News and Trends 14 Mar 2019 Microsoft Aims to Make Cell Therapies Cheaper with Artificial Intelligence Microsoft has launched a collaboration with the UK company Oxford BioMedica to use Microsoft’s artificial intelligence technology to make gene and cell therapy manufacturing easier and cheaper. Genetically programming cells and viruses to make cell and gene therapies is not as simple as programming a computer. Organisms have many layers of complexity and unpredictability, sometimes […] March 14, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 13 Mar 2019 Artificial Intelligence Detects Juvenile Arthritis in the Blood Using artificial intelligence, a Belgian research group can diagnose juvenile arthritis from blood samples with almost 90% accuracy and identify different forms of the disease, something that is not currently possible. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis causes joint pain, swelling and stiffness in children under the age of 16. The disease is hard to treat because there […] March 13, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 12 Mar 2019 Stem Cells and Hydrogel Make Potential Osteoarthritis Treatment Scientists from the Netherlands have received a €600,000 grant to test a treatment for osteoarthritis in humans that combines hydrogels and stem cells to help the knee joint heal. In osteoarthritis, the cartilage in joints such as the knees breaks down, causing stiffness and pain. There is no cure at the moment, and most current […] March 12, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 12 Mar 2019 Blocking Hidden Viral Protein Shows Promise for Treating Multiple Sclerosis An antibody that blocks the action of a hidden viral protein encoded by our genome shows encouraging signs of slowing down the progression of multiple sclerosis, according to the Swiss biotech GeNeuro which carried out the research. GeNeuro’s monoclonal antibody drug targets the hidden viral protein because it’s linked to the occurrence of multiple sclerosis, […] March 12, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 11 Mar 2019 Danish Biotech to Develop CRISPR-Based Microbiome Treatments SNIPR Biome has raised €43M in Series A funds to develop treatments that precisely target ‘bad’ bacteria using CRISPR gene editing, while keeping the rest of the patient’s microbiome intact. Founded with €2.6M seed investment from the Lundbeck Foundation in 2017, SNIPR Biome was the first exploratory investment for the Danish organisation’s Emerge fund, which […] March 11, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 11 Mar 2019 Monthly Injection Proves as Good as Daily Pills Against HIV in Phase III Two phase III trials conducted by ViiV Healthcare have concluded that a monthly injection of two anti-HIV drugs is as effective as the standard daily treatment taken by people infected with HIV. The results showed that, after 11 months, the monthly treatment achieved virus suppression levels of over 90% and similar to those of conventional […] March 11, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 8 Mar 2019 HIV Drug Shows Promise for Treating Ulcerative Colitis Patients A small molecule drug, developed by the company Abivax for treating HIV, has also shown promise for patients with the inflammatory bowel disease ulcerative colitis, reducing the disease severity consistently for over six months. Abivax tested the drug on patients with moderate-to-severe cases of ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel condition that causes rectal bleeding and […] March 8, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 8 Mar 2019 Flu Resistant to Antivirals? This Biotech Has a Drug for That We are visiting the medieval German city of Tübingen this week. It hosts the biotech Atriva Therapeutics, which is developing antiviral drugs for influenza that can circumvent drug resistance. Mission: To make antiviral drugs that, unlike conventional drugs, target the host cell instead of the virus. This can prevent the virus from building resistance to […] March 8, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 6 Mar 2019 Second Patient Achieves HIV Remission After Bone Marrow Transplant to Treat Cancer For the second time in history, an HIV-positive patient with blood cancer has achieved HIV remission following a customized bone marrow transplant to treat their cancer from an HIV-resistant donor. The HIV-positive patient received a bone marrow transplant to treat the blood cancer Hodgkin’s lymphoma, from which he also suffered. The researchers used this cancer […] March 6, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 5 Mar 2019 Seventure Continues Microbiome Investment Success with Second Fund After the success of the world’s first fund dedicated to companies in nutrition, digital health, and the microbiome, the French venture capital firm Seventure Partners has completed the first closing of a second microbiome fund, which is expected to total €200M. The fund is the successor to Seventure’s Health for Life Capital fund, which was […] March 5, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 4 Mar 2019 Biogen Acquires UK Biotech Developing Gene Therapy for Blindness The big US biotech Biogen has agreed to acquire Nightstar Therapeutics for €773M ($877M), including Nightstar’s candidate gene therapies for inherited blindness. Expected to be complete by mid-2019, Biogen’s acquisition of Nightstar bags it the UK company’s most advanced program. Currently in phase III, the therapy targets choroidemia, an incurable genetic condition which causes progressive […] March 4, 2019 - 2 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 1 Mar 2019 Rapid Response mRNA Vaccine Facility Gets €30M Funding An mRNA vaccine facility, run by the German biotech CureVac, has received a €30M development grant to rapidly manufacture vaccines for regions hit by outbreaks of rabies, yellow fever and emerging diseases. CureVac is a company that develops vaccines made of mRNA, a molecule that lets cells translate genes into proteins. The company’s drug candidates […] March 1, 2019 - 3 minutesmins - By Jonathan Smith Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email