Although it has only been shown to provide partial protection, the first-ever malaria vaccine is in testing in Africa – and there are many more hopefuls in the pipeline. Will we soon eradicate one of the most deadly pathogens in human history?
Tackling the malaria pathogen P. falciparum has been complex, due to rapid development of resistance. A new compound targets liver stages of the parasite and, thus, provides a new mode of action to reduce the population of the parasite.
It’s no easy task to develop medications that are effective and safe to use. The pharmaceutical industry loses billions every year due to safety-related attrition during the drug discovery process. For both patients and companies, improving productivity in the area would bring significant benefits. Now novel biomarkers designed to better detect and manage drug-induced organ injury – both preclinically and clinically – could make the process faster, safer and cheaper. tg
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Outgoing EU Commissioner for Agriculture Paul Hogan said in April, that the European Commission will exclude member states from the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that do not include the promotion of the bioeconomy in agriculture.
The European Council, the European Parliament, and the outgoing European Commission have agreed upon the priorities and structure of Horizon Europe (2021 to 2027), the next seven-year research and innovation programme of the European Union. This autumn, they will decide on the Parliament’s proposal to increase its budget from €100bn to €120bn.
123rf.com/valentinakruAfter the birth of the first genome-edited babies in China, regulators, researchers, and bioethics experts seek ways to ban clinical use of germline editing, in order to protect the innovative field from misuse for human enhancement and side effect-prone application forgene correction and human enhancement.
There is a growing demand for more patient-centric drug delivery and improved health-care cost management via self-administration and smart devices. The global drug device combination market is projected to reach nearly US$140m by 2025. It’s where the two different worlds of pharmaceutical (GMP) and standardised medical devices collide.Each needs to learn from the other in order to facilitate the regulation process in Europe.
Targeted therapies and chemotherapeutics have helped cut cancer deaths dramatically in the last few decades. In the US, the overall mortality rate of 251/100,000 patients in 1991 had fallen by 2016 to 156/100,000 patients. Engineered (multispecific) antibodies, cell therapies and combination therapies are expected to continue to increase success rates with primary tumors. And research groups are turning their big guns on what is now the biggest killer – metastasis.
Pilot routine tests with the vasoactive biomarker bio-ADM confirm clinical test results. Medical leaders back actionable utility of the marker in medical decision-making in septic shock and congestive heart failure.
Biomanufacturing – either for production of biologics or bio-based everyday products – has traditionally suffered from the unpredictably variable response of production cell lines to external stimuli. Synthetic biology groups now wish to create a network of biofoundries that aim to establish reproducibility standards from process design to product purification and – in the long term – intend to switch from cell-based to cell-free bioproduction.