Startup Scout 16 Aug 2019 This Biotech Fights Alzheimer’s Disease by Targeting Support Brain Cells It’s time to go to London, UK, this week. The UK biotech AstronauTx is developing drugs that could slow the progress of Alzheimer’s disease by aiming at star-shaped cells in the brain called astrocytes. Mission: To develop small molecule drugs targeting astrocytes, whose inflammatory activity is linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease […] August 16, 2019 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 14 Aug 2019 Engineered Skin Shows Potential to Treat Burns in Phase I Engineered skin tissue, developed as a regenerative medicine by the UK-US pharma company Mallinckrodt, has reduced the need for skin grafts in burns victims in a phase Ib trial. The phase I trial tested Mallinckrodt’s engineered skin treatment in 29 patients suffering from deep second degree burns. Patients with these burns have damage to the […] August 14, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 13 Aug 2019 AskBio Acquires Scottish Biotech to Make Gene Therapies More Precise The US company AskBio has acquired the Edinburgh-based Synpromics to pool their gene therapy technologies and produce inducible gene therapies that target particular organs or cells. AskBio specializes in developing viral vectors that carry gene therapies into cells, such as adeno-associated virus, whereas Synpromics develops DNA sequences called promoters that drive the expression of gene […] August 13, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 7 Aug 2019 Late-Stage Clinical Trial Troubles for Dry Eye Disease Drug A drug developed by the UK company Topivert Pharma has failed to reduce eyeball grittiness sensations in patients with dry eye disease in a phase II/III trial. The trial tested Topivert’s small molecule drug given as eyedrops to 202 patients suffering from dry eye disease, a condition where not enough tears are produced to lubricate […] August 7, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 5 Aug 2019 Phase II Promise for Inhaled Chronic Lung Disease Treatment A first-in-class inhaled drug developed by the UK biotech Verona Pharma improved lung function in a phase II trial treating the lung condition chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The 37 patients in the trial had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a common lung condition that involves a tightening of the lung airways and breathlessness. Verona Pharma […] August 5, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 1 Aug 2019 Atlantic Healthcare’s Inflammatory Bowel Disease RNA Drug Fails Phase III Hopes of seeing an approved treatment for the inflammatory bowel condition pouchitis have been dashed as the UK company Atlantic Healthcare’s RNA drug has proved ineffective in a phase III trial. The trial tested Atlantic Healthcare’s RNA drug alicaforsen as a treatment for patients with pouchitis. Patients with this condition have their colon surgically replaced […] August 1, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 31 Jul 2019 British Biotech Raises €11M to Market Personalized Medicine Test The UK biotech PredictImmune has raised €11M (£10M) in a Series B fundraising round to commercialize technology to predict the progress of inflammatory bowel disease in newly diagnosed patients. The funds will finance the global launch of PredictSURE IBD, a blood test that can identify patients with the most severe cases of inflammatory bowel disease, […] July 31, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 29 Jul 2019 €43M Series C to Launch UK Company’s Home Hemodialysis Kit Quanta Dialysis Technologies has raised €43.2M ($48M) to fund the commercial launch of a device that makes home hemodialysis more straightforward and economical for kidney failure patients. The UK-based Quanta will use the money to launch its technology in the UK later this year, and also apply for FDA approval. The technology previously obtained a […] July 29, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 19 Jul 2019 Mallinckrodt Teams up with UK RNAi Biotech in Deal Worth up to €553M The UK-based biotech Silence Therapeutics has signed a deal worth up to €553M ($693M) with the UK pharma company Mallinckrodt to develop RNA interference (RNAi) therapies for autoimmune diseases. Mallinckrodt will pay Silence Therapeutics €17.8M ($20M) upfront, and up to €600M ($673M) in developmental milestone payments. In exchange, it will get a license for an […] July 19, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 19 Jul 2019 UK VC Medicxi Closes Third Fund with €400M to Boost European Biotech The UK-based venture capital investment firm Medicxi has closed its third fund, totaling €400M, to nurture early- and late-stage healthcare biotech companies in Europe. The firm will begin investing in the first beneficiary companies of this fund in the next few months. The big round was raised in just six weeks, and dwarfs Medicxi’s previous […] July 19, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 3 Jul 2019 Meet the First Company in the Brand New Field of Epitranscriptomics A whole new therapeutic area is taking medical research by storm. In Cambridge, UK, the company Storm Therapeutics is leading the development of the first treatments to target a new layer of genetic information encoded in the RNA. The term ‘epitranscriptomics’ did not exist a decade ago. It was coined in 2012, when scientists started […] July 3, 2019 - 5 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Startup Scout 28 Jun 2019 This Biotech Makes Dyes from Agricultural Waste Using Microbes Welcome to Norwich, UK, where Colorifix converts agricultural waste products into dyes using microbes, reducing the water and energy required to produce the dyes. Mission: To make textile dyes more sustainable by replacing chemical methods with microbial fermentation. Dyes are an essential part of the textile and fashion industries. The majority of dyes today are […] June 28, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email