News

In keeping with the widespread interest in precision medicine, OncoDNA SA, a privately held company that identifies cancer treatment options for doctors and patients, has raised €7.7 million in an equity placement.

Cell Medica Ltd has strengthened its hand in the field of T cell therapy with a new collaboration around T cell receptor technology. Having recently expanded a partnership with Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, US, and acquired the Delenex Therapeutics AG antibody company in Switzerland, the company has now entered into a partnership with University College London (UCL) to develop genetically engineered T cell receptor products for cancer.

Using a combination of human neural stem cells and 3K3A-APC, a recombinant variant of human activated protein C, researchers have been able to dramatically increase the production of nerve cells in mice with stroke-induced brain damage. The findings were reported on 22 August 2016 in Nature Medicine.

The European Medicines Agency is recommending a tightening of its guideline on first-in-human clinical trials to provide better protections for volunteers and a new approach to evaluating protocols that cover a number of different study parts.

Research involving mice has suggested for the first time that niches of neural progenitor cells in the adult brain may be vulnerable to infection from the Zika virus. The findings were reported in the 18 August issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.

A review of patients who had experienced a stroke and were treated with an experimental stem cell therapy has shown the therapy to be safe and linked to improved neurological function. Data from a two-year follow-up of the patients were published in The Lancet on 20 August.

Ablynx NV has reported a 39% increase in revenue to €53.5 million for the first half year and a narrowing of its operating loss to €2 million from €7.4 million. The main events of the period were favourable clinical trial results from two products that use the company’s technology platform, which is derived from the llama.

AstraZeneca Plc is divesting a portfolio of small molecule antibiotics in line with its strategy of generating out-licensing revenue and tightening its therapeutic focus. In a deal announced on 24 August, the UK company said it will sell rights to the portfolio to Pfizer Inc which has a focus on infectious disease.

Researchers at the Technical University of Munich have discovered that astrocytes, a sub-type of glia cells in the central nervous system, play an important role in the supply of sugar to the brain. The findings were reported in the 11 August 2016 edition of Cell.

H. Lundbeck A/S, the Danish specialist in brain diseases, reported a 5% increase in first half year revenue to DKK 7.5 billion (€1.01 billion), powered by a 33% increase of sales in the US. The company also secured an operating profit, after a large loss the previous year from a write-off.