Entries by Thomas Gabrielczyk

Learning to listen to your gut

The adage ‘you are what you eat’ is more than folk wisdom. Evidence that the food you ingest has a major impact on your health grows by the day. It’s now clear the bacteria that colonise the skin and gut from birth on are key sensors for environmental triggers in chronic diseases of civilisation. Ever since research showed that restoring microbiome balance cures 90% of all Clostridium difficile infections, food manufacturers, pharma companies and independent teams have been tracking it in other indications – including multiple sclerosis.

Investors keen to put money into AMR SMEs

Investments into new drugs to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are set to boost the participation of SMEs. At the 11th Berlin Conference on Life Sciences, two new financing initiatives, which focus on innovations developed by SMEs, were presented to 200+ AMR stakeholders.

Santhera’s idebenone not efficient in PPMS patients

Swiss Santhera Pharmaceuticals EU-approved LHON treatment Raxone (idebenone) has failed to show clinical efficacy in another indication: After US and EU regulators rejected an extension of market approval in Duchenne muscular dystrophy last September, an NIH-sponsored trail now showed no difference to placebo treatment in patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS).

Convert Pharmaceuticals SA closes €13.6m Series A round

Liège-based Convert Pharmaceuticals SA has been granted a total of €13.6m in equity and non-dilutive funding by investors Droia Oncology Ventures, Meusinvest and Spinventure, with non-dilutive support by the Walloon region and funds from the European Eurostars programme.

Bavarian Nordic and AZ combine cancer jab with durvalumab

AstraZeneca (AZ) and Bavarian Nordic (BN) combine BN’s cancer vaccine CV301 and AZ’s PD-L1 checkpoint blocker durvalumab in an investigator-sponsored trail to check synergistic effects in patients with colorectal and pancreatic cancer overexpressing CEA and MUC-1.