Syncona Investment Management Ltd, an investment company in which the Wellcome Trust has a significant holding, reported total net assets of £895 million at the end of its fiscal year on 31 March, up from £472 million a year earlier. This follows its merger in November 2016 with BACIT Ltd, an investor in diversified portfolios based in the Guernsey Islands.
Shire Plc is advancing a candidate gene therapy acquired from its 2016 purchase of Baxalta, with plans to take the product into a first human trial in patients with haemophilia A. The product is a factor VIII gene therapy delivered in an adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector.
TiGenix has joined the growing number of European companies with a presence in the US to open an office in Cambridge, Massachusetts and prepare for the registration of its lead stem cell therapy product intended to treat fistulas in patients with Crohn’s disease.
Evotec AG has expanded its capacity to discover new drugs through the use of adult stem cells that have been reprogrammed to produce any type of cell in the human body. These induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be used to model disease and identify prospective treatments.
Another step towards developing a cell therapy for retinal disease was reported by UK-based ReNeuron Group Plc on 19 June, following approval by the US Food and Drug Administration of its formulation for cryopreserving cells.
Novartis’ candidate chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cell therapy for cancer is scheduled to be reviewed on 12 July by the US Food and Drug Administration’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee, according to Oxford BioMedica Plc, which is supplying lentiviral vector for the product.
A cartilage repair product developed by co.don AG of Germany received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency on 19 May, making it the ninth advanced therapy medicinal product (ATMP) to be assessed for marketing in Europe.
Belgium-based Celyad SA, which used to go by the name of Cardio3 BioSciences SA, has secured a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Novartis giving the Swiss company rights to US patents for the production of allogeneic CAR T cells.
Following share offerings in March and April that raised a net $103.2 million, Adaptimmune Therapeutics Plc has sufficient liquidity to fund operations through to late 2019, according to the company’s first-quarter results.
The Oxford, UK oncology company Immunocore Ltd has identified a lead compound in its second discovery collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline Plc which is expected to have potential for treating triple negative breast cancers, oesophageal, gastric and ovarian cancers.