Redhill Biopharma Ltd. has announced a survival benefit with its oral sphingosine kinase-2 (SPHK2) selective inhibitor opaganib (ABC-294640) in an in vivo Ebola virus study.
An international team of researchers has created two bat stem cell lines that reveal an unusual number of viral sequences in bat cells compared with those of other mammals. Writing in an article posted online Feb. 21, 2023, in Cell, the scientists suggested that the unusual amount of viral genetic material found in the bat stem cells could explain why these mammals are largely unaffected by most viral infections, despite being able to transmit them.
An international team of researchers has created two bat stem cell lines that reveal an unusual number of viral sequences in bat cells compared with those of other mammals. Writing in an article posted online Feb. 21, 2023, in Cell, the scientists suggested that the unusual amount of viral genetic material found in the bat stem cells could explain why these mammals are largely unaffected by most viral infections, despite being able to transmit them.
Using a near-atomic resolution cryo-electron microscope and imaging techniques that prevent loss of information, scientists at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. have obtained the complete 3D structure of the glycoprotein of the Ebola virus and that of the drug that neutralizes it, Inmazeb, the first FDA-approved treatment for this deadly virus. “The challenge was embracing the inherent asymmetry, the heterogeneity that is really there in biology, understanding it and collecting enough data to get all the images without needing to force any symmetry averaging,” senior author Erica Ollmann Saphire told BioWorld.
Med-tech happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Abbott, Alivecor, Cap Medical, Concept Medical, Cresilon, Dignio, Dispatchhealth, Illumina, J&J, Long Island Pathology, Metamark Laboratories, Orasure, P4 Clinical, P4 Diagnostix, Pathnostics, Pierian, Reva Medical, Visualdx.
Researchers from Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) and affiliated organizations presented the discovery of a novel series of compounds acting as Ebola virus (EBOV) entry inhibitors.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Inmazeb and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP’s Ebanga earned a ringing endorsement from the World Health Organization (WHO) in its first ever guideline on Ebola therapies. In releasing the guideline Aug. 19, WHO officials celebrated the fact that Ebola is no longer “a near certain killer” – provided treatment starts as soon as possible following diagnosis.
While the biopharma industry was widely praised for its fast response to the COVID-19 pandemic, moves are afoot to ensure that the world is better prepared in case another pandemic hits. Moderna Inc. was one of the companies that blazed a trail in the early stages of the pandemic with its revolutionary mRNA vaccine. Now the firm is investing in manufacturing and R&D in the U.K. to make good on a pledge to respond to the next global disease threat within 100 days of its detection.
