#68 – Heatproof bugs, high-yield bonds & herpes vectors
The coffee break biotech roundup, by SomX.
Hello, my volatile voyagers,
This week’s roundup cranks up the heat (and pressure): Krystal’s herpes vector earns platform status under the FDA’s ever-watchful eye; Tubulis tightens ADC bonds with chemistry that holds under stress; Hong Kong bets on futures to stabilise a volatile market; Grifols tries to hold back time with plasma and protein maps; and from Antarctica’s volcanic vents, a heatproof polymer emerges ready for industry.
Stay hot,
Dodo
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Discover 🔍
🥈 Krystal Biotech wins second-ever FDA platform designation for viral vector (Endpoints): The FDA has granted Krystal Biotech platform status for its genetically modified herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) vector – the same one used in Vyjuvek, the first redosable gene therapy approved for dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. Krystal’s topical, non-integrating design skips past the immune complications of AAV therapies, making it one of the few platforms suited to chronic dosing.
Our take: Who doesn’t love a regulatory shortcut? Platform designations are biotech’s equivalent of sainthood – rare, highly prized, and can be rescinded (as Sarepta learned in July after deaths linked to its AAVrh74 vector). The new status lets Krystal reuse the HSV-1 vector’s safety and manufacturing data in future filings – accelerating approvals for candidates like KB801 for neurotrophic keratitis, which could reach the market by 2028. A rare moment where biotech bureaucracy actually speeds things up!
🧪 Tubulis secures €308m in record-breaking Series C financing (European Biotechnology Magazine): Antibody–drug conjugates have long struggled with unstable chemistry, their toxic cargoes leaking before reaching tumours. Munich-based Tubulis believes it has found a steadier solution with its P5 linker, which precisely fastens payloads to antibodies to minimise collateral damage. The record raise – Europe’s largest biotech Series C this year – will help Tubulis advance its lead candidate, TUB-040, for ovarian and lung cancer and expand its ADC pipeline
Our take: Most ADCs balance potency against stability, but pushing for one often compromises the other. Tubulis’ linker tech promises a cleaner, tighter bond that reduces premature payload release and delivers potency exactly where it’s needed. In a cooling oncology market crowded with me-too molecules, chemistry-first progress feels refreshingly material.
📈 HKEX to introduce Hang Seng Biotech Index Futures (HKEX): Hong Kong is riding its biotech boom, with the launch of a futures market. The Hang Seng Biotech Index Futures – set to launch on 28 November – will track the performance of 30 biotech, pharma and medtech firms, opening them up to mainland investors through Stock Connect. The move marks the next stage in Hong Kong’s biotech experiment, whose 260 listed healthcare companies now command a combined $4.8 trillion in market cap.
Our take: Hong Kong’s biotech market has grown fivefold since 2018’s listing reforms, yet most trading still comes from short-term retail flows. Futures contracts could change that by attracting institutional investors seeking to hedge risk or ride the sector’s volatility. It’s a subtle and structural shift – a sign HKEX wants biotech treated less as a speculative import from Nasdaq, and more as a permanent pillar of the city’s financial architecture.
🩸The quest to make young blood into a drug (The Financial Times): Grifols is returning to what it knows best – plasma, and plenty of it. The Spanish firm, which bought Stanford spinout Alkahest for $146 million in 2020, is leading an Alzheimer’s pilot from Barcelona that replaces 2.5 litres of plasma with albumin. The process unfolds in two parts: first, therapeutic plasma exchange flushes out amyloid-β and other pathological proteins thought to drive neurodegeneration; then fresh albumin is infused to deliver an antioxidant and immunomodulatory boost.
Our take: “Young blood” once belonged to science fiction; Grifols is trying to make it protocol. While the plasma swaps tackle Alzheimer’s mechanically, Alkahest’s AI engine is sifting through data from six million donors to map proteins that may accelerate – or delay – neurodegeneration. The goal: to uncover molecular signatures that could become targets, treatments, or at least a working definition of what it means to grow old.
And finally…
❄️Compound from Antarctic microorganism can be used to produce food, cosmetics and medicine (Phys.org): From volcanic vents on Antarctica’s Deception Island, scientists have isolated Bacillus licheniformis – a bacterium that thrives in 100°C fumarolic water and relentless UV light. The Chilean Antarctic Institute found its exopolysaccharide unusually robust, outperforming xanthan gum in thermal stability, antioxidant protection, and pH tolerance. Its resilience makes it a strong candidate for industrial use in environments where most biopolymers fall apart.
Our take: Extreme environments breed elegant chemistry. Polymers that survive boiling acid or UV assault fetch premiums precisely because those conditions are so hard to replicate – a barrier competitors can’t easily overcome. Where xanthan gum sinks half its cost into purification, a cleaner extremophile process (an excellent phrase!) could make resilience a selling point rather than a headache. Scaling it, though, may prove the real endurance test.
Tune in 🎧
🧊 Biological Time Travel: How Cryopreservation Could Transform Medicine: Explore the applications of reversible cryopreservation – from organ storage to medical hibernation – plus, insights on vitrification, biological physics, and the ethics of pausing life itself.
💥 Breakthrough eczema technology ‘could end misery for millions’: Discover how a new device could change eczema diagnosis, delivering faster, more objective data to help patients get treatment in days.
🔔 Closing Bell: Is AI Artificially Inflated?: Are AI valuations justified? What’s moving biotech markets? Find out how investors are managing sky-high stock prices in a climate of hype and volatility.
Apply ✍️
🧬 Higher Scientific Officer in the Biologicals Team, Veterinary Medicines Directorate: Partial to a bit of petri dish detective work? Assess the safety and quality of vaccines and biological vet meds, guide authorisations, and help protect public health, animal welfare, and the environment.
🔬Microbiological Technologist, GSK: Got a thing for taming tricky proteins? Master purification platforms, optimise chromatography, and help shepherd biologic candidates from cell line to clinic.
💡 Senior Clinical Study Lead (Cell Therapy), Regeneron: Fancy steering first-in-human cell therapy trials? Oversee protocol design, study delivery, and cross-functional teams to bring pioneering cell therapies from bench to bedside.
RSVP 📆
🧪 21-22.10 | Drug Discovery 2025 – A festival of life science | Liverpool, UK: Europe’s largest drug discovery meet returns to Liverpool. Two days of talks, 200+ exhibitors and careers support. Free to attend.
🌍 11-12.11 | Global Pharma and Biotech Summit | London, UK: Two days of keynotes and panels with innovators, investors and C-suite – covering drug discovery, clinical trials, market access and patient engagement.
🤝 11.11 | Deep Biotech Community Connects | Online: The inaugural Deep Biotech Community Connects webinar. This session will introduce the BIA’s new community, and explore government priorities for the sector.
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