PharmaKure, a clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing precision medicines for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative diseases, have announced a new epigenetics collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University. This partnership will focus on ‘gene-based environmental biomarkers’, known as epigenetic markers, for calculating risk scores for Alzheimer’s diseases. Together with ALZmetrix, PharmaKure’s blood-based biomarker, this will increase the power of current Alzheimer’s diagnostics. The collaborative study between Sheffield Hallam University and Pharmakure aims to gain a better understanding of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in order to identify those more at risk of developing the disease, so enabling the provision of appropriate interventions much earlier in the…

Neomorph, Inc. have announced it has entered into a collaboration and licensing agreement with global healthcare company Novo Nordisk to discover, develop and commercialise molecular glue degraders. Neomorph, a biotechnology company solving critical problems in human health through the discovery of novel therapeutics against ‘undruggable’ targets, was founded in 2020 and is venture backed by Deerfield Management Company. “We are incredibly excited to partner with Novo Nordisk, a world-class healthcare company within diabetes, obesity and rare blood disorders,” said Phil Chamberlain, DPhil, Co-Founder, President, and CEO of Neomorph. “By combining Neomorph’s proprietary glue discovery platform with Novo Nordisk’s vast experience in cardiometabolic…

Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have announced that it has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Zambon Biotech SA, part of the Zambon group, for IPX203 in the European Union, United Kingdom, and Switzerland. IPX203 is a novel, oral formulation of carbidopa/levodopa (CD/LD) extended-release capsules for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD) that is under review with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Zambon will seek regulatory approval and commercialise IPX203 in Europe. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Zambon is a privately held multinational chemical-pharmaceutical company founded in Italy in 1906. The company continues to be managed by…

Bristol Myers Squibb has completed its acquisition of RayzeBio, Inc.  With the completion of the acquisition, RayzeBio shares have ceased trading on the NASDAQ Global Market and RayzeBio is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Bristol Myers Squibb. “We are excited to complete this transaction, which adds radiopharmaceutical therapeutics (RPTs), one of the fastest-growing new modalities for treating patients with solid tumours,” said Chris Boerner, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Bristol Myers Squibb. “By strengthening and further diversifying our oncology pipeline beyond I-O, we will unlock exciting opportunities that support BMS’s growth in the back half of the decade and beyond.…

Telix has entered into an agreement to acquire IsoTherapeutics Group, LLC (IsoTherapeutics), a specialty radiopharmaceutical development and bioconjugation firm, based in Angleton, Texas. Founded in 2005, IsoTherapeutics is a privately held, commercial-stage company, which provides radiochemistry and bioconjugation development and contract manufacturing services to many companies in the radiopharmaceutical industry, including Telix. In line with Telix’s continued investment in the vertical integration of supply chain, manufacturing and development capabilities, the acquisition is expected to further enhance Telix’s in-house drug development capabilities. A key driver for the acquisition is to enable Telix to bring select aspects of its development programs in-house,…

Aptamer Group plc announces the second phase of its on-going partnership with Neuro-Bio, an Oxfordshire-based biotechnology company with a therapeutic focus on neurodegenerative disease, to develop Optimer binders for a lateral flow test for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. This latest phase involves development of an additional Optimer binder against the innovative Neuro-Bio target implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, with the goal of developing reagents for a lateral flow test for early disease detection. Following the earlier identification of Optimer binders to this novel Alzheimer’s disease biomarker, these binders have been characterised for use in lateral flow and biosensor assays. Common lateral flow…

SGD Pharma has achieved a gold medal in EcoVadis’ 2024 sustainability ratings. Building upon previous years, SGD Pharma’s score of 77 puts the business in the 98th percentile for manufacturers of glass and glass products. EcoVadis, the world’s most trusted provider of sustainability ratings, assesses more than 125,000 companies across four main areas: Environment, Labor and Human Rights, Sustainable Procurement and Ethics. SGD Pharma’s gold medal reflects its: Ranking in the top 5% of all companies assessed Score of 77/100 covering four categories, Environment, Sustainable Procurement, Ethics and Labor and Human Rights Ongoing commitment to learning from and improving…

Today’s healthcare market is overflowing with myriad products, making it increasingly difficult for businesses to stand out. This is particularly true for oral dosage forms, which – currently – account for over 80% of the market.   Unlike prescription drugs, the visibility of over the counter (OTC) medicines and herbal products on the shelf plays a significant role in consumer decision-making. In a saturated market where consumers are constantly bombarded with choices, product differentiation allows a brand to distinguish itself and gain competitive advantage by highlighting its unique features, benefits, or qualities. It can also contribute to building brand loyalty,…

Grifols has announced that Biotest’s positive topline results from AdFIrst, its phase 3 clinical trial of its fibrinogen concentrate (FC), BT524, advance this potential treatment for acquired fibrinogen deficiency (AFD), an underserved growth market. The FC from Biotest, a Grifols Group company, met the primary endpoint. It is as effective as standard of care in reducing intraoperative blood loss in patients with AFD, while also maintaining an excellent safety profile. “This successful clinical trial is a significant stride towards a potential therapy that could contribute to the care of patients who experience severe blood loss during major surgery,” said Jörg Schüttrumpf, Grifols Chief Scientific…

PhaSER Biomedical (PhaSER) has received a grant totalling $2.3m to continue its pioneering work in accelerating drug discovery and development from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. PhaSER will provide 8HUM transgenic mouse models, humanised for key pathways involved in the metabolism and disposition of drugs, to all the foundation grantees. These models recapitulate the ways drugs are metabolised in humans and have multiple applications in drug discovery and development: including drug efficacy, the prediction of drug/drug interactions and the more informed design of clinical trials. 8HUM models will accelerate the discovery and development of new treatments of disease, reduce…

MIP Discovery has closed a £7m Series A financing round led by Mercia Ventures. Existing investor Calculus Capital also participated in the round, along with Angel investors.  The investment marks a pivotal change for MIP Discovery as the Bedfordshire-based company refocuses its mission on improving the downstream processing of cell and gene therapies to accelerate widespread adoption of these potentially life-changing medicines.  Stephane Argivier, CEO of MIP Discovery, said: “Securing funding for a novel reagents company in today’s investment landscape demonstrates clear confidence in MIP Discovery’s technology and renewed commercial strategy. Our proprietary modeling approach to developing synthetic antibody alternatives has already been…

A team of academics from Aston University, the University of Nottingham and King’s College London has secured a £1.7m grant to engineer bioinspired artificial nanoparticles that can be used for oral drug delivery. Oral administration is the preferred way of taking medicines because it is convenient, painless, safe and the medicine can be self-administered by the patient. However, certain drugs currently cannot be administered orally, as they break down in the highly acidic environment of the stomach, or the molecules are so large that the efficient gut wall barrier prevents them from passing through into the bloodstream. One such example…

RSSL have announced plans to launch its new Innovation Hub, a dedicated platform to help small- and medium-sized biotech organisations de-risk and accelerate the development of cutting-edge products. RSSL’s Innovation Hub will be a supportive ecosystem for early-stage biotech companies, providing a wide range of tailored services to help them navigate their journeys from concept to commercialisation. By working with RSSL, clients can access on-site commercial laboratory space, with state-of-the-art equipment and instrumentation available for use. They will also be able to benefit from RSSL’s leading expertise, comprehensive project management experience, and extensive network of industry contacts to support their product…

BioAscent has opened its state-of-the-art protein production facility in an event officiated by Professor Michael Barrett OBE. The new facility marks the latest key investment the company has made, further strengthening its in-house drug discovery capabilities with the ability to deliver protein production in house, thereby implementing the most informative screening cascades for its customers. The lab will be run by BioAscent’s highly skilled protein scientists, all of whom have significant post-doctoral and industrial experience in protein biochemistry, biophysics, and structural biology. The team will now be able to process samples under controlled conditions, with equipment dedicated to the expression…

Refrigeration accounts for a high proportion of overall site energy costs, most notably cooling for pharmaceutical processes where up to 90% of energy costs can be accounted for by refrigeration. Ralph Howes, Cold Store Major Accounts Manager, ICS Cool Energy gives us 5 top tips for reducing costs process cooling systems in our latest EPM Online Insight. 1. Keep your chilled system maintained frequently Industrial and process applications depend on process temperature control systems to keep their operations and businesses running. Equipment that is improperly maintained can fail to provide the required level of efficiency, shortening its lifespan and increasing operating costs.…

French startup Bioptimus emerged from stealth following a seed funding round of $35M. Under the leadership of Professor Jean-Philippe Vert, PhD, Bioptimus unites a world-class team of scientists from Owkin and Google DeepMind alumni to transform biology with cutting-edge AI foundation model technologies that capture the various scales of biology. This funding round is led by Sofinnova Partners, with Bpifrance Large Venture, and additional support from global funds based in France, including Frst and multistage VC Cathay Innovation. Top global tech investors Headline, Hummingbird, NJF Capital, Owkin and Top Harvest Capital, as well as notable tech entrepreneur Xavier Niel, have joined the…

NorthSea Therapeutics B.V. have announced the dosing of the first patient in its Phase 2a clinical trial of Orziloben (NST-6179) in intestinal failure-associated liver disease (IFALD), an orphan liver disease affecting individuals on prolonged intravenous (parenteral) nutrition (PN). The trial is a randomised, double-blind, Phase 2a, placebo-controlled study, which will be conducted at multiple sites across North America. It is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK), and pharmacodynamics (PD) of Orziloben in adult subjects with IFALD. The readout of the trial is anticipated in H2 2025. Rob de Ree, NST’s CEO, said: “Dosing the first patient in our Phase 2a trial for…