Industry News

Mavacamten, a potential first-in-class cardiac myosin inhibitor for patients with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (oHCM), showed improvement in health status compared to placebo at 30 weeks in EXPLORER-HCM trial

Novo Nordisk recently launched a once-weekly injectable treatment for Type 2 diabetes that stimulates insulin (a hormone that regulates the amount of sugar in the blood), suppresses glucagon (a hormone that causes the release of sugar in the blood), and decreases appetite and food intake. The drug is delivered using the shortest and thinnest needle — about as thin as two human hairs — available from Novo Nordisk.

The Archer-Daniels-Midland Company today announced its plan to build North Dakota’s first-ever dedicated soybean crushing plant and refinery to meet fast-growing demand from food, feed, industrial and biofuel customers, including producers of renewable diesel.

When the coronavirus pandemic was on the horizon in early 2020, Sanofi’s North America Security Operations & Technology team (NA Security) stepped up to the plate, implementing wide-reaching response and operational continuity efforts across the region to guard the safety and health of its employees and their families.

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday authorized use of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds in the United States, a crucial step in the nation’s steady recovery from the pandemic and a boon to tens of millions of American families eager for a return to normalcy.

Mazen announced the successful close of its Series Seed Round led by Next Level Ventures and joined by Kent Corporation, Ag Startup Engine, Ag Ventures Alliance, ISAV and Summit Ag. The company is developing orally-delivered animal vaccines that revolutionize animal disease prevention. All six first tranche investors came into the second tranche of the Series Seed to close at the targeted amount of $2M.

Kent Corporation is proud to announce it has been selected as a US Best Managed Company for the second consecutive year. Sponsored by Deloitte Private and The Wall Street Journal, the program recognizes outstanding U.S. private companies and their achievements.

The winner of the 2021 Iowa Biotech Leader Award was announced and presented on March 3, 2021, to the team members of Project Upstanding at Corteva Agriscience. This group of Corteva researchers received the award through a call for nominations and was selected by a panel of industry experts.

Braasch Biotech LLC, an emerging biopharmaceutical company pioneering a new field of anti-somatostatin vaccines, today announced a Notice of Allowance was received from the Brazilian Intellectual Property Office for Braasch’s patent entitled “Compositions and Methods for Enhanced Somatostatin Immunogenicity in the Treatment of Growth Hormone Deficiency.”

The Iowa Biotechnology Association (IowaBio) has announced the finalists for the 6th annual Biotech Showcase, a bioscience pitch competition offering a $10,000 prize to the winning company. The competition will take place March 2, 2021, during IowaBio’s annual Iowa Biotech Showcase & Conference (“IBSC” – formerly known as Partnering for Growth), to be held virtually in light of COVID-19. 

This year’s Biotech Showcase sponsor is Corteva Agriscience, an IowaBio member and a global pure-play agriculture company that provides farmers with the industry’s most complete portfolio of seed, crop protection and digital solutions focused on helping maximize productivity to enhance yield and profitability.

Cardio Diagnostics, Inc, a biotechnology company making cardiovascular disease prevention and early detection more accessible, personalized and precise, announces the launch of its patent-pending flagship product, Epi+Gen CHD. The Epi+Gen CHD test sensitively assesses the risk for the onset of new coronary heart disease, an ability that is key to providing cost-effective health care for adults.

Gross-Wen Technologies (GWT), founded by two Iowa State University (ISU) professors, has announced a new partnership with University of California, San Diego (UCSD), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Algix to develop carbon-sequestering molecular films to capture carbon dioxide with algae. This new partnership was awarded a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
 

Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT), a leading comprehensive genomics solutions provider, is developing a multiplex RT-qPCR test that can detect and distinguish between SARS-CoV-2, influenza A, and influenza B from a single patient sample. The new PrimeTime™ SARS-CoV-2/Flu Test is being submitted by IDT for U.S. Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).

Viewpoint Molecular Targeting, Inc., a radiopharmaceutical company developing precision α-particle oncology therapeutics and complementary diagnostic imaging agents, today announced it has been awarded a total of $5 million in Phase II grants from the National Cancer Institute under the SBIR program and National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grants will be utilized to advance the Company’s proprietary image-guided alpha-particle radiotherapies in development to enable a unique approach to optimize treatment that could potentially improve efficacy and minimize toxicity associated with many other cancer drugs.

The U.S. is averaging more than two million COVID-19 tests per day- and has reached over 270,000 daily positives. In an effort to help clinicians and researchers more easily test and track pathogens, like SARS-CoV-2 - Clear Labs, provider of the only fully-automated next-generation sequencing platform for turnkey diagnostics, is announcing a broader partnership with Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT), which develops and manufactures nucleic acid products that support the life sciences industry. Clear Labs’ EUA approved, turnkey sequencing platform for diagnostic screening and genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 utilizes IDT primers as part of its solution.

USDA Chief Economist Seth Meyer and Former U.S. Senator Tom Daschle are joining several biofuel leaders for two roundtables at the Virtual Iowa Renewable Fuel Summit on January 26. Registration is free and open to the public.

“It’s a new year, new format, and now we have new exciting speakers like Senator Daschle and Chief Economist Meyer to help us make sense of the policy and market environment biofuels producers will be navigating in 2021,” said Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) Executive Director Monte Shaw. “Our roundtable discussions have always been a great opportunity to get a wide swath of perspectives together to tackle the hard questions and I expect this year will be no different.”

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel products for rare and ultra-rare diseases, today announced positive longer-term safety and efficacy data from the first three cohorts of the ongoing Phase 1/2 studies of DTX401, an investigational adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy for Glycogen Storage Disease Type Ia (GSDIa), and DTX301, an AAV gene therapy for ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency. In addition, dosing is nearing completion for the prophylactic steroid cohorts in both studies. Discussions with regulatory agencies continue to progress for both programs, and Ultragenyx expects to initiate Phase 3 studies for DTX401 in the first half of 2021 and for DTX301 in the second half of 2021. The company also plans to start a seamless single-protocol Phase 1/2/3 study for UX701, an AAV gene therapy for Wilson disease.

Bayer has signed a collaboration and services agreement with CureVac N.V., a biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA). Under the terms of the agreement, Bayer will support the further development, supply and key territory operations of CureVac´s COVID-19 vaccine candidate CVnCoV. To this end, Bayer will contribute its expertise and established infrastructure in areas such as clinical operations, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, medical information, supply chain performance as well as support in selected countries.