Japanese Pharma major Takeda had announced its intention to take over Belgian adipose stem cell therapy specialist Tigenix, which has already exclusively licenced its lead product darvadstrocel (Cx601) to treat Crohn’s disease. In December darvadstrocel received a recommendation from the European Medicines Agency to market the product in Europe  in patients with complex perianal fistulas, one of the most disabling manifestations of Crohn’s disease.

German human and veterinay medicines major Boehringer Ingelheim has more than doubled the amount in funding of its Venture Fund (BIVF) to €250m. Additionally, the investment focus has been extended to include infectious diseases and digital health.

Swiss allosteric modulation specialist Addex Therapeutics has licenced its GABA modulator ADX71441 to US addiction therapeutics expert Indivior plc.

Pharmapack 2018 Focus:?The dawning age of digital healthcare is expected to transform the pharma packaging and drug delivery sector. At the 21st edition of Pharmapack Europe (7-8 February, 2018, Paris), an expected 5000+ professionals and 400+ exhibiting companies – the industry’s largest meeting ever – will discuss the latest innovations in serialisation, connected devices, and digitalised meds. 

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a powerful blueprint for coordinating global efforts to end poverty through economic growth, reducing inequality, and providing better education, health, job opportunities, and environmental protection.

A triple receptor agonist developed for diabetes could be used to treat Alzheimer’s after scientists found it "significantly reversed memory loss" in mice through a triple mode of action. 

There is a lot of reports on technologies that have already entered the mainstream and will continue to grow in 2018 such as T-cell receptor targeted cancer, autoimmune and gene therapies. European Biotechnology Magazine takes a look on what really is new and has the potential to change current medical paradigms.

It’s still under the radar of analysts. However, the vasoactive peptide adrenomedullin could become the Next Big Thing in therapy monitoring and the treatment of disorders caused by endothelial dysfunction such as acute heart failure, or septic shock. During a scientific symposium “Endothelial Dysfunction – Adrenomedullin as a diagnostic and therapeutic target” (19. December 2017, Berlin), 15 international medical key opinion leaders from ICU/ED’s for the first time compiled clinical data from more than 10,000 patients that underscore that adrenomedullin could lead to a paradigm shift in the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of disorders linked to endothelial dysfunction. 

Therapy-induced senescence (TIS), a lasting chemotherapy-evoked proliferative arrest of tumor cells, has been thought to be irreversible. As it turns out now, it makes tumour cells, which survive, more aggressive and worsens prognosis.

Scientists have generated sheets of human eye cells arranged on a biological scaffold, which they used to successfully treat vision disorders in rats.