Entries by Thomas Gabrielczyk

FIND funding diagnostics to fight AMR

Global health product development partnership FIND (Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics) has announced four major diagnostics projects to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in resource-poor settings. 

Cancer is a gate-opener to data sharing

A brand-new survey conducted by auditing and consulting firm PwC and Strategy& has found out that 80% of data protection-prone Germans would share their data in case of being diagnosed with cancer. The results show that cancer could act as a gate-opener to approaches in personalised medicine that depend on the accessiblity of patient data.

Bacterial duo triggers colorectal cancer

US and Dutch researchers have found that carcinogenic E. coli and B. fragilis versions in the gut of patients who developed precancerous polyps early in life trigger development of colon cancer by secreting proinflammatoy signals, depleting mucus and inducing DNA damage.

CRISPR corrects clustered DMD mutations

Using CRISPR-Cas 9 genome editing, US and German stem cell researchers have corrected clustered mutations in the dystrophin gene in heart mucle cells obtained from induced pluripotent stem cells of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

EPO bows to pressure from industry

Following critisism from the industry, the European Patent Office has drafted a proposal to allow exemptions to its Early Certainty Initiative. Industry associations had pressed the EPO not to limit the time to grant a patent to 12 months arguing it would have detrimental effects on the life sciences sector.

EU ombudsman soft-sells safety concerns on HPV jabs

A complaint against the EMA’s handling of a referral procedure related to potential side effects of Sanofi/MSD’s HPV vaccine Gardasil and GSK’s HPV jab Cervarix, filed by the Nordic Cochrane Centre and physicians, has been rejected by the European Ombudsman.

Sanofi acquiring Ablynx

Briefly after Belgian nanobody maker Ablynx rejected a €2.3bn take-over bid of Novo, its board accepted a €3.9bn tender of its R&D partner Sanofi. It’s the second large take-over of Sanofi this month.

EMA recommends seven new drugs for market

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) greenlighted seven medicines for approval at its January 2018 meeting, including one orphan medicine, and one biosimilar.

New wave of optimism for European biotech stocks

The European biotech stock market witnessed an increase in IPO and follow-on financing volumes in 2017. According to the new BIOCOM capital market report, published in November during BIO-Europe in Berlin, more than half the money was raised on the US Nasdaq. Within Europe, Euronext is still is the most attractive location – but Stockholm is catching up.