Comment

DDW’s Megan Thomas provides highlights from AACR 2023, the American Association of Cancer Research’s annual meeting from 14-19 April 2023 in Orlando, Florida, US.  Meet the incoming AACR President  Having said goodbye and thank you to Dr Lisa Coussens, AACR President for 2022-2023, Dr Philip Greenberg was inaugurated as President at this year’s meeting to […]

The LSX World Congress 2023 took place at the Business Design Centre in London, UK in May 2023. DDW’s Megan Thomas comments on the event.   New approaches to partnering   In this event in the Biotech track, Clive Cookson, Science Editor at the Financial Times, interviewed John McDonald, Corporate Vice President, Global R&D Business Development, Novo […]

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are biopharmaceutical products in which a monoclonal antibody (mAB) is linked to a small molecule drug with a stable linker1. According to NCBI, most of the ADCs developed so far are for use in the treatment of cancer, but there is plenty of potential for using ADCs to treat other diseases1. A […]

BioTrinity 2023 marked the 17th annual edition of BioTrinity and took place in London, UK from Tuesday 25 April to Wednesday 26 April. DDW’s Megan Thomas spoke with attendees, and comments on the event.    Fundraising and investment   Coming out of a global pandemic, in-person events initially added a degree of novelty to networking. At […]

On January 31 2023, an internally circulated version of the European Commission’s overhaul of the EU’s pharma legislation was leaked, and published by Politico1. Politico published a summary of the key propositions outlined in the draft2, and DDW’s Multimedia Editor Megan Thomas investigates their intention, and observes how the industry has responded.   Key proposals   Approved […]

This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast. It covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 1 – Winter 2021/22 of DDW. They are called “Why synthetic biology is the next big thing for biopharma” and “Collaborative spirit helps drive innovation”. ‘Can synthetic biology save us?’ and ‘Synthetic biology can benefit us […]

By DDW Editor Reece Armstrong The looming threat of global warming, consequences of which can already be seen and felt across the planet, will impact us all. It seems that despite a constant barrage of warnings by scientists and experts, alongside visible effects such as wildfires, droughts, and blistering heatwaves, we still aren’t doing enough […]

This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “A deep dive into the future of ophthalmology”. It covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 1 – Winter 2021/22 of DDW. They are called “Innovation, investment and commitment: Genentech’s approach to the future of ophthalmology” and “Innovative delivery of sustained ophthalmic steroids for […]

Social media started gaining traction in the early 2000s and has been growing steadily but DDW’s Megan Thomas has observed that it seems to have recently expanded into the world of business and significantly, the wider scientific industries. Here, she unpacks some of the areas in which social media plays a role in the drug […]

On 4 November 2022, the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research released guidance for the industry on studying multiple versions of a cellular or gene therapy (CGT) product in an early-phase clinical trial in a single disease1. This guidance finalises the draft guidance of the same title dated September 2021. DDW’s Megan Thomas outlines […]

Genomic healthcare data is critical to identify disease risk, ancestry, traits and response to medicines and aids in the development of new targeted therapies – precision medicines. DDW’s Megan Thomas observes developments of accessibility in this sector and the potential impact.  The origins  One might argue that this all started getting exciting with the launch […]

The DDW team spent 4-5 October, 2022 at ELRIG’s annual meeting, Drug Discovery 2022, which remains Europe’s largest meeting for life sciences industry professionals and took place at ExCel, London, UK. DDW’s Megan Thomas comments on the presentations, posters and booths at the event and the new addition of the ELRIG Tech Theatre, supported by […]

At the end of last month, DDW’s Megan Thomas attended ELRIG’s Research & Innovation 2022: Innovations for Tomorrow’s Drug Discovery, at The King’s Centre in Oxford, UK. The four sessions addressed aspects of innovation across drug discovery and placed an emphasis on both the digital age and novel modalities: Omics technology innovations; The future of […]

DDW’s Megan Thomas spent March 1-2, 2022 at the fourth ‘CRISPR in Drug Discovery: From Targets to Therapeutics’, which took place at Babraham Research Campus in Cambridge, UK. Finding it insightful and eye-opening, she looks forward to the next event on ELRIG’s agenda, ‘Research & Innovation’ at The Kings Centre in Oxford on March 29-30.  […]

DDW’s Megan Thomas attended a BioIVT event at Scale Space to see BioIVT’s new blood donor center, whilst enjoying life science networking opportunities afforded by One Nucleus. She comments on the facilities located on Imperial College London’s White City Campus.  Having started my role at DDW during the height of the 2021 lockdowns, it is […]

The cell and gene therapy (CGT) industry is booming, say Sergio Lainez Vicente (Senior Manager of Business Operations in the Cell & Gene Therapy / Large Molecule area) and Jaleel Shujath (Vice President of Marketing and Content), at Absorption Systems, a Pharmaron company. Around 1200 potential cell and gene therapies are currently being investigated, with […]