BioSpace News Archive

Bio NC

Bioscience and Healthcare of the Future: Overrun by Choices, Changes and Opportunities

“The future will be overrun by an army of new choices and changes in attitudes towards one’s own health. That creates a whole new area for bioscience and health, and for investing,” Mike Edelhart, managing partner, Social Starts & Joyance Partners said.

December 18, 2020
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5 min read
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Gail Dutton
Business

Merck Strikes $1B+ Deal to Leverage Janux’s T Cell Engager Program Against Cancer

San Diego-based Janux Therapeutics forged a strategic collaboration with pharma giant Merck potentially worth more than $1 billion to develop next-generation T cell engager immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer.

December 18, 2020
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2 min read
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Alex Keown
BioForest

Brain Fog Explained as Study Shows SARS-CoV-2 Crosses Blood-Brain Barrier

A study in Nature Neuroscience shows SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, is capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier, likely contributing to symptoms of brain fog and other cognitive effects reported by people infected with the virus.

December 18, 2020
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2 min read
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Brandon May
Drug Development

Clinical Catch-Up: December 14-18

Many companies appear to be getting their clinical trial news updated ahead of the holidays. Here’s a look.

December 18, 2020
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13 min read
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Mark Terry
Drug Development

Mesoblast Shares Plunge After Stem Cell Therapy Fails COVID-19 Study

Shares of Mesoblast Limited are down more than 30% in premarket trading following the company’s disappointing announcement late Thursday regarding its stem-cell therapy trial in ventilator-dependent patients with COVID-19 patients who have moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome.

December 18, 2020
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3 min read
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Alex Keown
Business

Vir and GSK Dose First Patient in COVID-19 Monoclonal Antibody Study and Other Pandemic Updates

Vir Biotechnology and GlaxoSmithKline dosed the first patient in a new sub-trial of a Phase III study assessing the monoclonal antibody VIR-7831 as a potential treatment of hospitalized adults diagnosed with COVID-19.

December 18, 2020
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3 min read
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Alex Keown
FDA

FDA Action Alert: Urovant, Athenex, scPharmaceuticals and Vertex

The U.S. FDA is plenty busy with COVID-19 vaccine Emergency Use Authorizations this month, but they’re also wrapping up the year with a few PDUFA dates for other therapies. Here’s a look.

December 18, 2020
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5 min read
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Mark Terry
Drug Development

Daiichi Sankyo’s Mirogabalin Displays Significant Reduction in Post-SCI Neuropathic Pain

A phase 3 study from Daiichi Sankyo Company conducted in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan found that mirogabalin, an orally administered gabapentinoid, was associated with a significantly greater improvement in pain among patients with central neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury compared with placebo.

December 18, 2020
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3 min read
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Brandon May
Biotech Bay

Google/Alphabet’s Life Science Division, Verily, Raised $700 Million

Verily, Google/Alphabet’s life sciences company, raised $700 million in an invest round that included Alphabet, Silver Lake, Temasek, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and others.

December 18, 2020
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3 min read
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Mark Terry
Drug Development

And Then There Were 2: Moderna Set to Join Pfizer-BioNTech with an Authorized COVID-19 Vaccine

It seems like history is repeating itself from just a week ago. Yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) recommended the agency grant Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine emergency use authorization (EUA).

December 18, 2020
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4 min read
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Mark Terry