German MAB Discovery GmbH has extended its 2013 collaboration with BioNTech AG by a contract to produce another set of therapeutic antibodies against a range of targets delivered by BioNTec.

In 2017, the European biotech sector witnessed a volume increase in IPOs and follow-on financings. This says the most recent capital market report of BIOCOM which is published during BIO-Europe on November 6.

Swiss oncolytic virus and vaccine specialist NousCom has closed a €42m Series B financing round led by new investor Abingworth. Co-investors include new 5AM Ventures, and existing investors LSP and Versant Ventures.

Researchers at Belgian UCB SA have clinically demonstrated that an antibody targeting a normal cellular recycling process can remove autoantibodies from the blood of people with autoimmune diseases.

Following the death of a patient with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN), the FDA put a hold on two clinical Phase I trials with UCART123, French Cellectis SA’s allogenic CAR-T therapies. Preliminary results from two trials in CD19+ relapsed or refractory B-Cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients dosed with UCART19 suggest that cytokine release syndrome (CRS) associated with allogenic CAR-T’s must be managed very carefully. 

Dutch venture capital company BioGeneration Ventures (BGV) has closed its third fund, BGV III, at €82m exceeding the original target by €32m.

Belgian nanobody producer Ablynx closes an initial public offering of American Depositary Shares at Nasdaq totalling US$200m plus a fully exercised greenshoe option amounting aggregate gross proceeds to US$230.

The world’s largest event for pharma professionals, CPHI worldwide, will see an expansion to the rapidly-growing field of biologics next year in Madrid

US biotech company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals revealed plans to create some 300 new jobs in Ireland’s Limerick County. The jobs form part of a US$100m (€85m) expansion plan for the company’s campus there.

Portuguese biotech company Immunethep has convinced the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to hand out a grant to test its antibody against the bacterial extracellular virulence factor GAPDH.