LONDON – Themis Bioscience GmbH has landed an exclusive licensing deal with Merck & Co. Inc., which simultaneously validates its measles virus-based vaccines platform and provides the means to extend the technology to new indications.

Researchers at Stony Brook University have found a way to keep insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) from deactivating insulin without affecting its role in degrading glucagon. 

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).