Autoimmune disease

Biotechnology company Certa Therapeutics has revealed positive Phase II clinical trial data for FT011 in patients with scleroderma. The results were presented at ACR Convergence 2023, the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in San Diego, California (10-15 November 2023). Treatment with FT011 for 12 weeks resulted in a clinically meaningful improvement […]

According to the National Institutes for Health, some form of long Covid affects around 10% of people infected with Covid-19, with fatigue being the most common symptom. Despite the size of the market and the global impact, there are currently no effective treatments. Diana Spencer caught up with Bill Hinshaw, President & CEO of Axcella […]

AbolerIS Pharma has raised €27.3 million in a Series A financing led by Caixa Capital Risc and co-led by Sound Bioventures and Newton Biocapital. Proceeds from the financing will enable AbolerIS to accelerate the development of its lead programme in clinical trials and explore its effectiveness in additional autoimmune diseases. AbolerIS’ lead programme is a […]

Twist Bioscience and Ono Pharmaceutical will combine their efforts to discover and develop novel antibodies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Under the terms of the agreement, Twist will use its ‘Library of Libraries’ to conduct research activities to discover novel antibodies against targets identified by Ono. Twist also recently entered a research collaboration with […]

Researchers have shown that a novel antibody has greater activity and potentially fewer side effects than existing biological therapies for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The antibody, called Ab-IPL-IL-17, targets a specific section of signalling proteins IL-17A and IL-17F which play a central role in sustaining inflammation during […]

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given approval to Vyvgart Hytrulo (efgartigimod alfa and hyaluronidase-qvfc) injection with Enhanze for subcutaneous (SC) use for the treatment of generalised myasthenia gravis (gMG). The treatment is approved in adult patients who are anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibody positive. Vyvgart Hytrulo is a subcutaneous product combination of efgartigimod […]

Invizius, a biotechnology company developing second generation therapies for a range of complement-driven autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, has recruited its 300th patient to the ‘Angry Blood’ study.   This is a significant milestone in its novel kinetic study to identify patients with elevated complement responses during haemodialysis (HD), so-called ‘angry blood,’ who may have a […]

This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, “What’s at the forefront of innovation?” It covers three articles written for the for Volume 23, Issue 2 – Spring 2022 of DDW. They are called “Can animal genomics help find therapies for human disease?”, “Understanding and innovating in immunology”, and “Cell and gene […]

UK company Tay Therapeutics has entered into an exclusive license agreement with US biotech VYNE Therapeutics for its oral bromodomain and extra-terminal domain (BET) inhibitor TAY-B2. Tay Therapeutics out-licensed its topical pan-BET inhibitor to VYNE for £16m in upfront and milestone payments in 2021. The out-licensing of both of Tay Therapeutics’ BET inhibitor projects will […]

A team of researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California (USC) have found a drug with the potential for curbing painful hyperinflammation from osteoarthritis, according to results of an animal study. The findings indicate that a drug compound, R805/CX-011, may modulate an important cell receptor in the body’s immune system, […]

Sonoma Biotherapeutics and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals have announced plans to collaborate on the discovery, development and commercialisation of novel regulatory T cell (Treg) therapies for autoimmune diseases. The collaboration will bring together Regeneron’s VelociSuite technologies for the discovery and characterisation of fully human antibodies and T cell receptors (TCRs) with Sonoma Biotherapeutics’ approach to developing and […]

Immutep, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel LAG-3 immunotherapies for cancer and autoimmune disease, has initiated AIPAC-003 (Active Immunotherapy, Eftilagimod Alpha, and Paclitaxel), an integrated Phase II/III trial to evaluate eftilagimod alpha (efti) in combination with paclitaxel for the treatment of metastatic HER2-neg/low breast cancer (MBC).   Regulatory approval has been received in the US […]

Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute have found that high consumption of a common artificial sweetener, sucralose, lowers activation of T cells in mice. If found to have similar effects in humans, one day it could be used therapeutically to help dampen T cell responses. For example, in patients with autoimmune diseases who suffer from […]

GeNeuro, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel treatments for neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and the severe consequences of Covid-19, (PASC, post-Covid or long Covid), has entered into a credit agreement for a total amount of up to €25 million with the European Investment Bank (EIB), supported by […]

Genoscience Pharma, a clinical-stage biotech company developing lysosomotropic drug candidates for the treatment of cancer, fibrosis and auto-immune diseases through autophagy modulation has launched the ABE-LIVER study, along with trial sponsor Grenoble University Hospital.  The trial   This Phase IIb clinical trial will focus on first-line treatment of HepatoCellular Carcinoma (HCC) patients with Genoscience Pharma’s drug […]

CAR-T therapy can be used to eliminate unwanted cells that cause autoimmunity, according to the results of a new study in mice with an autoimmune disease similar to multiple sclerosis (MS).  CAR-T, which uses genetically altered immune cells to destroy cancer cells, has revolutionised treatment of some blood cancers since it was introduced in 2017.  […]