Biotech Newsfeed
A continuously updated stream of biology and biotech news, aggregated from leading science and industry sources and sorted by what's newest.
Sources: Endpoints News · GEN · ScienceDaily · Phys.org · MIT Tech Review
J&J restructures pharma manufacturing footprint at cost of up to $750M
Johnson & Johnson is anticipating as much as $750 million in costs to restructure its pharmaceutical supply chain and exit factories, moves that are coming as it pushes ahead with its $55 billion pledge to ...
Eli Lilly invests in Oura to support patients on GLP-1 drugs
Eli Lilly on Wednesday made an equity investment in wearable ring startup Oura as the drugmaker looks for ways to support patients taking its GLP-1 medications. An Oura spokesperson declined to share the size of ...
Modular Modeling Drives Smarter mRNA Manufacturing
A modular mechanistic modeling framework is helping transform mRNA in vitro transcription by enabling faster optimization, streamlined scale-up, and quality-by-design strategies, giving bioprocess developers a powerful digital tool to improve manufacturing efficiency and product consistency. The post Modular Modelin…
AI Could Give CGT Sector Deeper Manufacturing Insights and Greater Control
AI can help cell and gene therapy firms gain deeper insights about their complex production processes. The ultimate benefit of the technology will be helping industry move from reactive to predictive manufacturing. The post AI Could Give CGT Sector Deeper Manufacturing Insights and Greater Control appeared first on…
In vivo CAR T Industry Leaps Forward with Challenges Ahead
The emerging new class of in vivo CAR T therapeutics is seen by regulators as gene therapies with risks of off-target effects to patients. Manufacturers need to rise to the challenge. The post <i>In vivo</i> CAR T Industry Leaps Forward with Challenges Ahead appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnol…
Radiopharma maker AdvanCell hauls in $315M for Pluvicto challenger
AdvanCell raised a $315 million Series D to study a lead-based prostate cancer agent and shore up its US manufacturing of the radioactive treatment. The round marks one of the largest yet for a radiopharmaceutical ...
J&J touts Icotyde prescriptions, but not sales, in first full quarter
Johnson & Johnson teased some details on Wednesday morning about how the launch of its expected blockbuster Icotyde performed in the second quarter. Without disclosing how much revenue the plaque psoriasis drug pulled in during ...
Chronic Pancreatitis Therapies Informed by Patient-Derived Organoids
Organoids have become a prevalent tool to bridge the gap between cell and human studies. A new organoid study uncovers chronic pancreatitis development and identifies possible therapeutic strategies. The post Chronic Pancreatitis Therapies Informed by Patient-Derived Organoids appeared first on GEN - Genetic Enginee…
This pet gecko could help scientists unlock the secrets of cancer
An unusual leopard gecko that naturally develops aggressive tumors may become an important new model for cancer research. Scientists found its tumors share key genetic changes with human cancers, offering a rare opportunity to study the disease as it develops naturally.
Nava Therapeutics emerges with $89M for lipid nanoparticles
Nava Therapeutics, a secretive startup that’s been working on a new generation of lipid nanoparticles that target the bone marrow, immune cells and the kidney, has raised $89 million, the company told Endpoints News in ...
Braveheart files for IPO to fund Phase 3 of Hengrui's Cytokinetics rival
Biotechs are sprinting to the IPO queue. In the industry's fourth IPO filing in two weeks, Braveheart Bio is seeking a Nasdaq listing to fuel Phase 3 testing of a cardio drug that could potentially ...
Insilico, Bora Pharma reveal plans for AI-driven manufacturing company
Insilico Medicine and Taiwan-based CDMO Bora Pharmaceuticals are launching a new company with an AI-driven biologics manufacturing platform in a bid to compete with service providers headquartered in China. “What we are trying to create ...
Veradermics declares first efficacy win in women for hair loss drug
Veradermics is for the first time reporting positive efficacy of its oral formulation of minoxidil in female pattern hair loss, which broadens the market potential of its flagship asset. In a mid-stage trial, women with ...
I&I startup Attovia files to go public as biotech listings momentum builds
The tally of biotechs waiting to list in the coming weeks has increased to three, as biologics maker Attovia Therapeutics filed for an initial public offering on Tuesday after the market closed. Attovia, which has ...
AstraZeneca Licenses Global Rights to Dizal Lung Cancer Drug for Up-to-$1.5B
Dizal has been pursuing approvals from the FDA and China’s Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) for a new indication for Zegfrovy, as a first-line treatment for NSCLC with exon 20 insertion EGFR mutations. The post AstraZeneca Licenses Global Rights to Dizal Lung Cancer Drug for Up-to-$1.5B appeared first on GEN - Genet…
Tick-Borne Nairoviruses Use OTU Proteases to Evade Human Antiviral Signals
Beyond familiar tick‑borne diseases, nairoviruses are quietly rising. New biochemical and structural work shows how their OTU proteases strip immune‑signaling tags, offering a foundation for biosurveillance as human infections continue to emerge. The post Tick-Borne Nairoviruses Use OTU Proteases to Evade Human Anti…
Celcuity wins approval for breast cancer drug Revtorpyk
A small public biotech won approval for a breast cancer drug that was designed to improve on similar treatments from Novartis and Roche. The FDA on Tuesday cleared Celcuity's Revtorpyk in combination with fulvestrant, with ...
What's next for BINSA, the House bill restricting China deals
After setting the industry ablaze last month, a bipartisan bill aimed at restricting US biotech companies from striking deals with Chinese counterparts is in limbo. The Biotech Investment National ...
New cell imaging method shines a light on blind spots
Cells are crowded, dynamic places where thousands of molecules interact in tight quarters. Until now, scientists lacked a reliable way to see many of these molecular interactions as they happen. Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have now developed a new imaging method that allows scientists to see pr…
Protein Design’s AI Revolution: Inside David Baker’s “Communal Brain”
A Nobel laureate’s decades-long commitment to open science is reshaping biotechnology in the AI era. Deep learning methods can now design novel proteins across pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biosensors, and more. The post Protein Design’s AI Revolution: Inside David Baker’s “Communal Brain” appeared first on GEN - Genet…
Post-Hoc Live: What’s making biotech IPOs work again?
Late last year, I found myself talking a lot about what it would take for biotech’s budding rally to become a full one. We had deals, good pipeline readouts and a rising public stock market ...
New platform uncovers genetic edits that boost plant-derived compound production
Microorganisms are increasingly being engineered to manufacture valuable compounds ranging from medicines and food ingredients to biofuels and industrial chemicals. However, turning microbes into efficient production platforms requires extensive strain optimization. Finding the right genetic changes to transform an…
Honoring the Innovators Driving AI’s Next Era in Life Sciences and Healthcare
AI Discovery Awards exist to accelerate momentum and connect the most promising teams with compute resources, investor networks, and mentorship needed to move from promising research to bringing products to market. The post Honoring the Innovators Driving AI’s Next Era in Life Sciences and Healthcare appeared first…
DNA origami turns secret messages into nano–Morse code that acts as multiplayer molecular encryption
Mathematics has always been at the core of securing information. From online banking to government communications, modern society relies on cryptography, in which complex mathematical algorithms transform readable information into an unreadable form to keep it secure. But as computing power grows and quantum technol…
Engineers find a precise way to grow artificial blood vessels
Tissue engineers are finding ways to grow living organs and tissues from cells, with the aim of replacing diseased and damaged counterparts in the body. Scientists have successfully grown artificial muscles, livers, kidneys, skin and other tissues. But there's been no reliable way to engineer precisely patterned net…
Novel Epigenetic Therapy Targets Treatment-Resistant and TP53-Mutant AML
The results of a preclinical study across multiple models of acute myeloid leukemia found that the investigational hypomethylating agent, NTX-301 remained effective in treatment-resistant AML and TP53 -mutant AML through activating the Hippo pathway. The post Novel Epigenetic Therapy Targets Treatment-Resistant and…
First-of-its-kind surgery performed on western lowland gorilla at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Mizani, a 12-year-old male western lowland gorilla at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, underwent a first-of-its-kind mastoidectomy to treat an infection that had spread into portions of his skull. The surgery was performed by a multidisciplinary team of wildlife health experts from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and su…
Research brings the era of microbial cell factories one step closer
The era of "biomanufacturing," in which microbes, not petroleum, produce chemical products, is one step closer. A KAIST research team has analyzed the key challenges limiting the commercialization of biomanufacturing and proposed an AI-driven strategy for industrialization.
2.5 million stem cells reveal first genome-scale guide to gene function
A team led by bioengineers at the University of California San Diego has developed a genome-scale reference map that details how individual genes control the functions and identities of human stem cells. This open-access resource could help researchers build virtual cell models for complex diseases, as well as desig…
Creating synthetic life in a lab? SpudCell falls short of the goal, but raises even more useful questions
Nature is beautiful, powerful and essential. But nature is not always gentle. The same biological world that gives rise to forests, coral reefs and human life also produces infections, cancer, genetic disease, crop blights and toxins. Natural processes can heal, sustain and inspire, but they can also destroy.
Drawing the line: Virtual fences trigger the same cattle behavior as physical ones
Virtual fences could make managing grazing livestock on farms more flexible and more efficient while improving animal welfare. A new study by the University of Göttingen shows that virtual fences trigger behavior in cattle similar to that caused by conventional electric fences, in terms of how they move around the f…
Bacteria turn dissolved uranium into stable compound in 130 days, study finds
Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), together with Wismut GmbH and scientists from the University of Granada in Spain, have demonstrated for the first time that bacteria can convert uranium dissolved in water into a stable chemical compound when they have access to glycerol as a food source.
Assessing lab animals with AI
Rutgers Office for Research (OfR) leaders collaborated with researchers around the world to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) program that has the potential to revolutionize lab research.
Harvard scientists turn a silicon chip into a DNA writing machine
Scientists have created a silicon chip that can write dozens of DNA sequences simultaneously using electricity and water-based enzymes, offering a cleaner alternative to conventional DNA manufacturing. The breakthrough could eventually support portable DNA-writing devices and even massive DNA data storage, although…
Planting the future: Researchers put AI to work on the farm
Farmers are getting more tools in their toolbox, thanks to new research from the University of Missouri that shows how they can tweak planting practices to make the most of every acre.
Scientists finally crack nature's secret for building better cancer drugs
Researchers have cracked the code behind bacteria's ability to naturally manufacture multiple versions of powerful anti-cancer drugs. The discovery could make it much easier to engineer new cancer treatments inspired by nature, including improved versions of existing medicines.
Textbooks were wrong: Scientists reveal how human hair really grows
A new study suggests human hair grows in a way scientists never expected. Researchers found that hair is pulled upward by coordinated cell movements inside the follicle rather than simply being pushed out by dividing cells at the root. Advanced 3D imaging revealed a hidden cellular "motor" that helps drive growth.
Scientists solve a 30-year rye pollen mystery that could transform cancer research
Scientists have finally solved a nearly 30-year-old mystery surrounding two unusual molecules found in rye pollen that once showed an intriguing ability to help animals fight tumors. By determining their exact 3D structures, researchers have unlocked the blueprint needed to investigate how these natural compounds in…
The UK’s generational tobacco ban might not work. I’m supporting it anyway.
As the parent of two little girls, I often think about how their childhood is different from mine. The seven-year-old is learning about AI at school. The five-year-old is given internet-based homework every week. And they are both absolutely repulsed by the idea of smoking. That was not the prevailing sentiment when…
Scientists discover a completely different way to fight viruses
Researchers have uncovered an unexpected antiviral defense system in sea anemones that works very differently from the one humans use. The discovery suggests evolution developed multiple ways to combat viruses, challenging long-held ideas about how animal immune systems evolved.
Roundtables: Longevity’s Next Frontier: “Reprogramming” Your Body
Listen to the session or watch below Billions of dollars are flooding into efforts to reverse aging as scientists explore ways to return cells to a younger state. But how far off are these experimental treatments? Will they really work? Watch a conversation exploring longevity’s new focus. Speakers: Mary Beth Griggs…
These tiny soil microbes could rescue crops from salty farmland
Researchers have discovered that beneficial soil bacteria give plants an unexpected survival advantage in salty soils. Instead of helping plants keep salt out, the microbes stimulate the production of lignin, a natural compound that strengthens roots and makes plants more resilient. Greenhouse and field tests showed…
Heat waves mess with your brain. Scientists are trying to figure out why.
It’s been hot in London this week. Really hot. A dangerous heat wave has hit Western Europe. Yesterday, the UK recorded its highest ever June temperature at 36.1 °C (about 97 °F). But as the weather app on my phone confirmed, it felt like 39 °C. It’s frightening that we are seeing such temperatures in…
Why South Africa’s leopards shrank to half their normal size
A hidden population of South African leopards has revealed a remarkable evolutionary story. Researchers analyzing entire leopard genomes discovered that the Cape Floristic Region’s leopards are not only much smaller than most African leopards, but also genetically distinct after being isolated for roughly 20,000 yea…
Stripe, Anthropic, and OpenAI are backing an effort to stop respiratory infections
The common cold comes for us all—often more than once a year. And there is no way to prevent it. The best you can do is take vitamin C and stay away from people with the sniffles. Now the payment company Stripe, founded by brothers Patrick and John Collison, says it will fund a new…
One tiny mutation may explain how bat viruses become human threats
Scientists found that one tiny genetic change can completely alter how a coronavirus behaves in different species. Comparing SARS-CoV-2 with a closely related bat-only virus, they showed that a single amino-acid difference affects whether the immune system fights back or gets suppressed. This may help explain how so…
Scientists finally solved how H5N1 bird flu hid in dairy cows
Researchers uncovered why H5N1 bird flu attacks cows’ udders instead of their lungs: the virus’s preferred receptors are concentrated in mammary tissue. The breakthrough could help scientists predict future bird flu jumps and spot unusual infections before they spread widely.
Brain-computer interface trials are taking off
This week, I covered the story of Casey Harrell—a man with ALS who is “the first power user” of a brain implant, according to the researchers who worked with him. Harrell is paralyzed and unable to speak coherently without the device. He has now spent almost three years using a brain-computer interface (BCI) that en…
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