Approximately 14% of the competition-submitted proposals were selected to receive funding Nine researchers from University College London (UCL) have secured nearly £560m in funding from the European Research Council’s (ERC) Advanced Grants to advance researchers in fields including biochemistry, nanotechnologies and regenerative medicine. Approximately 14% of the competition-submitted proposals were selected for funding, comprising 255 researchers, and could create over 2,000 new jobs. Set up in 2007 by the EU, the ERC has been funding research via the Advanced Grant to universities and research centres across 19 EU member states and associated countries, including the UK, Germany and France. The funding will be used for projects including the study of the roles of priority proteins in cellular quiescence and ageing, the thymus gland’s functions within the immune system and lung cancer. UCL professor Charles Swanton from the UCL Cancer Institute, along with UCL professor Paola Bonfanti and senior group leader ...
On April 12, 2024, Shanghai Yuansong Biotechnology Co., Ltd (“Yuansong Biotechnology”) announced that its self-developed lysosomal virus Class I new drug “Recombinant L-IFN Adenovirus Injection (YSCH-01)” has received implied clinical trial approval from the Center for Drug Evaluation of the State Drug Administration (CDE) and has been approved to conduct Class I clinical trials in China. The Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the State Drug Administration has granted implied consent for clinical trials and approved to conduct Phase I clinical trials in China for the indication of advanced solid tumors. The approval of this IND filing by the CDE in China is another important progress made by YuanSong Biotech in exploring the clinical study of YSCH-01, in addition to the clinical approval by the US FDA in December 2023 for two original IIT programs under development, including capsular delivery for recurrent gliomas and lysosomal viral nebulized delivery for the ...
Don Tracy, Associate Editor Joint venture aims to implement Invenra’s B-Body bispecific antibody platform to enhance Astellas’ research and development efforts. Invenra Inc. and Astellas Pharma announced that they have agreed to terms on a collaboration that seeks to utilize Invenra’s B-Body bispecific antibody platform to bolster Astellas’ research and development efforts in bispecific therapeutic research. Per the agreement, Astellas will acquire full access to the B-Body platform, with the opportunity for further license negations upon the completion of this initiative. Both teams stated that they remain dedicated to pushing the boundaries of healthcare through innovative research, with the ultimate goal of providing new, effective treatments to patients worldwide.1 “We are honored to partner with the Astellas team, one of the world’s foremost developers of therapeutics,” said Roland Green, PhD, CEO, Invenra, in a press release. “We are excited by the potential of this partnership to yield profound benefits to ...
Dive Brief Medical Microinstruments (MMI) has received de novo authorization for a robotic system that enables surgeons to reconnect tiny blood vessels, the company said Monday. The Food and Drug Administration authorized the device, called the Symani Surgical System, for soft tissue manipulation to perform microsurgery, a way to restore blood flow and redirect fluid during reconstruction or repair. CEO Mark Toland said the commercial availability of Symani could increase the number of physicians who can perform complicated microsurgical procedures. MMI plans to immediately launch the system in the U.S. Dive Insight Microsurgery and supermicrosurgery, a technique for 0.3mm to 0.8mm vessels, are microscope-assisted operations that enable physicians to take a piece of tissue from one part of the body and use it to reconstruct another area. By reconnecting blood vessels, surgeons can restore form and function to parts of the body damaged by trauma or disease. The potential for ...
Dive Brief Steris has agreed to sell its dental business to investment firm Peak Rock Capital for $787.5 million in cash, the companies said on Thursday. The sale will allow Steris to focus on its core markets of healthcare, pharma and medtech, CEO Dan Carestio said in a statement. The Mentor, Ohio-based company provides sterilizers and washers, surgical tables and other equipment. Steris decided to divest the dental segment “after a thorough review of strategic alternatives,” Carestio said. The business reported $407 million in revenue and $86 million in operating income during the 12-month period ending Dec. 31, 2023. Dive Insight Steris acquired the dental business in 2021 when it bought Cantel for $4.6 billion. The purchase was expected to complement Steris’ existing business, adding infection control products for endoscopy and providing an entry into the dental market. Now, the company is looking to sell the segment. Peak Rock Capital ...
Oryzon Genomics is set to commence a Phase I/II clinical trial of iadademstat (ORY-1001) plus immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in patients with first-line small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The development comes after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the Spain-based biotech’s investigational new drug application (IND) to initiate the study. The Phase I/II trial (NCT06287775) will be conducted and sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), enrolling 45-50 patients. In the first phase, patients will receive iadademstat on days 1, 8, 15, and 22 or days 1 and 15 of each cycle. Patients will also continue to receive their initial ICI treatment, Tecentriq (atezolizumab) intravenously (IV), or Imfinzi (durvalumab) IV over 60 minutes on day one of each cycle. Cycles will repeat every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. In the second phase of the study, patients are randomised to two different arms ...
The CAR T-therapies Abecma and Carvykti may now be used in earlier lines of treatment for multiple myeloma. The expanded FDA approvals makes these cell therapies more accessible to more patients, broadening the market for both products.Relapse is common in multiple myeloma, and when it happens, a drug that worked for a patient before might no longer help. Two cell therapies already approved for this cancer may now be used in earlier lines of treatment, a regulatory decision that brings additional choices for patients who have exhausted standard multiple myeloma treatment options. Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer that develops in the plasma cells in bone marrow. The expanded FDA approvals announced Friday cover Abecma, from Bristol Myers Squibb and 2seventy bio, and Carvykti, from Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech. Both products are CAR T-therapies made by engineering a patient’s own immune cells to go after BCMA, a protein ...
Davy James The approval of AstraZeneca’s and Daiichi Sankyo’s Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) for adults with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive solid tumors adds to the drug’s approved indications in breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. The FDA has granted accelerated approval to AstraZeneca’s and Daiichi Sankyo’s Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) for adults with unresectable or metastatic human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive, immunohistochemistry (IHC) 3+ solid tumors who were previously administered systemic therapy and who have no satisfactory alternative treatment options.1 The regulatory action for the HER2-directed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) adds to Enhertu’s approved indications in breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. “As the first antibody drug conjugate to be granted a tumor-agnostic indication, Enhertu is truly delivering on its potential across metastatic HER2-targetable tumors,” said Dave Fredrickson, executive vice president, Oncology Business Unit, AstraZeneca, in a press release. “This approval also ...
Recently, Hengrui Pharmaceuticals’ subsidiaries, Shanghai Shengdi Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. and Suzhou Shengdia Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. have received the Approval Notice of Drug Clinical Trial issued by the State Drug Administration, which authorizes to conduct the Phase Ib/II clinical study of Adebelizumab Injection in combination with SHR-A1811 and chemotherapy for HER2-expressing advanced adenocarcinoma of the stomach or the gastroesophageal junction. In 2020, gastric cancer ranked 5th in global cancer incidence and 4th in mortality. Among them, 43.9% of new cases and 48.6% of deaths will occur in China, with 479,000 new cases and 374,000 deaths, both ranking third in China in terms of cancer incidence and mortality. Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (HER2)-positive gastric cancer is a unique subtype of the disease, which requires different diagnostic and therapeutic strategies from HER2-negative gastric cancer. The global reported HER2-positive rate of gastric cancer is 7.3%-20.2%, and the HER2-positive rate of gastric cancer in ...
UK-based CDMO Touchlight has teamed up with the University of Liverpool, UK, to utilise its doggybone DNA (dbDNA) technology in for developing a personalised DNA vaccine for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which will be assessed in a clinical trial. Touchlight’s dbDNA is a small, closed loop of DNA that is made in a lab using enzymes. This technique can speed up the drug development process by amplifying long and complex DNA sequences without traditional methods like bacterial fermentation. The term doggybone DNA refers to the structure of the synthesised DNA molecule, which resembles a bone with two loops at each end. The approach offers a way to make vaccines very quickly, especially for personalised treatments. In March 2023, Touchlight received a £14m ($17.7m) grant from the UK government for commercial scale manufacturing of the technology. A team at the University of Liverpool will use Touchlight’s dbDNA technology ...
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