LONDON – Themis Bioscience GmbH has announced positive phase II results for its vaccine against Chikungunya virus, as it moves to complete an IPO later this week to raise up to €55 million (US$62.6 million) to fund the launch of a pivotal phase III trial.

Oncolys Biopharma Inc., of Tokyo, signed an exclusive, worldwide license agreement with Stabilitech Biopharma Ltd., of Burgess Hill, U.K., for Stabilitech's virus stability platform technology, Therm-SB. The main purpose of the in-licensing is to explore the possibility of drastically improved thermal stability and aggregation resistance of Oncolys' viroimmunotherapy pipeline, led by telomelysin. Under the agreement, a patent in relation to Therm-SB shall be granted to Oncolys, while Stabilitech is entitled to receive certain up-front/milestone fees and royalties according to development stages and sales performances, for which the details were not disclosed.

Drug prices were part of the conversation Wednesday as delegates to the 71st World Health Assembly asked the World Health Organization (WHO) to elaborate on a five-year roadmap to address the global shortage of, and access to, medicines and vaccines that's to be presented at next year's assembly. 

DUBLIN – The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an international public-private partnership raising $1 billion to incentivize the development of vaccines for neglected infectious diseases, has made its first big bet – a contract, worth up to $37.5 million, with Themis Bioscience GmbH to develop vaccines against Lassa virus and Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

BOSTON – Has biomedicine learned from the HIV epidemic? Yes and no. Certainly, Biomedicine has learned how to deal with HIV.

Metastases cause a large majority of cancer deaths, and understanding their mechanisms might offer therapeutic opportunities. A team from Case Western Reserve University investigated a possible role of enhancers, regulatory DNA elements that can influence the transcription of downstream genes.

Activating mutations in the BRAF kinase, such as those targeted by melanoma drug Zelboraf (vemurafenib, Roche Holding AG), are a well-known cause of cancer.