Multiple sclerosis is currently an incurable, chronic autoimmune disease. While it is possible to effectively manage the feared relapses with existing therapies, novel approaches aim to provide important protection against long-term impairments.

Since 1995, the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators, endowed with €20,000, has honored outstanding achievements in the field of biomedical research in Europe once a year.

Dutch Forbion has announced its largest fundraising to date, with Forbion’s Growth Opportunities Fund III raising €1.2bn and Forbion Ventures Fund VII raising €890m.

Lundbeck A/S is set to take over all shares of neurology specialist Longboard Pharmaceuticals Inc worth US$2.6bn to strengthen its pipeline with the Phase III 5-hydroxythyprytamaine 2C receptor super-agonist bexicaserine to treat 11 rare neurological conditions.

German diagnostics company Sphingotec GmbH has licensed its real-time kidney function test to US diagnostics giant Beckman Coulter allowing it to expand its business to the US as announced earlier this month.

Biomanufacturers must balance the development of new therapeutic modalities and reduce manufacturing costs while maintaining environmental responsibility. Efforts are centred on improving process robustness and efficiency and creating more flexible manufacturing facilities that can accommodate diverse biopharmaceutical products.

AviadoBio Ltd has cashed in €30m upfront and €20m as an equity investment from Astellas Pharma Inc for signing a licence option agreement for its Phase I/II gene therapy programme AVR-01.

Swedish clinical-stage pharmaceutical company Vicore Pharma has secured SEK100m, supported by existing and new investors. The injection of capital will allow the company to scale the clinical development of its portfolio of therapies in respiratory and fibrotic diseases.

Fab’entech, a French biopharma company, has secured a loan worth €20m from the European Investment Bank (EIB) under the HERA Invest programme, aimed at bolstering Europe’s preparedness against biological threats.

Kurma Partners announced a first closing of its new Biofund IV at €140m targeted to raise €250m to finance 16-20 life science companies.