V-Bio Ventures portfolio company Dualyx raises €40 million to progress Treg therapies for autoimmune diseases into the clinic
Use of proceeds will enable the development of the Company’s lead autoimmune program DT-001, targeting TNFR2, as well as its pipeline of Treg candidates Financing co-led by Fountain Healthcare Partners, Forbion and Andera Partners with support from existing investors Bernard Coulie appointed as Independent Chairman with immediate effect Ghent, Belgium, 15 May 2023 – […]
Corteria: a new strategy and approach to treating heart failure
Corteria Pharmaceuticals is developing transformative therapies for heart failure subpopulations most likely to benefit from the company’s novel cardiorenal treatments. The company was founded in 2021 by Sanofi’s former head of cardiovascular research, Philip Janiak, and Marie-Laure Ozoux, former cardiovascular project leader at Sanofi.
CoMoveIT: patient-driven mobility solutions for people with complex movement disorders
CoMoveIT is a striking example of how visionary ideas can be turned into life-changing innovations once the right technology becomes available. We spoke with CoMoveIT’s CTO, Sotirios Gakopoulos, about the Belgian company’s unique solution to improve the mobility of patients with complex movement disorders, like cerebral palsy.
Dosing flash radiation for the future of cancer treatment
Flash radiation has the potential to become a revolution in radiation therapy. An incredibly promising cancer treatment that limits the damage to surrounding tissue, it is currently in the pre-clinical stage. MEDVIA-funded project eFlash2D is working to assure that dosing is ready when flash radiation enters clinical trials.
V-Bio Ventures portfolio company Confo Therapeutics Announces Global Licensing Agreement with Lilly for Peripheral Pain Candidate, CFTX-1554
Confo to receive upfront and milestone payments totaling $630M Company is eligible for up to $590M in additional milestones if Lilly proceeds with a second product candidate Tiered royalties payable to Confo on net sales Confo to have a co-investment option Ghent, Belgium – March 2, 2023 – Confo Therapeutics, a leader in the […]
CMT Research Foundation (USA) collaborates with Augustine Therapeutics on new therapy against Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease
Leuven, Belgium, 02 March 2023 – Augustine Therapeutics announces a collaboration with the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Research Foundation (CMTRF) in the USA. CMTRF is a US-based, patient-led, non-profit focused on delivering treatments for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT). With the financial support of CMTRF, Augustine Tx will investigate the efficacy and safety of their newly discovered class of selective HDAC6 […]
Coave Therapeutics: redecorating viral vectors for improved gene therapies
Coave Therapeutics is a French biotech developing gene therapies for neurodegenerative and ocular diseases. The company has developed a technology platform that can be used to redecorate the outer surface of viruses, creating gene therapy vectors that are better at accurately delivering healthy genes to the right target cells, including neurons in the deep brain tissue. By combining this vector technology with transgenes restoring natural cell cleaning pathways, the company has created a pipeline of therapies for both genetically and non-genetically defined neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
The chaos of choice: how do people pick their food products?
Every family needs groceries, and most people regularly venture to the supermarket to gather supplies. If researchers can help shoppers make healthier choices, we can improve the obesity problem in a simple yet effective way. But until recently, nobody really understood what motivated people to choose certain products – we knew what they bought, but […]
Cancer vaccines: not only treating tumors, but preventing them too
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought vaccines back into the drug development spotlight, and mRNA vaccines are stealing the show with sales of USD 54.4 billion in 2021 alone. Few know that the developers of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines actually drew upon years of experience attempting to develop cancer vaccines. This approach goes back several decades, and although the field has to date seen limited success, it has nevertheless witnessed a renewed interests in recent years. We examine the latest trends in cancer vaccine development, and where the opportunities lie for the future of the industry.
New personalized cancer vaccine in the making thanks to unique Belgian collaboration
The young Belgian start-up Persomed is unique – it was founded in 2020 by four partners each with relevant expertise in the personalized immunotherapy field: myNEO, QbD Group, Antleron, and the VUB. Together, the multidisciplinary strength and expertise has resulted in the development of Persomed’s cutting-edge technology platform for personalized cancer treatments. The organization is now at crucial point, raising funds to initiate a clinical trial phase I in a first, urgent-medical-need indication: metastatic colorectal cancer.
Marfan patients team up with researchers to catch their silent killer
The world’s undiagnosed Marfan patients often go through life unaware of the hidden killer lurking in their DNA – a gene variant which may lead to sudden death at any moment via an aortic dissection. Currently, there is no therapy available to counteract this disastrous aortic event, so patient awareness of their condition is key to prevention. To learn more about Marfan syndrome and improve diagnosis, our project needs patients to enroll online in our research cohort. In this way, patients can themselves help us contribute to new therapies and averting sudden deaths.
Rejuvenate Biomed’s newly appointed Clinical Advisory Board endorses Clinical Phase 2b strategy in sarcopenia
Diepenbeek, Belgium, 15 November 2022 – Rejuvenate Biomed NV (“Rejuvenate”), a biomedical company developing novel combination drugs for age-related diseases, organized a Clinical Advisory Board meeting to discuss the clinical development of lead candidate RJx-01 in sarcopenia. After a fruitful brainstorming session, the Clinical Advisory Board supported the Phase 2b trial design, which will be […]
Intressa Vascular secures EUR 18 million in financing to support the development of its multilayer Allay™ Aortic Stent for the treatment of aortic dissection
Intressa Vascular is using its proprietary stent braiding technology to develop an innovative multilayer stent for the treatment of aortic dissection, a life-threatening cardiovascular condition affecting worldwide 300,000 patients annually. The company has secured EUR 18 million in financing with the support of new investors and the Walloon Region. Funds are aimed at clinical studies and product registration purposes.
Gene therapy challenges and the solutions in sight
Dr. Federico Mingozzi is the CSO of Spark Therapeutics, the company behind Luxturna – the world’s first FDA-approved gene therapy for a genetic disease. Though we like to focus on success stories like Luxturna, the reality is that gene therapy is a new modality, and the field is still developing. We spoke to Dr. Mingozzi about some of the technical challenges currently hampering progress in gene therapy, and how people are working together to overcome these hurdles.
Picking up early signals: SPINOVIT to prevent cardiovascular diseases with new monitoring method
Preventing cardiovascular diseases before the first symptoms arise? That’s the ambition of SPINOVIT – a Louvain-La-Neuve company using a new biomarker and innovative technology to achieve its goal. A large clinical trial should be finished in 2023, after which the young company’s product will be launched on the market. In the long term, SPINOVIT’s solution could become part of people’s annual blood check-ups.