This week in drug discovery (10-14 October)

News round-up for 10-14 October by DDW Digital Content Editor Diana Spencer

The top news in the world of drug discovery this week reflects the vital importance of collaboration, partnership and support within this industry. 

Partnerships have been forged and renewed to shed light on neuropsychiatric disorders, oncology and cystic fibrosis. Meanwhile, Ochre Bio successfully raised $30 million to advance its pipeline of RNA therapies for liver disease, and researchers found that combining CRISPR gene editing with Spherical Nucleic Acids could expand the potential of the technology. 

This week’s top stories: 

Collaboration extended in severe neuropsychiatric disorders 

Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Karuna Therapeutics has extended its drug discovery collaboration with PsychoGenics, AI-enabled phenotypic drug discovery and preclinical CRO services. 

Partnership seeks to transform Cystic Fibrosis research 

LifeArc, a national medical research charity, is joining the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Syndicate in a strategic partnership alongside Cystic Fibrosis Trust and Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC). 

Strategic collaboration to enhance targeted oncology programmes 

Oncology platform company Tavros Therapeutics and biopharmaceutical company Vividion Therapeutics (a subsidiary of Bayer AG) have agreed to collaborate on four oncology targets across an initial five-year term. 

Gene editing platform could shape future application of CRISPR-based therapeutics 

A team of researchers at Northwestern University in the US has devised a new platform for gene editing that could inform the future application of CRISPR-based therapeutics. 

$30 million financing for RNA therapies for chronic liver diseases 

Ochre Bio, a company developing therapies for liver health challenges, has closed $30 million in Series A financing, which will be used to translate the insights from their discovery research into RNA-based drug candidates, and then test these in human livers at their recently launched ‘Liver ICUs’ across the US. 

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