News and Trends 27 Apr 2021 EMA Approvals for Multiple Sclerosis Highlight Treatment Shortfalls While the EU saw rapid-fire approvals in the multiple sclerosis space last month, the innovations centered mostly on improving existing approaches. Which areas of multiple sclerosis treatment need more options? At the end of March, the EMA made key decisions on three treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic neurodegenerative disease affecting 2.5 million people […] April 27, 2021 - 6 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 21 Apr 2021 Vazkepa Gets EMA Nod for Cardiovascular Disease, But Hurdles Remain Last month’s EU approval of Vazkepa — a treatment derived from fish oil and branded as Vascepa in the US — has added much-needed ammunition to the arsenal of doctors battling cardiovascular disease. Yet other similar treatments are returning lukewarm results and the possibility of approvals being withdrawn hangs in the air. Icosapent ethyl, a […] April 21, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 20 Apr 2021 Pandemic Boosts Diagnostics Field with High Revenues and Acquisitions The US medtech firm Hologic has bought the Finnish-French biotech Mobidiag for around €668M in the latest of a series of mergers, acquisitions, and stock market launches taking over the diagnostics market. Hologic’s move is the latest in a flurry of activity from the women’s health specialist, which has snapped up Diagenode in Belgium, Biotheranostics […] April 20, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Anita Chakraverty Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 15 Apr 2021 Achilles Therapeutics’ IPO Caps Investment Wave for Neoantigens The close of the UK firm Achilles Therapeutics’ €146.9M ($175.5M) initial public offering last month may have been a long-delayed starter pistol for investments into neoantigen-based therapies, a family of personalized cancer immunotherapies that target proteins unique to an individual’s tumor. Neoantigen-focused companies have closed smaller initial public offerings (IPOs) in the past. Two major […] April 15, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 14 Apr 2021 DBV Battles Aimmune for Share of Peanut Allergy Treatment Market Last year, the FDA rejected DBV Technologies’ peanut allergy treatment and approved that of its rival Aimmune. After recent talks with the FDA and EMA, DBV has laid out a comeback plan that could carve it a niche in the peanut allergy treatment market. The French biotech firm DBV is coming back from a snub by […] April 14, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By External Contributor Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 1 Apr 2021 Have European Investors Missed the Exosome ‘Gold Rush’? When Oxford-based Evox Therapeutics announced its €81.1M (£69.2M) Series C round in February, it signaled that investors are taking exosome therapies seriously. But a lack of European investors in the exosome field raises the very real possibility that the best opportunities have already passed, along with the chance to build an exosome ecosystem to rival […] April 1, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Mark Zipkin Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 31 Mar 2021 Lava Therapeutics’ IPO Shakes Cancer Niche of Gamma Delta T Cells The Dutch biotech startup Lava Therapeutics launched onto the Nasdaq stock market last week with an €85.6M ($100.5M) IPO. This is a sign of mounting investor interest in cancer treatments based on immune cells known as gamma delta T cells. The proceeds of the IPO will be used to drive the development of the company’s […] March 31, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Anita Chakraverty Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 25 Mar 2021 Covid-19 Vaccine Approvals Bring Hope and Challenges for Adenoviral Technology The rise of adenoviral Covid-19 vaccines highlights the potential of companies using similar technology in other fields like cancer or gene therapy. However, complex challenges remain, such as circumventing immunity to adenoviral treatments. Earlier this month, Johnson & Johnson’s candidate became the first single-shot Covid-19 vaccine to get the EMA green light. The vaccine is […] March 25, 2021 - 6 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 24 Mar 2021 Global Funding for Meat Alternative Companies Tripled in 2020 Companies developing sustainable meat and dairy alternatives smashed records with a €2.6B ($3.1B) haul last year. Why has it been such a bumper harvest? Traditional agriculture is a major polluter, especially in the case of meat production. The highest estimations place its share of global greenhouse gas emissions at up to 20%. In an effort […] March 24, 2021 - 7 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 18 Mar 2021 Europe Falls Behind in Efforts to Track Covid-19 Variants As barely a third of European countries meet targets to track concerning Covid-19 variants, diagnostics and genomics companies are scrambling to help them tackle this challenge. New strains of the Covid-19 coronavirus are sweeping Europe as vaccine distribution efforts roll on. These variants often gain traction when mutations let them become more virulent or spread […] March 18, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Anita Chakraverty Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 4 Mar 2021 Galapagos and Gilead Soldier On After Inflammatory Disease Flops Clinical and regulatory setbacks have left the star biotech duo Gilead and Galapagos smarting and their stock value bruised in recent months. Yet the pair claim to be well capitalized to weather the storm and determined to do so together. The two companies forged an unusual blockbuster agreement in 2019, valued at around €4.5B ($5.1B), […] March 4, 2021 - 4 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 25 Feb 2021 Legal Fights Accompany Big Fundraises in Liquid Biopsy Scene A recent patent fight between the liquid biopsy companies Natera and Inivata is only the latest of many spats over DNA sequencing technology that could potentially revolutionize the detection and treatment of cancer. Earlier this month, the UK-US biotech Inivata raised €29M in the second closing of a Series C round. The company will use […] February 25, 2021 - 5 minutesmins - By Anita Chakraverty Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email