When Al Robichaud got his start as a medicinal chemist in 1991, he knew that discovering and developing drugs meant shouldering some level of risk. But around 2011, it became clear that the process for developing brain drugs was too costly and risky for major pharmaceutical companies to justify pursuing, as companies including Novartis (NYSE:NVS), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK), […]
Gilead inks $90m deal with Verily to create “molecular map” of inflammatory disease
Gilead Sciences (NSDQ:GILD) is reportedly slated to pay Alphabet’s Verily Life Sciences $90 million over three years to analyze cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and lupus-related diseases. By probing immune cells from patients involved in Gilead’s clinical trials, the companies hope to glean a better understanding of the immunological signatures of RA, […]
Rebiotix develops tool to measure rehabilitation of microbiome
Rebiotix today unveiled its Microbiome Health Index – a tool it created to establish a standard metric that can be used to quantify how effective a microbiome-based therapy is at rehabilitating the human microbiome. The index, which was developed in partnership with data analytics firm BioRankings, combines four bacterial classes into a unidimensional expression of […]
Aprinoia raises $11m for Alzheimer’s imaging, therapy programs
Aprinoia Therapeutics said today that it has raised $11.1 million in a Series B round, led by KTB Network and DCI Partners. The Taiwan-based biotech plans to use its new funds to advance the preclinical and clinical development of its tau PET imaging tracer and therapy programs for people with Alzheimer’s disease. In connection with […]
LifeMine Therapeutics combines AI, drug discovery & microbes with $55m launch
Backed by the likes of Google and Merck (NYSE:MRK), Cambridge, Mass.-based LifeMine Therapeutics launched today by closing a $55 million Series A round. The company calls itself the first to “massively scale the genomic discovery of powerful new drugs from eukaryotic microbes”. LifeMine plans to use artificial intelligence to hunt down drugs hidden within the DNA […]
MedGenome raises $30m for biomarker discovery program
Genomics research and diagnostics company MedGenome said today that it closed a $30 million Series C round led by Sequoia India and Sofina. Zodius Capital, the co-founder & former CEO of Infosys, Kris Gopalakrishnan, and former Cognizant CEO Lakshmi Narayanan also participated in the round. The Foster City, Calif.-based company said it plans to use […]
Takeda partners to develop novel oncology therapies
Takeda Pharmaceutical (TYO:4502), through its subsidiary Millennium Pharmaceuticals, and Molecular Templates said today that the companies inked a deal to collaborate on an oncology drug discovery program. The deal is slated to combine Molecular Templates’ engineered toxin bodies platform with therapeutic targets provided by Takeda. According to the agreement, Takeda will make an equity investment […]
Mayo Clinic, nference launch startup to leverage AI for drug development
Mayo Clinic and nference today launched a startup, Qrativ, focused on drug development driven by artificial intelligence. The company, backed by a $8.3 million Series A round, plans to combine nference’s AI platform and Mayo Clinic’s clinical data. Qrativ hopes to use AI to discover potential new therapeutic indications for drugs earlier in development, in […]
Google backs Decibel Therapeutics in big data hearing loss play
Decibel Therapeutics said today it landed an investment from GV, formerly Google Ventures. GV agreed to make an equity investment in the Boston-based company and lend its capabilities in big data sciences and analytics to Decibel’s efforts in developing therapies for hearing loss and tinnitus. “We are delighted to work with GV to amplify our […]
Study: Induced pluripotent stem cells could yield accurate models for vascular disease
Smooth muscle and vascular endothelial cells induced from pluripotent stem cells could help model rare vascular diseases, according to a study published in Stem Cells Translational Medicine. Vascular diseases are tricky to study because they are hard to model and human tissue samples are scarce. An appropriate model for real blood vessels could enable researchers to […]
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