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.
One of Japan’s biggest industrial concerns, Fujifilm Holdings Corp, has expanded further into regenerative medicine with the acquisition of Cellular Dynamics International Inc, a developer of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). CDI was founded by the stem-cell pioneer James Thomson.
UniQure NV has secured a gene therapy agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in cardiovascular disease, its first major commercial deal since winning regulatory approval in 2012 for Glybera, a gene therapy for lipoprotein lipase deficiency.
Silence Therapeutics Plc, which is developing RNA therapies, has conditionally raised £40 million in a secondary share offering on the AIM market in London to further develop delivery technologies for RNA molecules.
Nicox SA, a French company with late-stage and marketed ophthalmic products, reported much higher revenue for 2014. But this was nearly matched by an increase in its operating loss which was caused by a sharp build-up of the company’s sales force.
Novartis International AG is expanding its franchise in immunotherapy with a major collaboration with Aduro Biotech Inc of California aimed at developing new therapies for cancer.
Redx Pharma Plc, which specialises in developing analogues of existing pharmaceuticals, has raised £15 million in an initial public offering on the AIM market in London in order to strengthen its pipeline of oncology and infectious disease assets.
The cohort of companies developing products for treating cancer with genetically engineered T-cells has increased with the announcement that Merck Serono and Intrexon Corp will collaborate to generate new drug candidates using the technology.