The latest biotech news

News and Trends 7 May 2020

EU Pitches Into €7.4B Fund Supporting Covid-19 Treatments & Vaccines

The European Commission and global donors have pledged €7.4 billion to a fund aimed at ensuring collaborative development and universal deployment of diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines for Covid-19. The Coronavirus Global Response pledging event is the beginning of a global fundraising marathon organized by the European Union and G20 nations in response to a World […]

May 7, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By David Kirk

gene therapy cardiac rare disease biomarin dinaqor

News and Trends 7 May 2020

BioMarin Partners Swiss Biotech to Develop Cardiac Gene Therapies

US biotech BioMarin has partnered Swiss startup DiNAQOR to develop gene therapies to treat rare, inherited cardiac diseases. DiNAQOR will initially receive an upfront payment from BioMarin, followed by developmental, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments and a percentage of royalties on later sales. No financial details of the collaboration were revealed by either company. “We […]

May 7, 2020 - 2 minutesmins - By Helen Albert

News and Trends 7 May 2020

Lyme Disease Vaccine Gets Pfizer’s Backing in €284M Deal

The French biotech Valneva will collaborate with Pfizer to develop and commercialize Valneva’s phase II-stage Lyme disease vaccine candidate. The deal they signed is expected to help compensate for the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Valneva’s financial outlook for 2020. The latest alliance will pool Valneva’s vaccine R&D expertise with Pfizer’s vast drug development […]

May 7, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Karen O’Hanlon Cohrt

Kurma Partner biotech investment rare diseases

News and Trends 30 Apr 2020

Update: Kurma Partners’ Third Biofund Closes at €160M

Update (30/04/2020): The French VC firm Kurma Partners has completed the final closing of its third therapeutic fund, exceeding its initial target of €150M. The final closing of Kurma Biofund III was supported by Bpifrance, the European Investment Fund, Idinvest Partners, the Pasteur Institute, the German public development bank NRW.BANK, and Servier Laboratories. Kurma managed […]

April 30, 2020 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith

BioNTech Production scaled e1584385495951

News and Trends 29 Apr 2020

Update: BioNTech and Pfizer’s mRNA Vaccine for Covid-19 Tested in Humans

Update (29/04/2020): A vaccine developed by the German company BioNTech and its big pharma partner Pfizer has become the first European mRNA vaccine for Covid-19 to enter human testing in a phase I/II trial. Since dosing began last week, twelve volunteers in Germany have been given the vaccine. The first part of the trial — […]

April 29, 2020 - 5 minutesmins - By Helen Albert

pluristem cell therapy covid 19 coronavirus

News and Trends 29 Apr 2020

Pluristem Scores €50M From EIB to Develop Covid-19 Cell Therapy

Israeli cell therapy biotech Pluristem Therapeutics has secured up to €50M in non-dilutive funding from the European Investment Bank to progress its coronavirus-targeting cell therapy to phase III. The partners plan to sign the funding agreement at the end of April and Pluristem will initially receive €20M followed by two further installments totaling up to […]

April 29, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert

brainvectis askbio gene therapy neurology

News and Trends 28 Apr 2020

AskBio Takes Over French Gene Therapy Company to Treat Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s

The Paris-based BrainVectis, a biotech developing gene therapies for Huntington’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, has been acquired by the US clinical-stage gene therapy company AskBio. AskBio’s gene therapy experience and manufacturing capacity will help to accelerate BrainVectis’ lead candidate for Huntington’s into phase I testing. In return, AskBio gets to expand its list of target […]

April 28, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By David Kirk

News and Trends 28 Apr 2020

Anti-Aging Treatments at Forefront of Astellas’ €80M UK Acquisition

Japanese pharma giant Astellas has acquired the UK biotech Nanna Therapeutics for up to €80M (£69.5M) in a deal to boost the development of drugs for unspecified age-related conditions and mitochondrial diseases. Through the acquisition, Astellas gains access to Nanna’s drug discovery technology, which focuses on drugs that target the mitochondria, the energy-producing machinery in […]

April 28, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By David Kirk

News and Trends 27 Apr 2020

Series A Round Boosts Swedish Synthetic Biology Player by €6.4M

The Swedish synthetic biology company EnginZyme has raised a Series A funding round to the tune of €6.4M to develop its cell-free synbio technology for the sustainable production of plastic, rubber, and other synthetic materials. The latest investment, which was led by French venture fund Sofinnova Partners, brings EnginZyme’s total funding to more than €10M […]

April 27, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Karen O’Hanlon Cohrt

News and Trends 24 Apr 2020

Big €10M Seed Round Funds New Class of Cancer Drugs in Switzerland

The Swiss biotech FoRx Therapeutics has raised an impressive €10M in seed funding to develop a new generation of drugs that target DNA repair in cancer cells. The drugs will block a DNA repair process called break-induced replication, which was discovered by the company’s scientific founder Thanos Halazonetis. This process is used by cancer cells […]

April 24, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Laura Cowen

News and Trends 24 Apr 2020

First Volunteers Dosed with European Coronavirus Vaccine

The first European vaccine for coronavirus disease to enter clinical trials has been administered to UK volunteers in a project led by the University of Oxford. One volunteer was injected with the coronavirus vaccine and another with a control vaccine yesterday in a phase I trial that aims to recruit over 1,000 participants. The trial […]

April 24, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith

microfluidics cell therapy gene therapy microfluidX

News and Trends 24 Apr 2020

UK Startup to Manufacture Cell and Gene Therapies with Microfluidics

The UK company MicrofluidX has closed a €1.6M (£1.4 M) seed funding round to develop a microfluidic platform that could produce cell and gene therapies more cheaply than conventional cell cultures. The funding round was led by UKI2S, a national seed investment fund targeting early-stage companies, as well as Longwall Ventures and Cambridge Angels. MicrofluidX […]

April 24, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By David Kirk

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News and Trends

EU Pitches Into €7.4B Fund Supporting Covid-19 Treatments & Vaccines

BioMarin Partners Swiss Biotech to Develop Cardiac Gene Therapies

Lyme Disease Vaccine Gets Pfizer’s Backing in €284M Deal

Update: Kurma Partners’ Third Biofund Closes at €160M

Update: BioNTech and Pfizer’s mRNA Vaccine for Covid-19 Tested in Humans

Pluristem Scores €50M From EIB to Develop Covid-19 Cell Therapy

AskBio Takes Over French Gene Therapy Company to Treat Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s

Anti-Aging Treatments at Forefront of Astellas’ €80M UK Acquisition

Series A Round Boosts Swedish Synthetic Biology Player by €6.4M

Big €10M Seed Round Funds New Class of Cancer Drugs in Switzerland

First Volunteers Dosed with European Coronavirus Vaccine

UK Startup to Manufacture Cell and Gene Therapies with Microfluidics

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Catalonia: A biotech hub going from strength to strength, with Barcelona at its core

Top biotech deals of February 2025

Grab your free report on 3D organoids and explore their future potential

These 7 biotechs are shaping the next generation of endometriosis care

Connect with decision-makers and researchers worldwide for collaborative opportunities

Subscribe to our newsletter

Advertise with us

Catalonia: A biotech hub going from strength to strength, with Barcelona at its core

Top biotech deals of February 2025

Grab your free report on 3D organoids and explore their future potential

These 7 biotechs are shaping the next generation of endometriosis care

Connect with decision-makers and researchers worldwide for collaborative opportunities

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Advertise with us

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