#100 - Pre-emptive pandemic jabs & coffee-controlled cells
The coffee break biotech roundup, by SomX.
Hello, my caffeinated comrades,
Crack open the bourbons and pop the kettle on, we’ve hit 100 issues! The biotech news just keeps on brewing, and your favourite Dodo has all the tea…
This week: Cambridge scientists brew up an AI-designed vaccine to stay ahead of COVID’s mutations, a new US alliance pours firepower into the biotech space race with China, GSK opens its cheque book for a multibillion-pound oncology buy, a new radiotherapy slashes cancer sessions for England’s prostate patients, and a morning cup of joe could hold the key to future cell therapies.
Happy latte sipping!
Dodo
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Discover 🔍
☢️ Vaccine made by AI will shield against mutations (The Times): Cambridge researchers have trialled a new “universal” coronavirus vaccine in humans for the first time. Using AI, they’ve designed an antigen targeting the parts of the virus that stay fixed as it mutates, in the hope the jab protects against current strains and variants yet to emerge. In an early trial of 39 volunteers the vaccine triggered immune responses across the Sarbeco family – Covid, SARS and related bat viruses with pandemic potential.
Our take: The clever bit is which part of the virus the vaccine teaches the immune system to attack. Seasonal jabs aim at the spike protein, the part that mutates fastest, which is why they need reformulating every year. This one aims at the structural core a coronavirus struggles to change without breaking itself, so each new variant should still carry it and still get recognised.
🚀 New biotech group rises to fuel American rockets in China space race (BioSpace): A new lobbying group is in town and wants the US to stop talking about China’s rise and start building its own plan. The American Biotech Innovation Alliance, founded by Patroski Lawson and backed by around 50 companies, including Moderna, is pushing for a national biotech strategy by 2027, aiming to unite industry, academia and investors behind a coordinated roadmap for biomedical innovation.
Our take: It’s worth looking a little closer at who is holding the pen... Lawson runs a lobbying shop paid by biotechs, and the founding roster is the incumbents with the most to lose from Chinese undercutting. A ‘national strategy’ from that quarter could mean domestic tax breaks, quicker approvals and a wall around Chinese trial data, with the framing turning plain self-interest into something Congress can salute.
🤑 GSK makes biggest ever acquisition with $10.6bn for US cancer drug firm (The Guardian): The UK pharma giant is rebuilding its oncology ambitions and buying Nuvalent, a Boston biotech with two late-stage non-small cell lung cancer drugs – zidesamtinib and neladalkib – under FDA review. If approved, both could launch later this year and become multi-billion-dollar products. The deal also gives GSK access to Nuvalent’s wider lung cancer pipeline, including Ris-Rez, a late-stage candidate that could treat multiple forms of cancer.
Our take: What GSK is buying here is a launch, with the pipeline as a bonus. Both lead drugs face FDA decisions in September and November, so the $10.6B buys products that could be on the market within months. After a run of modest bolt-ons, Miels has gone big on near-term, de-risked assets to plug the revenue gap before the patent cliffs bite, Ris-Rez the longer-term upside thrown in.
💩 Advanced radiotherapy for prostate cancer to cut sessions from 20 to five (BBC News): The NHS is rolling out stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) to thousands of men with early prostate cancer, with all 48 NHS England radiotherapy centres expected to start offering it within weeks. The technique fires precisely targeted doses from many directions, paring back side effects and hastening recovery. Around 3,500 patients a year are likely to opt in, a sizeable shift towards leaner, less gruelling cancer care.
Our take: SABR could become a pressure release valve for the cancer backlog. Cutting prostate sessions by three quarters frees up staff capacity across stretched cancer services while handing back valuable machine time to every other cancer in the queue. The dividend is narrower than the headline implies though, with only 3,500 of 17,500 eligible men expected to take it up.
And finally…
☕ AI reimagines caffeine as a molecular off‑switch for engineered cells (GEN): Texas A&M researchers have used AI-guided protein design to create CODS, a caffeine-operated molecular switch that acts like a cellular “pause button” with a synthetic mini‑binder designed using the BindCraft platform. In early lab tests, caffeine could switch off gene circuits, trigger engineered cell death and temporarily dampen CAR-T cell activity, pointing to safer, more responsive future cell therapies.
Our take: Patient caffeine intake varies wildly, and a heavy coffee drinker has a very different baseline from someone who avoids the stuff. Therapeutic CAR-T deactivation needs precise pharmacokinetic control, and caffeine clearance swings up to 40-fold between individuals thanks to CYP1A2 variants – so the same cup that trips the switch in one patient could barely register in another. And because caffeine is everywhere, patients (and doctors) would have to police every coffee, tea and cola to avoid setting it off by accident.
Tune in 🎧
🧬 Ardelyx Leaders Mike Raab & Laura Williams on building biotech around patients: How embedding patient advocacy into Ardelyx has shaped its culture and steadied it through setbacks, from the leaders who drove it.
📅 The editors’ roundtable: A midyear look at the 2026 life sciences industry: LSC joins Business of Biotech host Tyler Menichiello to unpack key industry trends shaping 2026, from AI-driven manufacturing regulation and supply chain pressures to IPO signals.
🍼 Milk Proteins without the dairy: Adam Tarshis and Dr. Cory Tobin explain how Mozza is building a better dairy alternative, using microbial fermenters to brew the proteins behind cheese’s stretch, texture and bite.
Apply ✍️
🤖 Account Manager, PROCEPT BioRobotics: Ready to grow robotic BPH surgery adoption across target hospitals? You’ll build territory plans, support surgeons and surgical teams, lead account reviews, drive Aquabeam utilisation, and manage forecasts and CRM reporting.
💰 Business Development Manager, Biosynth: Interested in turning pharma and biotech prospects into long-term clients? You’ll drive forward the sales process, build a strong industry network, negotiate contracts, spot market opportunities, and work with marketing and BD teams to grow the Life Sciences division.
🩻 Field Applications Specialist, Beckman Coulter Diagnostic: Want to help labs get more from diagnostic IT and automation systems? You’ll deliver application support, train laboratory teams, support installations and go-lives, troubleshoot customer issues, and work with sales and service colleagues to improve workflows.
RSVP 📆
🤑 15.06 | Capital For Cures Liquidity Event – Royalty Financing | Amsterdam, Netherlands: This networking and panel event brings together investors, family offices and biotech innovators to discuss royalty financing, with a focus on how non-dilutive capital can fund breakthroughs while preserving long-term value.
🩺 15–18.06 | HLTH Europe 2026 | Amsterdam, Netherlands: Europe’s biggest healthcare innovation gathering hauls 5,000+ leaders to Amsterdam, with one in three at the C-suite level, to thrash out the continent’s particular healthcare headaches and opportunities.
🧬 22-25.06 | BIO International Convention | San Diego, USA: The world’s largest biotech gathering convenes 20,000+ global leaders across pharma, biotech, academia, government and investment, with a strong focus on business development and partnering.
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