Synpromics delivers synthetic promotors for application in vector design for cell and gene therapies, CHO cell optimisation in biomanufacturing, industrial and agri-biotech applications, © Synpromics

GE partner Synpromics completes financing round

Synthetic promoter and gene expression specialist Synpromics has completed a £5.2m (€6.2m) financing round with existing investors. 

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Raymond Barlow, @ e-Therapeutics

e-Therapeutics: Newly in charge

AIM-listed drug discovery company e-Therapeutics plc has a new head. In early April, Raymond Barlow took over as Chief Executive Officer. 
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Galapagos NV's headquarters in Mechelen, where the company was founded in 1999, © Galapagos

Galapagos raises US$338m

Autoimmune specialist Galapagos NV (Mechelen, Belgium) has priced its 3,750,000 American Depository Shares (ADSs) in an follow-on offering led by Morgan Stanley at $90 per ADS. 

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Dallas Webb, © BB Biotech

A potentially game-changing technology

In December 2016, US biotech company Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ drug Spinraza received regulatory approval in the US. No doubt: the antisense technology behind Spinraza could be the next big thing
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Allergan and Novartis combine NASH candidates

Irish Allergan and Swiss Novartis have agreed to start a proof-of-concept study of a combination of their NASH candidates cenicriviroc (Allergan) and FXR agonist LJN452 (Novartis).

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Timo Veromaa, @ Domainex

Domainex: Navigating the growth

Domainex has a new Executive Chairman: Timo Veromaa has been appointed to the Board of the British drug discovery services company.
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Graphic depicting the organs involved in congestive heart failure, @ sphingotec

bestbion dx to market sphingotec’s predictive biomarkers

sphingotec GmbH and bestbion dx GmbH have signed an agreement to market sphingotec’s innovative sepsis and congestive heart failure test (sphingotest bio-ADM) and acute kidney function monitoring assay (sphingotest penKid) in Germany and Austria.

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© Oncodin

Blood cancer: Boosting chemotherapy effects

German and Swedish researchers have presented a strategy to predict and improve chemotherapy outcomes in patients with acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML). Currently, the five-year overall survival rate of AML patients treated with cytarabine (ara-C) standard chemotherapy ranges from 20-70%. 
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Galenica headquarters in Bern, © Galenica AG

Galenica exercises over-allotment option

Following its CHF1.901bn IPO at SIX Swiss Exchange on 7 April, Galenica Santé has announced full excercise of the over-allotment option worth CHF248m.

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© LukaTDB/istockphoto.com, lolon/istockphoto.com (crime stripe)

Phenotyping: The hidden mugshot in a culprit’s DNA

Police investigators today begin searches for perpetrators with conventional DNA profiling – comparing a genetic signature from sperm or hair left at a crime scene with a database of identified offenders. But that doesn’t finger culprits who have never been registered. A growing technology called ‘DNA phenotyping’ is now aimed at interpreting genomic clues about a suspect’s possible external appearance. The science behind it is new, and investigators have to navigate the statistical uncertainties – as well as ethical and legal questions – the technology is raising all over Europe.  
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