Data on the company’s pacemaker-neurostimulator combo are probably good enough to permit further development – but first the company wants to hook a partner.

Amid the debate about why insulin costs so much lies a second question: if the hormone can be delivered more efficiently, will people with diabetes need less insulin? It’s not just a question that’s come up in the era of the artificial pancreas, as people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) work with technology that uses an algorithm to anticipate their blood glucose levels and make constant adjustments to their insulin needs. A company called Diasome is pushing the idea further, by trying to take insulin to the place where it would go if created by islet cells and released by a human pancreas: straight to the liver.

Due to the need for chemotherapy and the risks caused by allogeneic stem cell transplants in Fanconi anaemia patients, Rocket Pharma has developed gene therapy candidate RP-L102, which doesn’t need conditioning and corrects the gene mutation underlying Fanconi. Rocket CEO Guarav Shah explains RP-L102’s mechanism of action, as well as how the company is working to improve its cell culturing methods and overcome continuing risks of head and neck cancer.

Drug resistance presents a significant challenge to oncologists. Therapies that were once capable of destroying the tumor are rendered ineffective once one resistant cancer cell begins to multiply. Part of the challenge of developing effective cancer therapies is tackling the multiple pathways by which drug resistance arises. Isaac Israel, CEO of Kitov Pharmaceuticals, and his team are hoping to rise to this challenge. Results from recent preclinical studies suggest that their small molecule drug, NT-219, can effectively block two signaling proteins that function in two different resistance pathways.

Dance Biopharm today said it rebranded as Aerami Therapeutics and will move its headquarters to Durham, N.C. The rebranding comes as the company seeks strategic partners for its Dance 501 inhaled human insulin. The company also hopes the rebranding will help progress into pivotal registration studies and expand to include inhaled therapeutics for endocrinology diseases.

In the not very distant future, Type 2 diabetes patients may have an option to inhale insulin that acts faster and lasts longer than Lilly’s injected insulin Humalog or its generic, lispro, the current standard treatment. Durham-based Aerami Therapeutics, which changed its name from Dance Biopharm Holdings Inc. on Wednesday, reports that data from its Phase 2 clinical study of Dance 501, a novel gentle mist formulation of human insulin administered with its smart inhaler, showed it had comparable glucodynamic properties to injected insulin, but delivered a faster onset of action. It had no safety issues in the trial.

Just over 20 years ago, a Lyme disease vaccine called LYMErix was approved for sale in the United States. Researchers designed the vaccine to prevent the transmission of the tick-borne pathogen Borellia burgdorferi, which spurs a bacterial infection that can cause fever, headaches, and joint pain if left untreated.