“Change is the only constant” is an ageless truth. In the search for age-related biomarkers, it is also a prosaic confounding factor.

Age-related biomarkers will be critical for the development of antiaging therapeutics. “Nobody is planning to do a life span study in humans,” Eric Verdin told the audience at the 10th Conference on Aging Research and Drug Development in Copenhagen on Monday. “Hence the need for … surrogate markers.”

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the University of Oxford have entered into a strategic partnership to accelerate the development of safe, effective and globally accessible vaccines against ‘disease X,’ the threat of unknown pathogens with the potential to cause pandemics.

“Change is the only constant” is an ageless truth. In the search for age-related biomarkers, it is also a prosaic confounding factor. Age-related biomarkers will be critical for the development of antiaging therapeutics. “Nobody is planning to do a life span study in humans,” Eric Verdin told the audience at the 10^th Conference on Aging Research and Drug Development in Copenhagen on Monday. “Hence the need for … surrogate markers.” And “we are not there … we are actually quite far from there.”

Biosimilars continue to pose cheaper alternatives to their established, blockbuster counterparts. The U.S. FDA has approved Tyruko (natalizumab-sztn) from Sandoz Inc., the generics business of Novartis AG. It is the first approved biosimilar to Biogen Inc.’s blockbuster Tysabri (natalizumab), an injectable monoclonal antibody for treating adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Imunon Inc. has entered into a cooperative research and development agreement with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for the evaluation of the immunogenicity and efficacy of two Imunon DNA-based Lassa virus vaccine candidates. Under the 3-year agreement, the NIAID will assess the efficacy of Placcine DNA constructs against Lassa virus in guinea pig and non-human primate disease models, including both prime and prime-boost vaccine strategies.

Mysthera Therapeutics AG has launched to develop first-in-class, oral therapeutics to treat complex autoimmune diseases. Seed capital will be used to advance its portfolio of preclinical stage, pan-PIM kinase inhibitors to modulate multi-lineage immune cell functions.

A study from Weill Cornell Medicine and The Jackson Laboratory has described the epigenetic mark SARS-CoV-2 left on immune system stem cells in the most severe cases of COVID-19 early in the pandemic, before the development of vaccines. In their work published in Cell on Aug. 18, 2023, the researchers presented a new methodology to analyze the epigenetic changes in monocytes and circulating hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) that give rise to monocytes. That allowed corresponding author Steven Josefowicz and his colleagues to see if there were already changes induced by COVID-19 before HSPCs differentiated into monocytes.

The U.S. FDA has approved its second treatment for an ultra-rare disease in the past three days by greenlighting Veopoz (pozelimab-bbfg) from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. Approval of the priority BLA for Veopoz, a fully human monoclonal antibody to treat Chaple disease, was announced two days ahead of its Aug. 20 PDUFA date. It is the only FDA-approved therapy for the indication.

Artiva Biotherapeutics Inc. has received FDA clearance of its IND application for Allonk (AB-101), to be used in combination with rituximab for treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in patients with active lupus nephritis.

Interleukin-4 (IL-4) plays an important role in regulating inflammation. While several antibody-based options targeting IL-4 have been reported, strategies based on small molecule inhibitors have proven difficult to find.