Netherlands-based VectorY Therapeutics BV has raised €74.5 million to support development of new products for neurodegenerative diseases using a vector technology that enables the production of therapeutic antibodies in vivo. The financing includes new investors Angelini Ventures, Invest-NL of the Netherlands and the European Investment Bank. A group of returning investors including Forbion and Eli Lilly & Co also participated.
A UK company with technology for potentially removing disease-associated proteins from the brain has raised $60 million in Series A financing from a syndicate led by 4BIO Capital and new investor Eli Lilly and Co. Oyster Therapeutics Ltd, formerly known as Kesmalea Therapeutics, has developed a new version of protein degradation, a natural process by which cells in the body breakdown proteins that are damaged or that are no longer needed in order to maintain equilibrium. As therapies, protein degraders are being used by multiple companies to clear defective proteins from cells.
A spin-out from the University of Oxford, UK, has raised £67 million from a Series A financing to advance clinical development of a new monoclonal antibody for treating essential thrombocythaemia (ET), a rare blood cancer. Alethio Therapeutics Ltd is building a portfolio of medicines to treat myeloproliferative neoplasms of which ET is one.
Germany-based Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH has broadened a two-year oncology agreement with Sino Biopharmaceutical Ltd of Hong Kong, enabling the two parties to explore treatments based on antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and T cell engagers. The companies launched their first collaboration in 2024 when BI agreed to supply Sino, now known as the SBP Group, with a small group of experimental drugs for further development.
AstraZeneca Plc plans to generate up to $1.5 billion in savings over the next three years by redeploying existing assets to invest in newer technologies and in the pipeline. The plan was announced on 30 October alongside the company’s third quarter results which showed a revenue increase of 7% to $16.2 billion for the three-month period. Operating profit was $4.4 billion, up by 22%. The company expects revenue for the year to increase by a mid-to-high single-digit percentage.
The biopharmaceutical industry is generating biological and healthcare data faster than ever before. Over the past decade, real-world data (RWD) derived from a wide range of sources, has become an important part of drug development strategy. Companies widely use real-world evidence (RWE), or the analysis of this data, to plan clinical trials, support regulatory label expansions, and monitor post-marketing safety.
On 23 October, US-based Bristol Myers Squibb Co disclosed that a patient with highly active relapsing multiple sclerosis died of septic pneumonia following the data cutoff in a Phase 1 trial. The study involved the treatment of patients with autoimmune neurological diseases with a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy targeting CD19 on B cells.
Francis Halzen of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, was awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics on 6 October for his decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recognised Dr Halzen’s scientific leadership in developing IceCube, a neutrino observatory embedded in a cubic kilometre of Antarctic ice at the South Pole. The facility has enabled researchers to detect extremely high-energy neutrinos originating from distant regions of the universe.
Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai were awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on 7 October for discovering how chemical reactions can produce an excess of one of two mirror-image forms of a molecule. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the prize “for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.”
Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have jointly won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries that enabled scientists to control nerve cells using light. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awarded the prize on 5 October “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.” The SEK 12 million ($1.21 million) prize will be shared equally among the three scientists.