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Heather McKenzie

Heather McKenzie

Senior Editor

Heather McKenzie is a professional journalist with more than five years experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Since joining BioSpace, she has written more than 200 features and breaking news articles with a particular focus in neuroscience and gene therapy. She has also traveled internationally to cover global biotech hubs such as Israel. In previous roles, she has covered current affairs, sports, education and politics. She previously spent eight years as a senior content producer for executive-level business conferences in the pharma/biotech, legal, energy and business strategy sectors. In her free time, Heather enjoys creative writing, spending time with family and playing with her energetic Russian Blue cat Roofus. She hails from Toronto and has also lived in Chicago and Chesapeake, Virginia. You can reach her at heather.mckenzie@biospace.com.

Pavel Kapysh/Shutterstock
Pharm Country
NurOwn: A Study in the Complexity of ALS Trials
There is also a tacit acknowledgment in the industry that the ALSFRS-R (revised) scale needs to evolve.
May 4, 2021
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6 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Photo courtesy of Medable.
Business
Clinical Rockstar Pamela Tenaerts Advancing Patient-Centric Trials at Medable
As Tenaerts takes the scientific helm at Medable, she will leverage the company’s proprietary platform to advance decentralized research methodologies with evidence-based best practices for patient-centric clinical trials.
May 2, 2021
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5 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Business
Q1 2021: A Look at Top 25 Biopharma Companies by Market Cap
BioSpace takes an in-depth look at the Top 25 of Q1. You should be aware of these biopharma companies as they hold a great future ahead. So, check them out.
May 2, 2021
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14 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Business
Biotech Tilts at the Tipping Point of Gender Equality
A recent report by Deerfield Management Company revealed an unsettling but unsurprising truth: There is a significant gender gap on the boards of venture-backed healthcare companies.
April 28, 2021
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5 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Photo courtesy of Capsida Biotherapeutics Inc.
Business
Seeking Safety and Specificity in Gene Therapy, Capsida Debuts With $140 Million
The California biotech aspires to be a catalyst for the acceleration of gene therapy across a range of therapeutic areas, beginning with three serious neurodegenerative disease targets.
April 28, 2021
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3 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Biotech Bay
Preparing a Pandemic Plan for Whatever Comes Our Way Next
According to Teo, the definition of the next pandemic depends a lot on one’s perspective.
April 28, 2021
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7 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Business
Ceding to Pressure, Biogen Will Offer Early Access to Tofersen in July
In phase one of the two-part program, access to tofersen will be granted on an individual basis to SOD1-ALS patients with an ALS Functional Rating Scale - Revised (ALSFRS-R) slope decline greater than or equal to 2 points per month.
April 27, 2021
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3 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Drug Development
Vaccines Ramp Up While Variants Run Rampant
At the end of February, the U.S. was averaging 65,686 new COVID-19 cases per day. Fast-forward two months and that number is nearly identical at 64,814.
April 23, 2021
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4 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Biotech Bay
Antibody Structure: All You Ever Wanted – and Needed – to Know
Simply put, an antibody is a large, Y-shaped blood protein produced by plasma cells that the immune system uses to take down pathogens like bacteria – and of course, viruses like SARS-CoV-2.
April 16, 2021
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5 min read
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Heather McKenzie
BioAge Labs Co-founder and CEO Kristen Fortney/Cou
Business
BioAge Makes A Big Bet on Amgen Drug To Target Muscle Aging
BGE-105 (formerly AMG 986) mimics the production of apelin, a peptide that has been found in animal studies to improve muscle regeneration and decrease mouse frailty.
April 15, 2021
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3 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Drug Development
Can You Reuse KN95 Mask? All You Need To Know to Venture Out Safely
The main concern remains the KN95 mask’s regulation and lack of standardization. Also, to know if you can reuse KN95 mask or not, follow this article.
April 14, 2021
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5 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Policy
The Ebola Vaccine: A Cautionary Tale
The story of how the Ervebo came to be is not just an account of a broken contract, but also a cautionary tale.
April 8, 2021
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5 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Drug Development
COVID-19 Long Haulers: Real-Time Research Clarifying the Condition
The landscape may begin to become clearer as real-time research continues to emerge about the long-term effects of COVID-19 infection.
April 7, 2021
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4 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Genetown
GenomeFrontier, Ziopharm Non-Viral Vectors Could Transform CAR-T Cell Therapy
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) therapy is one of the biggest cancer therapy breakthroughs of our time, but as with any precise science, there is still some fine-tuning to be done to overcome safety risks, limited payload capacity, and the prohibitive cost of manufacturing.
April 5, 2021
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5 min read
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Heather McKenzie
Courtesy of Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
Drug Development
AbbVie Receives NDA for Atogepant, Aims to Stop Migraines in Their Tracks
AbbVie won the NDA on the strength of definitive results in a Phase III ADVANCE trial, where atogepant met all six secondary endpoints at the 30-60 mg dose range, proving statistically significant in heading off migraines in nearly 2500 adult participants who experience them between 4-14 days per month.
March 30, 2021
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2 min read
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Heather McKenzie
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