Induction of an immune response: dendritic cells process an antigen into peptides dubbed epitopes, that are presented on MHC class I or II molecules to cytotoxic and helper T cells, respectively. © Amal Therapeutics

Swiss cancer vaccine developer AMAL Therapeutics has raised €8m in a Series B round led by existing investor Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, and new investors BioMedPartners and Helsinn Investment Fund.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis has become a world-wide threat due to antimicrobial resistance, © 123rf/ Tatiana Shepeleva

Six European states, together with the Wellcome Trust, and South Africa have pledged €56.5m to help develop new antibiotics that break resistance.

© Pall Life Sciences

The Allegro STR bioreactor family combines Pall’s bioprocess engineering expertise, cell culture know-how and our drive for quality into a series of single-use bioreactors that deliver consistent and scalable cell culture performance across the range.

A new algorithm invented at the University of Sussex enables smartwatches to learn your everyday activities. © Dr Hristijan Gjoreski / University of Sussex

Researchers at the University of Sussex have invented a new algorithm that could revolutionise patient monitoring and activity tracking.

French Ajinomoto Eurolysine SAS, part of the world leading producer of amino acids by fermentation, has received a positive safety assessment from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for use of freeze-dried genetically modified E. coli bacteria as a feedstuff supplement. 

Second-generation chimeric antibody receptors (CARs), © Sue Seif

Swiss Novartis AG has received US market authorisation for its first-in-class CAR-T cell therapy Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel-T). As severe cytokine storms seemed to be generally linked to CAR-T therapies such as Kymriah, the FDA also authorised Roche’s anti-IL-6R antibody Actemra (tocilizumab) as first-in-class treatment to manage them.

Production at BI, @ Boehringer Ingelheim

The US Food and Drug Administration has granted US market authorisation to Boehringer Ingelheim’s biosimilar anti-TNFa-antibody adalimumab.

Apeiron Biologics' CEO Hans Loibner, © Dr. Hans Loibner/Apeiron Biologics AG

Supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a  €25m loan to the Austrian pediatric cancer specialist Apeiron Biologics AG to boost its pipeline of antibodies, fusion proteins and low molecular weight checkpoint inhibitors. 

The possibilities offered by CRISPR/Cas9, TALENs and other new genome editing technologies are making the mouths of plant breeders water – and not just because the methods give seed developers new options when it comes to optimising traits such as yield, resistance to environmental stress, diseases or pests. Gene-edited plants could soon make inroads even with Europe’s strict regulators, and throw open the door to tastier, healthier food.

the EU patent package initially was aimed at establishing a unitary patent that is valid across the European Union. As Spain and Italy resisted to adopt the rules because unitary patents will be only translated into few languages, reducing overall cost, the initial plan failed. Furthermore,  the unitary patent and the UPC may make European companies more vulnerable due to the fact that a single proceeding in one country can annul their patent claims in all EU countries. © Audiovisual library of the EC.

In mid-June, the German Federal Constitutional Court asked the German President not to sign legislation designed to implement the EU Unified Patent Court (UPC, EU Agreement 16351/12) and Unitary Patent (EU Regulation 1257/12). Now, there are hints for a further delay. The constitutional complaint behind the delay, rumoured to be brought up by a German life sciences IP expert, has led to a stop of hiring German judges for the UPC.