News

Syncona Ltd, an active investor in cell and gene therapy, has joined the Novartis Venture Fund to provide CHF 35 million (€31 million) in Series A funding to Anaveon AG, a Swiss start-up which is developing biologics for cancer.

Founded in December 2017, Anaveon has a preclinical product targeting the interleukin 2 (IL-2) receptor. The biologic is an agonist which is expected to enhance a patient’s immune system to respond to tumours and work better than other IL-2 products.

A Dutch venture capital fund with investments in healthcare and technology has led a €10 million Series A financing round for Aidence BV, a company that uses artificial intelligence to improve medical imaging. INKEF Capital headed the round with co-investor Rabo Ventures, alongside existing investors Northzone, HenQ and Health Innovations.

Patients with pancreatic cancer, who were treated with Lynparza during a Phase 3 clinical trial, have shown a statistically-significant and clinically-meaningful improvement in progression-free survival, according to AstraZeneca Plc. The drug’s benefit, reported on 26 February, is the first for a PARP inhibitor in pancreatic cancer, one of the most difficult-to-treat cancers.

The Roche group has moved into gene therapy and simultaneously strengthened its franchise in haemophilia with the acquisition of Spark Therapeutics Inc, one of a small number of gene therapy companies in the world with a product on the market. The all-cash transaction is valued at approximately $4.3 billion, representing a substantial premium to Spark’s current stock price. Nonetheless, it is below the $8.7 billion that Novartis paid for AveXis Inc and the $9 billion Celgene Corp paid for Juno Therapeutics in 2018 – both gene therapy companies.

Ipsen SA is to acquire the Canadian pharma company Clementia Pharmaceuticals Inc giving it a late-stage drug candidate for two rare bone disorders. The acquisition comes at a time when the French company is enjoying strong demand for its specialist portfolio which includes oncology drugs as well as two products for growth hormone deficiencies.

Galapagos NV moved a step closer towards the market as its lead product, filgotinib, for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) successfully completed a Phase 3 trial, and two other late-stage studies of the same drug neared the finishing line.

A study of circadian rhythms in human fat have shown that fat cells have their own internal clocks which affect critical metabolic functions. This goes some way towards explaining how a misalignment of these rhythms with each other and the environment can contribute to obesity and poor health, according to a research group from the University of Surrey, UK.

Ipsen SA expects to achieve its medium-term financial targets early, as sales of its speciality products continue to generate demand in both the US and Europe. The company reported strong growth in 2018 when group sales rose by 16.6% to €2.2 billion and operating profit advanced by 30.8% to €519.4 million.

Cellular senescence, or the process by which normal cells stop dividing in response to stress or damage to their DNA, can be both beneficial and harmful. It can be beneficial in assisting wound-healing and preventing the excessive growth seen in cancers. On the other hand, it can drive ageing and age-related diseases by changing the tissue environment. This happens when the senescent cells trigger a cascade of chemical signals that cause inflammation and damage to local cells and tissue.

A gene therapy intended as a one-time treatment for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has been successfully administered to a patient in the UK, marking the start of one of the first clinical trials of its kind. The therapy consists of a recombinant non-replicating adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector encoding a human complement factor.