© Bayer Leverkusen

German Bayer AG has announced  it will channel at least €1.3b by the end of 2024 in its investment arm ‘Leaps by Bayer’.

 

Picture: AMSilk GmbH

Building a sustainable future this is what drives us. We are passionate about making smart biotech materials part of everyday life. We believe nature offers better alternatives to existing materials with biofabricated technologies previously unimaginable – enabling our customers to make a true change. 

Projection of Avantium's FDCA plant. © Avantium NV

Avantium NV has reached financial close for the construction of a 5,000 ton FDCA plant, one of the two monomers needed to make fossil-free, recyclable PEF.

Picture: Frankie Fouganthin

The Swedish chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell plans to move to the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva.

CT scan. © Mitrey/pixabay.com

Deep learning medical imaging specialist Qure.ai raises $40m from healthcare investors Novo Holdings and HealthQuad 

Picture: Stifel Europe Bank AG

While the Nasdaq Biotechnology index saw a huge uplift during the pandemic (+ 77% since March 2020 until reaching a peak in August 2021), it lost 27% during the last six months vs a 11%/4% decline for the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500, respectively

IgM antibodies have higher affinity and avidity due to their 10 binding sites versus only 2 binding sites of IgG antibodies. © IGM Bioscience Inc.

Sanofi and IGM Biosciences have entered into a broad antibody discovery collaboration that could bring in IGM $6bn if all milestones are met.

Stockholm headquarters of XNK Therapeutics AB. © XNK Therapeutics

XNK Therapeutics AB has secured a private placement of €12.75m led by Flerie Invest AB to finance Phase II development of CellProtect + Isatuximab in multiple myeloma.

EchoLUTION Viral RNA/DNA Swab Kit automated workflow. The timelines illustrate the time required for processing 4 × 96 samples with the BioEcho methods (automated and manual) and other suppliers. Picture: BioEcho

The SARS-CoV-2 virus global outbreak generated a need for fast and reliable large-scale testing. One of the main bottlenecks of the PCR test is the laborious and time-consuming molecular method for viral genetic material extraction. BioEcho Life Sciences, together with Hamilton and the German diagnostics laboratory ‘Labor Dr. Fenner und Kollegen’ developed an automated workflow for 96- and 48-well plate formats.

Picture: Excelya

Data Management has been a hotbed for development and innovation, correlating primarily with
the changing digital landscape. Clinical trial management has been significantly impacted, with the
electronic data capture and GDPR-compliance-led industry now unrecognisable from the paper-document administration methods of the past. This development process extends beyond COVID-19 and has a
noticeable impact on clinical trials.