Photo: A third of US diabetics develop fibrosis in the course of diabetic nephropathy (see photo), several millions of US citizens suffer from liver fibrosis and about 100,000 have idiopathic lung fibrosis. © Wikipedia/KGH

Drug screening expert Evotec AG and Ontario-based MaRS Innovation have launched the joint venture company Fibrocor Therapeutics LP to tackle fibrosis, an unmet medical need and multi-billion US dollars market. 

A microfluidics device used for the SMiLE-seq technique © Alina Isakova/EPFL

Scientists at EPFL have developed a technique that can be a game-changer for genetics by making the characterisation of DNA-binding proteins much faster, more accurate, and efficient.

Comparison of computer tomography (right hand side) and PET/CT with Redectane - ccRCC glowing. © Wilex

German Wilex has licensed its clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) antibody Redectane to Australian biopharma company Telix Pharmaceuticals. Redectane is a radiolabeled version of Wilex’ Phase III therapeutic antibody girentuximab.

Sprayed canola field. © Bayer

Severe economic and environmental damage: A study commissioned by EU industry association Euroseeds says that the ban of a certain class of insecticides to protect bees causes a lot of ecologic and economic burden.

Curevac's mRNA-based vaccines are funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as one of the most promising technologies. © Curevac

For thirty years, industry has worked hard to establish vaccines that can cure cancer. At the 35th JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, German Curevac reported another failure. It remains open whether cancer vaccines or co-administration of other drug classes to immune checkpoint modulators can break solid tumour’s immune tolerance tactics.

AML blasts © ONKODIN Image Bank

German researchers have found a biomarker that reliably predicts outcomes of blood cancer treatment with the chemotherapeutic cytarabine. Targeting the biomarker restored cytarabine sensitivity.

After the record-breaking year of 2015, biotech stock markets exercised more caution in 2016. However, according to a new report, this represents a healthy reset rather than a new crisis. 

PD-L1 (programmed death-ligand 1), which is expressed on tumour cells and tumour-infiltrating immune cells, interacts with PD-1 and B7.1, both found on the surface of T cells, causing inhibition of T cells. By blocking this interaction, atezolizumab can trigger activation of T cells, restoring their ability to effectively detect and attack tumour cells. © Genentech

Roche is expanding its indications in cancer immunotherapy. Following FDA approvals of its PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab in NSCLC and bladder cancer patients refractive to platinum-based chemotherapy, the Swiss pharma major is awaiting a FDA decision on whether the antibody is suitable as first-line treatment in a further subpopulation of bladder cancer patients.

Image section of 384 individual knock-down experiments in cancer cells. Each square represents one experiment, in which a single gene was knocked down in about 20,000 single cells. The blue is DNA, the green is YAP, the yellow and red are matrix proteins, so individual cells and their shape are represented. © The Institute of Cancer Research, London

Constitutive activation of the mechano-sensor and transcription factor Yes-associated protein (YAP) is key to metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of triple-negative breast cancer, researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research, London, report.

Neuronal hypersensitivity specialist NeRRe Therapeutics has closed an oversubscribed Series B financing round led by Fountain Healthcare Partners.