A product that is currently used to treat burns has now been approved in the US for certain diabetic foot ulcers. It is a matrix which consists of silicone, cow collagen and shark cartilage and is placed over the ulcer providing an environment for new skin and tissue to regenerate and heal the wound.
An experimental gene therapy administered to a small group of elderly patients with wet age-related macular degeneration has been shown to be safe, and showed promise as a long-term treatment option for the disease, according to a paper in The Lancet.
A candidate gene therapy for haemophilia B developed by scientists at University College London (UCL) was so effective in a Phase 1/2 study that Syncona LLP has decided to start a new company to commercialise it.
Following news in the UK in early November that a one-year-old baby girl with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL ) has been put into remission by UCART19, an unapproved therapy that required special permission to use, Laboratoires Servier acquired exclusive worldwide rights to the product and promptly did a deal with Pfizer Inc for the drug’s potential commercialisation.
NightstaRx Ltd, a 2014 spinout from the University of Oxford, has raised $35 million in a Series B financing round to further develop a candidate gene therapy for choroideremia, an inherited form of progressive blindness.
France-based TxCell SA plans to outsource the manufacture of its experimental cell therapies, and make new investments in process development to increase efficiencies and make way for the introduction of a second technology platform using engineered regulatory T cells.
An undisclosed amount of seed funding has been provided by two UK investors for a start-up gene therapy company that is working on a concept for preventing nerve damage in glaucoma, the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide.
Spark Therapeutics Inc said it plans to seek marketing approval in the US next year for a gene therapy following a Phase 3 trial in which the experimental treatment helped restore vision to patients with an inherited eye disorder.
Novadip Biosciences SA, a spinout from the University of Louvain and the Saint-Luc University Hospital, has raised €28 million in a Series A financing round to develop a therapy for bone defects that is based on adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells.
ReNeuron Plc has outlined a three-year plan for the development of its stem-cell therapy portfolio that would, if successful, lead to regulatory applications for products in both stroke and retinitis pigmentosa. To support this development, it is proposing to raise £68.4 million in a share placement.