Biology

Menstrual health literacy is alarmingly low – what you don’t know can harm you

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星期三, 三月 13, 2024

When I ask my menstrual health workshop participants – including clinicians – there’s usually a lot of shrugging and shaking of heads.

Key Points: 
  • When I ask my menstrual health workshop participants – including clinicians – there’s usually a lot of shrugging and shaking of heads.
  • If given multiple choice options, most think that periods either “clean the womb” or somehow “help prepare for pregnancy”.
  • Yes, the blood part can stain clothing, but there is nothing pathological, contaminating, or dangerous about periods.

So, why do we have periods?

  • Periods likely evolved as a kind of preemptive abortion, to protect women from unviable or dangerous pregnancies.
  • As a result, we have low rates of conception, high rates of miscarriage, and extremely high rates of maternal mortality in comparison to other mammals.
  • The menstrual cycle is critical for facilitation of the initial steps of this raison d’être of the female reproductive system.
  • The menstrual cycle is critical for facilitation of the initial steps of this raison d’être of the female reproductive system.

What else don’t we know?

  • Perhaps with the fact that the second phase of the cycle from ovulation to menstruation is a series of highly inflammatory processes.
  • This was only very briefly mentioned in three out of 16 textbooks.
  • We really ought to be taught from puberty how to reduce period pain and blood loss – this is not difficult science.

Why aren’t we taught this stuff?

  • My research shows that the exclusive focus on the female sex hormones in menstrual education is informed by societal influences, such as the myth of the hysterical or hormonal female.
  • This gender myth is still alive and well, although now we tend to blame the (female sex) hormones.
  • Again, there was no scientific reason for this change in focus, although it reflected existing societal beliefs about the inherently irrational behaviour of women.
  • Unfortunately, menstrual health literacy has not yet recovered from this shift in physiological models.

So what?

  • It also becomes much easier to differentiate premenstrual changes from underlying health conditions, since the latter will not be substantially alleviated by anti-inflammatory interventions alone.
  • Teaching the reductive hormonal model of the menstrual cycle unintentionally provides pseudo-scientific evidence for the damaging hormonal or hysterical female gender myth.


Sally King is the founder of Menstrual Matters- the world's first evidence-based info hub on menstrual health and rights www.menstrual-matters.com. Her doctoral research and current research fellowship were funded by the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council).

Recursion Announces Plans to Open New Office in London

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星期一, 三月 11, 2024

LONDON, March 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Recursion (Nasdaq: RXRX), a leading clinical stage TechBio company decoding biology to industrialize drug discovery, today announced plans to open a new office in London’s vibrant King’s Cross neighborhood.

Key Points: 
  • LONDON, March 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Recursion (Nasdaq: RXRX), a leading clinical stage TechBio company decoding biology to industrialize drug discovery, today announced plans to open a new office in London’s vibrant King’s Cross neighborhood.
  • "London stood out as an ideal location given its brilliant and interdisciplinary talent across the fields of technology, biology and chemistry.
  • Recursion’s new London office will serve as an extension of both Recursion and Valence Labs’ teams.
  • To launch recruiting efforts for the new site, Recursion has opened multiple new roles across technology and biology functions with immediate plans to hire the first 20 people to be based out of the new London office.

Replay’s cell therapy product company Syena announces first patient dosed in Phase 1/2 study of TCR-NK cell therapy for multiple myeloma

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星期一, 三月 11, 2024

Syena has an exclusive licensing agreement for MD Anderson’s TCR-NK technology platform.

Key Points: 
  • Syena has an exclusive licensing agreement for MD Anderson’s TCR-NK technology platform.
  • This first-in-class engineered cell therapy comprises cord blood-derived natural killer cells that express an affinity-enhanced TCR targeted against the NY-ESO-1 antigen.
  • The Phase 1/2 clinical study will assess the safety and efficacy of NY-ESO-1 TCR/IL-15 NK in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.
  • NY-ESO-1 is highly expressed in poor-prognosis multiple myeloma, making this a suitable indication for demonstrating proof of concept for Syena’s TCR-NK technology platform.

Kymera Therapeutics Presents Preclinical Data for STAT6 and TYK2 First-In-Class, Oral Degrader Immunology Programs at the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting

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星期五, 三月 8, 2024

WATERTOWN, Mass., March 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kymera Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: KYMR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing a new class of small molecule medicines using targeted protein degradation (TPD), today announced that its preclinical data demonstrating the therapeutic potential of its potent and selective heterobifunctional degraders of STAT6 (KT-621) and TYK2 (KT-294) are being presented in the poster session at the American Academy of Dermatology’s Annual Meeting in San Diego, California. Kymera’s oral STAT6 and TYK2 degraders have the potential to address multiple immune-mediated diseases and overcome the limitations of existing technologies and agents. Today’s poster presentations mark the first time that data from a STAT6 targeted agent and a TYK2 degrader have been shared at a major medical meeting. Based on the results generated to date, Kymera intends to initiate Phase 1 testing for KT-621 and KT-294 in the in the second half of 2024 and the first half of 2025, respectively. Data from both Phase 1 trials are expected to be reported in 2025.

Key Points: 
  • Kymera’s oral STAT6 and TYK2 degraders have the potential to address multiple immune-mediated diseases and overcome the limitations of existing technologies and agents.
  • Today’s poster presentations mark the first time that data from a STAT6 targeted agent and a TYK2 degrader have been shared at a major medical meeting.
  • “Our differentiated strategy to targeted protein degradation has resulted in an industry-leading immunology pipeline of oral degrader medicines, each with the potential to treat multiple complex immuno-inflammatory diseases.
  • At low daily oral doses, preclinical studies with KT-621 demonstrated near full in vivo STAT6 degradation in disease-relevant tissues that was well-tolerated.

Anima Biotech to Present at RNA Leaders Europe Congress

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星期四, 三月 7, 2024

BERNARDSVILLE, N.J., March 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Anima Biotech, the Tech.Bio leader bringing AI to mRNA biology, today announced their participation in the upcoming RNA Leaders Europe Congress taking place on March 13th – 14th, 2024 in Basel, Switzerland.

Key Points: 
  • BERNARDSVILLE, N.J., March 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Anima Biotech, the Tech.Bio leader bringing AI to mRNA biology, today announced their participation in the upcoming RNA Leaders Europe Congress taking place on March 13th – 14th, 2024 in Basel, Switzerland.
  • During the congress, Anima’s Vice President of Business Development, Gal Gur, Ph.D., will participate in two roundtable sessions, both focused on the topic of, “Target selection – lessons learned from small molecules RNA Biology,” to discuss her learnings from working on target selection in the mRNA biology space.
  • The sessions are taking place on March 14th at 9:05 AM and 9:50 AM CET.
  • The RNA Leaders Europe Congress program features scientific tracks covering in-depth development strategies, trends, and technologies across the entire long and small RNA spectrum.

23andMe Announces Three Presentations from Clinical-Stage Immuno-Oncology Programs at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024

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星期二, 三月 5, 2024

These presentations will be the first scientific communications the Company has prepared on ‘1473 since announcing its pursuit of this novel, genetically-validated target.

Key Points: 
  • These presentations will be the first scientific communications the Company has prepared on ‘1473 since announcing its pursuit of this novel, genetically-validated target.
  • Further, ‘1473 is Fc-effector enhanced, which provides an additional mechanism for NK cells to induce cell death of ULBP6-expressing cancer cells.
  • The presentations will be available on the 23andMe Investor Relations and Therapeutics websites on April 5, 2024.
  • Title: 23ME-01473, a novel anti-ULBP6/2/5 monoclonal antibody, reinvigorates anti-tumor NK cell function through NKG2D and FcγRIIIa activation

Molecular Templates, Inc. Provides Interim Update

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星期一, 三月 4, 2024

Unique pharmacodynamic effects demonstrating potent Treg clearance and IL-2 increases were observed at the first dose level.

Key Points: 
  • Unique pharmacodynamic effects demonstrating potent Treg clearance and IL-2 increases were observed at the first dose level.
  • MTEM intends to initiate a study of MT-0169 in CD38+ acute leukemias in collaboration with MD Anderson Cancer Center.
  • Additional details on each of these participant’s clinical profile and response to the investigational treatment are provided below.
  • MTEM plans on initiating an investigator sponsored trial with MD Anderson Cancer Center to evaluate MT-0169 in relapsed or refractory CD38+ AML patients.

Recursion Hosts Second Annual Rare Disease Day Events for Utah’s Rare Disease Community

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星期五, 三月 1, 2024

An estimated one in 10 people in the United States have a rare disease.

Key Points: 
  • An estimated one in 10 people in the United States have a rare disease.
  • The event recognized advocates who have been instrumental in building Utah’s rare disease community and have dedicated themselves to support this important work.
  • “There is an urgency for diagnoses, treatment and cures for the rare disease community,” said Gina Zanik, co-founder and executive director of Rare and Undiagnosed Network and Vice Chair of the Utah Rare Disease Advisory Council.
  • Rare disease patients came together at Recursion with the RARE and Undiagnosed Network (RUN), RARE-X , BioHive , ARUP Laboratories , BioUtah , the University of Utah and the Rare Disease Advisory Council (RDAC) for the Rare Disease Day event.

Recursion to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences

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星期五, 三月 1, 2024

SALT LAKE CITY, March 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Recursion (NASDAQ: RXRX), a leading clinical stage TechBio company decoding biology to industrialize drug discovery, today announced its participation in the following investor conferences:

Key Points: 
  • SALT LAKE CITY, March 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Recursion (NASDAQ: RXRX), a leading clinical stage TechBio company decoding biology to industrialize drug discovery, today announced its participation in the following investor conferences:
    Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference – March 4-7, 2024
    KeyBanc Emerging Technology Summit – March 5-6, 2024
    Leerink Partners Global Biopharma Conference – March 11-13, 2024
    KeyBanc Life Sciences & MedTech Investor Forum – March 19-20, 2024

Alvotech Appoints Interim Chief Quality Officer

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星期四, 二月 29, 2024

REYKJAVIK, Iceland, Feb. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alvotech (NASDAQ: ALVO), a global biotech company specializing in the development and manufacture of biosimilar medicines for patients worldwide, today announced that Christina Siniscalchi will join its corporate leadership team as interim Chief Quality Officer.

Key Points: 
  • REYKJAVIK, Iceland, Feb. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alvotech (NASDAQ: ALVO), a global biotech company specializing in the development and manufacture of biosimilar medicines for patients worldwide, today announced that Christina Siniscalchi will join its corporate leadership team as interim Chief Quality Officer.
  • Christina Siniscalchi has for over ten years served in senior quality positions for Alvogen and its manufacturing site in Norwich, NY, most recently as Alvogen’s Chief Quality Officer.
  • “We thank Sandra for her valuable contribution to Alvotech, as she successfully steered our quality team through the recent FDA facility inspection, which now has led to the approval of our interchangeable high-concentration biosimilar to Humira in the U.S.,” said Robert Wessman, Chairman and CEO of Alvotech.
  • Continuous improvement, quality, and compliance, is at the heart of everything we do.”
    Christina Siniscalchi has 25 years of experience in the U.S. pharmaceuticals industry.