Drug delivery

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Vir Biotechnology have announced that the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Committee for Human Medicinal Products (CHMP) has issued a positive scientific opinion following the referral of sotrovimab to the CHMP under Article 5(3) of Regulation 726/2004. This relates to the use of sotrovimab for the treatment of adults and adolescents aged over […]

Gamma Biosciences has agreed to make a controlling investment in Mirus Bio for nucleic acid delivery based in Madison, Wisconsin. The transaction will support Mirus’ plans to expand good manufacturing practice (GMP) production and commercialisation of its flagship product TransIT VirusGEN for large scale manufacturing of AAV and LV-based viral vectors for gene therapy, as […]

RoslinCT has been confirmed as a National Training Centre, part of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) sponsored Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network (ATSTN) initiative. The organisation is the second National Training Centre confirmed as part of the ATSTN initiative, which was set up to develop vaccine and advanced therapy manufacturing training […]

Andy Carr, Business Development Manager at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, introduces the new Innovation Gateway at The London Cancer Hub in Sutton, south London, to DDW’s Megan Thomas. MT: I understand the establishment of the Innovation Gateway is underway. What is the progress and when is it due to open? AC: It’s progressing […]

Moderna has announced an agreement with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to supply up to 500 million doses of the Covid-19 Vaccine Moderna, including an initial 34 million doses to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2021. Through this agreement, on behalf of the COVAX Facility, Gavi also retains the option to procure 466 million […]

Sophie Lutter, OXGENE, looks at the important role antibody therapeutics have to play and how, as the world has looked for Covid-19 treatments in the last year, their significance has been noted. As the world continues to adjust and respond to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the race to develop a vaccine against the […]

The biggest constraint in discovering new antibodies for immunotherapy is constructing the underlying DNA sequence, says Dr. Aaron Sato, CSO of Twist Bioscience. Inside the human body, the immune system generates antibodies that can target just about any foreign molecule. It does so through DNA recombination and somatic hypermutation – essentially, a genetic mix-and-match system […]

By John Yoshi Shyu, Ph.D. Corning Life Sciences. Gene therapy – the addition, deletion, or modification of genes in living organisms – has been around, at least in concept, since the 1980s. Gene modification or editing incorporates two main strategies: insertion of novel genetic constructs into existing genes, and gene inactivation or silencing.1 As of […]

Clinical-stage drug development company Noxopharm has announced that in a cohort of 18 patients with moderately severe cases of Covid-19, interim data from its NOXCOVID study suggests Veyonda provides protection against progression of the severe inflammation associated with the worsening of the virus. “Until enough people are vaccinated to achieve global herd immunity in the […]

Dalton Pharma Services, a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) offers expertise in drug discovery, formulation and process development, custom synthesis, and GMP manufacturing services. Lu Rahman spoke to CEO, Peter Pekos about the company’s ongoing expertise. LR: The company has experience supplying the needs of the orphan drug field – how can Dalton help […]

Allergy Therapeutics is a pioneering immunology company, specialised in the research and development of allergy and immune disorder treatments that target the cause, rather than just manage the symptoms. Alan Bullimore, Head of Business Innovation spoke to Lu Rahman about the company’s work and the challenges and opportunities of this market. LR: Describe Allergy Therapeutics […]

Valence’s co-founder and CEO, Daniel Cohen, spoke to Lu Rahman about the company’s plan to empower drug discovery scientists with AI-enabled drug design LR:  Outline of the company and its main initiatives DC: Valence is an interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers out of Mila, the world’s largest deep learning research institute. At Valence, we […]

The first dose of the investigational gene therapy GNT 0004 was given for Dunchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) at I-Motion, the paediatric clinical trial platform for neuromuscular diseases in Paris. The young boy was the first patient in an international phase I/II/III multicentre trial, sponsored by Genethon. The trial has been approved in France by the […]

ERS Genomics and Nuvisan Innovation Campus Berlin (ICB), an integrated contract research service provider for drug discovery and early development programs, have announced a non-exclusive license agreement granting Nuvisan ICB access to ERS Genomics’ CRISPR/Cas9 patent portfolio. Nuvisan ICB originated from a spin-out of the major pharma R&D functions of Bayer, which were acquired by […]

Lisa Osborne, CEO at RANA Healthcare Solutions interviews Daniel Kavanagh, PhD, Senior Scientific Advisor, Gene Therapy at WCG. The Covid-19 pandemic has put vaccine development centre-stage. Never have citizens around the world been so focused on the length of time it takes to develop, test, approve, manufacture and distribute new vaccines. This heightened interest is […]

Francis Crick Institute group leader Karen Vousden has been awarded the first Pezcoller-Marina Larcher Fogazzaro-EACR Women in Cancer Research Award. This new award celebrates a researcher who has demonstrated academic excellence and achievements in the field of cancer research and who has, through leadership or by example, furthered the advancement of women in cancer research. […]