 Sep 2016 Interview: GeNeuro’s CFO explains its Unique Multiple Sclerosis Treatment GeNeuro is developing a unique treatment for multiple sclerosis. We interviewed Miguel Payro, the company’s CFO, who explained its advantageous position against big pharma. GeNeuro raised €33M in its Euronext IPO in April and is currently competing against giants like Novartis and Biogen. Despite 2016’s dubious honor as “the worst year for IPO in 20 years”, this Switzerland-based company has managed to go […] September 30, 2016 - 1 minutemin - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 29 Sep 2016 Interview: This Biotech Could Have the First HIV Cure on the Market InnaVirVax is one of the most advanced companies in the race to develop an HIV cure. At the SACHS Conference in Basel, we had the opportunity to pick the brain of the CEO, Joël Crouzet, about his company’s progress. Last week, we reviewed progress in biotech towards an HIV cure, which could hit the market […] September 29, 2016 - 1 minutemin - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Sep 2016 ITW: Prexton Therapeutics CEO explains Development of new Parkinson’s Drug For our first interview at the SACHS Conference in Basel yesterday, I met with François Conquet, founder and CEO of Prexton Therapeutics. His company’s treatment for Parkinson’s Disease just passed Phase I with flying colors. Prexton Therapeutics, based in Switzerland, has been focused on discovering new small molecules to treat Parkinson’s, and one of them, an mGluR4 positive […] September 28, 2016 - 1 minutemin - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 26 Sep 2016 UPDATE: AC Immune rakes in €52.5M IPO for assault on Alzheimers It’s not the $700M headlines imply, but AC Immune is winding up to make a splashy IPO of €52.5M to establish itself in the Alzheimer’s Disease space. You might have read about AC Immune‘s ‘$700M IPO’ and thought, “gee, that can’t be right – that sum is roughly half of the total from all European companies […] September 26, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 26 Sep 2016 Terrible Turing hasn’t given up on Toxoplasmosis (or its Karma) The biopharmaceutical company’s Swiss division just published computational studies aiming to improve Daraprim, after its former CEO, Martin Shkreli, attempted to justify the scandalous 5000% price hike as a boost for its R&D. A little over a year ago, Martin Shkreli, founder and then-CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, hiked the price of a common medication for toxoplasmosis by […] September 26, 2016 - 3 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 23 Sep 2016 SELLAS wants to sell us an Immunotherapy for Mesothelioma After Cyprus, we mosey back to the mainland to visit the country gave the world the cuckoo clock. That’s right, we’re Schweiz-bound. In Switzerland, we’ll meet an immuno-oncology biotech, SELLAS Life Sciences. City: Zug (Zurich-area), Switzerland Founded: 2012 Employees: 11 – 50 Financial Data: None available…what a secretive cohort. Mission: SELLAS Life Sciences is a development-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on […] September 23, 2016 - 1 minutemin - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 20 Sep 2016 UPDATE: Novartis is Favoured to Win the Race for a New MS Drug Novartis is poised to kick off the next generation of multiple sclerosis treatments after siponimod performs well in Phase III. The company’s primary competitor had been Biogen, but its drug’s failure in Phase II leaves siponimod the last man standing. Novartis reports that its multiple sclerosis (MS) drug, siponimod, has reached its primary endpoint in Phase III […] September 20, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 27 Apr 2016 ‘Disappointing results’ for Novartis & MorphoSys phase III in Muscle Disease MorphoSys confirms that its antibody (bimagrumab) failed to meet the primary endpoint of a phase IIb/III trial for a muscle disease (sIBM), conducted by Novartis. Sad news for Novartis and MorphoSys. The two companies are developing bimagrumab for muscle diseases, as part of their ongoing collaboration, which has already resulted in 11 programmes. Bimagrumab was initially […] April 27, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Denise Neves Gameiro Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email