News and Trends 12 Jul 2017 Update: France and the Netherlands deem Oxitec’s GM Mosquitoes Safe for Release Update (12/07/2017): France’s High Council for Biotechnology (HCB) has also backed the use, with caution, of genetically modified mosquitoes in France. Oxitec expects the report published by the HCB will help shape the policy to regulate the genetically engineered insects in France and eventually allow testing the technology in the French Caribbean. Originally published on 07/07/2017 A […] July 12, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 4 Jul 2017 British Liquid Biopsy for Ovarian Cancer Outperforms the Gold Standard The British company Angle has announced results from a large-scale trial that seem to indicate its liquid biopsy technology could surpass the gold standard in ovarian cancer diagnosis. Angle, in the UK, is developing liquid biopsy tests to replace biopsies in the diagnosis of cancer. The company has announced results from a 400-patient trial in […] July 4, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 3 Jul 2017 Scottish AI Biotech Recruits Another Pharma Partner in €37M Deal After Sanofi recruited Exscientia in a €250M deal last May, GSK has taken an interest in the startup and invested in a collaboration of its own. Artificial intelligence has been carving out a niche for itself in biotech, and Exscientia is fast establishing itself as a key player in the field. In May, the company signed a […] July 3, 2017 - 1 minutemin - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 30 Jun 2017 €40M in Series C for a British Biotech Treating Blindness with Gene Therapy NightstaRx has raised €39.5M that will go towards three clinical programs testing gene therapies for rare diseases that cause blindness. NightstaRx is developing gene therapies for genetic retinal diseases that cause blindness, with technology from the University of Oxford. Now getting closer to the market, the company has closed a Series C round with $45M (€39.5M) […] June 30, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 22 Jun 2017 What are the Biggest Cancer Challenges? The UK Offers £20M Prizes for Solutions! Cancer Research UK is taking applications for £20M prizes from research groups worldwide that want to solve the biggest challenges in cancer research. Cancer Research UK is launching today its second round of the Grand Challenge to tear down some of the biggest barriers to the advancement of cancer therapy. The charity will shortlist the most promising […] June 22, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 22 Jun 2017 LAB282 Awards Second Funding Round to 5 Academic Projects at Oxford Evotec and the University of Oxford have announced the academic projects that will receive a financial award to push them towards launching spin-outs. LAB282 is a partnership between the German biotech Evotec, Oxford University Innovation and Oxford Sciences Innovation, the University’s venture fund manager. Set up with the aim to bridge academia and industry in life sciences, LAB282 […] June 22, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 21 Jun 2017 Video: Can Synbio Cure Malaria? – Fireside Chat with Oxitec’s CEO Hadyn Parry In our fireside chat with Hadyn Parry, Clara had the chance to hear all about Oxitec’s exciting technology that could save us from Dengue and Zika. Oxitec’s GM mosquitoes have the potential to halt epidemics of mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika or Dengue, which according to Hadyn are actually causing more problems every year. As Hadyn explained, “we’re […] June 21, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 21 Jun 2017 British Biotech Tops up its Cancer Pipeline with New TCR Therapy Cell Medica just acquired Catapult Therapy TCR, set up by UK’s CGT Catapult, gaining the rights to its TCR therapy candidate to treat solid tumors. Cell Medica says it’s all set to leverage its Dominant T cell receptor (TCR) platform technology, which the company licensed from University College London (UCL) last year, to enhance existing T cell […] June 21, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 15 Jun 2017 UK-based VC Launches Massive $300M Fund to Fill Gap for Late-Stage Biotech The UK-based VC Medicxi has raised a massive $300M (€268M) fund backed by Novartis and Google’s Verily to invest in late-stage drug development. After the former life science branch of famous Index Ventures went solo in 2016 and became Medicxi, the VC was able to raise a huge sum of €210M in its first round to support early-stage, single-asset […] June 15, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 15 Jun 2017 MRC Technology, now LifeArc, Set to Invest £500M in UK’s Life Sciences LifeArc will draw funds from royalties of MSD’s successful checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda to invest in life sciences in both academic and business sectors. Born from the UK’s Medical Research Council, MRC Technology is a charity focused on supporting medical scientific research. Today, it becomes LifeArc and starts an ambitious new plan to invest up to […] June 15, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 12 Jun 2017 This Italian Academic-turned-CEO also Launched 7 Cancer Drugs at GSK Paolo Paoletti might have been forced to reconsider his career as a professor in medicine, but academia’s loss was biopharma’s gain! Before becoming CEO of one of London’s most exciting biotechs, GammaDelta Therapeutics, Paolo Paoletti had a long run through the corporate ranks of pharma. He was coaxed out of academic medicine to join Eli […] June 12, 2017 - 9 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
Interview 8 Jun 2017 Cambridge Antibody Technology: The History of the UK’s Best Biotech CAT was the first of Greg Winter’s three antibody-related companies and one of the UK’s biggest success stories in biotech. How did he pull it off? Sir Greg Winter is one of the biggest names in European biotech. As a Professor of Biochemistry at Cambridge University, he developed phage display technology that became the foundation […] June 8, 2017 - 7 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email