SAGA Diagnostics, a cancer liquid biopsy and genomic testing company focused on precision oncology and non-invasive ultrasensitive monitoring of cancer patients, has entered into an assay development agreement with Astra Zeneca to develop SAGAsafe dPCR assays towards undisclosed methylated targets for analyses of tissue samples and liquid biopsies. James Hadfield,… Read More
Listen to this article on the DDW Podcast: John Couse, PhD, Vice President, Scientific Services, Taconic Biosciences, explains how focussing on best practices for animal models can reduce a project’s timeline, budget, and total number of animals used. Research organisations engaged in drug discovery rely on animal models, including genetically… Read More
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued an Appraisal Consultation Document (ACD) for AstraZeneca’s Forxiga (dapagliflozin) within its marketing authorisation for the treatment of adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD). AstraZeneca estimates that approximately 91,000 adults living with CKD in England could be eligible for… Read More
Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK’s investigational oral therapy, iptacopan (LNP023), has been awarded an Innovation Passport for the treatment of C3 glomerulopathy (C3G) by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC).1 The Innovation Passport is… Read More
The latest free-to-listen DDW podcast episode is titled “Analysing the technology driving innovation in drug discovery”. It covers two articles written for Volume 22, Issue 2 – Spring 2021 of the Drug Discovery World Magazine, narrated by DDW’s Megan Thomas. These articles are titled: “How imaging techniques… Read More
The latest free-to-listen DDW podcast episode is titled “Analysing the technology driving innovation in drug discovery”. It covers two articles written for Volume 22, Issue 2 – Spring 2021 of the Drug Discovery World Magazine, narrated by DDW’s Megan Thomas. These articles are titled: “How imaging techniques… Read More
News round-up by DDW’s Megan Thomas for 1-5 November DDW’s Megan Thomas has selected five stories which showcase the international scope of the drug discovery industry in terms of research, innovation, collaboration and development. 1. New consortium to boost Covid-19 vaccine production in South Africa The Medicines Patent… Read More
The importance of biotherapeutics as a class of drugs continues to increase. Indeed, their low toxicity and high specificity justify their investigation as drug candidates. Yet, quantification studies of biotherapies in complex biological matrices can be very challenging. In particular, high background noise and interferences due to endogenous proteins… Read More
The MHRA has authorised Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics’ molnupiravir pill for the treatment of at-risk Covid-19 patients, following positive clinical trial results. Molnupiravir is the first oral antiviral medicine authorised for the treatment of mild-to-moderate Covid-19 in adults with a positive SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test and who have at least one risk… Read More
In the Autumn 2021 budget delivered by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, on 27 October, the Government announced a range of measures designed to benefit UK science, business, and technology. This, at a time where the UK’s health service will need to tackle backlogs through the Winter… Read More
Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and UCL have found immune cell patterns within tumours that can help predict if patients with kidney cancer will respond to immunotherapy. Clear cell renal cell carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer, accounting for… Read More
Flerie Invest led a syndicate of investors in the $52 million acquisition of Cobra Biologics, Charles River Laboratories’ DNA and protein manufacturing subsidiary in Sweden. The new entity, NorthX Biologics, will take over and expand the facility, which is equipped to provide GMP-grade plasmid DNA and technical protein manufacture at commercial scale. Ibrahim Baylan,… Read More
Brooks Life Sciences Services and Products businesses has been rebranded under a new identity – Azenta Life Sciences. Azenta will bring together Brooks’ existing portfolio of life sciences products and services to deliver integrated sample exploration and management solutions. DDW’s Megan Thomas caught up with Linda De Jesus, Senior Vice President and… Read More
Listen to this article on the DDW Podcast: Karen Ooms, Executive Vice President and Head of Statistics with Quanticate, argues that analysing data from real-life patients has finally come of age. Statistical consultants have, for a long time, tried to convey to the pharmaceutical industry the merit of using real world data (RWD) to help… Read More
University of Queensland (UQ) researchers have found that the SARS-CoV-2 virus does not infect blood vessels, despite the high risk of blood clots in Covid-19 patients. They found that the cardiovascular complications of Covid-19 are triggered by inflammation caused by infected airway cells. Dr Emma Gordon and… Read More
PerkinElmer has launched the Signals Research Suite, a secure informatics platform deployed on Amazon Web Services which provides scientific data and workflow management for pharmaceutical and industrial customers. Designed to help drive more informed and accelerated decision-making around drug, compound and formulation candidates, the offering brings together… Read More
