A retrospective analysis published in Nature suggests that people treated for certain cancers, including melanoma and lung cancer, lived significantly longer if they had received an mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine before or shortly after starting immunotherapy. The findings hint that mRNA vaccines - initially designed to prevent infection - might also amplify anti-cancer immune responses.
Eli Lilly and Company is acquire Adverum Biotechnologies Inc, giving it a Phase 3 gene therapy for a common eye disorder and expanding its portfolio of genetic medicines. The acquisition, priced at approximately $262 million, comes just five months after Lilly made a much bigger outlay for Verve Therapeutics Inc, a Boston, US based company, which has an in vivo gene editing product for cardiovascular disease. This acquisition was valued at $1 billion upfront.
Omnix Medical Ltd, based in Israel, has raised $25 million from a Series C funding round to accelerate development of a pipeline of antimicrobials directed against multidrug-resistant infections. Announced on 15 October, the financing was co-led by Harel Insurance & Finance Group, one of Israel’s largest financial institutions, and the European Innovation Council Fund, a venture initiative of the European Commission under the Horizon Europe research programme.
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