Biotech in Belgium: news and updates

argenx llama antibody immuno oncology IPO

News and Trends 22 May 2017

UPDATE: Argenx’s IPO soars to over €100M to prove itself in Phase II

UPDATE (22/05/2017): Argenx has gone above and beyond to secure $115M (€103M) on the NASDAQ. Underwriters claimed all of the shares offered in over allotment, bringing the IPO to 50% more than the initial goal. Rather a lot for a company whose compound has yet to prove itself in Phase II. UPDATE (24/04/2017): Pricing terms have yet to be set, but the […]

May 22, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández

Celyad heart failure cell therapy C Cure

News and Trends 11 May 2017

Celyad gets FDA Fast Track to Tackle Heart Failure with Cell Therapy

Celyad has received Fast Track Designation from the FDA for C-Cure, a cell therapy aimed to treat heart failure with the patient’s own stem cells. Celyad is confident that the announcement of Fast Track Designation from the FDA will help it accelerate the search for a partner to develop C-Cure, a cell therapy for ischemic […]

May 11, 2017 - 1 minutemin - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández

hypermutation biofuels antimicrobial resistance cancer

News and Trends 9 May 2017

Hypermutation could be the Key to Biofuels – and Antibiotic Resistance

Instead of taking a spa vacation, stressed out bacteria start mutating their DNA fast. This nearly suicidal behavior can yield a lucky survivor in nature. For us, it could mean new strategies for biofuel production and fighting antibiotic resistance, researchers say. Researchers from the Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics at KU Leuven, in Belgium, are shining […]

May 9, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Denise Neves Gameiro

News and Trends 2 May 2017

Novartis Gains Access to Celyad’s allogenic CAR-T cell patents

Belgian Celyad is giving Novartis access to its IP for the production of allogeneic CAR-T cells in a non-exclusive license agreement, worth up to €88M. Celyad is developing “off-the-shelf” therapies, based on engineering donor-derived allogeneic T cells. Despite a recent public dispute with its key rival Cellectis regarding the validity of Celyad’s US patents, Novartis has now entered a non-exclusive […]

May 2, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida

News and Trends 19 Apr 2017

Galapagos Shoots Past its IPO in a New Public Round of €315M

After its record €277 IPO on Nasdaq in 2015, Galapagos announced the pricing of its new US public offering at a massive €315M ($338M). Galapagos is clinging to its position as one of the biggest biotechs in Europe. While the Belgian biotech is currently pushing its rheumatoid arthritis candidate filgotinib through Phase III, the new US public offering could give […]

April 19, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida

university ghent grassoline grass biofuel

News and Trends 13 Apr 2017

Belgian Research takes first steps to make Biofuel out of Grass

Researchers from the University of Ghent are using bacteria to turn grass into chemicals for bioplastics and biofuel. Could this process be scaled up to fuel planes? A grass bioconversion project is being developed at the Centre for Microbial Ecology and Technology (CMET) of the University of Ghent, and it has recently taken an important step forward. […]

April 13, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Denise Neves Gameiro

News and Trends 3 Apr 2017

Massive €800M Acquisition of Belgian Biotech treating Menopause

Astellas Pharma is acquiring Ogeda, getting hold of its promising Phase II candidate to treat menopause without hormonal therapy. After acquiring Ganymed Pharmaceuticals last October for a record €1.3B in German biotech, the Japanese Astellas Pharma is making a second massive acquisition in Europe. Its new addition is Ogeda, a Belgian biotech targeting GPCRs to treat gynecological […]

April 3, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández

News and Trends 23 Mar 2017

Galapagos Enters Clinical Trials with New Cystic Fibrosis Drug

Galapagos has announced to kick off a Phase I trial with its novel Cystic Fibrosis potentiator GLPG3067, triggering a €7M milestone payment from AbbVie. Galapagos and AbbVie teamed up in 2013, with the aim of developing a triple combination therapy for the treatment of Cystic Fibrosis (CF). Now, Galapagos announced the start of a Phase […]

March 23, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida

Best in Biotech 15 Mar 2017

What are the Best Countries to Recruit Biotech Talents in 2017?

Before the “who to recruit” phase, an important question is “where?” We ran through the top countries in which to look for talent in biotech and had a look at what you can expect from each cluster. For each one of them, we also referenced some data on the biotech, life science and research ecosystems to […]

March 15, 2017 - 10 minutesmins - By External Contributor

Tigenix AlloCSC 01 stem cell therapy AMI

News and Trends 13 Mar 2017

New Cardiac Stem Cell Therapy passes Phase I/II Trials

TiGenix announces positive one-year results for its phase I/II trial of donor-derived cardiac stem cell therapy in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The Belgian biotech TiGenix is developing allogeneic stem cell therapies. Now the company has announced that its cardiac stem cell therapy AlloCSC-01 reached its primary endpoints in a phase I/II trial. In 2015, the company acquired Coretherapix in a €292M deal for its allogeneic cardiac stem […]

March 13, 2017 - 3 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida

News and Trends 10 Mar 2017

Galapagos finds a Partner to Boost its Pipeline with Drug Combinations

Galapagos and Pharnext will work together to develop low-dose drug combinations that improve drug efficacy and target new indications. Galapagos, the biggest biotech in Belgium, has closed an R&D agreement with the French Pharnext to develop drug combinations of the billion-euro biotech’s drug candidates with already approved drugs. While Pharnext’s focus has been neurodegenerative diseases, the […]

March 10, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández

More News! 2 Feb 2017

Galapagos kicks off a Phase IIa trial for Cystic Fibrosis

After Galapagos and AbbVie expanded their collaboration on cystic fibrosis, Galapagos now announces the start of their Phase IIa trial for a novel cystic fibrosis corrector. Since entering their collaboration with AbbVie on cystic fibrosis (CF) in 2013, Galapagos has received almost €40M in milestone payments from AbbVie. Galapagos now announced the start of a Phase […]

February 2, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida

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