PARIS ‒ Kiomed Pharma SA reported it has signed an exclusive agreement with fellow Belgian company, Moveup SA for the development and licensing of a mobile companion application intended for personalized conservative management treatment for patients suffering from intra-articular osteoarthritis.
LONDON – Iksuda Therapeutics Ltd. sealed its transition from technology licensing company to antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) development specialist, closing a $47 million series A financing to move the lead program, IKS-03, into the clinic.
The European Commission posted a draft legislative framework for regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), a document that spans all potential uses of such algorithms rather than just medical ones. The text seems to suggest that all medical uses of AI will be deemed high-risk uses, but this draft is just the opening salvo in a process that will span a year, perhaps longer, before the legislation will be drafted and finalized.
HONG KONG – Celltrion Inc. has received the European CE mark for Tekitrust, its COVID-19 tests kit developed with Mico Biomed Co. Ltd. “Mico, which is a diagnostic device specialist, partnered with Celltrion to combine both companies’ strengths in the test kit sector,” a Celltrion spokesperson told BioWorld. Mico will manufacture the kits, while Celltrion handles marketing and sales.
LONDON – The COVAX initiative, set up in a bid to ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, is poised for a global rollout starting in Q1 2021, after sealing agreements to access 2 billion doses of a number of different products. That puts the world on a clear pathway to ending the acute phase of the pandemic, by protecting the most vulnerable people around the world, according to GAVI, the vaccines alliance, which is spearheading COVAX.
DUBLIN – The European Medicines Agency’s human medicines committee, the CHMP, all but closed out the year by issuing positive opinions on eight marketing authorization applications during its December meeting. Its work for 2020 is not quite yet done, however. It has scheduled an extraordinary meeting for Dec. 29 to review an application from Pfizer Inc. and Biontech AG for their mRNA COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2.
PARIS – At the recent annual HealthTech Innovations Days in Paris, the European investment Fund (EIF) and the world’s largest life sciences consortium, EIT Health Germany, reported the development of a Venture Centre of Excellence (VCoE) in Europe.
LONDON – The world’s first COVID-19 human challenge trial is due to start in London next year, after the government announced £33.6 million (US$43.5 million) funding for the project.
