Japan’s investor community is ramping up both inbound and outbound investment to create a cross-border fertile hub of innovation in Japan, investors said during a panel discussion at Bio Japan 2025 held in Yokohama Oct. 8 to 10.
Nilo Therapeutics Inc. has launched with a $101 million series A financing and a focus on harnessing neural circuits to restore immune homeostasis in disease.
Tessera Therapeutics Inc. has been awarded up to $41.3 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) as part of its EMBODY (Engineering of immune cells inside the body) program to support the development of Tessera’s in vivo CAR T therapy efforts.
Glycovax Pharma Inc. has entered into a strategic collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Université de Montréal to develop a glycoconjugate vaccine against Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections, with expected utility for patients with cystic fibrosis and hospitalized individuals at risk of nosocomial infections.
The transition from complex and costly ex vivo strategies to platforms that enable direct cellular intervention within the body, known as in vivo therapies, is marking a paradigm change in the field of gene and cell therapies by simplifying manufacturing, improving tissue targeting and expanding clinical access to treatments.
Bio Japan 2025 was abuzz with the news that Japan has once again snagged the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, with Shimon Sakaguchi winning for his discovery of a subtype of CD4-expressing T cells that affect the immune response. Earlier today, Susumu Kitagawa snatched the second Nobel Prize for Japan, this time in chemistry. Both Nobel Prize winners were professors at Kyoto University.
In a deal that could top $2 billion, China-based Innocare Pharma Ltd. licensed the exclusive worldwide development and commercialization rights to the BTK inhibitor orelabrutinib to Zenas Biopharma Inc. for multiple sclerosis and other indications aside from oncology.
As the many challenges facing cell therapies are being addressed, the CAR T field continues to evolve beyond its original design of T cells engineered to target hematological malignancies. During the 32nd Annual Congress of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT), held in Seville Oct. 7-10, several studies showed how this technology is being redefined as programmable and adaptable immune cells with expanded functional versatility.
RSS
