New treatments
Belgian clinical trials for COVID-19
With COVID-19 cases soaring into the millions, and a vaccine still a ways off, patients are desperate for a treatment. […] May 5, 2020 · BioVox
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 [...] March 25, 2020 · BioVox
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 [...] March 24, 2020 · Turnstone Communications
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. March 24, 2020 · BioVox
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). [...] March 24, 2020 · BioVox
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 [...] February 26, 2020 · V-Bio Ventures
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 […] January 23, 2020 · BioVox
Battling antibiotic resistance: new strategy targets bacterial slime
Researchers have developed a new antibacterial strategy that weakens bacteria by preventing them from cooperating. The method involves attacking the protective biofilm [...] January 22, 2020 · BioVox
How business models shaped our current drug development trends
With the soaring cost of drugs for rare indications, many biotech and pharmaceutical companies are focusing R&D efforts on orphan […] December 17, 2019 · V-Bio Ventures
Magic mushrooms in modern medicine
More than 75 years after the initial discovery of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin and other natural psychoactive drugs, and […] November 26, 2019 · V-Bio Ventures
The million-dollar question: How much do you charge for a lifesaving drug?
The newest generation of ground-breaking gene therapy drugs, Zolgensma and Zynteglo, come with eye-catching price tags of more than a million dollars per treatment. Is the pharma industry recklessly overstepping a line here, or do they fall within current standards of value-based drug pricing? With more of these drugs soon to be rolling out of pharma pipelines, the stakes are rising high for patients, industry, governments, health insurance companies, as well as investors. It all warrants a deeper dive into the case. August 26, 2019 · V-Bio Ventures
How do we reduce the high cost of clinical trials?
Drug development is an exorbitantly expensive endeavor. A large expense factor for developing a new therapy is the high cost of conducting clinical trials. [...] July 18, 2019 · V-Bio Ventures
Living on the edge: the challenge of doing things differently in cell therapy
Belgian company Celyad is a trailblazer in oncology: its T cell therapies based on NK receptors are cutting edge even […] July 17, 2019 · BioVox
Confo Therapeutics and DyNAbind announce drug discovery collaboration to identify novel GPCR-modulating compounds
Ghent, Belgium, and Dresden, Germany – 3 July 2019 – Confo Therapeutics, an emerging drug discovery company, and DyNAbind GmbH […] July 3, 2019 · Turnstone Communications
Miracle microchips improving cell therapy manufacturing
A microchip engineer might seem like an odd fit for a keynote speaker at an event focused on cell therapy, but at Science for health Peter Peumans will [...] June 14, 2019 · BioVox
OCTIMET Oncology tackling cancer with a new captain at the helm
In this VC Views article, V-Bio Ventures introduces one of their portfolio companies, OCTIMET. This Belgian oncology startup just added […] May 29, 2019 · V-Bio Ventures
Battling antibiotic resistance: are we ready for a bacteriophage revival?
The discovery of antibiotics fundamentally changed healthcare in the 20th century. Deadly infections suddenly became treatable and millions of lives […] March 12, 2019 · BioVox
Orphan CNS diseases receive attention with new Minoryx site in Belgium
The Spanish start-up Minoryx Therapeutics recently opened a subsidiary in Belgium to further their research on treatments for rare and […] March 4, 2019 · BioVox
Are we spending too much money on cancer drugs?
November is classically the month where immunotherapy takes center stage, especially at the annual conference of the Society for Immunotherapy […] January 22, 2019 · V-Bio Ventures
argenx signs billion-dollar deal with Janssen
Another Belgian biotech on the up and up: argenx just closed a billion-dollar deal with Janssen Pharmaceutica for their antibody […] December 4, 2018 · Turnstone Communications
Battling antibiotic resistance: a new protein powered solution
The discovery of antibiotics fundamentally changed healthcare in the 20th century. Deadly infections suddenly became treatable and millions of lives […] November 27, 2018 · BioVox
Bringing clinical trials into the home
Lowering the costs of drug development is more important than ever; with the increasing pressure on drug pricing and billions […] October 2, 2018 · V-Bio Ventures
Saving lives through fundamental research: James Allison wins Dr. Paul Janssen Award 2018
Dr. James Allison has dedicated his career to improving our fundamental understanding of how the adaptive immune system works. Much […] September 18, 2018 · Janssen Pharmaceutica
Forever young: the science of aging well
“Is aging a disease?” For a long time, the answer to this question seemed obvious: aging is a natural thing […] August 28, 2018 · V-Bio Ventures
Galapagos and MorphoSys to receive up to EUR 850mil in deal with Novartis
Galapagos (Belgium) and MorphoSys (Germany) recently announced that they have entered into an exclusive global license agreement with Novartis. The […] July 31, 2018 · BioVox
Curing hay fever - ASIT Biotech allergy vaccines
The sun is shining, the grass is green, but hay fever season is at its peak! Many people (myself included) will spend a lot of money on antihistamines and [...] June 12, 2018 · Turnstone Communications
CD3 as co-creator of drugs with academia and pharma
The Center for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3), based in Leuven, bridges the gap between innovative biomedical research emerging from […] May 28, 2018 · Turnstone Communications
Stem cell patch restores vision to the blind
A stem cell patch has successfully restored sight to two blind patients in the UK. The Phase I trial is […] April 17, 2018 · BioVox
UCB psoriasis drug approved for use in mothers
The UCB core drug CIMZIA® has just been approved by European Medicines Agency (EMA) for use in pregnant and breastfeeding […] March 19, 2018 · Turnstone Communications
Is innovation killing the pharmaceutical industry?
In the past few years, the speed at which new drugs have been coming to the market has accelerated significantly […] March 18, 2018 · V-Bio Ventures
WHO report ranks deadly diseases in need of drugs
The World Health Organization recently released a report outlining the imminent threat of antimicrobial-resistant diseases. In the midst of such […] February 19, 2018 · BioVox
The Cystic Fibrosis association pushes research to the next level
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a life-threatening disease, for which there is currently no treatment. There are some drugs on the […] February 19, 2018 · BioVox
Growing organs in the lab: science or science fiction?
Catherine Verfaillie was very close to being an Olympic athlete in heptathlon, but due to a major knee injury, she […] January 18, 2018 · BioVox
Rewind Therapeutics secures funding for Multiple Sclerosis research
Rewind Therapeutics, a privately held Belgian biotech company, completed a € 15.2 million Series A financing to develop novel re-myelinating […] January 11, 2018 · Turnstone Communications
reMYND brings in Novo Nordisk to develop diabetes therapy
reMYND entered into a license agreement to further develop novel treatments improving beta-cell health and insulin signalling with Novo Nordisk. […] January 11, 2018 · Turnstone Communications
Celyad: CAR-T cells with natural killer skills fight cancer
Celyad, based in Mont-Saint-Guibert (Belgium), was originally established in 2004 as a company active in regenerative cell therapy. However, two […] January 9, 2018 · Turnstone Communications
New cures for hereditary diseases around the corner?
Hereditary diseases are caused by mutations or deletions in (single) genes that lead to either dysfunctional or inadequate levels of […] December 18, 2017 · V-Bio Ventures
Vaccinating against cancer with dendritic cells
Founded as a spin-off from the French Blood Bank, PDC*line Pharma is focused on developing immunotherapeutic vaccines. These vaccines contain [...] November 12, 2017 · Turnstone Communications
AI improves patient care
Curing and caring for patients is a comprehensive process that requires research to discover new drugs, clinical trials to test […] October 16, 2017 · BioVox
Diagnosed with lung cancer
A patient diagnosed with lung cancer should brace for the worst. Prognosis is often very disappointing. While in many cancers […] October 16, 2017 · Turnstone Communications
Very promising cancer treatment: RNAi immunotherapy
RXi Pharmaceuticals was co-founded by Craig Mello, PhD, the co-recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery […] October 10, 2017 · BioVox
Dendritic cells boosted with mRNA form promising cancer immunotherapy
With its expertise in mRNA production and knowledge of the biology of dendritic cells, eTheRNA has developed TriMix, a new […] September 11, 2017 · Turnstone Communications
IDO 1: a promising new target for immunotherapy
iTeos Therapeutics started in 2012 as a spin-off from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR), one of the top […] June 12, 2017 · Turnstone Communications
Immunotherapy: a paradigm shift in cancer treatment
An excerpt from the BioVox White paper on Cancer Immunotherapy.
June 12, 2017 · BioVox
Using bacteria to fight obesity and diabetes
Using the gut bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila to treat obese and diabetic patients is now one step closer to becoming a […] February 13, 2017 · Turnstone Communications
Confo Therapeutics: Drugging the Undruggable
Llama single-domain antibodies have found yet another application, one that Confo Therapeutics is fully exploiting. Ablynx is developing Nanobodies®, AgroSavfe […] December 13, 2016 · V-Bio Ventures
Animal venom: a pharmacological goldmine
Until recently, not many people had heard of Alphabiotoxine—a rapidly developing Belgian company and the largest producer of diverse animal […] December 6, 2016 · BioVox
How to explain the Galapagos peak
Since mid-September, Galapagos’ shares have been rising explosively and reaching new all-time highs. This was curious, since the company has […] October 14, 2016 · BioVox
CAR-T: The T-cell training program to fight cancer
Immunotherapy is by far the hottest topic in the cancer research world. One immune approach in particular has created high […] July 14, 2016 · BioVox
All in on cancer immunotherapy
Founded in 2011, iTeos Therapeutics began its activities at the end of 2012. Active in the field of cancer immunotherapy, […] June 13, 2016 · Turnstone Communications
Anti-cancer vaccine around the corner
Researchers in the group of Prof. Dr. Peter Vandenabeele (VIB/UGent) show that killed tumour cells can serve as a potent […] April 5, 2016 · BioVox
Cell therapy for bone injuries - Wim Goemaere
Bone Therapeutics started as a spin-off from the ULB in 2006. Prof. Valérie Gangji and Dr. Enrico Bastianelli founded the […] November 9, 2015 · BioVox
The success of adipose stem cells
Cell therapy specialist TiGenix has announced that their product for the treatment of complex perianal fistulas, Cx601, has met the […] September 21, 2015 · BioVox
Fungi-derived chitosan for weight loss
The prevalence of obesity has more than doubled worldwide in the past couple of decades. Herstal-based biotech company KitoZyme may […] August 13, 2015 · BioVox
A look across the border at cancer research and drug discovery
Jan Hoflack is chief scientific officer at the Dijon-based Oncodesign, a drug discovery company and oncology service provider. Hoflack joined […] July 20, 2015 · Turnstone Communications
Regenerative cells for treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Recent research conducted by Marinee Chuah and Thierry VandenDriessche (Gene Therapy and Regenerative Medicine) is being featured on the cover […] July 6, 2015 · Turnstone Communications
World’s first regenerative product for heart failure
Celyad developed a breakthrough Cardiopoiesis platform designed to differentiate stem cells into cardiac cells to treat heart failure and acute myocardial infarction. [...] June 26, 2015 · Turnstone Communications
Nanobodies®: small magical molecules for big difficult diseases
One of Belgium’s established biotech companies, Ablynx, has developed an innovative platform to produce small therapeutic proteins, called Nanobodies. These […] June 1, 2015 · Turnstone Communications
How to prevent Ebola's perfect storm?
The 2014 Ebola outbreak was devastating. The virus affected 4 West African countries: Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, killing […] May 5, 2015 · BioVox
Stem Cell Therapy is big in Wallonia
What do Bone Therapeutics, Cardio3 Biosciences and Imcyse all have in common? They focus on stem cell therapy and are all linked to the Laboratory of Cell and Gene Therapy (LTCG) [...] April 30, 2015 · Turnstone Communications
Cancer immunotherapy: the ultimate ally in the tumor war
Can immunotherapy cure cancer? Fighting cancer with our own immune system. It sounds promising. At the end of the 1800s, […] March 30, 2015 · BioVox