Investigators working at Gladstone Institutes reported new insights into sleep disturbances and seizures that can be a late consequence of even mild traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and how we may one day best treat these conditions by targeting the complement pathway.
DUBLIN – Inotrem SA has received €45 million (US$53 million) in public funding commitments to move its Trem-1 inhibitor, nangibotide, into a phase II/III trial in COVID-19 patients who are critically ill and on ventilation.
While there is known to be an association between inflammation and depression, it is not known if there is cause and effect. Now, the power of the UK Biobank has been brought to bear to show that when all genetic, health and environmental factors are accounted for, people with depression have higher levels of inflammation in their bodies than controls.
DUBLIN – Abivax SA has started planning for a pivotal phase III program for its inflammatory bowel disease drug candidate, ABX-464, following a readout of top-line data from a phase IIb induction study in ulcerative colitis, in which the molecule attained the primary endpoint at all three dose levels tested. It demonstrated efficacy on a range of secondary endpoints, too, while its safety profile also appeared to be favorable.
HONG KONG – Kira Pharmaceuticals is riding high after completing a $46 million fundraiser and appointing Frederick Beddingfield as CEO. “The $46 million comprises a series A of $18 million and a series B of $26 million, with investors Quan Capital, 6 Dimensions Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, and Sinopharm Capital participating in both rounds,” Beddingfield told BioWorld.
HONG KONG – Kira Pharmaceuticals is riding high after completing a $46 million fundraiser and appointing Frederick Beddingfield as CEO. “The $46 million comprises a series A of $18 million and a series B of $26 million, with investors Quan Capital, 6 Dimensions Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, and Sinopharm Capital participating in both rounds,” Beddingfield told BioWorld.
Researchers at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, the research arm of New York-based Northwell Health, illuminated the precise pathway from the brainstem to the spleen that controls inflammation in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). Essentially, the work demonstrates how scientists could use the vagus nerve to hack the immune system, enabling them to turn down the excessive response that underlies autoimmune disease without the use of biologics or immunosuppressive drugs.
Bristol Myers Squibb Co. reported that its first-in-class oral selective kinase 2 inhibitor, deucravacitinib (formerly BMS-986165), beat out Otezla (apremilast) in a head-to-head phase III trial in psoriasis.
Amytrx Therapeutics Inc., of Nashville, Tenn., founded in 2014 but coming out of stealth now, is developing a therapeutic for treating multiple inflammatory, autoimmune and metabolic diseases.
A Sino-U.S. collaborative study has demonstrated that acupuncture regulates inflammation by activating pro- or anti-inflammatory signaling pathways, while mitigating cytokine storms in mice with systemic inflammation, the study authors reported in the Aug. 12, 2020, edition of Neuron. The study also found that the acupuncture site, intensity and timing determined how it affected response, which has important implications for acupuncture use in inflammatory diseases and as adjunctive cancer therapy.
