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Biomedical/pharma

Biomedical/pharma, Infectious disease, Personal/public health, Public health

Biogazelle initiates large-scale testing of COVID-19 in Belgium

Ghent, Belgium, April 2, 2020 - Biogazelle NV, a CRO specialized in RNA analytics, has announced the initiation of large-scale testing of patient samples for SARS-CoV-2. Biogazelle is providing one of the multiple testing sites in a government-led consortium of pharma, biotech, IT and academia, alongside Janssen Pharmaceutica (J&J), GSK, UCB, UgenTec, MIPS and ThermoFisher.

Potential impact of the corona crisis on the life sciences industry

Over the past few months, every news headline has focused on COVID-19. The industry is accelerating its own in-house research to match the pace of the pandemic. The business development market is wide open, as large and mid-sized pharma companies are interested in partnering with early stage initiatives to advance investigational COVID-19 programs (in addition to pursuing their own in-house activities).

University Hospital Ghent and VIB are testing medication to treat COVID-19-associated respiratory illness

University Hospital Ghent and VIB are assessing a drug called Leukine® to treat patients with respiratory illness associated with COVID-19.  Major medical centers in Germany and Italy are considering joining the study.  The study will evaluate the effect of Leukine® on lung function and patient outcomes.

ElmediX wants to stop coronavirus by heating patients in a controlled manner

Mechelen, Belgium, 24 March 2020 - The coronavirus has brought the whole world to a standstill. The Belgian company ElmediX wants to contain the virus with intensive heat treatments for corona patients. Controlled heating to 41.5 °C for three hours can inactivate the virus and activate the patient's immune system. ElmediX has launched a call to researchers and doctors and makes the technology available in the fight against the coronavirus.

Janssen Pharmaceutica and Filliers Distillery make disinfectant hand gel

Pharmaceutical company Janssen Pharmaceutica and gin distillery Filliers Distillery are making disinfectant hand gel from Sunday. They will distribute it among the Belgian hospitals.

Professors of Product Development from UAntwerp are looking at emergency production of mouth masks

At the University of Antwerp, twelve product developers are working day and night to develop oral masks. "Together with industrial partners, we try to set up an emergency production for protective equipment for health workers during this corona crisis".

The long-distance race for a corona vaccine

Developing a vaccine takes a long time and occurs in different phases. A virus spreads quickly and unpredictably. Therefore, the outcome is a gamble for anyone in the race for the corona vaccine.

Gates Foundation commissions large coronavirus study from KU Leuven

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is to provide samples of 15,000 therapeutic molecules to the Gasthuisberg hospital at the University of Leuven, to aid research into therapies to combat the coronavirus COVID-19, De Standaard reports.

VIB achieves important milestone in the development of a COVID-19 drug

Earlier this year, the lab of Xavier Saelens (VIB-UGent) announced the discovery of a unique antibody that is capable of binding the virus that causes COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2). The antibody was developed in collaboration with two research groups in the US. The team has now established that the antibody can neutralize a lab variant of the virus, an important step forward in the development of a potential antiviral drug against the new coronavirus. This progress was made possible thanks to the intensive efforts of various teams in the VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology.

Augustine Therapeutics: bridging the valley of death with VIB Discovery Sciences

Augustine Therapeutics is one of VIB’s latest spinoffs, developing a first-in-class drug for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. The company recently announced a seed-funding round of €4.2 million, led by V-Bio Ventures. We spoke to several of the key persons in Augustine about how the startup is tackling the “Valley of Death”: the no-man’s-land between academia and industry where many potential therapies often fail.

Why everyone needs to be a part of the CRISPR conversation

Hetty Helsmoortel is a science communicator who has dedicated herself to bringing research breakthroughs to a broader audience. In her recent book “De Geknipte Genen”, she tackles CRISPR: a revolutionary gene editing technology whose applications raise tricky ethical questions. We sat down with Dr. Helsmoortel to discuss her views on CRISPR’s potential and why she feels it is so important for the public to be well informed on this technical topic.

Belgian initiatives boosting animal-free innovation

Animals have been used throughout history to understand human physiology and to resolve scientific questions related to health and disease. Nowadays, however, both scientists and the public are pushing for better options to animal testing, and so increasing efforts are being put into developing and promoting these alternative methods. Two such initiatives are being spearheaded by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB): The Innovation Centre for 3R Alternatives (IC-3Rs) and the RE-Place project.

Montis Biosciences launched with €8.4 million seed financing and a novel approach to immuno-oncology

Leuven, Belgium, Feb 20th 2020 - Montis Biosciences announces its launch with €8,4 million in seed financing from an international investor syndicate to investigate interactions between perivascular macrophages and tumor vasculature. The company’s mission is to exploit these cellular interactions with therapeutics to drive and sustain immune reactions against solid tumors.

PharmaFluidics announces product range extension for its µPACᵀᴹ chromatography chips to serve new biopharma markets

Ghent, Belgium, February 10, 2020 - PharmaFluidics NV, an innovative player in the field of analytical chromatography, announces a product range extension into capillary flow rate liquid chromatography (capillary LC).  PharmaFluidics initiates commercial supplies of its new µPAC™ capLC column, bringing unprecedented sensitivity, reproducibility and robustness to a new range of customers worldwide, including the biopharmaceutical industry. PharmaFluidics’ unique high-resolution µPAC™ micro-Chip technology enables separation and detection of individual compounds in complex biological samples such as biopsies, proteome digests, culture media or biopharmaceutical actives, with unmatched precision.

Could tick saliva help save lives?

The biotech Bioxodes is using a molecule derived from tick saliva to stop blood clots. The Walloon company is focused on preventing thrombosis during procedures involving medical devices. The current gold-standard anticoagulant can cause unwanted bleeding and side effects; could a molecule derived from ticks really be safer?