Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a special role in drug development particularly in the field of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs). With small numbers of staff, many of whom are scientists, they are in a unique position to drive medical innovation.
An initial public offering for Biocartis Group NV is under way on Euronext Brussels stock exchange in a book-building process that will determine the offering price. The Belgian company’s main product is a portable machine for the molecular diagnosis of cancer and other diseases.
Autifony Therapeutics Ltd has received funding to progress a second compound into clinical development that targets voltage-gated potassium channels in the brain. The indication is schizophrenia. It is already investigating a compound against the same target for hearing loss and tinnitus.
Horizon Discovery Group Plc, which provides services and products to the life science industry, reported a 79% increase in revenue to £11.9 million in 2014, a figure that includes income from two recent acquisitions.
Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute in London have discovered that all cancers share common genetic faults in the early stages of development, leading to the possibility that a new treatment could force tumours down ‘an evolutionary dead end.’
A spin-out from the University of Oxford has developed a new way of preserving livers for transplant. Instead of cooling the organs and storing them on ice, researchers have developed a device that maintains the liver in an environment that mimics that of the body.
Pain is considered a reaction to damage to the body but recent research carried out by the Technische Universität München (TUM) shows that it is a mental phenomenon as well. TUM’s scientists have shown that during a few minutes of pain, the underlying brain activity shifts from being sensory to emotional.
The Brussels-based Innovative Medicines Initiative is launching three new projects around Alzheimer’s disease that will review current nomenclature, create a new network of patient data and test novel treatments in patients with early-stage disease.
Scientists at the University of Southern California have developed an engineered protein that shows promise in overcoming leukaemia’s resistance to radiation treatment.
Austria-based Nabriva Therapeutics AG has secured up to $120 million in new funding to develop a class of antibiotics that target Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens that are resistant to current treatments. The Series B financing was led by Vivo Capital and OrbiMed.