Using CRISPR-Cas 9 genome editing, US and German stem cell researchers have corrected clustered mutations in the dystrophin gene in heart mucle cells obtained from induced pluripotent stem cells of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
Following critisism from the industry, the European Patent Office has drafted a proposal to allow exemptions to its Early Certainty Initiative. Industry associations had pressed the EPO not to limit the time to grant a patent to 12 months arguing it would have detrimental effects on the life sciences sector.
Briefly after Belgian nanobody maker Ablynx rejected a €2.3bn take-over bid of Novo, its board accepted a €3.9bn tender of its R&D partner Sanofi. It’s the second large take-over of Sanofi this month.
The European Medicines Agencys Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) greenlighted seven medicines for approval at its January 2018 meeting, including one orphan medicine, and one biosimilar.
Scientists at the University of Glasgow have found a bacterial strain which blocks dengue and Zika virus transmission from mosquitoes.
Novartis AG has strengthened its ophtalmology portfolio by acquiring a licence for Spark Therapeutics voretigene neparvovec (Luxturna), an FDA-approved gene therapy that corrects mutations in RPE65, which leads to juvenile blindness in homozygotous carriers.
Spanish researchers have identified a protein that keeps breast cancer stem cell in a dormant state preventing them from forming metastases. A German team found an endothelial receptor protein that prevents dormant micrometastases in the blood to invade tissue.
Venture capital firm Seventure Partners has joined a US$35m Series B Round in Digital Nutrition Platform Zipongo. The US$9m invested into the Californian company comes from Seventures €160m Health for Life Capital fund, the premier fund dedicated to the expanding microbiome and nutrition space.
Seven years after the acquisition of Genzyme, French drug major Sanofi has added another orphan drug player to its portfolio. The company agreed with the management of US blood disorder expert Bioverativ to pay US$11.6bn in cash, a 64% premium on the company’s share price.
Italian, US and Australian researchers have used a blood screening test to detect cancer in patients with 8 different cancers whose tumors had not yet spread. Its sensivity is among the best performances yet for a universal cancer blood test.