News

Researchers from Cardiff University in the UK have described a new type of T cell receptor (TCR) that has been shown in laboratory studies to recognise and kill many human cancer types while ignoring healthy cells. T cells equipped with the new TCR were able to kill a host of malignancies including lung, skin, blood and colon cancers in mice engineered with human cancers and a human immune system. The research was published on 20 January 2020 in the journal Nature Immunology.

Germany-based BioNTech SE has taken steps to strengthen its position in personalised cancer therapies with the acquisition of Neon Therapeutics Inc of the US for $67 million. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company was founded in 2015 by experts in neoantigen biology. The company’s lead product, NEO-PTC-01, is a personalised neoantigen-targeted T cell therapy posed to enter Phase 1 in patients with metastatic melanoma who are refractory to checkpoint inhibitors. Neoantigens are newly formed antigens that have not been previously recognised by the immune system.

Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH has entered into a partnership with Singapore-based Enleofen Bio Pte Ltd, to develop new therapies across a range of fibro-inflammatory diseases. The deal will give the Germany company access to Enleofen’s expertise in interleukin-11 (IL-11), a cytokine implicated in the disorders.

Eli Lilly and Company is to acquire Dermira Inc, a US medical dermatology company, for $1.1 billion in an all-cash transaction in order to expand its immunology pipeline. Dermira’s most advanced clinical programme, lebrikizumab, is a monoclonal antibody for moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. The company also has a marketed product for the topical treatment of primary axillary hyperhidrosis, a rare sweating disorder.

CureVac AG has reported positive Phase 1 data from a trial in healthy volunteers of an experimental rabies vaccine based on messenger RNA (mRNA). The prophylactic vaccine, CV7202, encodes the rabies virus glycoprotein RABV-G in a lipid nanoparticle formulation.

The Swedish company Galecto Biotech AB is to merge with PharmAkea Inc of San Diego, US in order to build critical mass in the fields of fibrosis and cancer. Galecto has a pipeline of drug candidates targeting galectin-3, a protein linked with organ fibrosis. Financial details of the merger were not disclosed.

Evotec SE, which claims to have one of the industry’s biggest platforms for developing induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, has further expanded its partnership activities in the field. Under a 2016 agreement with Celgene Corp, now part of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, Evotec has been using iPS cells to identify prospective treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. This agreement has now been broadened to include additional cell lines. The cell lines were not identified.

A venture capital fund set up in 2018 to invest in early-stage companies with novel antibiotic programmes is to dispense nearly $12 million to companies in France and the US. They are Mutabilis SA, which is developing antibacterials against Gram-negative infections and IBT Vaccines, a subsidiary of Integrated Biotherapeutics Inc, which has an experimental vaccine for Staphylococcus aureus in development.

Mutabilis of Romainville, France will receive €7 million ($7.83 million) and IBT of Rockville, Maryland, US will receive $3.9 million.

Preclinical data from tests of an experimental vaccine for solid tumours have shown complete tumour regression of transplanted human tumours in mice, according to the vaccine’s developer BioNTech SE. The RNA vaccine was designed to drive the expansion of an autologous CAR T cell therapy in vivo, thereby enabling the cell therapy to infiltrate solid tumours. Results of the study were published in Science on 2 January.

Expedeon AG has completed the sale of its proteomics and immunology business to Abcam Plc of the UK for €120 million, leading to a repositioning of the company as a provider of genomics services. Based in Heidelberg, Germany, Expedeon will in future focus on manufacturing DNA for use in gene therapies and gene-based vaccines. It will henceforth go by the name 4basebio AG and will continue to be listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.