Entries by Thomas Gabrielczyk

Bright future for biomanufacturers

Progress in process engineering and media optimisation has resulted in significant productivity increases in upstream processing driving transformations at drug developers and CDMOs. At BPI Europe in Amsterdam, companies showed strategies and product launches pinpointing the way towards what could become a new industry paradigm: continuous processing and flexible modular production plants, which both address changed production needs.

Immunooncology: Roche presents blood biomarker test

Roche is trying to offer a solution for patient selection in immunooncology. At the ESMO congress in Madrid, the theranostics company presented a liquid biopsy test that measures the tumour mutational burden in order to predict the probability  for response to immunotherapy.

‘Adrenaline’ of the immune system discovered

Portuguese and Swiss scientists have discovered that neurons located at mucosal tissues can immediately detect an infection in the organism, promptly producing a substance that acts as an "adrenaline rush" for immune cells. 

AMAL Therapeutics raises €8m

Swiss cancer vaccine developer AMAL Therapeutics has raised €8m in a Series B round led by existing investor Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, and new investors BioMedPartners and Helsinn Investment Fund.

EFSA okays GM bacteria as feed supplement

French Ajinomoto Eurolysine SAS, part of the world leading producer of amino acids by fermentation, has received a positive safety assessment from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for use of freeze-dried genetically modified E. coli bacteria as a feedstuff supplement. 

CAR-T: Novartis prices CTL019 at US$475,000

Swiss Novartis AG has received US market authorisation for its first-in-class CAR-T cell therapy Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel-T). As severe cytokine storms seemed to be generally linked to CAR-T therapies such as Kymriah, the FDA also authorised Roche’s anti-IL-6R antibody Actemra (tocilizumab) as first-in-class treatment to manage them.

Apeiron bags €25m from EIB

Supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a  €25m loan to the Austrian pediatric cancer specialist Apeiron Biologics AG to boost its pipeline of antibodies, fusion proteins and low molecular weight checkpoint inhibitors.