Worldwide News

The European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorisation for YORVIPATH (palopegteriparatide) as replacement therapy indicated for the treatment of adults with chronic hypoparathyroidism.   YORVIPATH is Ascendis Pharma’s prodrug of parathyroid hormone (PTH 1-34), administered once daily. Ascendis plans its first EU launch of YORVIPATH in January 2024 in Germany.  “Each patient living with chronic hypoparathyroidism […]

The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), an SABCS cosponsor, will award two researchers for their significant contributions to breast cancer research at SABCS 2023, 5-9 December, at the Henry B González Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. 2023 AACR Distinguished Lectureship in Breast Cancer Research  Dr […]

Biotechnology company Genentech has entered into a partnership with software group NVIDIA to use generative AI to discover and develop new therapeutics.   The collaboration will see experts from each company optimise and accelerate Genentech’s proprietary algorithms with goals to transform the discovery and development of new medicines.   NVIDIA will work with Genentech to accelerate […]

The UK must build more laboratory space if it is to meet its global ambitions of becoming a scientific leader, property firms and estate agencies have argued.  A report published by British Land and Savills states that there is a severe shortage of laboratory space to meet current and predicted demand. The report, called ‘Accelerating […]

The Francis Crick Institute has announced goals to reduce its operational carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, along with a longer-term target to be net zero carbon by 2040.  The biomedical discovery centre, which is based in London, published a new sustainability strategy that it says has been developed in direct response to global climate […]

Fosun Pharma USA and Treehill Partners have formed a jointly operating vehicle for investment in clinical stage assets.  The new business will be looking for high-quality, mid- to late-stage assets, clinically focused on the US market. There will also be a focus on high quality non-US clinical stage biopharma assets seeking to access the US […]

Biotechnology company bit.bio has launched a range of immune cells to provide researchers with a consistently functional and rapid human in vitro model for the study of neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative diseases.  The company’s ioMicroglia cell range is designed to recapitulate key human microglia functions and as such, can mediate inflammatory responses, dispose of unwanted materials, […]

The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.  The breaking news this week was certainly the first regulatory approval for Casgevy, not only the first gene therapy approved for sickle cell […]

The Pistoia Alliance has announced four new strategic priorities that will enable the not-for-profit group to accelerate key areas within R&D.  The Pistoia Alliance has appointed steering committees to lead collaboration in the areas of sustainability, adoption of AI, the use of real-world data and data-driven value. The priorities were selected in response to the […]

Cerevance has dosed the first patient in its ASCEND Phase II study to assess the efficacy and safety of CVN424 as a monotherapy in early-stage Parkinson’s disease. In February 2023 the company expanded its Series B funding round, raising a total of $116 million.  “We are delighted to announce the commencement of our ASCEND study […]

News round-up for 13-17 November by DDW Digital Content Editor Diana Spencer. The breaking news this week was certainly the first regulatory approval for Casgevy, not only the first gene therapy approved for sickle cell disease, but also the first therapy to use CRISPR gene editing. However, there were a number of other breakthroughs announced […]

Nouscom, a clinical stage immuno-oncology company developing off-the-shelf and personalised viral vector-based cancer vaccines, has raised €67.5 million in an oversubscribed Series C financing round. The proceeds will enable Nouscom to advance its pipeline and complete Phase II clinical trials with its cancer vaccine NOUS-209. Representatives from Andera Partners, Bpifrance and M Ventures, who led […]

Arcellx has revealed encouraging interim data from its Phase I study of CART-ddBCMA in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The company plans to present new data with a median follow-up of 26.5 months at the 65th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition taking place 9-12 December 2023 in San Diego, […]

Ethris and Heqet Therapeutics have revealed plans to collaborate on RNA-based therapeutics for heart attack and heart failure, using non coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in regenerating heart tissue. Under the terms of the agreement, Heqet Therapeutics will lead the development of the programme, while Ethris will provide its proprietary Stabilized NanoParticle (SNaP) LNP platform to deliver […]

Asklepios BioPharmaceutical (AskBio), a gene therapy subsidiary of Bayer, has presented first-in-human data from a Phase I trial investigating AB-1002 (also known as NAN-101) for the treatment of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). The data were shared at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, which were held in Philadelphia, US, 11-13 November 2023. The […]

A new digital article is now available to download entitled ‘A comprehensive approach to immunophenotyping for targeted drug discovery and development’.  With high costs of therapeutic development, success relies on optimising preclinical and early clinical studies. Download this content-rich digital article to read about considerations for implementing and standardising high-dimensional immune profiling methods into drug […]