- | GigaGen
Bay Area Biotech Company Takes New Approach in COVID-19 Treatment
A South San Francisco biotech firm has come up with a way to make a COVID-19 therapy without relying on repeat antibody donors using a new class of drugs called “recombinant hyperimmunes.” Ken Bastida reports.
- | Valneva
Q&A with Valneva: UK Government scales up Covid-19 manufacturing
To support Valneva’s Covid-19 vaccine VLA2001, the UK Government has agreed to make a joint investment into the company’s Scottish manufacturing facility. Valneva chief financial officer David Lawrence notes how large a vote of confidence this in the company’s vaccine expertise.
- | Ansun Biopharma
COVID-19 And The Next Chapter In Ansun’s Turnaround Story
Rather than rest in success, Dr. Chang took a keen interest in Ansun Biopharma, a company founded in 2003 by virologists and molecular biologists pursuing a novel approach to treat otherwise untreatable viral flu strains. Ansun’s founding intentions were true, its science was solid, and in those early days, its funding was secure. In fact, from 2004 through 2011 the company received a number of research grants in addition to a $50 million contract from the NIH to develop the experimental anti-influenza agent Fludase.
- | Rocket Pharmaceuticals
Moving Quickly but Smartly from R&D to Commercialization
In December, Rocket Pharma presented results from a Phase I trial on RP-L102, a gene therapy for Fanconi anemia. Unlike earlier trials, these new results were from patients treated with a commercial-grade version of the product.
- | Cidara Therapeutics
Companies To Watch: Cidara Therapeutics
Cidara Therapeutics’ lead drug, rezafungin, now in Phase 3 development, is a broad-spectrum antifungal in a known class, the echinocandins, but the COVID-19 pandemic has moved the spotlight to the antiviral Fc-conjugate (AVC) drugs in the company’s novel antiviral platform that offer both prevention and treatment. Its AVCs are designed to attack viruses directly and also activate the immune system against them. In Cidara’s pipeline, the lead antiviral drug, coded CD377, targets influenza, but other potential targets are RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), HIV, and COVID-19.
- | Immunomedics
Taking ADCs Across The Finish Line
While Immunomedics CMO Loretta Itri, M.D. is no stranger to taking drugs across the commercial finish line in big pharma environments, her most recent win with TRODELVY was very, very different. On this episode, Dr. Itri shares insight on her small biopharma’s first commercial launch, the manufacturing and regulatory approval challenges that were overcome to get there, and why antibody drug conjugates are coming of age.
- | Scynexis
Battling Drug-Resistant Fungal Infections
The problem of drug resistance isn’t limited to bacteria. It is also a growing concern with fungal species that is causing an increasing need for new agents to combat these microbes. Scynexis is developing the experimental therapy ibrexafungerp, the first of a new class of therapies for serious fungal infections. We spoke to Marco Taglietti, president and CEO of Scynexis, about the problem of drug resistant fungal infections, the company’s experimental therapy ibrexafungerp, and why it may provide a new way of treating a range of serious fungal infections.
- | Cidara Therapeutics
Why New Antifungals Are Desperately Needed
The options that clinicians currently have to treat patients with systemic fungal infections are limited. “Because they’re eukaryotes, many of the potentially available targets that are essential for growth or reproduction in fungi resemble the [equivalent] target in humans, and so are really not available as a drug target,” explained Jeffrey Stein, CEO of US-based antifungal developer Cidara.
