High Content Screening

Scientists from AI precision medicine company, PrecisionLife, have found 68 genes associated with risk of developing severe COVID-19 by using its proprietary AI-enabled precision medicine platform to analyse the genomes of 929 patients from the UK Biobank who had a severe response to SARS-CoV-2. Prior to an effective and widely available vaccine, PrecisionLife’s insights may […]

25 June 2020 Metabolon and DNA Genotek have teamed up to create OMNImet-GUT, said to be the first device for in-home collection and ambient-temperature storage and shipping of faecal samples for metabolomics, to the research market. “For years, our customers from across biopharma, academia and population health have been asking for a validated, ambient-temperature solution […]

24 June 2020 A survey has revealed that 93.4% of respondents think more needs to be done to replace and reduce the use of animals in testing and research. The study by independent scientific research charity FRAME (Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments), also found that over half think the use of animals in […]

Symbiosis Pharmaceutical Services has signed a supply agreement with AstraZeneca for sterile manufacture of the COVID-19 recombinant adenovirus vaccine known as AZD1222 for AstraZeneca sponsored clinical trials. Under the agreement, Symbiosis will provide AstraZeneca fast-track access to sterile vaccine drug product manufacturing capacity for clinical trial supply. The agreement follows AstraZeneca’s recent announcement of a […]

22 June 2020 Epidarex Capital, an international finance firm, has launched a £102 million fund in Edinburgh to invest in emerging life sciences businesses. The fund will build new life science companies using world-class research and innovation from emerging hubs across the UK, including university spinouts. Typical initial investments will range from £2 million to £5 […]

19 June 2020 CatalYm will be presenting two abstracts identifying a novel immunoregulatory role for Growth-and-Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF-15) and its effective neutralisation by CTL-002 antibody in cancer at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Annual Meeting II on 22-24 June. Tumor-derived GDF-15 suppresses T-lymphocyte recruitment to the tumor microenvironment describes in vitro and […]

AI VIVO, a company combining systems pharmacology and artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate drug discovery, has announced that its platform identified dexamethasoneas having high potential for the treatment of COVID-19 in April 2020. AI VIVO, a company combining systems pharmacology and artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate drug discovery, has announced that its platform identified dexamethasoneas having […]

17 June 2020 This is the second tranche of growth capital loan signed with the European Investment Bank in May 2019. The new funds will be used for the development, manufacture and commercialisation of in vitro diagnostics for infectious diseases Mobidiag, a revenue generating, molecular diagnostics company with complementary platforms that address antimicrobial resistance and […]

11 June, 2020 The British-Swedish multinational is to present new data from the landmark Phase III DAPA-HF and DECLARE-TIMI 58 trials at the upcoming 80th American Diabetes Association (ADA) Virtual Scientific Sessions, taking place June 12-26. According to AstraZeneca, the data to be presented is among 23 accepted abstracts, including four oral presentations, covering trials […]

New antibody internalization advanced screening method provides greater speed & insight 26 May 2020 Sponsored by Sartorius Researchers abilities to improve the breadth of therapeutic antibodies have been aided by innovative technologies for antibody discovery, for instance, through humanization of mouse antibodies and phage display. However, advanced antibody design techniques create the need for new […]

UK headquartered AI precision medicine company PrecisionLife has identified 59 repurposing drug candidates that could be used to develop new therapeutic strategies to increase the survival rate of patients who develop sepsis while suffering from severe Covid-19. Data scientists from PrecisionLife used the company’s proprietary AI enabled precision medicine platform to identify the repurposing drug candidates. […]

GeoVax Labs, a biotechnology company developing human vaccines and immunotherapies against infectious diseases and cancer, announced on April 30 that Beijing- and Philadelphia-based Sino Biological, will be its exclusive supplier of SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) bioreagent research products. Under the terms of the agreement, Sino Biological will provide key bioreagents such as recombinant proteins, antibodies and detection […]

Oxford University and its spin-out company Vaccitech announced an agreement with UK based biopharmaceutical specialist AstraZeneca for the further development, large-scale manufacture and potential distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, currently being trialled by the University. With immediate effect, the partnership is said to allow for rapid vaccination worldwide if the COVID-19 vaccine candidate proves […]

The CRISPR revolution arrives in immuno-oncology By Helen Stewart-Miller and Thomas Hope Volume 21 Issue 2 – Spring 2020 CRISPR-cas9 technology is having an exciting impact on drug discovery as a whole, but more specifically CRISPR presents enormous opportunities in targeted screening for immuno-oncology research. Clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) were first detected in […]

Meeting analytical challenges in a brave new world of next generation biotherapeutics By Mani Krishnan and Susan Darling Volume 21 Issue 2 – Spring 2020 The need for innovative advanced analytical tools to accelerate the development of immunotherapies and other complex biologics that may one day cure genetic diseases and cancer has never been greater. […]

ADCs and solid tumours – The payload revolution that drives therapeutic opportunities in unmet need By Dr Jenny Thirlway Volume 21 Issue 2 – Spring 2020 The fight against cancer is ongoing. Despite progress in many indications, mortality rates for some of the most difficult to treat solid tumour types have not improved substantially since […]