Deep learning algorithms have enabled the discovery of molecular structures of interest in biomedicine to design treatments against aggressive diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Scientists at Insilico Medicine Inc. selected a target for IPF using artificial intelligence (AI), then designed an inhibitor to block it, and tested it in vitro, in vivo, and in clinical trials.

Samsung Life Science Fund, created jointly between Samsung Biologics Co. Ltd., Samsung Bioepis Co. Ltd. and Samsung C&T, and managed by Samsung Venture Investment Corp., and Brickbio Inc. have announced Samsung’s investment in preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Brickbio.

The University of California, Berkeley has announced the launch of the UC Berkeley Molecular Therapeutics Initiative (MTI) designed to accelerate drug discovery. The aim is to bridge fundamental research in rare neurological and metabolic diseases with drug discovery to identify and accelerate novel therapeutic modalities into the clinic.

One topic at the 31st Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2024) held in Denver this month was that resistance to antiretroviral therapy (ART) has become a public health problem for people living with HIV. Without a vaccine or a cure, these patients depend on treatments that suppress viremia by preventing the virus from replicating. They are lifelong treatments and, until new advances succeed in eradicating the virus from reservoirs, the only option available.

Transcode Therapeutics Inc. has reported promising proof-of-concept laboratory studies in human cells, advancing its strategic partnership with Akribion Genomics AG.

Watertown, Mass.-based Lyndra Therapeutics Inc. is seeking patent protection for gastric residence drug delivery systems with improved shelf lives through their inclusion of a metal core.

Overall, the story of HIV is one of astounding success. But to declare victory, it will be necessary to develop a vaccine. The opening session of the 31st Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) 2024 looked back to the failures but also the advances in research, all the steps that over the years brought the basic science knowledge that could bring an HIV vaccine in the future. This year, the former director of the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory at the NIAID Vaccine Research Center, Barney Graham, was named for the Bernard Field Lecture, where he presented “Modern vaccinology: a legacy of HIV research.”

Ali Golshan, a practicing interventional radiologist, has been granted protection for a minimally invasive treatment for varicose veins.

In the first patenting from Chicago-based Novaxs Biotech Corp., its co-founders, Alina Rui Su and Jonathan Tianyi Xing, describe an injection system for needle-free, high-pressure drug delivery.