Spanish biotech sector:?European investors more and more often take a look at Southern European biotech companies. Spain, in particular, is now harvesting the fruits of long-term public support started a decade ago, which stimulated the establishment of a dynamic ecosystem. Today, foreign investments are at an all-time high and start-ups find a well-prepared basis for growth.
Sigurdur Olafsson appointed CEO of Hikma
AppointmentsHikma Pharmaceuticals today announces its Board of Directors has appointed Sigurdur (Siggi) Olafsson as Chief Executive Officer. Mr Olafsson will also join Hikma’s Board of Directors as an executive director, subject to election at the next annual general meeting in May 2018.
Locking malaria parasites into red blood cells
Latest NewsUK researchers headed by Michael Blackman have found out that a proteolytic cascade regulates release of merozoites of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum from host red blood cells. Inhibitition paves the way to block the parasite’s egress.
PharmaMar in licence deal with Seattle Genetics
Latest NewsSpanish specialist for sea-derived synthetic oncology drugs, PharmaMar SA, has inked a licence agreement with US antibody drug conjugate (ADC) company Seattle Genetics Inc. PharmaMar will provide fully-synthetic toxic payloads.
Plasmodium locked in
BackgroundFor decades, researchers have searched without success for a strategy to prevent malaria. Now, two teams of researchers present a solution that circumvents the problem of surface antigen hypervariability of Plasmodium. Their drug candidate blocks the pathogens’ release from blood cells, resulting in prevention of the life-threatening hot stages.
Roche to pay US$1.9bn for Flatiron Health
Latest NewsIn a strategic acquisition, Roche has completed its capabilities to use Big data to build new business cases in digital diagnostics solutions and personalised healthcare. The pharma major agreed to pay US$1.9bn to take over the US specialist for digital electronic medical records, Flatiron Health Inc.
Santhera licenses CF drug from Polyphor
Latest NewsSanthera Pharmaceuticals has licenced the inhaled neutrophil eleastase blocker POL6014 from Polyphor Ltd for CHF6.5m upfront and CHF121m in potential milestones.
AML: Sorafenib boosts graft-versus-leukemia activity
Latest NewsCo-administration of an allogenic blood stem cell transplant and sorafenib cured AML patients refractive to chemotherapy and stem cell transplants alone, oncologists report in Nature Medicine.
Poxel in €506m diabetes deal with Roivant Sciences
Latest NewsPoxel S.A. is advancing its proof-of-concept type 2 diabetes programme imeglimin (PXL008) into Phase III studies in the US an the EU by means of a licence deal with Swiss Roivant Sciences GmbH.
Pieris inks US$1.2bn immuno-oncology deal with Seattle Genetics
Latest NewsAnticalin developer Pieris and Antibody-drug conjugate specialist Seattle Genetics have agreed to co-develop three bispecific cancer drugs using Seattle Genetic’s cancer targets and Pieris’ co-stimulatory agonist and anticalin platform.
Spanish biotech sector attracts investors
BackgroundSpanish biotech sector:?European investors more and more often take a look at Southern European biotech companies. Spain, in particular, is now harvesting the fruits of long-term public support started a decade ago, which stimulated the establishment of a dynamic ecosystem. Today, foreign investments are at an all-time high and start-ups find a well-prepared basis for growth.