A new preclinical study has shown that a combination of experimental vaccines can provide partial protection against infection from the simian immunodeficiency virus, a virus similar to HIV. The results were reported online in Nature on 4 January.
Neovacs SA of France has reported promising data from a Phase 2a study of a new immunotherapy for patients with rheumatoid arthritis who have ceased to respond to an anti-tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) monoclonal antibody.
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and colleagues have described how antigenic drift occurs on the influenza virus opening the possibility that more rational designs for influenza vaccines could be created in the future.
A novel study that will look at the relative efficacy of two marketed rheumatoid arthritis drugs has been initiated by UCB SA. The post-marketing study will compare UCB’s Cimzia (certolizumab pegol) with Abbott’s Humira (adalimumab).
In another set-back for developers of potential stroke treatments, Sygnis Pharma AG said its Phase 2 study of a growth factor for acute ischaemic stroke failed to meet its primary and secondary endpoints. The product is a recombinant version of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF).
Neovacs SA of France has completed the recruitment of patients for the first phase of a multicentre Phase 2 trial of its immunotherapy for Crohn’s disease. The primary objective will be to evaluate the ability of the therapy to induce clinical remission.
Ablynx NV has started a Phase 1 study in healthy volunteers of an antibody-derived therapeutic protein for the treatment of respiratory syncytial viral infections. To date, there is only one approved antibody therapeutic for this disease.
Researchers from University College London and colleagues have reported the successful administration of a gene therapy to patients with haemophilia B. The study appears in the 10 December New England Journal of Medicine.
A team of European researchers has reported the successful transplantation of a synthetic trachea into a patient with tracheal cancer using a scaffold which was seeded with the patient’s own stem cells.
Early-stage life science projects received another boost on Wednesday with the launch of a new technology fund by the venture capital arm of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). The new fund, EMBL Technology Fund II, has raised €40 million in a first closing.