News and Trends 29 Aug 2018 Women’s Health Biotech Raises €28M to Fund Phase II Menopause Drug Trial UK-biotech KaNDy Therapeutics closed a £25M (€28M) series C round to help finance the upcoming Phase IIb trial of its lead candidate for treating symptoms of the menopause. Unlike other therapies aimed at treating the same symptoms, KaNDy’s drug (NT-814) is not based on hormone replacement therapy, which can take a long time to be […] August 29, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 29 Aug 2018 Affimed Collaborates with Genentech in Cancer Immunotherapy Deal Worth €4.4B The German biotech will partner with Genentech, part of the Roche Group, to develop targeted cancer therapies that engage both innate and adaptive immune cells. Affimed will receive €82M ($96M) upfront from the US giant to develop its immunotherapy ROCK (Redirected Optimized Cell Killing) platform, which uses both natural killer cells and T-cells to target […] August 29, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Aug 2018 Update: Gilead and Novartis’s CAR T-Cell Therapies Approved in Europe Update: Following on from earlier approvals in the US, the European Commission announced it has given marketing approval for both Gilead’s Yescarta and Novartis’s Kymriah for treatment of patients with various forms of blood cancer. Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) can be used to treat adults with a relapsed or refractory form of the blood cancer diffuse large […] August 28, 2018 - 4 minutesmins - By Editorial Team Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 25 Aug 2018 Are Fungi the Answer to a More Sustainable Future? The exhibition Fungal Futures, in Belgium, showcases multiple objects that are made using fungi, offering a peek into a future of sustainable materials. We are in dire need of sustainable materials that provide an environmentally-friendly alternative to plastic and other materials that cause pollution and end up crowding landfills. The solution could be fungi. These […] August 25, 2018 - 5 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 22 Aug 2018 Swedish Biotech Breaks Barrier to Diagnosis with Rheumatoid Arthritis Test A blood test developed by Swedish-biotech Immunovia and scientists from Linköping University accurately diagnoses patients with rheumatoid arthritis even if they test negative for two common biomarkers. The current gold standard test for rheumatoid arthritis, which affects 5-7 million people in the US and Europe, misses a substantial number of people who have the condition. […] August 22, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 17 Aug 2018 Novo Nordisk Buys British ‘Smart’ Insulin Diabetes Biotech in deal worth €702M Novo Nordisk acquired the UK biotech Ziylo, which develops glucose-responsive insulin treatments for diabetes that act in response to changes in blood sugar levels. The Danish big-pharma, which is already a big player in the diabetes space, acquired the full rights to Ziylo’s technology in a deal worth up to €702M ($800M). Novo will use the […] August 17, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 16 Aug 2018 Pfizer Offers €374M for German mRNA Flu Vaccine BioNTech, based in Mainz, Germany, has entered into a partnership with Pfizer worth up to $425M (€374M) to develop an mRNA-based flu vaccine, which could be produced much more quickly than current flu vaccines. Messenger RNA (mRNA) is one of the building blocks living organisms use to create proteins from genes. BioNTech is developing prophylactic […] August 16, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 15 Aug 2018 London Biotech Gets Positive Phase III Results for its Monthly HIV Treatment ViiV Healthcare has shown its monthly two-drug HIV treatment works as well as a daily three-drug treatment, which could help reduce the total number of drugs taken by patients. In a Phase III trial that recruited 618 people, London biotech ViiV Healthcare aimed to see if adult HIV-positive patients who had been taking daily antiretroviral […] August 15, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 13 Aug 2018 Orchard Therapeutics Raises €132M to Develop Gene Therapies Orchard Therapeutics raised $150M (€132M) in Series C financing to bring its gene therapies from clinical testing to regulatory approval. The British biotech will use the funding to develop its most advanced clinical programs, which aim to treat rare inherited metabolic and immune system diseases. The news follows Orchard’s acquisition of GSK’s entire gene therapy […] August 13, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 11 Aug 2018 Culturing Bacteria in a Lifesize Human Body Sculpture Artist Mellissa Fisher built a human sculpture carrying the myriad of invisible bacteria that live on our bodies to highlight the global threat of antibiotic resistance. Journalist Michael Mosley enters the lab and sees a replica of his own body. All over it, bacteria of all sizes and colors grow, competing with each other to […] August 11, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 10 Aug 2018 UK Biotech Raises €73M to Target DNA Repair in Treating Cancer Artios Pharma completed a €73M (£65M) Series B financing round to develop cancer treatments that target DNA repair mechanisms. Cancer occurs when cells in part of the body start dividing uncontrollably as a result of damaged or mutated DNA. In collaboration with Cancer Research UK, Artios Pharma is developing cancer treatments that inhibit proteins involved […] August 10, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 9 Aug 2018 Modulating the Microbiome Could Boost Vaccine Performance Dutch scientists have found that altering a patient’s microbiome with antibiotics before a vaccination can boost the body’s resulting immune response against rotavirus infection. Rotavirus causes severe vomiting and diarrhea and largely affects children. Over 200,000 children are killed by the virus each year. The rotavirus vaccine is made of weakened strains of the rotavirus, […] August 9, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email