Promise Bio Ltd. emerged from stealth with $8.3 million in seed investment for its precision medicine platform, which addresses immune-mediated diseases. The funding will be used to accelerate the development of the company’s technology that analyzes proteins and their post-translational modifications to predict the treatment responses of patients with immune-mediated diseases.

The FDA’s final guidance for predetermined change control plans (PCCPs) for AI products contains a number of editorial changes, some more significant than others.

As the average cost of new drug R&D continues to skyrocket, the perception around using artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool to boost drug discovery is changing. “Developing new AI-based drugs is a difficult task, not only for Korea but also for countries with leading AI technology,” Hyeyun Jung, principal researcher of Korea Health Industry Development Institute’s Center for Health Industry Policy, told the audience at the Bio Korea meeting on May 9. “But there is a change in perception; [namely that] applying AI to new drug development is not an option but a necessity.”

With the recent hack of Change Healthcare back in the news, a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives took up the subject of cybersecurity, which included only a couple of mentions of medical devices. However, witnesses at the hearing emphasized the role of the federal government in thwarting foreign cybersecurity threats against health care facilities, with John Riggi of the American Hospital Association stating, “we need the [federal] government to go after bad actors overseas.”

With the number of people with dementia in Australia expected to nearly double by 2054, the federal government is funding a new AU$50 million (US$32.76 million) biomedical and med-tech incubator program to develop new therapies, medical devices and digital health technologies to address dementia and cognitive decline.

Researchers have used explainable artificial intelligence (explainable AI) to find structurally new antibiotics with minimal toxicity. They reported their findings online in Nature on Dec. 20, 2023. In animal testing, compounds identified via the method showed that they had activity against drug-resistant gram-positive bacteria including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), one of the most serious bacterial public health threats.

Proteome analysis with artificial intelligence has made it possible to create a catalog of all possible missense mutations in the human genome to predict diseases. The new Alphamissense tool from the technology company Google Deepmind, available online, will allow scientists to refine diagnoses and design more tailored treatment strategies for patients suffering from pathologies associated with these variants.

Vesalius Biocapital Partners Sàrl has called a first close on its fourth fund at €95 million (US$103 million) and now is targeting a total of €150 million, with new investors to be accepted on a "rolling closing" basis until the final close in 2024.

The researchers who enabled patients with spinal cord injuries to walk independently after implanting programmable electrodes below their lesions have now taken things one step further, restoring direct communication from the brain to the spinal cord, enabling the brain rather than an external computer to direct leg movements.

Sofinnova Partners launched a new investment strategy focused on digital medicine in a sign that investment in European startups, especially those at the intersection of biology, data and computation is returning. “It cannot be stressed enough that there is a need in the market for this,” said Edward Kliphuis, partner in the Sofinnova Digital Medicine Strategy.