Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Children's Investment Fund Foundation, Pfizer and Becton, Dickinson & Company expand partnership for greater access to injectable contraceptive for women in low- and lower-middle-income countries
To help enable greater access to injectable contraceptives for millions of women in low- and lower-middle income countries, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Pfizer and Becton, Dickinson & Company (BD) announced the expansion of their nearly decade-long collaboration. The expanded collaboration is expected to deliver more than 320 million doses of Pfizer's injectable contraceptive, Sayana® Press (medroxyprogesterone acetate)(1) administered by BD Uniject™ Auto-Disable Prefillable Injection System, through 2030.
Read more ...
AI drives new era of target identification and drug design
Disease modeling and target identification are critical and time-consuming portions of the drug discovery process and areas where artificial intelligence (AI) is already making a substantial impact. A new opinion paper in the Cell Press journal Trends in Pharmacological Sciences traces the history of target discovery methods - from experimental approaches, to
Read more ...
Pfizer announces New England Journal of Medicine publication on Group B Streptococcus (GBS) maternal vaccine candidate
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) announced data from a Phase 2 study investigating its hexavalent capsular polysaccharide (CPS) conjugate Group B Streptococcus (GBS) vaccine candidate, GBS6, being developed for maternal administration to protect infants against invasive GBS disease. In stage two of the three-part study, which enrolled 360 healthy pregnant individuals, GBS6 generated robust maternal antibody responses against the six GBS CPS serotypes included in the vaccine, and these antibodies were efficiently transferred to infants at ratios of ~0.4-1.3 depending on GBS6 group.
Read more ...
AstraZeneca announces $400 million investment in reforestation and biodiversity in support of climate action and human health
AstraZeneca has announced a $400 million investment in its global AZ Forest programme, raising its commitment to plant 200 million trees by 2030 and ensure their long-term survival. This includes new or expanded projects in Brazil, India, Vietnam, Ghana and Rwanda that will contribute to the Company's climate action, restore nature, promote biodiversity and build ecological and community resilience, spanning over 100,000 hectares worldwide.
Read more ...
New approach in cancer therapy with innovative mechanism-of-action for ferroptosis induction
A team of researchers led by Dr. Marcus Conrad from Helmholtz Munich discovered a novel anti-cancer drug, called icFSP1, which sensitizes cancer cells to ferroptosis. Ferroptosis is characterized by the iron-dependent oxidative destruction of cellular membranes, which is counteracted by ferroptosis suppressor protein-1 (FSP1), one of the guardians of ferroptosis. Although FSP1 has been considered as an attractive drug target for cancer therapy, in vivo efficacious FSP1 inhibitors have been lacking.
Read more ...
Bayer's new pharmaceutical R&D strategy to accelerate breakthrough innovations
This afternoon at 2 pm CET (8 am EDT), Bayer AG will host its Pharmaceuticals R&D Event 2023 for Investors. The company will present a deep dive on the innovation strategy in its four therapeutic core areas Oncology, Cardiovascular Diseases, Neurology & Rare Diseases and Immunology. The presentations will also include status updates on Bayer Pharmaceuticals' key assets in clinical and preclinical development as well as on its platform companies Asklepios BioPharmaceutical (AskBio), BlueRock Therapeutics (BlueRock) and Vividion Therapeutics (Vividion).
Read more ...
Bayer strengthens gene therapy portfolio with lipid nanoparticle technology from Acuitas Therapeutics
Bayer AG is joining forces with Acuitas Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company specializing in the development of lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery systems for molecular therapeutics. Acuitas' LNP technology will support Bayer's in vivo gene editing and protein replacement programs by specifically delivering RNA payloads to the desired target organ, the liver.
Read more ...