LONDON – Four decades of academic research at the University of California, San Francisco, is to be translated through to the clinic with funding from a €1 million (US$1.2 million) European Commission grant. The money, awarded to a Dutch/German consortium will fund the generation and optimization of antibodies designed to neutralize oxidized phospholipids that mediate inflammatory changes in a swathe of diseases. The consortium that won the Eurostars award is led by Oxitope Pharma BV.

DUBLIN – Sapreme Technologies BV is taking a novel approach to the extraordinary inefficiency of intracellular delivery of macromolecular drugs by developing a series of compounds that can dramatically improve the rate with which drugs such as proteins and oligonucleotides can escape the endosome.

Developing the next generation of antibiotics is proving to be a major problem, with research reaching an almost standstill due to a lack of funding because of the poor return on R&D investment from the products.

TORONTO – Smart Biomedical Inc. has developed a tool it said will vastly improve the chances of recovery for patients suffering from a collapsed lung.

LONDON – The scientific pioneer behind T-cell receptors has taken the helm of a new biotech he believes has the technology to overcome current shortcomings of cancer immunotherapy. Bent Jakobsen, co-founder and long-term chief scientific officer of Immunocore plc and of CAR T-cell specialist Adaptimmune plc, is now CEO of Accession Therapeutics Ltd., set up to develop what is claimed as the first oncolytic virus to be genetically engineered to exclusively infect cancer cells.

Newly launched startup Somne Inc. plans to give CPAP machines a run for their money by replacing CPAP masks and hoses for treating obstructive sleep apnea with a gentler collar encircling the patient’s neck. The new device uses variable negative pressure to ensure users get a good night’s sleep instead of positive airway pressure employed by companies such as Resmed Inc. and Philips Respironics Inc.

Binhui Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s BS-001, a recombinant human oncolytic herpes simplex virus type-2 expressing GM-CSF for the potential treatment of solid tumors, has gained an IND approval from the FDA.

LONDON – A significant body of research indicates inhibition of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (PTP) would reduce neuroinflammation and protect neurons, but the difficulty of finding inhibitors that cross the blood-brain barrier to regulate the pore has left the therapeutic potential largely untapped.

Binhui Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s BS-001, a recombinant human oncolytic herpes simplex virus type-2 expressing GM-CSF for the potential treatment of solid tumors, has gained an IND approval from the FDA. The development marks the first oncolytic viral candidate developed by a Chinese company to win a go-ahead for trials abroad, it said.

TORONTO – Fluid Biotech Inc. has raised $4.7 million in oversubscribed seed funding to further develop and commercialize the world's first hybrid polymer-metal flow-diverting brain stent for curing brain aneurysms that can lead to stroke. Following successful preclinical studies of the stent, attention now turns to applying this fresh capital to hiring contract manufacturers to prepare for first-in-human implantation and production of the mostly polymer-constructed stent.