Innovation

Nonprofits are finding new ways to address market gaps and develop treatments for rare diseases with little commercial attraction.

In an ongoing effort to accelerate the commercialization of select innovative drugs and medical devices, Korea’s MFDS is launching a new program for certain products that will receive regular regulatory consultations until they reach the approval stage.

Private Company Edition: Abcuro’s series C venture capital round will fund its lead drug through pivotal results, filing with the US FDA and launch preparations. Also, AdvanCell completed a $112m series C round, Lutris Pharma raised $30m and Imvax closed a $29m financing.

Gingko Bioworks has released a large language model designed to improve mRNA stability.

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said it was “fake news” to describe the UK as the worst place in the western world for pharma companies to invest and blamed the decision to pull plans for a new £450m vaccines facility near Liverpool on it simply not being economically viable without more government support.

This is Part 1 of a 2-part profile of Hans Clevers, Head of Pharma Research and Early Development at Roche.

Artiva Biotherapeutics is hoping its NK cell therapy approach, which uses un-engineered cells, will prove effective in both oncologic and autoimmune indications and safe enough to be given in the community setting.

In Vivo caught up with Najat Khan, chief R&D and commercial officer at Recursion since mid-2024, about her new roles, the special combination with Exscientia and the company's clinical pipeline.

Degron and TargetRx’s targeted protein degrader programs helped the firms garner new venture capital backing, while VelaVigo and Conjustar were among the others bagging new funding for antibody- and peptide-drug conjugates.

Boston-area biotech Apnimed expects Phase III readouts for its obstructive sleep apnea combination drug by May. Patients with OSA are desperate for a pill to treat the condition, and GLP-1 agonists are only part of the solution.