Novo Nordisk joins Evotec as drug discovery partner
Novo Nordisk and Evotec have joined forces to find new drugs in the lucrative diabetes and obesity markets.
Genkyotex cashes in 7.5m
French Genkyotex SA has secured an 7.5m gross financing to expand the scope of its Phase II product GKT831 in Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC).
Roche’s Alecensa approved in China
Roche AGs ALK blocker Alecensa (alectinib) has been granted market approval by China National Drug Administration as first line NSCLC monotherapy in patients with ALK-positive non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
Pfizer partners with Biontech in US$425m deal
BioNTech AG has partnered with Pfizer to develop a mRNA-based flu vaccine.
New lupus target unraveled
EGFR agonists support the protective effect of Langerhans against UV-induced damage of skin cells, a hallmark of lupus erythematosus and other autoimmune and dermatologic conditions, a team of US and German researchers report.
Small molecule restores liver regeneration
A team of Scots, Belgian and Spanish researchers claim they have found a target to prevent failure of liver regeneration following intoxination or acute injury.
Orchard Therapeutics raise US-$150m
London-headquartered gene therapy Orchard Therapeutics has closed a US-$150m series C financing round to push MAAs and BLAs of three late-stage gene therapies by 2021.
Artios Pharma raise 85m in Series B round
Life Sciences Partners and Andera Partners together with Pfizer Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund have put 85m into the cancer drug development company Artios Pharma Ltd.
Researchers remyelinate neurons
German neurogenetics at the Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine have cured the rare incurable hereditary Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease by simply supplementing the food of mice carrying the disease-causing duplication of the PMP22 gene with lecithin. The phospholipid supplementation enabled Schwann cells deficient in lipid synthesis to restore the insulating myelin sheet around peripheral neurons which is needed to speed up neuronal transmission.
Switch for osteoporosis and obesity
German researchers have found a molecular switch that determines whether mesenchymal fibroblasts differentiate into fat- or bone-forming cells opening the avenue to modulation of the processes.