News and Trends 18 Feb 2019 Tuberculosis Treatment Kills Bacteria with Their Own Suicide Toxin A European academic research collaboration has found a new potential weapon against antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis: its own toxins. Many types of bacteria, such as the pathogen responsible for the deadly lung disease tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, use toxins to stay alive. For example, these toxins can be useful when the bacteria are starved or infected by viruses, […] February 18, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 6 Feb 2019 British Biotech Spin-Offs Get €40M Funding to Treat Narcolepsy Orexia and Inexia, two new virtual companies spun out of Sosei Heptares, will develop drugs for neurological diseases such as narcolepsy with funding from Medicxi Ventures. The companies will develop drugs that activate two molecules called OX1 and OX2. These molecules act as receptors of orexin, a protein that regulates arousal, wakefulness and sleep. The […] February 6, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 29 Jan 2019 Antibiotic Nasal Gel for Surgical Infections Cruises Through Phase I An antibiotic nasal gel, developed by the UK company Destiny Pharma to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections, has shown no adverse effects in healthy volunteers in a phase I trial. Destiny’s antibiotic nasal gel is designed to prevent post-surgical infections of the bacterial species Staphylococcus aureus, which can come in the dangerous drug-resistant strain MRSA. “About […] January 29, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Jan 2019 New UK Policy Benefits Biotechs Waging War on Superbugs Among other measures, the new policy changes the way companies are reimbursed for antimicrobial drugs, which is expected to increase investment in biotech and the interest of big pharma in tackling antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial resistance is a huge problem. More and more pathogens are becoming resistant to antibiotics, as seen in the rising number of […] January 28, 2019 - 4 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Startup Scout 18 Jan 2019 This Biotech Turns Rejected Organs Into Drug Testing Models Engitix, a spinout from University College London, makes accurate disease models from human tissue that include the extracellular matrix from outside of the cells, an often overlooked but essential factor in the way cells behave inside our bodies. Mission: To make disease models in the lab that include the extracellular matrix, making them more […] January 18, 2019 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Startup Scout 11 Jan 2019 This Company Automates Cancer Research from Bench to Bar Charts In the academic city of Oxford, UK, the company Arctoris is working to make life easier for cancer lab researchers, letting them ‘order’ experiments online using its robotic facilities and data analysis tools. Mission: To cut down researchers’ workloads by automating cellular, molecular, and data analysis techniques in cancer research. As any molecular biologist will […] January 11, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 8 Jan 2019 Topical Gene Therapy Shows Early Promise for Inherited Skin Disease A gene therapy applied to the skin, developed by UK company Amryt Pharma, showed positive preclinical results for the treatment of a rare genetic skin disease. The disease, called recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), is one of a group of diseases in which sufferers have mutations in proteins vital to the integrity of the […] January 8, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 7 Jan 2019 AI Drug Discovery Company Raises €23M and Signs with Roche Oxford-based Exscientia has closed a €23M ($26M) Series B round and announced a partnership with Roche worth up to €60M. Exscientia has developed an artificial intelligence platform to boost drug discovery in pharma and biotech. “We can reduce at least 4- to 5-fold the time and cost of drug discovery as compared to the industry […] January 7, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 20 Dec 2018 Cambridge Company Raises €20M for Potential First in Lung Disease Morphogen-IX, based in Cambridge, has raised €20.4M (£18.4M) to fund a new type of treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension. The Series B financing will go towards the preclinical development of the company’s lead candidate, which has the potential to become the first to treat the condition rather than just addressing the symptoms. People with pulmonary […] December 20, 2018 - 1 minutemin - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 17 Dec 2018 Series B Boosts British Biotech’s Cell Therapy Automation With €22.6M The UK company Synthace has raised €22.6M to develop its software platform to automate and improve the manufacturing process in gene and cell therapy. The round, led by Hong Kong-based investor Horizons Ventures, will help to fund the development of Synthace’s software designed to automate key protocols in the lab. Furthermore, the funding will help […] December 17, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 11 Dec 2018 UK Biotech Settles Lawsuit on the First RNAi Drug Silence Therapeutics and Alnylam have reached a settlement that puts an end to a legal dispute between them resulting in Silence receiving some royalties on Onpattro, the first RNA interference drug. The lawsuit started last year, when Silence went to the UK courts claiming that Alnylam was infringing on its intellectual property. As part of […] December 11, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
More News! 10 Dec 2018 British Company Raises €37M to Personalize Therapies with Machine Learning Genomics, a company based in Oxford, has increased the amount raised in a Series B round that will fund further development of its genomics technology for personalized medicine. The company adds a further €9M (£8M) to the round with the participation of Foresite Capital and F-Prime Capital, two renowned US life sciences investors. The previous […] December 10, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email