News

Evotec AG and C4X Discovery Holdings Plc have upgraded their research agreement to cover a broad range of targets for small molecule drugs. The initial focus will be on cancer and autoimmune diseases.

The Phacilitate conference on cell and gene therapy in Berlin on 21 to 22 September produced more uplifting statistics about how the new regenerative technologies are enabling patients with refractory disease to gain a new lease on life.

 Adaptimmune Therapeutics Plc and the MD Anderson Cancer Center of the University of Texas have agreed to cooperate on T-cell receptor technology for treating solid and blood cancers.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc has named Emma Walmsley, currently head of the company’s consumer healthcare division, as the successor to Andrew Witty, the chief executive officer. Mr Witty will be retiring on 31 March 2017.

Rejecting the advice of its advisory committee, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare disorder that causes a progressive deterioration in the muscles of people with a specific gene mutation.

The European Medicines Agency has recommended two new cancer drugs for marketing authorisation in the European Union, one of which is for the treatment of breast cancer and the other for soft tissue sarcoma.

A UK start-up company called GammaDelta Therapeutics Ltd has joined a small number of European companies that are exploring the potential of gamma delta T cells as the basis for new immunotherapies for cancer.

In a decision on 8 September, the General Court of the European Union has upheld €150 million of fines imposed by the European Commission on H. Lundbeck A/S and four generic companies for what it says were infringements of competition law.

Bavarian Nordic A/S and Janssen Pharmaceutical are progressing their vaccine technology against the Ebola virus with plans to start a human study in a second-generation multivalent vaccine for Ebola and two other related viruses.

Amgen Inc has signed a research agreement with two Milan-based institutions to develop an ex-vivo gene therapy for cancer. The research will be based on some of the same principles that guided the development of Strimvelis, an ex vivo stem cell gene therapy that was approved by the European Commission in May of this year.