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Today's Rundown

Featured Story

Another death blights Astellas' $3B Audentes buy as FDA slaps clinical hold on the test

Astellas has seen a fourth death in its gene therapy trial of an experimental drug gained through the pharma’s $3 billion buyout of biotech Audentes.

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Top Stories

UPDATE: Pfizer and Trillium: How a $25M investment led to a $2.3B buyout

Pfizer was in a hurry to seal its takeover of cancer startup Trillium Therapeutics, a relationship that was first sparked after the Big Pharma spied some early clinical data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology in June 2020.

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After 3 big exits, Lightstone snags largest fund yet with $375M geared toward next biotechs, medtechs

After seeing Ra Pharma, Disarm and Tizona to exits last year, Lightstone Ventures is back with $375 million to plant a seed in early-stage biotech and medtech startups. 

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Sponsored: Four Steps to Smarter, More Dynamic Deployment

Are you using data and analytics to design smarter campaigns and more effective sales rep deployment?

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Independent report confirms sexual harassment claims against anti-aging researcher de Grey

An independent review has confirmed allegations of sexual harassment against the SENS Research Foundation’s former chief science officer Aubrey de Grey, who was fired last month for attempting to pressure one of the complainants.

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Stem cell biotech ViaCyte staffs up CSO role to drive diabetes treatments

Months after raising $45 million and losing a chief scientific officer, stem cell-focused biotech ViaCyte has restaffed the position with a cell therapy academic from the University of British Columbia. Timothy Kieffer will join the clinical-stage regenerative medicine biotech as CSO.

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Kapeller's Rome bags $77M to strike gold in the backwaters of the genome

Rosana Kapeller’s Rome Therapeutics has pulled in $77 million to target vast, untapped parts of the genome. With VCs ranging from Section 32 to Sanofi Ventures now behind it, Rome is working to hustle autoimmune and cancer drugs toward the clinic.  

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RedHill BioPharma follows familiar biotech path after COVID-19 drug fails in severe patients

RedHill Biopharma has rolled snake eyes in a late-stage trial for its experimental COVID-19 treatment, the SK2 inhibitor opaganib, which has failed to help severely ill patients.

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Vanqua Bio snags $85M series B to vanquish Parkinson's, Gaucher, ALS and Alzheimer's

Vanqua Bio secured an $85 million series B to take its lead program into the clinic within two years for Gaucher disease and a specific form of Parkinson's disease. Further down the pipeline, Vanqua aims to treat Alzheimer's, ALS and potentially other neurodegenerative diseases through the lens of the innate immune system.

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iRhythm gets back on beat, tapping former Dexcom exec as CEO

About four months after the abrupt exit of CEO Mike Coyle, a new leader is taking the helm at cardiac monitor maker iRhythm Technologies.

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Attacking Alzheimer's by blocking 'frustrated' amyloid proteins before they form plaques

Researchers at the University of Houston and Rice University discovered that amyloid beta peptides encounter several obstacles in the quest to attach to protein aggregates in the brain known as fibrils. Drugs that exploit the points at which the peptides are held back could prove promising in Alzheimer's and other brain diseases, they suggested.

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From Pfizer to Argenx: A look at potential blockbusters awaiting FDA decisions this year

Looking to close out 2021 with FDA approvals stand four potential blockbusters from the likes of Argenx, UCB, Pfizer and Roche, according to Evaluate Pharma. Cumulatively, the meds are worth roughly $7.1 billion in sales by 2026.

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Majority of hospitals stumbled on public health reporting before the strain of a global pandemic

A recent data brief from the ONC suggests that most hospitals had issues electronically exchanging information with public health agencies well before the strain of a global pandemic.

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Resources

Whitepaper: Applications of Digital Twins in Clinical Trials for Alzheimer’s Disease

Read Unlearn’s whitepaper to learn about how novel trial designs with Digital Twins enable more efficient clinical trials, with higher power and smaller required sample sizes.

Whitepaper: Evaluating current manufacturing platforms for recombinant AAV production

Choose the right AAV platform for your viral vector-based therapy

Whitepaper: The Value of Precision Medicine Informatics Initiatives Research Findings

Download the Value of Precision Medicine Informatics (PMI) Initiatives report to learn about the technology, data types, and the value derived from more than 100 PMI initiatives.

Whitepaper: Challenging Tradition: The Argument for Integrated Commercialization to Improve Operational Agility

Today’s economics do not allow manufactures to keep making decisions in an antiquated way. They need to challenge tradition & deliver faster, cheaper, successful launches. Learn how.

Whitepaper: High-yield NK cell culture for allogeneic cell therapy applications

Thermo Fisher Scientific introduces a new NK cell culture medium designed to support feeder-free, high-yield growth for cell therapy applications.

Whitepaper: Going from Process R&D to Clinical APIs Quickly and Effectively

Read four customer success stories and four success factors that helped move pharmaceutical customers of Cascade Chemistry by Aceto quickly and effectively to clinic with trial-ready APIs.

Webinar: Let A Digital Sherpa Uncomplicate The Path for Patients

Topple barriers to getting patients started on therapy. Guide them with mobile.

eBook: Get solutions to market faster

Read Get to Know Cloud Content Management for Life Sciences and learn how to eliminate silos across all workflows, from R&D to commercialization.

eBrief: Drug Product Process Development: Ensuring a Consistent, High-quality Biologic

Learn about drug product process development challenges and risks, the difference between innovator and biosimilar drug product process development, and more during the drug product process development phase.

Whitepaper: Achieving a Successful Drug Product Technology Transfer

Get insights on key considerations for a successful tech transfer process for manufacturing a biologic drug product, including a case study on overcoming challenges in a process transfer for a sterile diluent.

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