Menarini GroupFrench ERBC and Menarini Biotech from Italy forge a new strategic alliance to accelerate biopharmaceutical development.
Freepik.comIn February 2025, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) announced that the Masterplan in Biomedicine will be discontinued. This sends a troubling signal at a time of growing protectionism and potential trade conflicts. While other nations are actively collaborating with industry to secure the future of their pharmaceutical sectors, Switzerland is abandoning the only federal initiative aimed at improving conditions for biomedical research. The organisation scienceindustries calls for a renewed effort by the government to develop a new master plan.
Johnson & JohnsonThe case of the psoriasis antiinflammation antibody guselkumab is a story of deals and cooperation and selling and buying royalties to fuel other innovation paths. J&J is right in the middle of the game and has now full ownership while expanding the indications further.
American Academy of Dermatology;doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2019.03.056Swiss MoonLake Immunotherapeutics AG has secured up to US$500m in non-dilutive financing from life sciences debt specialist Hercules Capital to finance the potential 2027 launch of sonelokimab in hidradenitis suppurativa and clinical trials of the IL-17 dimerisation blocker in palmoplantar pustulosis and other inflammatory indications.
Audiovisual Librairy of the European CommissionEurope’s decision on how to combine economic growth and decarbonisation in the future depends on the renewal of the EU bioeconomy strategy. The question is whether the EU will fall further behind globally or whether bioeconomy will become the EU’s growth engine.
market.usThe EMA has asked the industry to share their thoughts on its draft guidelines for developing and assessing biosimilars. The idea is to make it easier for patients in the EU to get access to biosimilars, while also keeping Europe a good choice for developers.
Acoustofab LtdThe Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) has selected 12 start-ups to exhibit at Europe’s premier automation conference as part of its Innovation AveNew programme at SLAS Europe 2025, which takes place from 20-22 May in Hamburg, Germany.
Lee Haines, photographerA drug named nitisinone, EU-approved for the treatment of metabolic diseases, also shows strong mosquito-killing properties. According to researchers headed by Lee Haines, it turns human blood toxic to Anopheles mosquitoes that transmit Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly form of malaria.
MPI for Biochemistry - AusserhoferResearchers at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) and MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge have developed and patented the new UbiREAD technology, which decodes the complex ubiquitin code that marks target proteins for E3 ligase-mediated degradation in cells.
pleiotrope - wikipedia.orgLeuven-based Augustine Therapeutics NV will use the proceeds from a €77.7m in Series A financing led by Novo Holdings and Jeito Capital to advance its preclinical HDAC6 inhibitor AGT-100216 for the treatment of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease to Phase I testing.