The world of microbial product manufacturing is a complex landscape, ­driven by a diverse range of molecule formats and manufacturing processes. At the forefront of this specialty market is Boehringer Ingelheim Vienna, one global leader in biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing.

In times of the pandemic it was called to ban patents that are related to Covid-19 vaccines, medicaments, and diagnostics and the European Parliament was in favour of it. Now there is a call from the European Parliament to ban all patents on new genomics techniques (NTG) and plants. Quo vadis?

German researchers for the first time have expanded the half life of oligonucleotide-based drugs using artificial building blocks that mimic the features of RNA/DNA but are not digestible by enzymes.

Rare disease specialist SynaptixBio Ltd has got its second FDA orphan drug designation for a subtype of TUBB4A leukodystrophy.

Swedish biotech startup AAX Biotech strengthens the management team with the appointment of Juan Astorga-Wells. He became new Senior Manager of Science & Development.

Pierre Fabre Médicament SAS has entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (APA) over pan-RAF programs developed by Kinnate Biopharma Inc.

PulseSight Therapeutics SAS was launched on Wednesday, backed by seed financing from Pureos Bioventures and ND Capital. The company introduces a disruptive delivery platform in ophthalmology biotech, focusing on the development of non-viral gene therapies coupled with minimally-invasive delivery technology.

Swiss multivalent vaccine developer LimmaTech Biologics AG has been awarded US$2.2m rom the Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X).

Intracellular cancer target screening specialist Curve Therapeutics Ltd has closed a £40.5m financing led by Pfizer Ventures to advance its preclinical pipeline of small cyclic petides.

German foodtech start-up Pacifico Biolabs has raised US$3.3m to push the development of healthy animal-free, carbon-neutrally produced fish and seafood.