October 2021
If authorised, Merck & Co’s molnupiravir, which is designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of the virus, would be the first oral antiviral medication for COVID-19. It could halve the chances of dying or being hospitalized for those most at risk of contracting severe COVID-19:
Birmingham is set to vastly expand its life science and digital healthcare capabilities over the next decade with the construction of its vast Health Innovation Campus (BHIC) in Selly Oak - a partnership between Bruntwood SciTech and the University of Birmingham:
Topline results from the phase 3 Cov-Compare trial comparing Valneva’s VLA2001 COVID-19 vaccine candidate against the AstraZeneca AZD1222 (ChAdOx1-S) vaccine showed that VLA2001 generated a stronger immune response:
Daily exposure to phthalates, a group of chemicals used in everything from plastic containers to makeup, and known for decades to be “hormone disruptors,” affecting the endocrine system, may lead to approximately 100,000 deaths in older Americans annually:
Metrion Biosciences, a specialist ion channel contract research and drug discovery company, has moved into new headquarters on Granta Park, Cambridge, which more than doubles its laboratory space:
An international consortium of collaborators facilitated by an alliance between the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), and PATH are developing a new egg-based vaccine to tackle COVID-19, inspired by influenza vaccines:
Medical research and practice have long assumed a narrow definition of the ‘default’ human, badly compromising the care of anyone outside that category. How can this be fixed?
David Frost, Brexit Minister, has promised a “review of the inherited approach to genetically modified organisms”, which include insects and soil bacteria used in farming, along with reform of “outdated EU legislation” around medical devices and clinical trials. This, he suggested, would help British research and development and speed up access to lifesaving medicines for patients:
Cambridge will see further facilities built for its booming life sciences sector following BioMed Realty’s acquisition of two new future laboratory sites at Cambridge International Technology Park on Fulbourn Road, and at Granta Park:
A new industry-academic partnership between the University of Oxford and biopharmaceutical company NuCana as found in a Phase 1 clinical trial that a chemotherapy drug NUC-7738, derived from a Himalayan fungus Cordyceps sinensis, has 40 times greater potency for killing cancer cells than its parent compound:
