CD80 co-stimulation

Biotech, Pharma, TechBio – Views are my own, likes are not an endorsement nor any investment guidance

[CD80 co-stimulation @cd80consulting]

@EricTopol thanks for sharing but, "dressed" DCs derived from hematopoietic progenitors is a tactic that has been trialled since the 90s. Surprising that the paper does not cite any of the major authors (eg Steinman, Caud, Banchereau, Heath and many others)

[Oliver Venture @_OliverVenture]

Awkwardly

- elevated LDL is a modifiable risk factor for AD.

- diets higher in unsaturated vegetable fats associated with less dementia/AD risk

- higher adherence to Mediterranean diet reproducibly associated with less AD.

As always— literally just do the exact opposite of Sama!

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

Day 2 of posting this story.

https://t.co/kmVcxll70f

[John Carroll @JohnCendpts]

Ryan Cross has an important exclusive today about a death of an in vivo CAR-T patient in China. Pharma's eager adoption of China biotechs could be tempered by safety issues, particularly if there's no real transparency around it. China is at a crossroads it's taken decades to arrive at. To stay global, mainstream, requires meeting high international standards. And for in vivo to realize its full potential, all the biotechs involved need to share information about resolving safety issues. My guess is that China will meet the challenge. But it is a challenge. Hiding behind a local regulatory screen won't cut it.
https://t.co/3zIzLukVtv

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

Here is how we know that vaccines do not cause autism

Should I just share this story from last year every day?

https://t.co/kmVcxll70f via @statnews

[Melinda B. Chu @MelindaBChu1]

People get offended when I say it, but maybe they’ll believe a Nature Paper and Derek Lowe
RE: AI - “their clinically relevant impact is, so far,
disappointingly limited.”

=
“Artificial intelligence (AI) in drug discovery has attracted increasing interest over the past decade. It is now time for a critical review of progress in the field: where did we advance — and where are we yet to see impact — when it comes to what matters in drug discovery, which is to deliver safer and more efficacious medicines to patients faster? Although a wide variety of AI methods have been developed, applied and benchmarked, evidence of their clinically relevant impact is, so far, disappointingly limited.”

[John Carroll @JohnCendpts]

From the director of Dumbass Middle Eastern War III: After Trump's many Covid fiascos, no one should expect anything like sensible advice from el presidente. Suggesting that childhood vaccines are linked to autism, one of the most thoroughly debunked theories in medicine, is going to lead to more children's deaths. He knows it, and he doesn't care. He's pandering to the RFK crowd. 30 more months of this.
https://t.co/4pg33KLMPb

[John Carroll @JohnCendpts]

Two years in and I still amaze myself with how naive I can be about cancer care in America. So my housekeeper, who is in her early 40s, no English, insurance or (likely) documentation, was supposed to meet with a resident at St. David’s to arrange treatment for Stage 3 cervical cancer. That was cancelled so they could find someone who “treats the uninsured.” (No Medicaid in Texas for the undocumented.) St. David’s is bobbling the ball and the bureaucracy has kicked in. So I asked a contact at MD Anderson if she could come out. I figured I could cover the travel and they treat cancer, right? But getting in MDA for the uninsured is “very tricky,” I’m told. In fact, they’re steered to LBJ, the big county hospital, which is staffed — in part — by oncologists from MDA and Baylor. But you can’t get into LBJ unless you’re a county resident. So no room at the inn. Back to Austin, where I’m in contact with another oncologist I know who’s in a big public institution. But it’s slow. And the program is good only for Travis County residents. Anyone from a surrounding county can only be “stabilized” in the ER but has no access to ongoing cancer care. For metastatic cancer that’s a death sentence. So here we are in the seventh circle of hell in the cancer care system. The one for the poor and uninsured. The undocumented. Living in the wrong place. And in Texas, when you go to a public hospital, they make you declare if you’re a US citizen, for the sole purpose of scaring the hell out of immigrants so they won’t come in. Period. How do you fix a system like this? If you go for the middle to raise up the bottom to mediocre status, do you damage or eliminate the top? BTW, the middle sucks. And the top is where everyone should at least aspire to be (but doesn’t.)
Still working on it.

[Michel Doepke @doepke_michel]

$BNTX Announces Appointment of Guido Oelkers to Management Board as Chief Executive Officer. $SOBI https://t.co/sUduzwtgLj

[John Carroll @JohnCendpts]

I have a plan that would eviscerate a sizable chunk of drug R&D, create chaos in 2 huge pipelines and drive the industry frenzy for mega blockbusters. It would disrupt lives, harm patients and cost many, many jobs. A few people, though, would get very rich. And I would bill it as something that was being done on behalf of patients. Here you go:
https://t.co/XdR32jXP5u

[Biotech_Jack @biotech_jack]

@Biohazard3737
definitely 1998!!!

[Persimmon Tree Investments @PersimmonTI]

$LEGN

CEO transition, as of July 24.

[FiercePharma @FiercePharma]

Legend Biotech CEO abruptly steps down without permanent replacement https://t.co/sP1b8fU5TN

[JAMA @JAMA_current]

📣 JAMA Clinical Guidelines Synopsis: The 2025 @AmCollegeGastro guideline for #UlcerativeColitis management in adults recommends stool testing for Clostridioides difficile infection before UC diagnosis or in cases of acute severe UC, and the use of fecal calprotectin to monitor disease activity and treatment response.

https://t.co/LYkSASJ2fm

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

@nytimes My input

[Biotech_Jack @biotech_jack]

MS is raising its price target from $132.00 to $180.00 and setting a new base range of $159.00 to $202.00—as well as an optimistic price target of $288.00. $ABVX

[Wei Zhao @zhaoweiasu]

A death from a AAV-delivered brain-directed base-editing trial in China. Below is a short summary from what I read.

AAV9 was injected directly into the spinal canal to deliver an ABE aimed at correcting the R1025W mutation in the CHD3 gene for the ultra-rare Snijders Blok-Campeau syndrome. The study was led by neuroscientist Zilong Qiu of Lanqi Xintu Gene Technology.

In preclinical NHP studies, all four animals developed moderate to severe liver damage; one monkey that received the high dose also showed kidney damage.

Prior to the clinical trial, testing confirmed that the patient had no detectable antibodies to AAV. The patient also received a short course of prednisone (corticosteroids) to suppress potential immune responses. Nevertheless, 7 days after dosing, the patient died of thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA), a serious condition marked by the formation of widespread microscopic blood clots in small vessels that can lead to organ failure and death.

TMA in the setting of AAV gene therapy is typically driven by a rapid rise in anti-capsid antibodies that activate the complement system, causing endothelial damage, particularly in organs such as the kidneys and brain.

A key lesson from this may be that steroids alone are insufficient to prevent the early antibody and complement response that triggers TMA. More intensive prophylactic immunosuppression using a triple combination of corticosteroids, rituximab, and sirolimus has been shown to markedly reduce anti-capsid antibody formation and complement activation, and is increasingly adopted in high-dose or systemic AAV protocols to improve safety.

https://t.co/hRIHvYBJTK

[Persimmon Tree Investments @PersimmonTI]

$RVMD

warp speed ahead

lets go

[Jonathan Faison @jfais20]

$RVMD - fastest approval ever coming

[Kyle LaHucik @ky_lahucik]

Vertex was sole bidder for Crinetics, just as AbbVie & GSK were for Apogee & Nuvalent, respectively

Vertex & the endocrinology biotech met at JPM, first offer in March, then typical price negotiations

Six other pharma weren’t interested in Crinetics

https://t.co/kqbFmBcmF7