Check out ProSci’s February Antibody Update for the latest news in the industry – This month discusses the cancer moonshot project, an update on the Zika virus, and gravitational waves.
The
Cancer Moonshot
Patrick Soon-Shiong, a billionaire entrepreneur of pharmaceutical companies, had met with Vice President Biden in 2015 about the moonshot of curing cancer. This year, the entrepreneur has gathered several drug makers to speed the process of developing new immunotherapy drugs. The group has dubbed itself Moonshot 2020, and plans to develop treatments for over 20 tumor types through studying over 20,000 individual patients. The goal of the program is to perform genetic sequencing of every tumor sample of the 20,000 patients, and to use this to build a database of cases that doctors will be able to analyze to determine the best possible treatments for their patients. Learn more about the Cancer Moonshot 2020 program here.
The Zika Virus’s Correlation to Microcephaly is Further Supported, and is Continuing to Spread
Zika Virus MicrocephalyJust last week a paper was published on Plos strengtheningthe connection between the Zika virus, microcephaly, and still birth. The study was performed on a 20 year old pregnant girl who had been infected with the Zika virus in the city of Salvador in Brazil. Through ultrasound, the fetus was found to have severe microcephaly. Due to fetal demise, induced labor was performed at the 32nd week, and immediate autopsy revealed presence of Zika virus in the brain, cerebrospinal fluid, and amniotic fluid. On top of this, several outlets have been reporting that the rapid spread of the Zika virus across the Americas could be due to the climate effects of El Nino. Zika is a mosquito borne virus, and mosquitoes are native to warm moist places, which is made more widespread by the tropical El Nino storms. Concern with Zika will continue to rise as the United States gets closer to mosquito season. The ProSci team has been exploring partnerships in developing antibodies against the virus, and encourages those interested to contact us at info@ProSci-inc.com.
An Honorable Mention to Gravitational Waves
What February 2016 news update would be complete without the mention of gravitational waves? Though it is not particularly related to the antibody industry, it is such a big discovery that it simply could not be ignored. The gravitational waves detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) were emitted from the collision of 2 black holes colliding with one another. As the black holes spun around each other faster and faster, LIGO was able to detect the ripple in gravitational pull. This discovery was the last piece of the puzzle to confirm theory of relativity, and will open up a whole new field of astronomy.
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