Biopharmaceuticals News

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• July 2023: Pfizer invested USD 25 million in Caribou Biosciences to progress an immune-cloaked allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy, CB-011. The company is currently evaluating the cell therapy in a Phase I CaMMouflage clinical trial for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.
• April 2023: InflaRx N.V.'s Gohibic (vilobelimab), a first-in-class monoclonal anti-human complement factor C5a antibody, was granted an Emergency Use Authorization by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized adults when initiated within 48 hours of receiving invasive mechanical ventilation, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

• January 2024: Rice University of the United States launched the Rice Synthetic Biology Institute, which aims to catalyze collaborative research in synthetic biology and its translation into technologies that benefit society.
• May 2023: GenScript Biotech Corporation, the sponsor of the SynBioBeta Conference in Oakland, California, showcased the latest synthetic biology tools and techniques with strategic partner Allozymes and a diverse line-up of key opinion leaders (KOLs).

• May 2024: Oxford Nanopore Technologies introduced a new Pharmacogenomics (PGx) Beta Programme for advancing personalized medicine with the combination of Twist Bioscience’s next-generation sequencing (NGS) target enrichment technology with Oxford Nanopore’s sequencing platform.
• February 2024: Nicklaus Children's Hospital in South Florida adopted the next-generation pharmacogenomics technology, Applied Biosystems PharmacoScan Solution and GeneTitan MC Fast Scan Instrument, to develop personalized treatment plans for the patients and reduce the complications from drug interactions and side effects.

• January 2024: CRISPR Therapeutics received the US Food and Drug Administration's approval for CASGEVY (exagamglogene autotemcel [exa-cel]). It is a CRISPR/Cas9 gene-edited cell therapy for the treatment of transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia (TDT) in patients aged 12 years and older.
• January 2024: Danaher Corporation and the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) launched a collaborative center for developing gene-editing therapies for rare and other diseases. Their goal is to create a new model for future development of a wide range of genomic medicines.

• March 2023: Assentia launched tech platforms to support payments in the clinical trial space. The company released two SaaS-based applications, GrantPay and GrantPact, to provide clinical trial contract negotiation and payment services.
• February 2023: Vial partnered with Egnyte. By integrating Egnyte's eTMF, Vial will be able to offer clients the gold standard in eTMF management, compliance, and audit readiness with the increased bar in clinical trial technology.

• November 2023: QIAGEN NV launched the Microbiome WGS (whole-genome sequencing) SeqSets which is a comprehensive Sample to Insight workflow designed to provide an easy-to-use solution that maximizes efficiency and reproducibility in microbiome research. 
• June 2023: Zymo Research launched its full-length 16S sequencing service offering researchers high-quality, full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing for microbiome analysis.

• In August 2022, Applied StemCell, Inc. (ASC), a cell and gene therapy CRO/CDMO focused on supporting the research community and biotechnology industry for their needs in developing and manufacturing cell and gene products, expanded its Current Good Manufacturing (cGMP) facility. ASC has successfully carried out cell banking and product manufacturing projects in its current cGMP suite and is now set on building 4 additional cGMP cleanrooms, cryo-storage space, process development, and QC/QA space.
• In January 2022, stem cell manufacturing startup Cellino Biotech raised a USD 80 million Series A financing round led by Leaps by Bayer along with 8VC, Humboldt Fund, and new investors including Felicis Ventures and Khosla Ventures, that could fix a problem holding the biotech industry back. Cellino plans to expand access to stem cell-based therapies with the goal to build the first autonomous human cell foundry in 2025.

• Dec 2022: ArcticZymes Technologies (AZT) upscaled the production of ArcticZymes Proteinase. In addition, the company launched a glycerol-free formulation of the proteinase that enables the company to support customers requiring a lyophilization-compatible formulation of the proteinase for use in high-throughput molecular diagnostic workflows.
• Oct 2020: A team of biochemists from Chulalongkorn University became the first researchers in Thailand to study proteolytic enzymes (proteinase K) for the COVID-19 virus at a molecular level in 3D, possibly leading to the development of COVID-19 treatments.

• Feb 2021: Novacyt launched its SNPsig portfolio of PCR genotyping assays that can be used to aid the diagnosis of new variants of SARS-CoV-2.
• Aug 2021: Thermo Fisher Scientific expanded its production capability. The company updated its Applied Biosystems TaqMan SARS-CoV-2 mutation panel for the diagnosis of the Delta and Lambda strains. The panel enables laboratories to track known mutations by selecting from a menu of over 50 assays designed to screen for different variants.

• In August 2022, Trivitron Healthcare launched the Center of Excellence with state- of- the art R&D and manufacturing facilities in India. This center will implement research and innovation in the field of genomics and others.
• In July 2022, Replay launched with USD 55 million in seed financing to transform genomic medicine with interlinking technology platforms. The launch is supported by an international syndicate f investors that include KKR, OMX ventures, ARTIS Ventures, and Landsdowne Partners.