Medical Cannabis – Last year, the European Cannabis Association was launched as industry interest group, but than the novel coronavirus pandemic changed everything. European Biotechnology spoke with Rainer Krüger, one of the ECA founders, how the virus changed the schedule and strategy to establish a science-based regulation for medicinal cannabis.

Roche AG has paid US$350 in cash to co.develop and market Atea Pharmaceutical’s oral direct-acting antiviral, AT-527, to limit proliferation of SARS-CoV-2.

New ADC company Araris Biotech has got backing by Pureos Bioventures and co-investors in a CHF15.2m seed round to develop a new class of antibody drug conjugates.
 
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BioEcho develops single-spin and 96/384-well kits based on the patent pending single-step EchoLUTION nucleic acid extraction process. Highly superior to the commonly used silica-based solutions (bind-wash-elute), the isolated inhibitor-free RNA/DNA is detected with increased sensitivity. Furthermore, the whole procedure is up to 20-fold faster: Washing steps are not required, saving time, costs and plastic waste. Due to the expertise of its founders and employees, BioEcho also uses its know-how to support diagnostic or pharma companies with specialized scientific knowledge. Especially in times like these, BioEcho helps to accelerate accurate tests on certain RNA/DNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2.

Clinical Trails – With the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020, the known conditions will change and pharmaceutical companies not prepared will face serious issues and uncertainties. No extension of the transition period has been requested, and according to a joint technical notice by the European Commission, EMA and HMA, no further prolongation beyond 2020 is possible. EU pharmaceutical law will no longer apply for the UK.

Vifor Pharma and Cara Therapeutics have signed a US license agreement for Korsuva to treat dialysis patients with pruritus.

Precision Oncology – High-Precision Radionuclide Therapy is a promising, new generation of targeted molecular therapy in which the smallest amounts of medical radioactivity find their way through the bloodstream specifically to the tumour cells for diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

High-quality cell culture inserts of the new brand cellQART® can now also be purchased directly from the German manufacturer SABEU.

Atriva Therapeutics has secured a €24m loan to push the development of its COVID-19 programme ATR-002, an antiviral, anti-inflammatory MEK inhibitor.

Topas Therapeutics GmbH will use the €22m proceeds from a Series B Financing to advance two pipeline candidates.