Twelve years after Roche’s $6.8bn hostile takeover bid for Illumina, the companies have entered into a 15-year partnership to boost personalised NGS-based cancer testing.

Incyte Corp. has signed a global license agreement for commercialisation of Morphosys AG’s anti-CD-19 programme tafasitamab.

In silico clinical trials pioneer Novadiscovery SA has raised €5m in a series A financing led by Swiss Debiopharm Innovation Fund.

Dreams of simple, reliable and scalable processes for the much-hyped cell therapy market have generated demand for cost-effective, GMP-compliant manufacturing methods. The drug-screening market is also hungry for material that will allow the establishment of human cell disease models. A growing number of companies are now trying to coax induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into specific cells needed for clinical trials. Others are seeking the same goal through direct transdifferentiation protocols. What method will prove superior?

Following a €1.5m seed financing in 2017, cancer specialist Alderaan Biotechnology SAS has raised €18.5m in a Series A round led by Advent France Biotechnology and Medicxi.

NorthSea Therapeutics BV has raised US$40m to provide proof-of-concept of its NASH drug icosabutate.

4SC AG and Merck KgaA  have signed a supply agreement to start clinical tests of Merck’s checkpoint blocker avelumab plus 4SC’s HDAC I blocker domatinostat.

Despite the threat of a looming climate catastrophe, low oil prices and giant industrial conglomerates addicted to fossil resources continue to stifle industrial biotechnology products and innovation. The European Biotechnology Network is now providing a foot up for companies that want to help themselves by launching three very different projects aimed at pushing the bioeconomy forward.

Mutabilis and IBT Vaccines have successfully bagged US$12m from the Novo Holdings REPAIR Impact Fund.
 

Critical care experts have presented data supporting the thesis that three specific pathways are the cause for about 90% of sepsis mortality.