Author Archive for: TG

The Westin St. Francis lobby buzzed with its familiar January energy, a peculiar blend of jet lag, ambition, and the faint desperation of biotech CEOs clutching coffee cups like lifelines. This year’s JP Morgan Healthcare Conference arrived with a question hanging in the San Francisco fog: after years of what one executive called “nuclear winter,” were the capital markets finally thawing?

The French preclinical-stage biotech ErVimmune closed a €17 million series A round to bring its lead candidate cancer vaccine into the clinic.

Alzheimer’s disease means memory loss for those affected. Beyond this, however, it is above all relatives and care staff who are impacted when the loss of cognitive abilities is accompanied by symptoms such as agitation, aggression, anxiety and depression, making home care impossible. This aspect of the disease is now gaining greater visibility through a major second financing round from EQT LifeScience, Gimv and Andera Partners with Exciva from Heidelberg.

Last week, Genmab and AbbVie hit a setback with epcoritamab, after the bispecific T-cell-engaging antibody failed to deliver a survival benefit in a phase 3 study in relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The EPCORE DLBCL-1 trial missed its primary endpoint of overall survival, the partners said on Friday. While epcoritamab did slow disease progression and performed better across several secondary measures, the survival miss overshadows the readout. 

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have together compiled ten principles for good artificial intelligence (AI) practice in drug development.