Cinfa Biotech is shuffling for position on the lucrative biosimilar market. The Spanish-German company has published positive results in a study for a pegfilgrastim copycat with 172 healthy volunteers in Germany. 

Designed to investigate the effects of strain or pressure to 2D and 3D cell cultures or the effects of fluid shear stress to 2D cultures, the Flexcell equipment offers its users various possibilities to set their cells under stress.

Amgen’s Imlygic was approved last year – a move that finally added onco­lytic viruses (OVs) to the healthcare toolkit. Although the treatment’s scope of application as a stand-alone therapy is limited, many are viewing the event as Ground Zero for an explosive new age in medicine. Evidence is mounting that the full potential of virotherapies can only be realised in combination with other immuno­therapies, chemotherapies or small-molecule therapies. A number of other European drug developers have now jumped on Amgen’s bandwagon.

Torsten Hombeck will take charge of the commercial activities and the general strategy of Promethera Biosciences. The Belgian cell therapy specialist appointed Hombeck as Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer.

UK’s Heptares Therapeutics and Paul Scherrer Institute spinoff leadXpro will collaborate to find new approaches for the determination of high-res X-ray structures of G protein-coupled receptors to find new drugs.

Palma de Mallorca-based Sanifit, an expert for calcification disorders, has appointed Preston Klassen as its Chief Medical Officer. Klassen will also serve as President of Sanifit’s newly launched US subsidiary in San Diego.

Nordic Nanovector has teamed up with Areva Med to develop a treatment for leukaemia. The compound in question is a lead-212 conjugated anti-CD37 antibody.

Harriet Fear, CEO of not-for-profit One Nucleus, has been appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday 2016 Honours List. The award recognises her services to the life science sector.

After the British people voted in favour of leaving the European Union, the industry is grappling with the profound impact this will likely have on the economy, research and politics. Representatives from biotech industry, research and policits have expressed their concerns and hopes on the upcoming Brexit.

UK investment vehicle Malin has secured another €70m to invest in innovation and research across the European life sciences. The European Investment Bank will provide a debt facility over a period of seven years.