Med-tech happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Acamp, Coala Life, Emtensor, Illumina, Invivoscribe, Labshares Newton, Meridian Bioscience, Pensees, O-Two Medical Technologies, QuantalRF, Quest Diagnostics, Seastar Medical, Seqll, Stryker, Wright Medical, Sunstar JSC, Synaptive, Wyss Institute.
Keeping you up to date on recent developments in oncology, including: Small tumors and large motion effects dampen treatment effect in IMPT; Pancreatic cancer uses autophagy to hide from immune system; NRF2 wakes sleeping tumor cells; Cancer renders patients more susceptible to COVID-19.
Respiratory complications caused by COVID-19 can propel a patient from a mild cough one day to a ventilator and an ICU only 10 days later. As countries around the world work to stockpile ventilators and citizens continue social distancing measures, biopharma companies are tackling the development of fast-acting therapeutics to disrupt a dire disease trajectory in hospitalized patients. An industry-wide frantic race has ensued. On March 5, BioWorld reported that there were approximately 30 therapeutics and vaccines in development for COVID-19. As of April 28, there were 343 total: 249 therapeutics and 94 vaccines.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Adaptimmune, Bioeclipse, Moderna, Moleculin, Pharmamar, Retrotope, Roche, Sanofi, Shionogi, Zambon.
LONDON – Leading genome sequencing groups are launching the first meta-analysis in the hunt for genetic factors that explain why some people have worse COVID-19 symptoms than others, after agreeing to share patient sequence data from around the world.
Pasadena, Calif.-based Circularity Healthcare LLC has initiated a clinical trial to evaluate its transdermal microcirculation device in COVID-19 patients with underlying health conditions. The aim is to see if use of the noninvasive deoxyhemoglobin vasodilator (from which the product derives its name) improves outcomes in patients suffering from coronavirus-related complications.
Hospitals may be providing patient care outside of normal clinical settings during the COVID-19 outbreak, but this raises the question of how to access patient data systems in these makeshift settings. Arthur Young, president and CEO of Interbit Data Inc., of Natick, Mass., told BioWorld that the company’s solution is to add Internet-based access to its Netsafe system.