International Biotechnology Trust PLC lessened its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 31.2% in the second quarter, …

BIO is pleased to announce the winners of the  Buzz of BIO contest, which recognizes highly innovative companies in the biotech sector. Ten pioneering biotech companies were nominated in each of three categories-Early Stage Entrepreneurs, Late Stage Leaders, and Diagnostics and Beyond. Voting closed August 30.

Locus Biosciences, a private, emerging biotechnology company, won in the Early Stage Entrepreneurs category. Locus Biosciences is developing CRISPR-engineered precision antibacterial products to address critical unmet medical needs in antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections and microbiome-related disease. Learn more about Locus Biosciences.

Garnering the most votes in the Late Stage Leaders category was Caladrius Biosciences (NASDAQ: CLBS), a clinical stage development company with cell therapy products in development based on multiple technology platforms and targeting autoimmune and select cardiology indications. The Company is investigating its lead product candidate, CLBS03, an ex vivo expanded polyclonal T regulatory cell therapy for the treatment of recent-onset type 1 diabetes in a currently enrolling Phase 2 trial. Learn more about Caladrius Biosciences.

In the category of Diagnostics and Beyond, QT Medical, a medical device startup, took home the grand prize. QT Medical aims to make high quality 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) available to everyone. QT ECG™, the first product of QT Medical, is the world’s most compact 12-lead ECG system. Focusing on innovations in the field of telemedicine and home care, QT Medical invests in research and development of products that will bring better cardiac care to patients. Learn more about QT Medical.

Congratulations to the three companies! Each will receive complimentary conference registration and a company presentation.

The  will take place October 17-18 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco and will focus on investment opportunities for early stage and established private companies as well as emerging public companies.

Advance media registration is now available for qualified reporters working full time for print, broadcast and web publications with valid press credentials.

to learn more about the BIO Investor Forum, including registration, programming, company presentations and partnering information.

[Source: Research & Innovation] Join our webinar on 18 Sept. 2018, 17.00-18.00 CET.
The INCOVER project invites experts in the area of bio-plastics to critically examine the market available for PHAs produced from wastewater. Some of the questions addressed will be:

• Which uses and markets exist for PHAs produced from wastewater treatment plants?
• What would trigger the uptake of wastewater-based PHAs by the market?
• How can sustainability and affordability come together to make this possible?

If you’re still recovering from a Labor Day hangover or busy searching for the identity of the anonymous writer of the anti-Trump op-ed for the New York Times, you may have missed a few biomedical firsts.

This week brought the first sliver of human data from an in-body gene editing procedure, and the results were decidedly undecided (more on that below). China also continued its push in biomedicine with regulators there stamping the first approval of a drug discovered and developed in China.

Elsewhere, top biotech executives on the East and West Coasts are on the move, the Theranos saga… Read more »

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Akcea Therapeutics is laying off 10 percent of its workforce, a move that follows the FDA’s rejection of the company’s rare disease drug last week.

Cambridge, MA-based Akcea (NASDAQ: AKCA) said in a regulatory filing Thursday that the board of directors approved the reorganization plan on Sept. 2. Affected employees were notified Thursday. As of February, Akcea employed 100, according to its annual report. But the company had been beefing up its staff in recent months in preparation for a commercial launch of the drug, volanesorsen (Waylivra). The FDA’s rejection last week scuttled those plans. Akcea said in the filing… Read more »

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Emerging technologies are disrupting the healthcare system as we know it-none more so than artificial intelligence (AI), which has a wide range of applications in the healthcare industry, ranging from medical imaging & diagnosis to therapy planning to system improvement to drug discovery.

And the healthcare AI market is booming.  Recognizing the strength of this market, the BIO Investor Forum will explore its opportunities and challenges during the annual conference in San Francisco, October 17-18. Experts in the field will explore how real-world evidence can improve clinical trials, examine “digiceuticals” as a new class of FDA-approved therapeutics, and discuss how AI can improve drug development in general.

The AI Market

Photo Credit:: Global Market Insights.

Recent analysis of the healthcare AI market illustrates that the market is about to take off like a rocket.  A report by Global Market Insights forecasts that the US healthcare AI market will exceed $10 billion by 2024.  Consequently, capital is rapidly moving to fund and develop products and systems in the AI space.

Global markets are investing in AI abroad as well.  Worldwide, nearly 80 healthcare AI startups raised their first equity rounds in 2017.  Chinese investors alone moved over $10 billion into the larger AI market in 2017, and some European firms have expressed long-term objectives for healthcare AI with the expectation to grow above $800 million by 2024.  Chinese AI start-ups are actually attracting more funding than US AI start-ups.  In 2017, Chinese companies received 48% of global AI funding compared to 38% in the US.

However, the US has established itself as the most proficient market for healthcare AI.  Leading venture capitalist Jim Breyer explained to CNBC this is the case because, “US companies simply have better data, they understand how to analyze that data, and if we’re thinking about big breakthroughs, in improving patient outcome for instance in cancer, worldwide, the US companies have, currently, a very significant lead versus the Chinese companies.”

AI’s Role in Healthcare

AI’s computing power enhances the capacity, speed and accuracy of data analytics.  With the growing volume of data in healthcare, AI can use machine learning to mine large amounts of data points from insurance claims information, comorbidities, diagnostics, procedures and prescription history to identify factors that help predict patient outcomes.  AI is also able to interpret medical imaging from CT scans and MRI scans that enhance the detection of diseases.

AI can augment the patient experience and aid physicians in more accurately diagnosing diseases.  The vision for AI in this context is that, after taking a panel of tests, the technology would read the patient’s complete EHR to predict the totality of a patient’s health risks and the likelihood of responding to a particular therapy.  This could have enormous benefits for the 30 million patients living in with rare diseases as it takes 4.8 years on average for them to receive an accurate diagnosis.

AI Transforms Drug Discovery

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of AI is that it is accelerating the use of big data to forge a new of era of drug discovery where large datasets are scrutinized to find the new generation of breakthrough treatments.

AI can mine the data to help us learn the origins of diseases and better identify the genetic basis of a variety of diseases.  AI uses machine learning and deep learning to sift through datasets to identify genetic biomarkers that indicate whether a patient will be able to respond positively to a potential treatment.  Biopharmaceutical companies may then utilize the findings to target the biomarker with a drug treatment.

One of the richest datasets for AI is a genetic database.  Across therapeutic areas, biopharmaceutical companies are making genetic databases a focus of their research and development processes.  Many of these databases are being developed by direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing companies.

Recently, the industry has seen a rise in partnerships between DTC genetic testing companies and biopharmaceutical companies to collaborate on drug discovery.  For instance, GSK recently announced a collaboration with 23andMe that involves GSK taking an equity stake in 23andMe in exchange for access to the proprietary genetic data.

The partnership will combine 23andMe’s data expertise with GSK’s clinical development expertise to utilize the genetic data to discover novel drug targets for treating diseases.  These types of partnerships may have a significant impact on some of our most complex health challenges.

Be Part of the Conversation about Healthcare AI

On October 17^th and 18^th, an international crowd of biotech investors will gather at BIO’s annual Investor Forum in San Francisco to discuss these issues.  The conference caters to emerging and established companies to discuss the cutting-edge technologies that are driving the biotechnology industry.

BIF will feature experts working at the intersection of information technology, therapy delivery, and new drug development, who can show the exponential power of machine learning and other artificial intelligence approaches to turn data into medicine.

Sanjay Keswani has been appointed CEO of Rheos Medicines. He succeeds Abbie Celniker, the Cambridge, MA, biotech’s interim CEO and a partner at Third Rock Ventures. Celniker will remain on the Rheos board of directors. Keswani comes to Rheos from Roche, where he was senior vice president and global head of neuroscience, ophthalmology, and rare diseases for Roche Pharma Research and Early Development. His experience also includes positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), and Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN). Rheos launched in March with $60 million in Series A financing to support the company’s immunometabolism drug… Read more »

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[Source: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ageing/innovation/index_en.htm] Identifier: H2020-MG-2018-2019-2020Pillar: Societal ChallengesOpening Date: Deadline: Wed, 31 Jan 2018 17:00:00 (Brussels local time)Modification Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2018Latest information: The submission session is now available for: MG-4-4-2018-2019(CSA)

Matt Selman, an executive producer of the show, tweeted a background continuity error in a crucial scene of the “Do It For Her” episode.

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This year’s nominees and finalists for the Xconomy Awards were even more impressive than last year’s (if that’s possible), making it that much tougher for our judges and the editors to pick the winners. There were multiple deserving winners in each category. But after much discussion and debate, we decided that these winners represent the best of the Boston life sciences community.

The winners (listed below) were announced and presented with their awards tonight at our sold-out Awards Gala in Boston. Stay tuned for a slideshow of the event.

2018 WINNERS

Big Idea
Human Cell Atlas
David Liu, Broad… Read more »

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