Celgene headquarters. © Celgene Corp.

Evotec AG and Celgene Corporation have entered into a strategic drug discovery and development partnership to identify new therapeutics in oncology.

Finnish Arctic Biomaterials won the "Innovation Award  Bio-based Material of the Year. © BIOCOM/Nova Institute

Bioeconomy industry experts  gave a mixed outlook for biomaterials in mid-May in Cologne where about 200 stakeholder joined  the 11th International Conference on Bio-based Materials.

Human colon cancer cells injected into mice form tumors (left) consisting of both MAPK-active cells (green) and NOTCH-active cells (red). Treatment with the MAPK inhibitor selumetinib results in tumors consisting of NOTCH-active cells only (center), but after treatment is stopped, the NOTCH-active cells give rise to new MAPK-active cells, restoring the tumors' original composition (right). ©Schmidt et al., 2018, JEM

Researchers at LMU Munich have unraveled a new strategy of colon cancers to evade targeted therapies. 

Kite's facility in Hoofddorp, Netherlands. © Kite

CAR-T cell therapy specialist Kite Pharma, now part of Gilead Sciences, has expanded its cell therapy manufacturing footprint in Europe. A 117,000 square-foot facility in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands, will be operational by 2020. 

Cell clone selection at MediGene. © MediGene AG

CAR-T cell developer bluebird bio Inc. has extended its potential US$1bn deal with cancer neoantigen TCR specialist MediGene by two new targets adding US$500m potential revenues to the licence agreement.

Mode of action of benralizumab. © AstraZeneca

British drug maker AstraZeneca’s IL-5Ralpha blocker benralizumab did not reduce exacerbations significantly compared to placebo in patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Credit: Kun Liang, Simone Carmone, Davide Brambilla, Jean-Christophe Leroux

A research team headed by Jean-Christophe Leroux from ETH Zurüch has created the first-ever 3-D printed mouth guard that could deliver drugs to the wearer and is highly customizable, in terms of drug release and design. 

Following weeks of negotiations and four rejected bids, British neurology and orphan drug giant Shire has agreed to Takeda’s latest take-over offer of £46bn (€52,38bn).

© BIOCOM AG

Vas Narasimhan, the newly appointed CEO of Swiss pharma giant Novartis, introduced himself to the Swiss biotech industry with a stimulant talk at the Swiss Biotech Day. Apart from that participants of the annual gathering were in high spirits as the Swiss biotech sector continues to grow steadily.

Swiss injection pen developer Haselmeier and Boston-based Common Sensing have partnered to develop smart connected self-injection devices that can monitor drug administration, dosing and efficacy of therapies.