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Today's Rundown

Featured Story

AstraZeneca delivers rare win for treme in liver cancer, bouncing back from flops to beat Bayer's Nexavar

Can AstraZeneca pick its CTLA-4 inhibitor up off the canvas? After seeing the drug knocked down by a series of setbacks, AstraZeneca has now reported improved survival in a phase 3 checkpoint inhibitor combination study in liver cancer patients.  

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Top Stories

Chinese biopharma powerhouse continues charge into siRNA with Silence R&D pact

Hansoh Pharmaceutical is making a multifront push into siRNA. Days after disclosing a siRNA pact with OliX Pharmaceuticals, the Chinese biopharma powerhouse has unveiled a separate alliance with Silence Therapeutics.

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Industry vets launch Tentarix with $50M to develop antibody-based cancer-killing treatments

Industry vets from Eli Lilly, Amgen, Regeneron and more are ready for their next venture: launching biotech Tentarix Biotherapeutics with a $50 million series A fundraising to advance the field of multifunctional biotherapeutics.

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Sponsored: Purify DNA, RNA, proteins, and cells for many applications

Discover ways your Thermo Scientific™ KingFisher™ system can empower your research beyond SARS-CoV-2.

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Resilience commits $30M to launch new biotechs out of Harvard with focus on therapeutics, biomanufacturing

National Resilience is not running in circles these days. The manufacturing and tech shop appears to have its ducks in a row, and the latest high-profile move is a $30 million commitment to forming new companies with Harvard researchers.

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Sponsored: Partnership to unlock the full potential of data to advance the science and practice of healthcare: Q&A with Syntropy and the University of California, Irvine

Q&A with Syntropy and UCI on their collaboration to work across their enterprise and with external partners to advance health research and patient care.

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Greenwood takes the top job at Kojin Therapeutics, leading an all-woman biotech C-suite

Kojin Therapeutics likes to do things differently: Its platform is looking to—for the first time—drug the ferroptosis-sensitive cell state and treat a host of diseases, and, now, an all-woman leadership team will help make that happen.

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A return to the top: Former FDA Commissioner Califf reportedly Biden's pick for Woodcock's role

Robert Califf led the FDA in the last year of former President Barack Obama's second term in the White House. Now, he's reportedly President Joe Biden's nominee to fill the spot Janet Woodcock has held on an interim basis for nine months.

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Inhalable anti-COVID-19 antibody from TFF and Augmenta tamps down viral load in hamsters

TFF Pharmaceuticals teamed up with Augmenta Bioworks to develop an inhalable COVID-19 antibody drug made using a “thin freezing film” technology licensed from the University of Texas at Austin. In hamster models, the drug reduced viral load one day after infection, they reported, and the companies hope to start clinical trials next year.

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FDA panel backs half-dose Moderna booster for the elderly and others at high risk

An FDA advisory committee recommended authorization of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as a booster for people 65 and older and others at high risk. The panel signed off on boosters at least six months after completion of the original two-shot Moderna series.

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Editor's Corner—Medicare Advantage open enrollment opens today. Hear top industry execs discuss the trends to watch

Later this month, you'll have the opportunity to hear more about the biggest Medicare Advantage trends, straight from the executives in the trenches.

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Despite Merck's oral COVID-19 drug, antibodies by Regeneron, GSK and others still have billions in sales ahead: analyst

The success of Merck & Co.'s oral antiviral against COVID-19 immediately triggered concerns over the market prospect of antibody therapies. But, as one analyst sees it, those antibody products by Regeneron, GlaxoSmithKline and other companies still have an important role to play that pills can’t make up for.

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Exscientia AI study spots which blood cancer therapies work and which don't

Using AI in personalized medicine could boost treatment success in patients with aggressive blood cancers, an Exscientia study found. The method follows a basic idea: Take a test to see whether a drug will work before it’s given. But AI allows clinicians to trial a whopping 139 different treatments in each patient—no risk required.

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Fierce Pharma Asia—Takeda's cell, gene therapy deals; BMS-BeiGene Abraxane brawl

Takeda doubles down in cell and gene therapy with new deals with Immusoft and Poseida Therapeutics. Bristol Myers Squibb is pulling the plug on its Abraxane China licensing deal with BeiGene amid legal tension. And more.

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Chutes & Ladders—J&J science chief Stoffels the latest C-suite leader to retire

Johnson & Johnson Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels, M.D., will retire at the end of the year, following the lead of CEO Alex Gorsky, who also departs soon. Emile Nuwaysir led Bayer's $1 billion bet on Parkinson's disease, and now he heads up gene therapy biotech Ensoma. Genentech's early cancer research leader Shiva Malek jumps to Novartis' NIBR oncology unit.

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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.

Research: eTMF Implementation Quick Guide

Check out the eTMF Implementation Quick Guide to see a checklist TMF experts developed to help you reduce risks, maintain compliance, and establish effective processes in your eTMF.

Whitepaper: Modernizing Key Clinical Trial Processes with Artificial Intelligence

This whitepaper addresses where AI can make the biggest impact in clinical trials.

Free Infographic: Identifying Opportunities for Biotech Scale-Up

Looking to accelerate your biotech company, but not sure where to start?

Paid Marketplace: Online Graduate Programs Designed for Your Career

Drexel University’s online graduate programs in biomedicine, clinical research, drug discovery, and molecular medicine were developed with working professionals in mind, providing you with the education, practical skills, and competitive edge you need to be successful in your career. Learn more.

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.

Report: New research indicates an accelerated shift to decentralized clinical trials

New research indicates an accelerated adoption of decentralized clinical trials due to COVID-19.

Whitepaper: Transform LIMS Data into Action-Ready Insights with Advanced Analytics

Shift from data collection to data science. Add advanced analytics to your lab informatics platform to yield valuable, action-ready insights from LIMS and other data.

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: Clinical trial simulation: Advanced modeling techniques enable data-driven supply chain planning

Integrate supply chain simulation into your early clinical trial planning to minimize risk in an uncertain supply chain environment, improve supply chain outcomes, and help streamline time-to-market for innovative therapies.

Whitepaper: Big Challenges for Small Sponsors: Competition in Oncology Research

Every biopharma sponsor faces the challenge of initiating, running and closing trials on time, but oncology studies pose several unique hurdles.

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.

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