Nuala Moran

Scientists in Europe have added their voices to the many thousands of objections made against proposed changes to the oversight of U.S. federal research grants, under which political appointees and not peer review experts would have the final say on who and what gets funding. The concern is that awarding grants, based on the principle that research proposals must be in keeping with President Donald Trump's policy priorities, poses a threat to open scientific inquiry and academic freedom, and also will undermine international research collaboration.

New research has teased out specific aspects of how Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) sparks the immune response that leads on to the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), opening the way to the rational design of vaccines and antivirals that address the root cause of the disease.

After a decade of research, the NIH 4D Nucleome program on July 23 delivered a wealth of new insights into how spatial changes in chromatin structure

A single-cell transcriptomics study of the fetal-maternal tissue interface in preeclampsia at different stages of gestation provides new information about the distinct maternal and fetal cell processes contributing to the serious pregnancy complication and points in the direction of potential therapeutic targets.

In a rare event for the European biotech sector, Dutch/Belgian immunology specialist Argenx SE is to acquire a U.S. counterpart, Forte Biosciences Inc., in an all cash deal valued at $2.2 billion. The price of $77 per share is a premium of about 86% to Forte's volume-weighted average price since it reported positive phase Ib data for the lead program FB-102 in vitiligo on July 9.

The fight to keep Tavneos (avacopan) on the market is continuing, with Amgen Inc. submitting its defense of the vasculitis drug to the U.S. FDA just as the July 29 deadline approached. The submission is in support of a request for a hearing on Tavneos after the FDA proposed on April 30 that the marketing approval be annulled.

A single-cell transcriptomics study of the fetal-maternal tissue interface in preeclampsia at different stages of gestation provides new information about the distinct maternal and fetal cell processes contributing to the serious pregnancy complication and points in the direction of potential therapeutic targets.

After a decade of research, the NIH 4D Nucleome program on July 23 delivered a wealth of new insights into how spatial changes in chromatin structure and DNA methylation regulate gene expression in health and disease. In a collection of eight papers published in Science and Science Advances, researchers describe how they have applied single-cell level multi-omics data and tools and techniques developed in the first part of the 4D Nucleome program to track changes in the noncoding part of the genome that are involved in heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, brain aging, retinal health and immune cell development.

Scientists in the U.K. have used genome mining to identify bacterial species capable of producing novel polyene antifungal compounds that are both more effective and have a more benign side effect profile than approved polyenes such as amphotericin and nystatin.

Nippon Shinyaku Co. Ltd. has taken up its option on U.S. rights to AB2 Bio Ltd.'s interleukin-18 neutralizing drug, tadekinig alfa, triggering a payment of $30 million and opening the way to a further $650 million in development and commercialization milestones for the Swiss biotech. The rights relate to the use of tadekinig in the treatment of primary pediatric IL-18-driven hyperinflammation, an ultra-rare inherited disorder that if left untreated can lead to multi-organ failure and death.