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Commercializing innovations in academic environments is notoriously challenging. Here, we describe the progress of the NIH Centers for Accelerated Innovations program — initiated in 2013 to address these challenges — which we believe could help set a new standard for the early-stage commercialization of biomedical innovations in academic environments.
Results from Novartis's huge trial of the interleukin-1β blocker canakinumab could revitalize efforts to target inflammation in atherosclerosis, and have demonstrated unanticipated activity in lung cancer.
The FDA could soon approve the first bispecific antibody for a non-oncology indication, but clinical applications that make full use of the biological opportunity afforded by the nascent modality remain rare.
Katrine Bosley, CEO of Editas Medicines, discusses the technological tractability of CRISPR, the future of the modality's pipeline and the ethical responsibility of working in this space.
This article discusses the impact of new drugs on the market for multiple sclerosis, including the recently approved immunomodulatory drug ocrelizumab and drugs in development such as sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulators and neurorestorative agents.
Recent advances in areas such as natural product biosynthesis, synthetic biology and the development of biosensors are providing new opportunities to directly harness evolutionary pressure to identify and optimize compounds with desired bioactivities. This article describes innovations in the key components of such strategies, highlights pioneering examples that indicate their potential, and discusses the scientific gaps and challenges that remain to be addressed to realize this potential more broadly in drug discovery.
Regeneration of the heart by cardiomyocyte reconstitution represents an attractive approach to treat heart failure. Here, Riley and colleagues discuss recent insights into the biology of heart regeneration and highlight emerging therapeutic regenerative strategies for heart failure. Challenges and considerations in the translation of regenerative therapies into the clinic are discussed.
Cellular senescence is causally linked to ageing and has been implicated in a variety of age-related diseases. Here, van Deursen and colleagues review the characteristics of senescent cells and highlight evidence for a role of these cells in diseases, including cancer, atherosclerosis and osteoarthritis. Emerging strategies for therapeutically targeting senescent cells and the associated challenges are discussed.
