News and Trends 29 Mar 2019 Liquid Biopsy for Lung Cancer Gets €46M Boost Inivata has raised a €46M (£40M) Series B round that will further advance the commercialization of the company’s blood test for lung cancer as well as the development of new tests. Investors include Woodford patient Capital Trust, IP Group, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Johnson & Johnson Innovation and RT Ventures. Based in both the US and […] March 29, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 29 Mar 2019 French Diabetes Company Cellnovo Goes into Administration Paris-based Cellnovo has cut down on staff as well as stopped manufacturing and selling its diabetes management system as the company found itself unable to scale up. Until this week, Cellnovo was selling a diabetes management system consisting of a small insulin pump that was controlled via smartphone. Hundreds of diabetics using this technology have […] March 29, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 29 Mar 2019 Galapagos Nears First Drug Approval with Phase III Success in Rheumatoid Arthritis Galapagos has released positive data from two phase III trials testing its flagship drug candidate, filgotinib, that will let the company and its partner Gilead apply for marketing approval. 20 years after its foundation, Galapagos is finally approaching the finish line. Yesterday, the company has shared positive data from two clinical trials that together enrolled […] March 29, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Mar 2019 Gene Therapy Exceeds Expectations in Treating Children’s Neurological Disease A gene therapy developed by the UK company Orchard Therapeutics has greatly improved the motor symptoms of children with an incurable neurological disease. The 20 children in the phase II trial suffered from metachromatic leukodystrophy, a rare genetic disease caused by the mutation of a protein that breaks down sulfur-containing molecules in cells. This leads […] March 28, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Mar 2019 Swiss Biotech Raises €20M to Develop Decoy Drugs in Autoimmune Disease The biotech Polyneuron has raised a Series A round of €20.1M (CHF 22.5M) to start human testing with a treatment for a rare autoimmune disease. Based in Basel, Polyneuron is developing drugs to treat anti-MAG peripheral neuropathy. This debilitating disease is caused by the immune system producing autoantibodies that attack nerve support cells, which stops […] March 28, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 27 Mar 2019 Genfit Gets Ready to Launch Drug for Untreated Liver Disease Raising €120M After some big failures from its top competitors earlier this year, French company Genfit has done an IPO to prepare the launch of its drug for NASH, a chronic liver disease for which there is currently no treatment. Today, Genfit has started trading on Nasdaq. Together with issuing new shares in its existing Euronext Paris […] March 27, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 27 Mar 2019 Artificial Intelligence Could Beat Tumors Resistant to Immunotherapy The French company OSE Immunotherapeutics has signed a partnership to use artificial intelligence to develop treatments for tumors that don’t respond to checkpoint inhibitor drugs. In the last five years, checkpoint inhibitor drugs have become a potentially life-saving option for people that don’t respond to traditional cancer treatments. These antibody drugs have shown promise in […] March 27, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 22 Mar 2019 Danish Startup Gets €5.5M to Produce Hard-to-Make Chemicals Through Fermentation CysBio is developing a fermentation technology to produce valuable chemicals that were previously too difficult or expensive to make. Founded just at the beginning of this year, CysBio is now receiving its first funding. This seed investment comes from the Chinese chemical company Zhejiang NHU, which has also established a partnership to commercialize some of […] March 22, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 21 Mar 2019 Celgene and Exscientia Sign the Largest Deal in AI for Drug Discovery In a deal with €22M paid upfront and undisclosed “substantial milestones and royalties,” Exscientia will use its artificial intelligence technology to help Celgene speed up the discovery of drug candidates for cancer and autoimmune diseases. “It is the largest AI drug discovery deal done in the industry to date,” said Andrew Hopkins, CEO of Oxford-based […] March 21, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 21 Mar 2019 UK Government’s Bid on Healthcare Genomics Already Benefiting Biotechs The positive stance of the UK Government towards incorporation of genomics into healthcare has created unparalleled chances for the country’s biotech companies, which are already taking advantage of the business opportunities. Following the completion of the 100,000 Genomes Project at the end of 2018, the fledgling NHS Genomic Medicine Service launched. This service aims to […] March 21, 2019 - 5 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 20 Mar 2019 Czech Cell Therapy Increases Survival in Ovarian Cancer by 62% The Czech biotech company Sotio has shown in a phase II trial that its cellular immunotherapy can decrease the risk of a patient dying from ovarian cancer by 62%. The cell therapy was tested in people with the most severe stages of recurrent ovarian cancer, in combination with second-line chemotherapy when cancer returned after […] March 20, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 18 Mar 2019 Shares Drop 40% as Allergy Therapeutics Announces Failed Phase III Trial Allergy Therapeutics has revealed that its immunotherapy for birch pollen allergy did not result in a significant symptom improvement when compared to a placebo. As a direct result of the announcement, the shares of Allergy Therapeutics on the London Stock Exchange dropped over 40% within two hours. The phase III trial enrolled 582 people across […] March 18, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email