Bild: Torbjørn Furuseth

Targovax ASA (Targovax or the Company; OSE: TRVX), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing immune activators to target hard to treat solid tumors, announces the appointment of Dr. Torbjørn Furuseth as CFO, effective 24 September 2018. Dr. Erik Digman Wiklund, currently Targovax’s CFO, will become Chief Business Officer, replacing Michael Bogenstaetter

Slowing the leak of Calcium leak into cardiomyocytes does not improve the pumping malfunction in heart failure, German cardiologists report in Science Translational Medicine.

VSV wild-type virion with P-glykoprotein. © Columbia University

EMBL Ventures has announced that its portfolio company ViraTherapeutics is set to be acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim in a €210m million (US$245m) transaction.

Johanna Ivaska

Johanna Ivaska, Academy Professor of Biochemistry has been appointed Head & Vice President of Oncology Research in Orion Corporation as of 1 October 2018.  Ivaska joins Orion from the University of Turku and will continue working also there with her internationally recognised research team.

Historical photo from the Shire archives. © Shire

Orphan drug leader Shire plc has been granted EU marketing authorization for its recombinant van Willebrand factor (rVWF) vonicog alfa  as second-line treatment for van Willebrand disease, the most common blot clotting disorder..

Nessan Birmingham. Picture: Intellia Therapeutics

F-star, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel bispecific antibodies, today announces the appointment of Nessan Bermingham, Ph.D. as Chairman of its Board of Directors. Nessan succeeds John Edwards who has been F-star’s Chairman for seven years and will remain as a non-executive director.

Pavel Pisa.

Crescendo Biologics Ltd (Crescendo), today announced that Pavel Pisa, MD, PhD, has been appointed as Chief Medical Officer of the Company with immediate effect.

Drug Developers dealing with PD1-PDL1 checkpoint inhibitors must consider new safety problems associated with the hyped cancer meds. 

EIB

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has issued its first Sustainability Awareness Bond worth €500m to support investments into water projects – health and nutrition to follow.

One of the world’s largest and most controversial mergers in the past few years was sealed in early June. German pharma and chemistry company Bayer has taken over US competitor Monsanto, forming the largest integrated provider of seeds, agrochemicals and digital farming solutions on the planet. The acquisition is part of a recent US$170bn deal binge that is already having a profound impact on the future of global agriculture.