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.

Intersect ENT Inc., a sinusitis implant company, reported $22.7 million in third quarter revenue, driven largely by a rebound in procedures with its Propel implants for chronic rhinosinusitis. This figure marks a 6% decline from the $24.1 million reported in the third quarter of 2019.

Anthony Wynshaw-Boris, professor and chair of the department of genetics and genome sciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, set a positive tone in his opening talk at the 2020 annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG). "This is guaranteed to be the best-ever virtual ASHG annual meeting," he told the audience. The opening plenary abstract session, for one, did not disappoint. It began with the definition of a new disease, identified through a new approach, and possibly leading to a new way to think about rheumatic diseases.

The opening plenary abstract session at the 2020 annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) began with the definition of a new disease, identified through a new approach, and possibly leading to a new way to think about rheumatic diseases.