© 123rf.com/Denphumi Jaisue

University Zurich spin-off Anaveon AG announced it will proceeds from its financing round to push development of its preclinical IL-2-receptor agonist.

© CDC

The global antibacterial innovation network CARB-X has expanded its reach by adding six new life-science organisations to its fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR). 

Roche tower at Basel headquarters. ©123rf.com/ Pavel Dudek

Swiss pharma giant Roche has complemented its drug pipeline in the lucrative hemophilia A market by taking over hemophilia A gene therapy developer Spark Therapeutics for US$4.3bn.

© 123rf.com/Julia Sudnitskaya

Sodium chloride can promote immune responses that have been linked to atopic dermatitis. Researchers have now unraveled the mechanistic details between salt intake and activation of T cells.

© Calypso Biotech BV

Dutch autoimmunity specialist Calypso Biotech BV has raised €20m in a Series A financing co-led by Gilde Healthcare and Inkef Capital and co-financed by Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC), and the company’s seed investor M Ventures.

© 123rf_ Christoph Burgstedt

Evotec AG and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) have joined platforms in order to find novel resistance-breaking antibiotics against Gram-negative bugs.

Human heart muscle cells derived from triple-engineered stem cells that are invisible to the immune system. The red is troponin, a protein that participates in cardiac muscle contraction. The blue is the cell's nucleus. Researchers hope cells like these will eventually be used to treat heart failure. © USCF/ Xiaomeng Hu.

Researchers for the first time have found a way to prevent immune rejection of allogenic iPSC-derived cell and tissue transplants. 

© 123rf.com/sangoiri

Swiss newco Arvelle Therapeutics has baged a $180m (€159.1m) series A financing led by LSP. The company licenced the anti-epileptic candidate cenobamate (YKP3089) for $100m (€88.4m) upfront from SK Biopharmaceuticals.

Plastics production from 1950 to 2017. © nova-institute

The market for bio-based building blocks and polymers showed moderate growth to 7.5 million tonnes in 2018 and will grow with a CGAR of 4% by 2023 reports German nova-Institute. 

Healthy (left) and type 1 diabetes (right) islet of Langerhans in the pancreas. ©  123rf.com/designua

Swiss researchers have demonstrated a way to cure type I diabetes without cell transplantation. In model mice the reprogrammed non-islet cells from human pancreas