Euro Biotechnology

Mark Litton has been appointed president and chief operating officer of Alpine Immune Sciences (NASDAQ: ALPN). Litton comes to the Seattle drug developer from Bothell, WA-based Alder BioPharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALDR), where he had been chief business officer and treasurer since its founding in 2004. Jay Venkatesan, who was Alpine’s president, will continue to serve as a director of the company and resume his role as a managing partner at Alpine BioVentures. Alpine, founded by former Dendreon CEO Mitch Gold, is developing protein-based immunotherapies to treat cancer and autoimmune disorders, among other diseases.

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Being a newcomer can mean a few different things: being new to the area (or newly back after being away) or new to an industry. The finalists for Xconomy’s Newcomer Award this year cover these definitions. One is a serial biotech entrepreneur who has now made an impact in multiple cities, most recently Boston. Another has traveled across the country to take a Boston-area biotech to new heights. Read on for details on these and two other nominees below. The winner will be named at a gala on Sept. 5. in Boston.

(Read about the finalists in the CEO,… Read more »

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[Source: Research & Innovation] This event will be dedicated to the exchange of knowledge from current running European collaborative projects and industrial development dedicated to post lithium for stationary or electrical mobility. It is organised in the framework of the ALISE and ALION EU funded Horizon 2020 projects developing post-lithium batteries.

More info on ALION : http://alionproject.eu/

More info on ALISE : http://www.aliseproject.com/

Vote for “Gene Editing and The Future of Food and Agriculture” panel at the 2019 SXSW Conference and Festival in Austin, TX, March 8-17, 2019!

It seems like every where you turn, somehow, someway, gene editing is being talked about. Just recently, 60 minutes ran a piece about the tremendous promise gene editing tools like CRISPR hold in human health. For the first time ever, CRISPR is being licensed to agricultural companies like J.R. Simplot Company to sustainably produce enough food to feed a growing planet, keep food fresh longer and reduce food waste. Not to mention, gene editing is being studied as a solution to some of the world’s toughest, most urgent challenges, like the citrus-greening disease that is wiping out Florida’s orange groves.

So, it makes since that at the 2019 SXSW Conference and Festival in Austin, TX, gene editing take center stage. The world’s largest gathering of creative professionals, SXSW has evolved from a music and film festival to an expansive display of innovations happening across industries. From Health & MedTech, to Social & Global Impact, to Media & Journalism, SXSW covers it all.

To ensure the innovation of gene editing takes center stage, BIO has teamed up with the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) to put together a panel on “Gene Editing and The Future of Food & Agriculture.” Representing academia and farmers, the panel will use case studies to discuss some of the biggest challenges facing modern ag today and explore how science (gene editing) will shape our future. Additionally, the panel will provide unparalleled insights into gene editing innovations coming down the pipeline and the social conversation around gene editing.

Panelists include:

• Brandon McFadden, Asst. Professor, Department of Applied Economics & Statistics, University of Delaware
• Randy Spronk, Farmer, Spronk Brothers III LLP and Ranger Farms LLP
• Fred Gmitter, Professor, University of Florida Citrus Research and Extension Center

Vote and learn more about the “Gene Editing and The Future of Food & Agriculture” here. Voting for the 2019 SXSW panels is open now until Thursday, August 30 – click here to create an Outlook reminder to vote before it ends! To vote, you’ll need to create a free SXSW account first (takes less than one minute), then you’re all set. Each account is allowed one vote during the voting period, so be sure you vote correctly.

For more information about the 2019 SXSW Festival and Conference, and to register to attend, click here.

May Orfali has been appointed chief medical officer of CANbridge Life Sciences. She will replace Mark Goldberg, who was serving as interim chief medical officer. CANbridge, which is based in Beijing, China, and has additional sites in Shanghai and Cambridge, MA, takes Western drug candidates and develops them for the markets in China, Korea, and Taiwan. Orfali, who was most recently executive director of global product development at Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), will be based in Cambridge.

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[Source: Research & Innovation] Applied theatre tells a story not for the purposes of entertainment but for social, economic, political or therapeutic reasons. EU-funded researchers have been examining the growth and impact of this form of theatre across the world.

Elanco, the animal health business of Eli Lilly, has filed for an IPO, setting in motion the process of splitting from its parent company of more than 60 years.

Greenfield, IN-based Elanco set a preliminary $100 million target in the IPO filing, a figure used to calculate the registration fee. IPO research firm Renaissance Capital estimates that Elanco’s IPO-if it happens-could raise as much as $2.5 billion. Elanco has yet to determine how many shares it will sell and at what price. It has applied for a New York Stock Exchange listing under the stock symbol “ELAN.”

The Elanco IPO plans… Read more »

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Thomas Hughes is leaving Zafgen, which he led for nine years, in order to take the top job at another biotech company.

The job change comes 10 months after Hughes resigned as CEO of Zafgen (NASDAQ: ZFGN) and took on a new role as the Boston company’s president and chief scientific officer. Zafgen announced Hughes’ resignation from that role Thursday after the market close. Soon afterward, Cambridge, MA-based Navitor Pharmaceuticals announced that Hughes has been appointed that company’s new CEO.

Hughes joined Zafgen in 2008, leaving a post at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research to take the CEO… Read more »

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The food and agriculture industry is on the verge of unleashing the potential that the convergence of biotechnology and data science can hold for the sector. Advances in genome editing, artificial intelligence, and remote sensing hold enormous potential to enhance human, animal, and environmental health, and enabling this progress will require dialogue and collaboration between different segments of industry, government, and civil society.

BIO Latin America, taking place on September 4-5, in São Paulo, will convene thought leaders from the region and around the world to discuss advances in health, agricultural, and environmental technologies, and the policy environment needed  to enable the commercialization of these technologies. Panel discussion topics will include the convergence of technologies, intellectual property protection, and biotech entrepreneurship.

In addition to the panel discussions, the conference, hosted by BIO and Biominas Brazil, will bring together high-level executives, industry leaders, policy makers, entrepreneurs, academics and investors from around the globe to debate trends, navigate industry challenges, access innovative companies, conduct 1×1 partnering meetings and discover new collaboration and deal making opportunities.

Our profiles of the finalists for this year’s Xconomy Awards roll on today with a look at the nominees for the Contrarian award.

These finalists have been nominated for different reasons. One, for instance, may have paved the way for gene therapies to be commercially adopted in the U.S., by being the first insurer to agree to a new type of payment model. This could be exceedingly important in the years to come as more pricey therapies head to the FDA for approval. Another nominee is building a closely watched biotech in a very unusual way, and another is taking a… Read more »

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