There is a lot of reports on technologies that have already entered the mainstream and will continue to grow in 2018 such as T-cell receptor targeted cancer, autoimmune and gene therapies. European Biotechnology Magazine takes a look on what really is new and has the potential to change current medical paradigms.
Therapy-induced senescence (TIS), a lasting chemotherapy-evoked proliferative arrest of tumor cells, has been thought to be irreversible. As it turns out now, it makes tumour cells, which survive, more aggressive and worsens prognosis.
Scientists have generated sheets of human eye cells arranged on a biological scaffold, which they used to successfully treat vision disorders in rats.
The European Commission has closed its very first infringement procedure under the Penalty Regulation. During an inspection at Roches UK headquarters in 2012 the British MHRA found data on 80,000 not properly reported adverse events of approved Roche meds, 15,161 of which included deaths.
Hadean Ventures announced the launch of Hadean Capital I, a fund that will invest up to € 100 m in life science companies, with a particular focus on the Nordic region.
The European Medicines Agencys Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended seven medicines for approval at its December 2017 meeting, including two orphan medicines, and one biosimilar.
Belgian reMYND N.V. has out licenced worldwide commercialisation rights for its small molecule programme ReS39 in diabetes to Novo Nordisk A/S. The drug impedes death of insulin-producing beta cells by preventing the formation of cytotoxic islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) aggregates.
A new, non-invasive tuberculosis urine test prevents common disadvantages of the standard tuberculin skin test: Measuring lipoarabinomannan glycan from M. tuberculosis, it detects the active disease in early stage and does not interfere with co-infections or weakened immune system.
Life sciences investment group LSP has launched the largest fund in Europe dedicated to late-stage medical technology assets, including diagnostics and digital health.
Belgian start-up company Aelin Therapeutics NV secured the funds to push development of candidate drugs arising from its Pept-in protein knockdown platform, which harnesses protein aggregation to induce functional knockdown of target proteins.