Abivax of France will test its candidate drug ABX464 in early COVID-19 patients around Europe after the small molecule showed it could reduce SARS-CoV-2 viral replication in human lung tissue in addition to its anti-inflammatory and tissue-healing effects, the CEO tells me.

Can placenta cells save severe COVID-19 Patients? The CEO of Pluristem Therapeutics told me the Israeli biotech's cell-therapy can re-balance patient immune systems, reducing inflammation in the lung tissue, getting COVID-19 sufferers off ventilators. Trials will begin "ASAP".

Doubts over the safety of Novartis’s new anti-VEGF eye drug Beovu have emerged, clouding its current launches in the US and Europe and boosting commercial prospects for other drugs in the anti-VEGF category, notably Bayer AG and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Eylea.

Signalling its belief that man DOES contribute to climate change, AstraZeneca has brought forward its plan by five years to be carbon-negative across its entire value chain by 2030, after first reaching net-zero operational carbon emissions from all operations by 2025.

Davos WEF attendees will in one hour's time be told by a panel of experts that the world is fast approaching a tipping point on antimicrobial resistance and stakeholders must work together globally to produce real action, and soon, Novo Nordisk Foundation Chair Sørensen tells me.

In another study showing the superiority of IL-23 inhibition to IL-17 inhibition for treating psoriasis, AbbVie’s Skyrizi in a Phase III trial bettered Novartis AG's Cosentyx by meeting both primary and all secondary endpoints in adults with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.

Summit Therapeutics CEO Glyn Edwards tells me that, while he's very encouraged NICE is in the UK market pilot looking at the potential of upfront payments to prompt companies to invest in making new antimicrobial drugs, he's worried the HTA lacks adequate funding for the job.

2020 could be a watershed year in tackling AMR, but success needs market reforms that ensure new antibiotics get to market and prevent innovators going bust, experts tell me. Still, worries remain high US politics will stop needed progress during this presidential election year.

The CEO of Antabio SAS tells me the France-based antibiotics specialist aims to get enough funding to advance its pipeline far enough to become a takeover target, thereby avoiding the 'cash burn' / crash n' burn fates of bankrupt, listed peers Achaogen and Melinta Therapeutics.

Novo Nordisk’s CEO tells me the Danish diabetes fighter hopes to bring its investigational 'smart' glucose-sensitive insulin into the clinic within the next two years, and that it would, if successful, represent a treatment 'revolution'.

Can UK-based COMPASS Pathways bring psilocybin’s ‘magic’ to depression? Its CEO has told me the biotech hopes to market its synthetic psilocybin capsule by 2025 in long-term depression patients. If it works, then that should overcome the legal barriers and stigma, me thinks.

INTERVIEW: AstraZeneca says it's 'More Than Oncology’ Ruud Dobber oversees AstraZeneca’s biopharmaceuticals division, which generates some 40% of group total revenues. He tells me we must “Watch this space.” For more sector news visit my @LinkedIn linkedin.com/posts/sten-sto…

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot tells me he's having too much fun rebuilding Britain’s second-biggest drug maker to leave any time soon. “I don’t intend to go anywhere in the near- or mid-term. I’ve got a great team here and we’re doing great work.” he told Scrip.

The chairman of Sofinnova Partners tells me “now is a prime time” to be investing in European biotech start-ups, as the region offers cutting edge science and technology, less frothy asset price tags, and a growing role to bridge commercial opportunities in the US and in China.

Novo Nordisk, a late entrant in the gene editing field, hopes it can leapfrog current competitors in the hemophilia space by linking up with US-based bluebird bio to develop a one-time, life-long therapy for the condition, starting from childhood. Question will be, at what price?

3 Years After ending his high-profile AMR Review, Jim O’Neill warns global progress on antimicrobial resistance has slowed dangerously. Assessing the antibiotic 'State Of Play' in a Chatham House report he laid the blame for inaction at the feet of governments and Big Pharma.

FDA has approved Novartis's Beovu early for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) but uncertainty over dosing in Beovu’s label and the higher comparative intra-ocular inflammation rate associated with Beovu should support Regeneron's Eylea.

National and global uncertainty appears to be have held back fundraising in the UK biotech sector in the third quarter, making it unlikely the sector will beat the record-breaking years seen in 2015 and 2018, and underscoring the uncertainties posed by Brexit, the BIA says.

The UK National Health Service is to test the world's first ‘subscription’ payment model to tempt drug makers to develop new products for resistant infections. Governments, payers and antibiotic makers will be watching closely!

Denmark has generated high growth rates from its life science industry. The country's government, industry and academic centers are increasingly working together to keep up that momentum. Boosting clinical trials there is a key goal. They're hoping to benefit from Brexit.