Peptides that trigger immune system dampening Treg responses in liver stem cells use nanocarriers as transport vesicles, © Topas Therapeutics GmbH

Evotec’s immunology spin-out Topas Therapeutics has inked a multi-year R&D collaboration with pharma major Eli Lilly. The initial focus of research, which will be financed by Eli Lilly, is on identification of  antigens that specifically induce a T regulatory cell response in inflammatory and auto-immune disorders.

Swedish specialty pharmaceutical company Pharmalink AB Stockholm has Fredrik Johansson as new Chief Financial Officer.

Medivir's headquarters in Stockholm, © lakemedelsvarlden.se

Medivir AB has exclusively licenced Greater China development and commercialisation rights of its preclinical candidate drug MIV-802 to Chinese drug developer Ascletis Bioscience Co. Ltd.

Animation of Vaximm's oral T killer cell activating Salmonella vaccine. © Vaximm

Belgian, Swiss, and US researchers have found a new way to boost efficacy in cancer immunotherapy. In mid-April, they reported that cancer cells actively block tumour infiltration of cytotoxic T cells, but that this process can be reversed using angiogenesis blockers. Some Big pharma companies have already jumped on the bandwagon of angiogenesis/PDL1 combination therapy.

A slide of tissue sections to be stained and incubated with antibodies to see which proteins are expressed, © Nature, doi:10.1038/509645a

Using a national supercomputer, Swedish researchers have analysed how protein expression of the 315 known cancer genes translates into cancer overall survival. 

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Finnish Metsä Group has started its mill for bio-based products. The €1.2bn investment’s production capacity is 1.3 million tonnes of softwood pulp a year.

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UK-headquartered immunodiagnostics specialist Oxford Immunotec Global plc’s  share value slipped by $1.31 to $16.02 after the company raised US-$40.125m on Monday in an public offering of 2.5 million ordinary shares at Nasdaq underwritten by BTIG LLC.

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French green chemistry pioneer, Carbios SA (Clermont-Ferrand) announced in March that it has secured equity financing of €2.5m from Kepler Cheuvreux through the acquisition of 380,000 shares over 24 months. 

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German CellAct GmbH has cashed in US$250m (€212m) from Mundipharma in a licence deal for CAP7.1, a Phase II drug to treat the rare biliary tract cancer. 

Mark Rothera

Gene therapy specialist Orchard Therapeutics (London) has appointed Mark Rothera as President and Chief Executive Officer, a specialist for the commercialisation of novel treatments and business development.