Biotech - Today Stories

Abingdon, UK, 8 November 2019: – OBN (UK) Ltd., the membership organisation that supports the life sciences industry, is delighted to announce the winners of the 2019 OBN Awards. The Awards, which are in their 11th year, celebrate the best of UK life sciences – from outstanding scientific innovation within Biotech, Medtech and Digital Health, to the companies that support the industry and the fundraisers that make it happen.  This year’s event hosted an audience of over 250 life sciences industry leaders at the Oxford Examination Schools. John Harris, CEO of OBN, said: “We received an incredible number of entries yet again this year, so competition has been really tough for all nominees.  All our winners and finalists are truly innovative, at the very top of their respective sectors, and s…

Combining two major forces in HEOR, market access, medical affairs and healthcare communications 4th November, 2019, London, UK and Bethesda, USA – OPEN Health has today announced the integration of Pharmerit International, a global leader in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), into its group of companies. Joining the Pharmerit business with the OPEN Health Group establishes a new unique entity equipped to be a global leader in HEOR, market access, medical affairs and healthcare communications. The merger enhances and supports OPEN Health’s positioning – deep, broad and connected: Deep in that integration will expand the company’s global footprint and capabilities in the HEOR and market access space – across four integrated centres of excellence: Strategic market access Modell…

London, UK - Some of the UK’s leading Harley Street outpatient clinics specialising in delivering expert mental health support have partnered with medical device company Flow Neuroscience to offer patients a new medically approved brain stimulation headset to treat depression. The type of brain stimulation used in the headset has been shown in independent clinical studies to have a similar impact to antidepressants but with fewer and less-severe side effects. Clinics within London’s esteemed medical district, including the NHS-connected private therapy clinic The Chelsea Psychology Clinic, will now offer patients the new brain stimulation headset as an add-on treatment in combination with their traditional therapy and psychiatrist services. An additional 10 clinics are trialling the headse…

Scientists from the University of Nottingham have discovered an easy, cost-effective and safe method of sending cells and small living samples worldwide, which could revolutionise conventional practice. Cultured cells are currently transported using dry ice - the solid form of carbon dioxide - which keeps them frozen at -80oC. However, dry ice shipping is expensive, voluminous and hazardous, so much so that many couriers refuse to handle it. Also, if it evaporates before a shipment reaches its destination, cellular recovery is jeopardised, as the cells get crushed and the cryoprotectant needed for their storage at low temperatures, is toxic to cells at ambient temperatures.   Dry ice is also damaging to the environment, with 5kg, (the quantity typically used in a consignment of frozen ce…

Singapore, 22 October 2019– ASLAN Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ASLN, TPEx:6497), a clinical-stage oncology and immunology focused biopharma company, today announced the enrolment of the first patient in its multiple ascending dose (MAD) study testing the first-in-class therapeutic antibody ASLAN004 in moderate to severe atopic dermatitis (AD) patients. ASLAN004 is a fully human monoclonal antibody that binds to the IL-13 receptor α1 subunit (IL-13Rα1), blocking signalling of two pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-4 and IL-13, which are central to triggering symptoms of AD, such as redness and itching of the skin. The randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled study will initially be conducted at Singapore’s National Skin Centre and Changi General Hospital and will be led by Prof Steven Thng. It i…

Grant will support researchers from King’s College London and King’s College Hospital to test a personalised treatment approach for Aplastic Anaemia patients who have not responded to available therapies 21 October 2019 - LifeArc, a UK-based medical research charity, and the Aplastic Anaemia Trust (AAT) have jointly awarded a £1.15m research grant to King’s College London and King’s College Hospital to investigate the potential of a novel type of “personalised cellular therapy” to reverse the ultra-rare condition aplastic anaemia (AA). The results of this research could give new hope to people living with a severe, life-limiting form of this condition. The grant will fund a clinical trial to investigate the safety and efficacy of using a patient’s own T-reg cells to restore the blood-makin…

Manchester’s leading health innovation campus, Citylabs, is set to expand again following high levels of demand as it continues to grow its presence as an international hub for genomics and precision medicine.  Manchester Science Partnerships (MSP) and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) have unveiled plans to develop Citylabs 4.0, a new £35 million development which will grow the existing Citylabs campus by 125,000 sq ft. The Joint Venture partnership between MSP and MFT, the UK's largest NHS provider Trust, is the first of its kind, with the first phase - Citylabs 1.0 - already home to a thriving cluster of diagnostics, medtech, digital health and genomics businesses who are driving the future of medicine and healthcare. The new development represents another step forward fo…

The Primary Care Women’s Health Forum (PCWHF), the leading membership forum for primary care clinicians with an interest in women’s health, is pleased to announce the publication of ‘Her Life Her Health’, its new women’s health publication. It is a new quarterly publication for PCWHF members. Written by primary care clinicians for primary care, the publication follows the journey a woman typically takes throughout her lifetime when accessing healthcare, from contraceptive needs to conception, from menstruation to menopause. Spearheaded by Editor-in-Chief, renowned women’s health expert and Chair of the PCWHF, Dr Anne Connolly, Her Life Her Health combines the latest research and guidelines with news, policy, best practice, features, resources and quick reference guidelines. It is packed wi…

The publication in the Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance concluded that application of a nasal gel formulation of XF-73 in healthy volunteers was safe, well tolerated and generated minimal side effects Treatment with XF-73 was also associated with a rapid reduction in nasal Staphylococcus aureus in all subjects; nasal carriage of the bacteria is the source of the majority of post-surgical bacterial infections The same nasal formulation is being used in the Company’s phase 2b trial assessing the microbiological effect of XF-73 on nasal S. aureus in patients scheduled for cardiac surgery and at high risk of postoperative S.aureus/MRSA infection; headline results continue to be expected in mid-2020 Brighton, United Kingdom – 16 October 2019 Destiny Pharma (AIM: DEST), a clinical sta…

LONDON, UK, 8 October 2019 – Prokarium today announced it has received an investment of £4.59 million from Wellcome to fund two clinical trials of its lead programme, Entervax™, a bivalent vaccine against enteric fever. “Funding from a prestigious foundation such as the Wellcome Trust underlines the strength of our approach and provides the support necessary to progress to the clinic,” said Ted Fjallman, Ph.D, Chief Executive Officer, Prokarium. “Entervax™ performed as expected in the preclinical and nonclinical models and we look forward to building on the results we observed previously with our monovalent typhoid vaccine candidate, ZH9. Enteric fever, primarily caused by Salmonella enterica serovars Typhi and Paratyphi A, is the most common bacterial bloodstream infection in South Asia a…

LEIDEN, and UTRECHT, the Netherlands, October 1st , 2019 / B3C newswire / -- MIMETAS and Hubrecht Organoid Technologies (HUB) announce that they entered into a strategic collaboration to market organoid models on a Chip. The agreement includes a license to MIMETAS to market HUB Organoids in an assay ready format, as well as a collaborative effort to develop disease-specific models. "We're delighted and proud that we could transition our long-standing collaboration with the group of Professor Hans Clevers into a commercial proposition," says MIMETAS CEO Paul Vulto. "The adult stem cell biology and Organoid technology of HUB is the very best in the world. By combining it with our OrganoPlate technology in an assay-ready format, the technology becomes available to researchers from any laborat…

Craigavon, N.I., 26 September 2019 – Almac Diagnostic Services, a member of the Almac Group, will launch the complete version of claraT at the ESMO Congress in Barcelona on 27th September. The Almac claraT Total mRNA Report content has expanded considerably from the initial version launched the previous year at the ESMO Congress. The complete version now includes 92 gene expression signatures, 100 single gene drug targets and over 7,000 additional biology linked genes, categorised by all 10 Hallmarks of Cancer. The innovative claraT Total mRNA Report benefits both academic and biopharma biomarker discovery and translational researchers by saving them valuable time in analysing gene expression data and helping to maximise the understanding of their dataset. claraT analyses multiple publishe…

Mutational signatures could help improve myeloma patient prognosis Myeloma UK funded research from The Institute of Cancer Research, London, has identified the main biological processes which cause the genetic mutations associated with the development of myeloma. The research, published in Blood Cancer Journal, increases our knowledge of how myeloma develops and evolves and also suggests that analysis of mutational signatures could play a role in helping identify high risk myeloma patients and predicting patient outcomes.  This will aid the development of more personalised treatments for myeloma patients and help to drive improved diagnosis and assessment of prognosis. The team at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) analysed whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and whole-exome sequencing (WES)…

In Vitro Approach Provides Predictive Platform for Human-Based Drug Discovery NEW YORK, August 6, 2019 (Newswire.com) - ​​​​Researchers from TARA Biosystems, Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) today published data demonstrating that TARA’s engineered heart-on-a-chip system replicated drug responses found in adult humans. The findings, published in the Journal of Toxicological Sciences, show TARA’s 3D-cardiac tissue platform can predict how human hearts will respond to a wide range of drugs, something that has been a challenge in pre-clinical models until now. “The cardiac tissues generated in the study are the first to provide high-fidelity human drug responses and demonstrate the potential for evaluating the safety and efficacy of new therapies in preclinical development,” said Michael P. Gra…

Timothy Kulbago named one of the most inspiring people in life sciences industry PHILADELPHIA – Aug. 5, 2019 – ERT, a global data and technology company that minimizes uncertainty and risk in clinical trials, today announced that Timothy Kulbago, Vice President, Imaging has been named one of the 100 most inspiring individuals in the life-sciences industry by PharmaVoice. Representing a broad cross-section of industry sectors, the PharmaVoice 100 honorees are selected based on how they have inspired their colleagues and affected positive changes in their organizations, as well as their involvement in community and philanthropic activities. “We’re pleased to honor Tim as he truly represents the spirit of the PharmaVoice 100,” said Taren Grom, Editor and Cofounder of PharmaVOICE. “His contr…

Supporting the NHS on its decade-long journey towards an integrated health and care system, as well as delivering extra investment for new buildings and infrastructure, social care and addressing major gaps in NHS staffing, should be at the top of the new Prime Minister’s priority list. That is the call today from the NHS Confederation in a letter and briefing to the Prime Minister. The NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare sector, says there is much ‘unfinished business’ for the new government to resolve in the health and care sector. The letter warns the Prime Minister that the question of NHS funding is not yet settled, despite the £20.5bn funding settlement that kicked in from April this year. The settlement excluded some vital areas of expenditure tha…

GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) today announced that Jonathan Symonds will succeed Sir Philip Hampton as Non-Executive Chairman of the GSK Board with effect from 1st September 2019. Jonathan is currently Deputy Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc and has been an independent non-executive Director of HSBC since April 2014. He is a former Chief Financial Officer of Novartis AG and AstraZeneca plc, and has been a non-executive Director of Diageo plc and QinetiQ plc. He is currently non-executive Chairman of Proteus Digital Health Inc, a non-executive director of Rubius Therapeutics Inc and Chairman of Genomics England Limited. The appointment was approved by the Board and follows a thorough succession process undertaken by the Nominations Committee, led by Vindi Banga, the company’s Senior Independ…

NEW YORK, July 22, 2019 (Newswire.com) - ​​​​​InvestAcure, PBC, honored 10 leading bioindustry scientists with the Cure Coin Award for their outstanding work developing groundbreaking scientific discoveries into lifesaving therapeutics for Alzheimer's, CTE and other related Dementias. The award reception took place on July 15, during the 2019 Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Los Angeles.  "The Cure Coin Award aims to bring public attention to the vital work of leading industry scientists developing lifesaving treatments," said Max Tokarsky, the founder and CEO of InvestAcure, a Public Benefit, Finance company building a spare-change investment platform to facilitate public investment in companies working on developing effective therapeutics for Alzheimer’s.  While govern…

Converse Pharma Group is primed for national expansion after securing a £60m combined facility from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance. Founded in 2013, the firm is a national pharmaceutical wholesaler, providing a comprehensive range of prescription drugs to over 5,500 independent pharmacies across the UK and Ireland. Operating from bases in Doncaster and Prudhoe, Converse Pharma Group currently employs 980 members of staff across its 12 sites in the UK and Ireland. Its 140 strong sales team has helped revenues increase sharply in recent years, having achieved sales of £250m in 2018 – up from £188m the previous year. The funding provided by RBS and Secure Trust Bank will enable the company to invest in new, larger depots, increasing the depth and range o…

Scientists at the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Oxford have shown that small RNA molecules occurring naturally in cells, i.e. microRNAs, are also abundant in cell nuclei. Previously, microRNAs were mainly thought to be found in cytoplasm. The scientists also discovered that microRNA concentrations in cell nuclei change as a result of hypoxia. The findings strongly suggest that microRNAs play a role in the expression of genes in the cell nucleus. This observation is crucial for the development of novel gene therapy, among other things. The study was published in Scientific Reports today. The scientists profiled the division of microRNAs in different parts of endothelial cells, discovering that a large share of microRNAs are enriched in cell nuclei. When the scientists…