DUBLIN – Etherna Immunotherapies NV raised €34 million (US$38.2 million) in a series B funding round to progress its pipeline of mRNA-based vaccines for cancer and infectious disease.
LONDON – In the first major breakthrough in therapeutics for COVID-19 infection, dexamethasone has been shown to have a statistically significant impact on mortality in the most seriously ill patients.
Policymakers in the U.S. are grappling with a disastrous pandemic as well as long-standing political tensions, but one aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic that might unify them is the need to ensure that patients in the U.S. are not at the mercy of other nations for needed diagnostics and therapies.
Now that Roche Holding AG has digested its Foundation Medicine and Flatiron acquisitions from a few years ago, it has looked to add more digital capabilities in a couple of recent deals. The earlier big-ticket tie-ups by the Basel, Switzerland-based pharma added genomic and real-world data analytics to deepen the knowledge driving Roche’s R&D efforts, particularly in oncology.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Cue Health.
Med-tech happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Abound Bio, Advanced Molecular Services, Doctor On Demand, Foundation Medicine, Health Technology Solutions, Innovaqor, Integral Molecular, Lexent Bio, PRA, Quidel, Rennova Health, Tpt Global Tech.
Keeping you up to date on recent developments in neurology, including: Three stages to COVID-19 brain damage identified; ApoE4’s role in Alzheimer’s blood vessels; Lifespan synaptic atlas gives developmental insights.
Partners Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp., which is based in Seattle, and Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. have started sharing an open database that details the immune response in COVID-19 patients with researchers and public health officials. The project is analyzing thousands of de-identified patient blood samples submitted from institutions around the world and is dubbed ImmuneCODE.
The U.S. FDA granted San Diego-based Illumina Inc. an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first COVID-19 diagnostic test that uses next-generation sequencing (NGS). In addition to diagnosing infection with SARS-CoV-2, the COVIDSeq test can help researchers track mutations in the coronavirus.
