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 symptomatic degenerative disc disease. VIVEX’s VIA Disc is a non-surgical, injectable treatment option for patients suffering from chronic lower back pain resulting from DDD. Degenerative disc disease is the most common cause of chronic lower back pain in adults, which is the leading cause of disability across the globe, with a cost of about $87.6 billion. There are few treatment options for DDD, with most patients having to use opioids to manage the pain or surgery for patients who cannot manage their disease with medication.

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 immunosuppressant therapy, no therapies currently exist for [delayed graft function] DGF-associated AKI,” Jonathan S. Bromberg, MD, PhD, professor of surgery and microbiology and immunology and vice chair for research at the University of Maryland, and colleagues wrote.

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 in an earlier cohort had gone a year since their one and only injection.