FarmaKology Newsletter - Issue #40

Apr 01, 2020

Today's Startup

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Dicerna is working to improve the lives of people suffering from rare diseases, chronic liver diseases, cardiovascular disease, and viral liver infectious diseases. We discover and develop innovative therapies to stop or turn off destructive disease processes by silencing the genes underlying these processes.Our proprietary, next-generation technology, GalXC™, is a platform that uses the body’s natural biological pathways to silence genes in the liver with a high degree of selectivity and specificity. By targeting genes that contribute to serious diseases, we seek to address the underlying cause of illness and restore health. We have qualified dozens of disease-associated genes in clinical indications where we believe an RNAi-based inhibitor may provide substantial benefit to patients, providing expansive therapeutic opportunities.

News

Japanese hospitals and companies rush to develop COVID-19 remedy

Medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies around Japan are rushing to develop treatments and vaccines for new coronavirus infections.Many hope that existing drugs developed for other illnesses can be swiftly repurposed to treat those infected with the coronavirus, as such drugs have already been tested for safety.The National Center for Global Health and Medicine joined an international clinical trial in March on the use of remdesivir, which is being developed as a remedy for Ebola and was successfully used in Africa, to treat COVID-19 patients.

OncoSil Medical obtains CE Mark and breakthrough device designation for its pancreatic tumour isotope

Medical device company OncoSil Medical has announced that it has finally received the CE Mark from the British Standards Institute for its proprietary OncoSil device – a means of treating locally advanced pancreatic cancer in combination with chemotherapy.The company said OncoSil is a first in class medical device comprising microparticles containing phosphorus-32, a pure beta-emitter radioisotope, implanted directly into a patient’s pancreatic tumour via endoscopic ultrasound guidance.

Apeptico gets EU grant for COVID-19 drug

Austrian APEPTICO has got Horizon 2020 money for accelerated development and clinical use of Solnatide for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.According to the Viennese company, 20% of hospitalised patients with COVID-19 suffer from acute respiratory distress syndrome , a potentially life-threatening complication of infection with SARS-CoV-2. Official numbers indicate that about 6% of all infected patients are in critical stage an must be advised to a critical care unit for the management of sepsis-like disease symptoms in ARDS patients.

Eli Lilly, Sitryx sign potential $880m deal to develop immunometabolic medicines

ُEli Lilly has entered into a potential $880m research deal with Sitryx to discover and develop new immunometabolic medicines.Under an exclusive global licensing and research collaboration, the companies will involve in the assessment of up to four novel preclinical targets detected by Sitryx. The new targets may help develop potential new medicines for autoimmune diseases.