Biology Digest

  Rome Therapeutics has  appointed  David Proia, Menachem Fromer and Sarah Knutson to its scientific leadership team. The trio join the Fierce 15 winner as it strives to develop cancer and autoimmune drugs against targets found in noncoding regions of the genome. Massachusetts-based Rome is looking beyond the 2% of the genome that codes directly for proteins and seeking out targets in the repeating sequences that make up 60% of human DNA. The focus is underpinned by evidence that the repeating sequences play a role in how cancer cells evade the immune system as well as in infections, autoimmune disease and neurodegeneration. Rome, which broke cover with $50 million from GV, Arch Venture Partners and Partners Innovation Fund last year, has now put in place more pieces of the leadership team it will need to deliver on its vision. Proia has taken up the post of VP, oncology. Rome hired Proia away from C4 Therapeutics, where he spent more than five years and rose to the ...

Let the games begin. Yes, it's a signal for the start of the Olympics. But it's also a call to arms for the next-gen pneumococcal vaccine race. A month after Pfizer gained an approval for its pneumococcal shot, Merck has done the same.   With Friday’s FDA  nod  for Vaxneuvance, Merck has answered Pfizer, whose Prevnar 20 vaccine scored an approval from the U.S. regulator on June 8. Both approvals are for adults. The companies are now set to embark on a high-stakes market clash, with billions of dollars on the line. Both of the next-gen shots offer improved protection against bacteria that can cause pneumonia, meningitis and blood infections. While Vaxneuvance defends against 15 different strains of the bacterium, Pfizer’s shot targets 20, seven more than its current blockbuster Prevnar 13, which rang up $5.95 billion in sales in 2020.  In phase 2 and 3 trials, Merck's Vaxneuvance delivered immune responses superior to Prevnar 13 in the shared...

Here is a cool segment on extracting DNA strawberries for genome sequencing.  Here is the full video of the segment.   

NAPA, Calif. (KRON) – A Napa doctor is under arrest for allegedly selling fake COVID-19 immunization pellets and vaccination cards, according to prosecutors. 41-year-old Julie Mazi claimed the pellets she sold contained the COVID-19 virus and would create an antibody response in patients’ immune systems. Mazi allegedly would then send fake vaccination verification cards and encourage her patients to falsely state they had received the Moderna vaccine on the day they ate the pellets. “Steering through the challenges presented by COVID-19 requires trust and reliance on our medical professionals to provide sage information and guidance,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Hinds.  “According to the complaint, instead of disseminating valid remedies and information, Juli Mazi  profited from unlawfully peddling unapproved remedies, stirring up false fears, and generating fake proof of vaccinations.  We will act to protect trust in the medical developments that are enabling us to emerge ...

Vacaville’s efforts to enhance the city’s biomanufacturing offerings took another huge step forward this week with the announcement that Agenus, a publicly traded biotechnology company based out of Massachusetts, had purchased 120 acres along the corner of Interstates 80 and 505 to open a manufacturing center there. The move comes nine months after the city entered into an agreement with Solano Community College to increase its biomanufacturing cluster near the school’s Vacaville campus, which is already in close proximity to Genentech, one of the largest biomanufacturing companies in the world. The site was sold by Stockton-based development company A.G. Spanos and brokered by Marcus & Millichap, a real estate company headquartered in Calabasas with an office in Roseville that helped with the sale. Russ Moroz, first vice president of investments for Marcus & Millichap, said he was grateful to be part of the sale. Top Articles “It’s pretty incredible,” he said. “I really do bel...

  Veklury has become routine treatment for severe COVID-19 patients in the U.S., spurring significant sales for Gilead Sciences. Experts have often debated data from the drug’s clinical trials, and now a small study adds points to the arguments voiced by skeptics. Both Veklury, also known as remdesivir, and hydroxychloroquine didn’t significantly clear the virus from hospitalized COVID-19 patients or affect the degree of respiratory failure and inflammation over standard of care after 10 days, according to  a study  published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on Monday. The randomized trial, dubbed NOR-Solidarity, was an independent add-on to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) previously reported 11,200-person  Solidarity trial . That study, released in October, found that Veklury “appeared to have little or no effect on hospitalized COVID-19” when measured by the need for ventilation, the length of hospital stay and overall mortality.  Gilead...

  Note this is under investigation as of July 2021 STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- There’s growing concern in the scientific community that a coronavirus (COVID-19) variant that has yet to reach U.S. shores could be resistant to vaccines,  according to a new report. On Monday, the  New York Post reported  that the Lambda variant, first discovered in Peru last August, could be more resistant to existing coronavirus vaccines than other forms of the virus. The World Health Organization (WHO), which has deemed the Lambda variant one of interest, said that the various mutations present may result in “potential increased transmissibility or possible increased resistance to neutralizing antibodies.” A  recent study  published in Chile, where the variant accounts for about one-third of all coronavirus cases, said that the Lambda variant appears to be more resistant to vaccines than other strains of the virus. “Our data show for the first time that mutations present in the s...