Entries by Thomas Gabrielczyk

Roche pays US$2.4bn for FMI take-over

Three years ago Roche acquired a majority in shares of Foundation Medicines Inc (FMI), a specialist in cancer panel sequencing, which has build a huge database with cancer mutation profiles. Now Roche paid US2.4bn to complete the take-over.

Deinobiotics reports novel antibiotics class

Researchers at French antibiotics specialist Deinobiotics SAS, a subsidiary of Deinove SA, and German researchers announces the discovery of a new class of resistance breaking antibiotics that kill MRSA or S. pneumoniae effectively.

EPO under pressure not to lower quality standards

Following a letter of about 1,000 EPO patent examiners , also patent attorneys have send an open letter to the European Patent Office (EPO), criticising its outgoing president for having established work routines that are set to lower quality of European patents.

Adrenomed reveals MOA of sepsis antibody

Adrenomed AG announced the publication of three scientific papers revealing how its adrenomedullin-targeting Phase II sepsis antibody Adrecizumab reverses vascular hyperpermeability in sepsis.

Expanding into the commercial supply space

Celonic AG has pursued an ambitious expansion strategy in mammalian cell line contract manufacturing to establish Phase III and commercial supply by mid-2019. A new GMP facility in Heidelberg was acquired, and capacity is also being expanded at the headquarters in Basel. European Biotechnology spoke with Franzpeter Bracht, COO of Celonic, about Celonic’s strategy.

Targovax refocussing clinical pipeline post-ASCO

Despite a 6-month improvement of 2-year-overall survival in pancreatic cancer patients, Norwegian cancer immunotherapy specialist Targovax ASA will terminate development of TG01 in this indication. Instead, development of RAS neoantigen-targeting cancer vaccines will be pushed in colorectal cancer.

Increase Your Culture Yields with Fibra-Cel® Disks

Fibra-Cel Disks are an advanced, solid support material for the efficient growth of mammalian and insect cells in bioreactors. They are devised to improve the cultivation of anchorage-dependent as well as suspension cells. Fibra-Cel Disks can be used also for perfusion cell culture with the Eppendorf packed-bed impeller – available for glass, stainless steel, and single-use bioreactors.

Autolus Therapeutics aiming for NASDAQ IPO

British T cell player, Autolus Therapeutics Ltd. wants to go NASDAQ selling 7.8 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs) at  at least US-$15, totaling in US$117m. Through a greenshoe option, Autolus want to offer additional 1,171,875 ADS at the IPO price. 

EC earmarks €100bn for Horizon Europe

EU Commissioners Jyrki Katainen and Carlos Moedas proposed a budget increase of 25% for the next  European Research and Innovation programme Horizon Europe (2021-27) vs Horizon 2020. However MEPs said that the new moonshot research section EIC is underfunded. Furthermore, the current funding quote of 11% was too low compared to other international excellence programmes.