Dec 14, 2020 7:00am A digital early warning system could help urge people to isolate themselves while they may be at risk of spreading viruses and seek testing and proper care upon confirmation of an infection. (Oura)
A proof-of-concept study funded by smart ring maker Oura found its finger-worn sensor could reliably detect an oncoming fever before a person feels it set in.
Researchers at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), UC San Francisco and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said the consumer device and wearables like it could be used as an early warning system for spotting a major symptom of COVID-19, the flu and other infections.
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Parisian diagnostics company Novacyt is working on a series of new tests for COVID-19 and bird flu.
The French firm has launched a research-use-only (RUO) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for a new strain of COVID-19 and the development of two new RUO PCR tests for avian influenza (aka bird flu) following recent outbreaks across Europe.
On the pandemic front, that new launch is for a specific new mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, and is known as Y453F. Originally found in mink in Denmark and the Netherlands, the Y453F mutation quickly spread to humans and has also been detected outside of Europe.
Dec 14, 2020 5:28am Questions about how long gene therapies can exert their effects in the body have encouraged several companies to find new ways to make the treatments more durable. (Photo by kirstypargeter/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images)
When gene therapy developer Generation Bio raised $110 million in venture funding in January and then followed up six months later with a $230 million initial public offering, it was as sure a sign as any that investors are stoked about the next generation of gene therapies to treat rare diseases.
Their enthusiasm hasn’t waned during the year, either, despite challenges ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic delaying clinical trials to regulators pushing back some development timelines so they can gather more data on emerging gene therapies.
Dec 14, 2020 9:10am Improving the efficacy of immuno-oncology drugs in breast cancer was the focus of a new study led by researchers in Spain. (National Cancer Institute)
Amgen’s osteoporosis drug denosumab is approved as Xgeva for the prevention and treatment of some bone metastases in cancer. But could the drug’s mechanism of action help breast cancer patients respond to immunotherapy drugs that typically don’t work well in those tumors?
That was the premise behind a new study led by the Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL) in Spain and partially funded by Amgen. The researchers studied cells from mouse models and from premenopausal patients with luminal breast cancer to determine whether Xgeva’s inhibition of a signaling pathway called RANK might make the tumor cells more sensitive to immunotherapy.
(iStock/Getty Images Plus/Stork)(iStock / Getty Images Plus / Stork)
Elvire Gouze Ph.D., a serial entrepreneur and expert in skeletal disorders, has formed another company InnoSkel after agreeing to sell her first venture Therachon to Pfizer for $340 million upfront last year.
Like Therachon, InnoSkel is focusing on diseases that result in dwarfism, but using a different approach. Therachon’s lead drug TA-46 was a soluble FGFR3 receptor designed to interrupt a molecule pathway linked to dwarfism, but InnoSkel will focus on gene therapies that will target underlying defects as a one-shot therapy.
InnoSkel officially launches with €20 million ($24 million) in first-round financing led by Jeito Capital alongside Vida Ventures and the Turenne Group to advance the platform, which has grown out of work conducted at Gouze’s lab within French institute Inserm.