Drug Discovery

University of Dundee secures grant to discover new antibacterial drugs

University of Dundee in the UK has been awarded almost £1m to boost efforts to identify new new antibiotics to tackle bacterial infections.

PureTech signs licensing and equity deal with Novartis to advance clinical stage mTORC1 programs

PureTech Health has signed a licensing and equity agreement with Novartis to advance two clinical-stage programs targeting the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway.

BioLineRx acquires UK cancer immunotherapeutics company Agalimmune

Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm BioLineRx has purchased Agalimmune, a private UK-based company with an anti-cancer immunotherapy platform.

GSK, Regeneron to mine gene data from 500000 volunteer participants in UK

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced a major research initiative among the Regeneron Genetics Center (RGC), U.K. Biobank and GSK to generate genetic sequence data from the 500,000 volunteer participants in the U.K. Biobank resource.

SalvaRx to invest in Rift Biotherapeutics

SalvaRx, a subsidiary of SalvaRx Group, has agreed to invest in Delaware-based biotechnology company Rift Biotherapeutics which focuses on the development of antibodies for use in oncology.

Cell Medica raises £60m to advance multiple cancer programmes

Cellular immunotherapy company, Cell Medica has secured £60m in a Series C financing round with participation from existing investors Touchstone Innovations, funds managed by Woodford Investment Management, and funds managed by Invesco Perpetual.

PTC Therapeutics agrees to buy Marathon’s DMD drug for $140m

PTC Therapeutics has agreed to acquire all rights to Emflaza (deflazacort) from Marathon Pharmaceuticals.

Scientists link noncoding genetic variants to neurodevelopmental disorders

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and Radboud University in Nijmegen found that genetic variation in the non-coding DNA may lead to language impairments in children and other neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia, autism, and bipolar disorder.

UK’s MHRA grants early access to Sanofi’s dermatology treatment

The UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has granted Sanofi’s dupilumab, an investigational treatment for atopic dermatitis (AD), a positive scientific opinion through the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS).