News
People are open to testing for Alzheimer’s disease
The Alzheimer’s Association reports that nearly 4 in 5 older Americans would want to know if they had Alzheimer’s disease before having symptoms, or before those symptoms interfered with their activities. They also want treatment, even if it comes with risks, as long...
How will Trump’s second term affect biotech?
On Monday, Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 47th U.S. president, leading many in the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors to speculate on what impacts the second Trump administration will have on their industries. Back in December, an article in Biospace by...
First T-cell Engager Has Been Approved
As widely reported, earlier this week FDA approved the first in a novel class of immuno-oncology drugs called bispecific T-cell engagers for the treatment of small cell carcinoma. Small cell carcinoma, an aggressive type of lung cancer, currently has a few effective...
Possible dementia biomarkers in blood identified
Researchers at Fudan University in Shanghai have identified four blood proteins that could serve as early biomarkers for dementia. This is important news because early, pre-symptomatic diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia could be a big step in...
CG Oncology IPO, first biotech IPO of 2024, a smashing success
We are so happy to learn that the IPO of our former client CG Oncology went exceedingly well. After recent news that GC Oncology’s bladder cancer treatment received both FDA fast track and breakthrough therapy designation, this is more good news for people with...
Non-opioid small-molecule painkiller more effective and less risky than gabapentin
Gabapentin is a widely prescribed non-opioid painkiller, but it has many side effects, including memory loss, mood changes, and lethargy. New research out of NYU shows promise for a small molecule called CBD3063*, which in rodents has been shown to inhibit pain at...
Nobel Prize Awarded for mRNA Vaccines against COVID
The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced today, and has been awarded to Drs. Karolin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their “discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19”....
Pigneys – the Future of Renal Transplantation?
Last week was a big one for the future of kidney transplants – specifically, kidneys grown in pigs. At the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, scientists reported that they have used human pluripotent stem cells to grown part-human, part-porcine kidneys in...
Pfizer to buy Seagen for $43 billion
Pfizer has announced that it intends to buy Seagen, formerly known as Seattle Genetics, for the huge sum of $43 billion. Seagen is pioneer and driving force behind the development of antibody-drug conjugates for the treatment of cancer. In the best of all worlds this...
Optogenetics: A cool tool may have found medical use
Optogenetics is a biological technique that uses light to control neurons that have been genetically modified to express light-sensitive ion channels. As such, it is a neuromodulation method that controls the activities of individual neurons in living tissue — even...