News and Trends 21 Jan 2022 Two Gene Therapy Players Launch IPOs on Stormy Stock Market After a drought of more than a year, the European gene therapy sector saw initial public offerings from Genenta Science and Genflow Biosciences. The firms aim to shine as biotech stocks elsewhere perform poorly. Until recently, European gene therapy companies were going through a dry spell in terms of launching initial public offerings (IPO). The […] January 21, 2022 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 19 Jan 2022 Engitix Builds Liver Disease Pipeline with Series A and Drug Collaboration With the close of its Series A round at €48M ($54M), the tissue models company Engitix has shifted its business from providing drug discovery services to developing its own treatment pipeline for liver diseases. When Engitix was spun out of University College London in 2016, the startup primarily aimed to provide tissue models to pharmaceutical […] January 19, 2022 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 18 Jan 2022 Ori Biotech Bags €88M Investment to Automate Cell Therapy Manufacture The UK company Ori Biotech has raised €88M ($100M) in Series B cash to ease the cell therapy manufacturing bottleneck using automation and standardized data collection. The round was 40% oversubscribed and led by the US investment firm Novalis LifeSciences. The Chinese investor Puhua Capital and Chimera Abu Dhabi joined the existing syndicate, which includes […] January 18, 2022 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 17 Jan 2022 Swiss Startup Signs on with Novo Nordisk to Discover Obesity Treatments The Swiss startup EraCal Therapeutics has signed a research partnership with the Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk to search for treatments controlling food intake and other factors contributing to obesity. Under the joint project, EraCal and Novo Nordisk will research targets for obesity treatments by identifying molecules that can control appetite and improve metabolic health. […] January 17, 2022 - 3 minutesmins - By Dan Samorodnitsky Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 14 Jan 2022 Europe Trailed US Despite Record Gene and Cell Therapy Funding in 2021 Cell and gene therapy developers globally raised an all-time annual record in 2021. However, European firms missed out on the funding growth. Companies around the world developing cell and gene therapies raised €20.1B ($23.1B) over 2021, said the advanced therapy advocacy organization the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) in a briefing this week. This bumper […] January 14, 2022 - 6 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 13 Jan 2022 Biotech Startup Incubators Prepare to Cash in on Record VC Funding Venture capital funding broke records in the biotech industry in 2021. Leading startup incubators from across Europe share their plans to make the most of this trend in 2022, with expectations for big returns and expansion in the works. In spite of financial volatility resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the year 2021 broke records for […] January 13, 2022 - 7 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 11 Jan 2022 Sanofi Joins AI Gold Rush in €4.6B Drug Discovery Pact with Exscientia As big pharma companies flock to drug discovery collaborations with artificial intelligence (AI) firms, the French giant Sanofi has sealed a €4.6B deal with the UK AI player Exscientia to develop oncology and immunology treatments. According to the deal’s terms, the partners will develop up to 15 small molecule drugs to treat cancer and immunological […] January 11, 2022 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 7 Jan 2022 French Project to Tackle Antibiotic Resistance with Biotech and Economics A team of French organizations led by the biotech firm Antabio has launched a €17M project to deploy therapeutic, diagnostic, and economic innovations in the battle against antibiotic resistance. The project, dubbed ARPEGE, involves four partners covering a variety of disciplines: the antibiotics developer Antabio; the diagnostics heavyweight bioMérieux; the university hospital group Hospices Civils […] January 7, 2022 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 5 Jan 2022 The Top European Biotech Investments in December December 2021 ended with a bang for biotech funding in Europe and Israel, with cultured meat and cell therapy startups attracting the biggest investment rounds. Biotech companies in Europe and Israel capped off 2021 with a very strong month of fundraising. Collectively, private companies and those launching initial public offerings (IPOs) banked almost €1.6B in […] January 5, 2022 - 4 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 23 Dec 2021 Future Meat Lands €308M in Biggest-Ever Cultured Meat Investment The Israeli firm Future Meat Technologies has raised a neat €308M ($347M) in the biggest financing round in the field of cultured meat to date. The company claims rapid progress in addressing scaling bottlenecks that slow the sector’s growth. A range of contributors pitched into the mammoth funding round including an undisclosed tech investor, ADM […] December 23, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 21 Dec 2021 Argenx’s Potential Blockbuster Gets FDA Nod for Autoimmune Disease US regulators have approved the first-in-class drug efgartigimod for the treatment of the rare muscle disease generalized myasthenia gravis, opening up its developer argenx to billion-dollar revenues. Efgartigimod, to be marketed as Vyvgart, is an antibody fragment drug for use in adults with generalized myasthenia gravis. The FDA’s decision represents the first successful drug approval […] December 21, 2021 - 4 minutesmins - By Anita Chakraverty Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 17 Dec 2021 UK Startup Lands €5M Seed Round to Produce Gene-Edited Crops with AI Phytoform, a London- and Boston-based startup, has received a €5M ($5.7M) investment to develop gene-edited crops with the help of artificial intelligence tools. The firm expects to bring its first product, a weather-resistant tomato, to market in early 2022. The seed financing will fuel the development of Phytoform’s precision crop breeding platform, which specializes in […] December 17, 2021 - 4 minutesmins - By Dan Samorodnitsky Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email