Health Tech: Forge Biologics; new insights from OSU cancer research; biomedical engineering
- Grove City biotech Forge Biologics announced a $120 million venture capital round toward expanding its manufacturing capacity, for a cumulative $160 million to date. It’s the largest Series B round ever in Ohio. Here’s what this means for Columbus.
- While small-cell lung cancer usually responds well to chemotherapy, it often returns in a treatment-resistant form that’s usually fatal. Researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified molecular patterns that give insights into a new treatment.
- Jason Shearn, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Cincinnati, is researching how the human body can actually regenerate or fully restore function after an injury.
- Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are suggesting that the brain’s drainage system could hold the key to unlocking the potential of certain Alzheimer’s therapies.
- Arch Oncology, a biotech startup in St. Louis has raised $105 million in a funding round led by Eventide Asset Management, Cowen Healthcare Investments and 3×5 Partners. The money will be used to further the development of biologic therapies for patients with tumors and hematologic malignancies.
- Researchers at Miami University have been awarded a $1.5 million grant from PsyBio Therapeutics Corp. to expedite progress toward clinical trials of a portfolio of neuropsychiatric drugs.
- Ann Arbor-based Asalyxa Bio, Inc., a biopharmaceutical startup developing nano-engineered, immune cell-targeted therapeutics, closed on an over-subscribed seed financing round totaling more than $2 million.
- AtriCure’s EPi-Sense System has been approved by the FDA for treatment of long-standing persistent Afib patients.
- Nearly one-third of epileptic patients don’t respond well to medication. Now, groundbreaking research at Carnegie Mellon University is combining clinical application and engineering innovation to present another option.