494th Edition, February 8, 2022

BETHESDA, Md., Jan. 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Gain Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: GANX) (“Gain”), a biotechnology company transforming the drug discovery paradigm with structurally targeted allosteric regulators identified with its proprietary computational discovery platform, today announced additional details on its R&D Day being held virtually on Friday, February 4, 2022 from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm Eastern Time.

The R&D Day Event, entitled “Neuroscience and Beyond: Harnessing Computational Technology and Allosteric Modulators to Drug the Undruggable” will feature presentations from several Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs):

January 31, 2022 at 7:00 AM EST

Enrollment in 48-week Phase 2 clinical trial expected to begin in Q1 2022

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Jan. 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Altimmune, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Company’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application for its Phase 2 clinical trial of pemvidutide for obesity. Pemvidutide is an investigational GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist under development for the treatment of obesity and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Altimmune expects to initiate the Phase 2 trial in obesity in the first quarter of 2022. The Company previously received IND clearance for pemvidutide in NASH and is currently enrolling subjects with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in a Phase 1b trial.

“This Phase 2 trial in obesity represents an important milestone toward developing a safe and effective treatment option for people with obesity,” said Vipin K. Garg, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Altimmune. “Results from a recently completed Phase 1 study of pemvidutide in Australia showed that 12 weekly subcutaneous doses of pemvidutide at the 1.8 mg dose level resulted in an average weight loss of 10.3% in overweight and obese subjects. Importantly, there were no study discontinuations due to adverse events. We believe these results rank among the best in terms of the rate and magnitude of weight loss and tolerability among drugs in development for obesity.”

Intima Bioscience to use MaxCyte’s Flow Electroporation® technology and ExPERT™ platform to accelerate the development of its solid tumor cell-therapy candidates NEW YORK and GAITHERSBURG, Md., Jan. 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MaxCyte, Inc., (Nasdaq: MXCT; LSE: MXCT, MXCN), a leading provider of enabling platform technologies for ex-vivo cell engineering, today announces the signing of a strategic platform license (SPL) with Intima Bioscience, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company developing genetically engineered cell therapies for solid tumor cancer. Intima joins a group of 15 other leading cell therapy companies who have partnered with MaxCyte.

Under the terms of the agreement, Intima obtains non-exclusive clinical and commercial rights to use MaxCyte’s Flow Electroporation® technology and ExPERT™ platform. In return, MaxCyte is entitled to receive platform licensing fees and program-related milestone payments.

Intima is currently running a Phase 1/2 clinical study (NCT04426669) of its lead checkpoint cell therapy candidate, which targets the immune checkpoint CISH in patients with gastrointestinal and colon cancers.

Navigating the pandemic has been an all-encompassing, once-in-a-lifetime challenge. Globally, life sciences companies responded with leadership and are emerging stronger. How will life sciences companies continue to respond and what areas can they build resiliency going forward?

The life sciences sector has played a pivotal role amid the COVID-19 pandemic. To cope with the global crisis, traditional competitors partnered to accelerate research and develop the fastest novel vaccine in the history. Governments, health systems, payers, retail pharmacies, and nonprofits are now working collaboratively with the sector to provide widespread distribution and administration.

Johns Hopkins researchers Nickolas Papadopoulos, Ken Kinzler and Bert Vogelstein have spent their careers working on ways not just to treat cancer but to detect it before it becomes a threat. The goal: a blood test for the earlier detection of cancer incorporated into routine medical care. Their dream is closer to reality thanks in part to a $2.15 billion acquisition of their company, Thrive Earlier Detection Corp., one year ago by Exact Sciences Corp., a global leader in cancer-detection testing.

The heart of the researchers’ work is the liquid biopsy, a test done on a blood sample to look for signals derived from cancer cells circulating in the blood. In 2011, they invented SafeSeqS, a next-generation gene sequencing technology that simultaneously and individually analyzed millions of DNA molecules to identify mutations in the bloodstream more accurately than other methods.

WASHINGTON — A new research agency aimed at developing breakthrough medical technologies won’t be housed within the National Institutes of Health, a key lawmaker said on Wednesday.

Instead, the agency, known as ARPA-H, will exist as a distinct unit within the Department of Health and Human Services, said Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.).

Image: https://eshoo.house.gov/about-anna/biography

The leading developer of life sciences properties rode the industry’s wave last year, recording 4.1M SF of leases signed between October and December, more than double its best total for any quarter in Alexandria Real Estate Equities’ nearly 30-year history.

Its pace of activity is spurring the Pasadena, California-based real estate investment trust to venture into new territory — it is paying $402M for a nearly 1M SF life sciences campus in Texas, it disclosed in its quarterly earnings release this week.

Image: Courtesy of Alexandria Real Estate Equities Vaccine-maker Moderna inked one of the year’s biggest deals with Alexandria Real Estate Equities for a new Kendall Square headquarters.

When scientists in South Africa noticed an uptick in Covid-19 cases in the Gauteng Province last November, they began investigating the source. These researchers and others in Botswana quickly discovered the Omicron variant and heroically shared their discovery with the rest of the world. And yet it was still too late — Omicron was already rapidly infecting people across the globe.

ROCKVILLE, MD. (PRWEB)  FEBRUARY 02, 2022

Data from a Total of Five Patients Demonstrates Critical Markers of the Company’s HIV Cure Gene & Cell Therapy American Gene Technologies (AGT), a clinical-stage biotechnology company working to cure HIV, announced that it has reached another important milestone for its HIV cure program. Five participants were treated with AGT103-T and are stably engrafted with genetically modified cells.

Laboratory studies confirmed substantial increases in virus-specific T cells consistent with improved immunity against HIV in all participants. The early data addresses key trial endpoints and is aligned with the objective of restoring natural immunity against HIV.

“These latest laboratory studies of clinical material are extremely encouraging,” said AGT CEO Jeff Galvin. “To see these markers in all five trial participants indicates that prospects are bright for a potential one-and-done therapy to functionally cure HIV. This milestone brings us another step closer to our goal of returning people living with HIV to a normal life without the side effects of ART and having no further consequences of HIV.”

Blockchain and “connected health” technology are two trends hospitals should not rush to adopt, according to two hospital innovation executives.

Discussions of blockchain have been increasingly prominent in the technology industry in recent years, and it shows potential for healthcare applications. However, it can be tricky for hospitals to figure out how to deploy the technology, Michelle Stansbury, vice president of IT innovation at Houston Methodist, told Becker’s.