Olivia Vizier

David Hochman, founder and CEO of Orchestra BioMed, shares how the company’s risk-reward sharing business model has helped it stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) management has come a long way, now making it possible for people with HIV to live longer, healthier lives. Antiretroviral therapy (ART), drugs that prevent HIV from replicating in your body, are largely to thank for that improvement. Despite ARTs ability to slow disease progression, it is not a cure.

Huntington’s disease (HD), also known as Huntington’s chorea, is an inherited genetic disorder that kills brain cells. The Huntington Disease Society of America describes the disease as “a fatal genetic disorder that causes the progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain.”

Fountain Therapeutics Inc., a California company working to create treatments for age-related diseases, said Khosla Ventures has led a $6 million series A-1 financing of the startup, with participation from Nan Fung Life Sciences, which earlier contributed $5 million to the round.

“Significant investment, in both time and money, is needed to advance a vaccine candidate to market,” Thomas Lingelbach, CEO of French vaccine developer Valneva, told me. “In addition to the extensive clinical trial recruitment and separate trials for children and infants, vaccine development takes between 10 to 15 years depending on the disease area and its complexity,

During the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the FDA has continued in its normal role of approving safe and effective drugs. But how do pharma companies go about bringing a new drug to market during the pandemic? Immunomedics’ chief commercial officer Brendan Delaney explains how his company has successfully facilitated the treatment of US patients with its

Motus GI has receiving a new United States Patent for the sensing technology and suction control on its Pure-Vu System, a device that fits onto the end of an endoscope to help with real-time cleansing during colonoscopy, according to a company press release. The Pure-Vu system uses pressurized water to loosen debris in the colon

Bill Gates and GV have joined in a $45million Series B funding round for Cerevance, the pharmaceutical company with a Cambridge Science Park base. The company said it will use the money to continue identifying novel therapeutic targets for central nervous system diseases, such as Alzheimer’s.

When the coronavirus pandemic shook up Ansun Biopharma Inc.’s clinical-trial plans, company leaders knew they had to change course. San Diego-based Ansun, which has raised $185 million in venture capital since 2018, develops drugs for viral respiratory diseases. One medicine it is testing in late-stage clinical trials could help hospitalized adults with weakened immune systems

A specialty vaccine company is seeking grant funding to ramp up production of a potential inoculation against Covid-19 from its Scottish laboratory. French-headquartered Valneva is in discussions with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) after partnering with US-listed Dynavax to develop a vaccine candidate in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The project is currently

Back injuries are no joke. Even minor muscle strains can inhibit activities for some time. More serious injuries create greater challenges and often require more stringent treatments, which is where companies like VIVEX Biologics play a significant role. At the end of April, VIVEX published clinical data assessing VIA Disc as a potential treatment for

After presenting initial data from Cohorts 1 and 2 of the phase 1 OPTIC trial in 2019, Cohort 3 results announced by Adverum Biotechnologies are adding to the excitement around ADVM-022 and the prospect of gene therapy in ophthalmology.

San Diego-based Ansun Biopharma used its influenza research data to dive into attempts to develop a treatment for COVID-19 using an investigational nebulized enzyme asset as a potential treatment for severely infected patients.

Use of the hepatocyte growth factor mimetic ANG-3777 showed long-term improvement in kidney function in patients who underwent transplantation but had signs of possible kidney injury after transplant. “The two leading contributors to early graft failure are acute rejection and acute kidney injury (AKI) occurring during the transplantation process. While rejection can be managed utilizing

Motus GI secured a U.S. patent for its Pure-Vu System’s sensing technology and suction control features. Three quick points: 1. Motus GI’s flagship Pure-Vu System can be integrated with standard and slim colonoscopes, a capability protected under the new patent.

Lawrence Blatt, Ph.D., cofounder and CEO of Aligos Therapeutics, a San Francisco-based biotech discovering and developing curative treatments for hepatologic diseases and viral infections, will be featured in an upcoming issue of Life Science Leader. Don’t miss out on learning about this executive’s fascinating entrepreneurial journey by becoming a subscriber today. 

BioMarin (NASDAQ: BMRN) of San Rafael paired with one-year-old Swiss company DiNAQOR AG to develop gene therapies to treat rare genetic heart diseases and Adverum Biotechnologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ADVM) of Redwood City reported that the latest cohort in its early-stage clinical trial of patients with a blinding eye disease had fewer adverse events and patients

David Johnson of GigaGen discusses how recombinant forms of intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) could overtake current IVIG therapies and be used in the treatment of COVID-19. In light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic there has been a rush to develop therapeutics to combat the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus causing the disease and, most recently, a discussion about the

A group of US academic researchers has sparked a nationwide effort to encourage people who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma, which will be used to treat patients across the country. The convalescent plasma program was instigated by physicians and investigators from 40 institutions, including the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins University, Washington University, Einstein Medical Center and

Introducing 9 Meters Biopharma, the new company birthed from the merger of Raleigh-based Innovate Biopharmaceuticals, a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on developing novel therapeutics for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and Israeli-based RDD Pharma, a startup focused on orphan and innovative therapies for gastrointestinal disorders.

Producing so many doses will require creating new facilities or commandeering those used for other vaccines. Critics of RNA and DNA vaccines point to the fact that we already have the established infrastructure to make traditional vaccines. “Governments are trying to build potential manufacturing capacities for [RNA and DNA vaccines], but they are not there

It’s early, not even 7 a.m., in fact, and the above statement is prefaced with an apology for interrupting the free-flowing dialogue taking place between a gathering of five biopharmaceutical executives on day two of the 2020 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPM). Among the incessant ringing of nearby cell phones, conversations, and the echo of

With the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic still growing, many pharmaceutical companies are adapting their current R&D programmes to develop therapeutics or vaccines to help stop the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus causing the outbreak. Drug Target Review’s Hannah Balfour explores how Cidara is transferring its expertise in therapeutics for respiratory viruses to focus on developing a potential treatment

In an interview with CancerNetwork®, Henry Adewoye, MD, chief medical officer at Compugen, discussed the study of COM701, which was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Virtual Meeting 2020, held from April 27-28, 2020. COM701 is a novel first-in-class immune checkpoint inhibitor that demonstrated encouraging preliminary antitumor activity with objective responses as a

Shares in Valneva SE rose by as much as 32% during early trading April 30 on news that Pfizer Inc. is paying $130 million up front to in-license its Lyme disease candidate vaccine, VLA-15. Valneva could also receive a further $35 million in development milestones and $143 million in early commercial milestones, as well as tiered sales royalties starting at

Positive topline data from the phase 3 REST-ON trial evaluating FT218 (Avadel), an investigational, once-nightly formulation of sodium oxybate, showed that the treatment led to clinically meaningful improvement in patients with narcolepsy.

Another company focused on severe respiratory complications of COVID-19 is La Jolla, Calif.-based Calcimedica Inc., which started a phase IIa study with its small-molecule calcium release-activated calcium (CRAC) channel inhibitor, CM-4620-injectable emulsion (IE), in patients with severe pneumonia who are at risk for ARDS. The company received a “Study May Proceed” letter from the FDA earlier this