News

The scientists Benjamin List and David MacMillan have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery that small organic molecules are suitable as mediators of chemical reactions. Working independently of one another, Drs List and MacMillan showed that organic molecules constitute a third type of catalyst that can accelerate chemical reactions and lead them to a desired goal. Previously, scientists assumed that only enzymes and metals could perform this task.

An anti-viral medicine developed jointly by Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP, has reduced the risk of hospitalisation or death in patients with Covid-19 by 50% compared with placebo, the two companies announced on 1 October. A Phase 3 trial of the drug, molnupiravir was stopped early and the developers plan to seek an emergency use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration in order to get the medicine onto the market quickly. Molnupiravir is a small molecule ribonucleoside analogue that inhibits the replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

A Phase 3 study of Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in Asian patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma met is primary endpoint of overall survival, the developer Merck & Co Inc announced on 27 September. Patients in the trial had previously been treated with sorafenib, an approved treatment for kidney and liver cancers. Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of primary liver cancer.

Lynparza (olaparib) has generated more positive data in prostate cancer, this time as a potential first-line treatment for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer with or without mutations in homologous recombination repair (HRR) genes. A Phase 3 trial comparing Lynparza against placebo when given in addition to the prostate cancer drug abiraterone showed a statistically significant improvement in radiographic progression-free survival, the developers AstraZeneca Plc and Merck & Co Inc, announced on 24 September.

Advent France Biotechnology completed the first closing of a new venture fund on 30 September, raising €86 million to invest in early-stage European life science companies with a particular focus on France. The European Investment Fund and the French Seed Fund 2 participated in the financing, along with corporate venture funds associated with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH and Laboratoires Pierre Fabre.

Aglaia Therapeutics SAS, a French start-up company, has raised €4 million in seed financing to start preclinical development of cancer drugs that can overcome a patient’s resistance to current targeted therapies. The company’s portfolio is based on research showing that the abnormal activation of the eIF4F protein complex leads to the synthesis of proteins involved in tumour growth.

AstraZeneca Plc has exercised an option to take full ownership of Caelum Biosciences Inc, a US company with a product in Phase 3 for the treatment of amyloid light-chain (AL) amyloidosis. AL amyloidosis is a rare disease in which misfolded amyloid proteins build up in organs throughout the body, including the heart and kidneys.

AstraZeneca Plc has invested in a UK university spin-out that has a platform for developing vaccines and medicines using self-amplifying RNA. The company, VaxEquity Ltd, was founded in 2020 by Robin Shattock, head of immunology of infection at Imperial College London and Morningside Ventures, a Chinese venture capital and private equity group. Both Morningside and AstraZeneca have made equity investments in the company, the sizes of which were not disclosed.

The US Food and Drug Administration has given an emergency use authorisation for a booster dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for individuals 65 years and older and those who are at high risk of the disease. The high-risk population includes people who are healthcare workers and teachers, as well as those in homeless shelters and prisons.

The European Medicines Agency has issued a positive opinion recommending three new indications for Nucala (mepolizumab), a monoclonal antibody that targets interleukin-5 in order to treat a group of rare inflammatory diseases. The diseases all involve eosinophils, a type of white blood cell which can build up and cause inflammation.