At the 30th Annual Congress of the European Society for Gene and Cell Therapy in Brussels this week, researchers presented both preclinical and clinical strategies for applying gene therapy to a functional HIV cure. At a Wednesday session on Infectious Diseases & Vaccines, Alessio Nahmad, of Tabby Therapeutics Ltd., described using B cells edited to express broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) 3BNC117 to deliver high titers of antibodies in mice.
The World Health Organization recently endorsed an economical malaria vaccine with a 75% effectiveness rate, which costs less than half of the initial vaccine (RTS,S/AS01) created two years ago. The new vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, developed by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India, marks a significant milestone after decades of scientific research.
What CEO Jason Okazaki called Assembly Biosciences Inc.’s “monumental” deal for new antivirals with Gilead Sciences Inc. brings $100 million right away, consisting of an $84.8 million up-front payment and a $15.2 million equity investment. Wall Street liked it, and shares of South San Francisco-based Assembly (NASDAQ:ASMB) closed Oct. 17 at $1.25, up 52 cents or 72%, on word of the 12-year arrangement. Gilead (NASDAQ:GILD) ended at $80.48, up $1.28.
In a study published in Nature on Oct. 11, coinciding with the beginning of IDWeek 2023 in Boston, researchers from Harvard Medical School described EVEscape, a method for anticipating the movements of SARS‑CoV‑2 by predicting potential mutations likely to escape current vaccines and treatments.
Researchers who follow their instincts and achieve slow results while trying to break barriers have little support. They replace it with persistence. This is the story of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman. What was once a dream in their minds was later a success. Their work together for decades was essential to achieving mRNA vaccines, and their perseverance was rewarded today with the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Fearing cross contamination might have occurred during manufacturing, Scynexis Inc. is recalling Brexafemme (ibrexafungerp tablets) from the market and putting a temporary hold on the drug’s clinical trials until it knows more details.
One hepatitis delta virus player (HDV) has dropped out after Eiger Biopharmaceuticals Inc.’s phase III effort with peginterferon lambda turned up safety issues, while others remain busy in a space highlighted during last November’s meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Shares of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Eiger (NASDAQ:EIGR) closed Sept. 13 at 41 cents, down 28 cents, or 40.6%, on word that the company is stopping the Limt-2 study in patients with chronic HDV.
Brii Biosciences Ltd.’s therapeutic vaccine for hepatitis B (HBV), BRII-179 (VBI-2601), induced functional immune responses – inducing broad antibody and T-cell responses – in patients with chronic HBV in a phase II trial that evaluated the vaccine in combination with pegylated interferon-alfa, according to interim results.
Wall Street’s hoped-for phase III derisking event from Insmed Inc. materialized, and shares of the firm (NASDAQ:INSM) closed Sept. 5 at $26.37, up $3.73, or 16.5%, on positive top-line results from the study called Arise with inhaled Arikayce (amikacin) in patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent nontuberculous mycobacterial lung infection by Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) who had not started antibiotics. “We crushed it” on culture conversion with Arikayce, CEO William Lewis said. “We could not be happier about the results of this study. It exceeded all of our expectations on every front.”
Omnix Medical Ltd. is gearing up for a phase II trial next year of its novel peptide-based antibiotic OMN-6, the lead compound in a pipeline inspired by the antimicrobial strategies of insects.