Based on an analysis of critical transcription factors, researchers have stratified rheumatoid arthritis (RA) into two subtypes where gene expression was driven by RAR-α or TGF-β, respectively. The findings, published in Nature Communications on Oct. 20, 2022, by researchers from the University of California, San Diego, give new insights into factors that affect the treatment response in RA, and could point to novel treatment strategies.
Following a research program to identify inhibitors of protein kinases TBK1 and IKK-ε, Domainex Ltd. has nominated DMXD-011 as a preclinical drug candidate.
Elasmogen Ltd. has secured a “transformational” £8 million (US$10 million) in new funding with which to move its shark-based, antibody-like constructs toward the clinic.
It’s no mystery why Scipher Medicine Corp. successfully raised $110 million in a series D financing round to further develop the company’s precision medicine platform. The company aims to address one of most modern medicine’s most challenging enigmas: how to eliminate the cost and adverse effects associated with the prescription of expensive medications that provide life-changing outcomes for some and no benefit for others. The new funds boost Scipher’s total funding to $227 million, of which $192 million has come into the Waltham, Mass.-based company’s coffers in the last 12 months.
Galvani Bioelectronics Ltd. reported the first patient implanted with its experimental direct splenic nerve stimulation therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The first-in-human implant is part of a small trial at the NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board in Scotland.
LONDON – Quell Therapeutics Ltd. has raised $156 million in an oversubscribed series B, enabling it to start a phase I/II trial of its engineered T regulatory (Treg) cell therapy for promoting long-term immune tolerance in liver transplant patients, averting the need for chronic immunosuppression.
LONDON – There’s not yet proof of the pudding, but Omass Therapeutics Ltd.’s new structure-based technology has passed a key test, in enabling the discovery of orally available small molecules aimed at intractable and poorly drugged membrane and complex-bound protein targets. The targets, including G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), intracellular protein complexes and solute carriers, are relevant to immunology indications and rare diseases with high unmet need.
There’s a lot of competition in the regulatory T cells (Tregs) space and that’s a sign that something good is happening. Sonoma Biotherapeutics Inc. CEO Jeff Bluestone likened it to a typical drive leading to an everyday observation.
British and Taiwanese scientists have described a novel approach to the treatment of autoimmune rheumatoid arthritis, using an already approved DNA-methylation inhibitor, which was shown to effectively treat active inflammatory disease in animal models.
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (Labcorp) further consolidated its position as a leading provider of rheumatoid arthritis testing with a definitive agreement to acquire the Vectra assay from Myriad Genetics Inc. along with other assets of the Salt Lake City-based company’s autoimmune business unit in a deal valued at $150 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2021.
