Category Archives: Immunology

Immunology

How to tell the difference between coronavirus symptoms and plain old allergies – Walton Sun

Allergy symptoms are likely to increase during the next two to three weeks as pollen counts grow into the thousands, said Leonard Bielory, professor of medicine, allergy, immunology and ophthalmology at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.

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WOODLAND PARK, N.J. With coronavirus restrictions in place, interactions with nature might be limited to a quick walk through the neighborhood, but its not hard to notice spring has sprung bringing allergy season with it.

Allergy symptoms are likely to increase as pollen counts grow into the thousands, said Leonard Bielory, professor of medicine, allergy, immunology and ophthalmology at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.

That raises a new dilemma: Some allergy symptoms, such as coughing, mimic signs of COVID-19. So how can sufferers tell the difference?

MARCH 15, 2020: What does the coronavirus infection do inside your body?

The combination and severity of symptoms is telling.

Patients with asthma or allergies who cough and experience breathlessness can resolve their symptoms with inhalers or prescription medication, Bielory said.

But if a patient has COVID-19, those solutions wont work and the symptoms are likely to be far more extreme. Coronavirus patients can have severe difficulty breathing. That's why many admitted to hospitals need the assistance of ventilators, which move air in and out of the lungs mechanically.

People who develop viruses, including COVID-19, may experience an associated fever within 24 to 72 hours of infection, Bielory said.

Fever is a major differential, he said. You dont normally get fever with allergies.

COVID-19 patients may also develop gastrointestinal symptoms and muscle aches and pains, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Up to two-thirds of them may lose their sense of smell, Bielory said. None of those symptoms is associated with allergies.

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How to tell the difference between coronavirus symptoms and plain old allergies - Walton Sun

Immunology

New Clues on How to Treat COVID-19 From T Cell Counts and Cytokine Storms – SciTechDaily

Inflammatory immune response can cause T cells to become depleted, affecting patient outcomes in coronavirus cases and leaving them prone to secondary infection.

Cytokine storms may affect the severity of COVID-19 cases by lowering T cell counts, according to a new study published in Frontiers in Immunology. Researchers studying coronavirus cases in China found that sick patients had a significantly low number of T cells, a type of white blood cell that plays a crucial role in immune response, and that T cell counts were negatively correlated with case severity.

Interestingly, they also found a high concentration of cytokines, a protein that normally helps fight off infection. Too many cytokines can trigger an excessive inflammatory response known as a cytokine storm, which causes the proteins to attack healthy cells. The study suggests that coronavirus does not attack T cells directly, but rather triggers the cytokine release, which then drives the depletion and exhaustion of T cells.

The findings offer clues on how to target treatment for COVID-19, which has become a worldwide pandemic and a widespread threat to human health in the past few months. We should pay more attention to T cell counts and their function, rather than respiratory function of patients, says author Dr. Yongwen Chen of Third Military Medical University in China, adding that more urgent, early intervention may be required in patients with low T lymphocyte counts.

Chen says he and his co-authors became interested in examining T cells when they noticed that many of the patients they treated for COVID-19 had abnormally low numbers of lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that includes T cells. Considering T cells central role of response against viral infections, especially in the early stage when antibodies are not boosted yet, we took the T cells as our focal point, says Chen.

Authors examined 522 patients with coronavirus along with 40 healthy controls. All patients studied were admitted to two hospitals in Wuhan, China between December 2019 and January 2020, and ages ranged between 5 days and 97 years old. Of the 499 patients who had their lymphocytes recorded, 76% had significantly low total T cell counts. ICU patients had significantly lower T cell counts compared with non-ICU cases, and patients over the age of 60 had the lowest number of T cells.

Importantly, the T cells that did survive were exhausted and could not function at full capacity. Not only does this have implications for COVID-19 patient outcomes, but T cell exhaustion leaves patients more vulnerable to secondary infection and calls for scrupulous care.

Chen says that future research should focus on finding finer subpopulations of T cells in order to discover their vulnerability and effect in disease, along with identifying drugs that recover T cell numbers and boost function.

Authors say that Tocilizumab is an existing drug that may be effective, but that it needs to be investigated in the context of coronavirus. Antiviral treatments, such as Remdesivir, may also prevent the progression of T cell exhaustion, but all future treatments will require further study.

In the meantime, this new research deepens our understanding of how the novel coronavirus affects the body and it indicates ways to lessen its impact.

Reference: Reduction and Functional Exhaustion of T Cells in Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) by Bo Diao, Chenhui Wang, Yingjun Tan, Xiewan Chen, Ying Liu, Lifen Ning, Li Chen, Min Li, Yueping Liu, Gang Wang, Zilin Yuan, Zeqing Feng, Yi Zhang, Yuzhang Wu and Yongwen Chen, 1 May 2020, Frontiers in Immunology.DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.00827/full

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New Clues on How to Treat COVID-19 From T Cell Counts and Cytokine Storms - SciTechDaily

Immunology

Obesity prevented in mice treated with gene-disabling nanoparticles – Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

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Strategy uses particles to target gene in specific immune cells

Using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry to identify fat (white) in the body, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found excessive fat in a mouse that had consumed a high-fat diet for six weeks (left). The mouse on the right ate the same diet, but the researchers blocked the activity of a gene in specific immune cells, resulting in that mouse not becoming obese.

Disabling a gene in specific mouse cells, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have prevented mice from becoming obese, even after the animals had been fed a high-fat diet.

The researchers blocked the activity of a gene in immune cells. Because these immune cells called macrophages are key inflammatory cells and because obesity is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation, the researchers believe that reducing inflammation may help regulate weight gain and obesity.

The study is published May 1 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Weve developed a proof of concept here that you can regulate weight gain by modulating the activity of these inflammatory cells, said principal investigator Steven L. Teitelbaum, MD, the Wilma and Roswell Messing Professor of Pathology & Immunology. It might work in a number of ways, but we believe it may be possible to control obesity and the complications of obesity by better regulating inflammation.

When people are obese, they burn fewer calories than those who are not obese. The same is true for mice. But according to co-first author Wei Zou, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of pathology & immunology, the researchers found that obese mice maintained the same level of calorie burning as mice that were not obese after the research team deleted the ASXL2 gene in the macrophages of the obese mice and, in a second set of experiments, after they injected the animals with nanoparticles that interfere with the genes activity.

Despite high-fat diets, the treated animals burned 45% more calories than their obese littermates with a functioning gene in macrophages.

Exactly why this prevented obesity in the mice isnt clear. Co-first author Nidhi Rohatgi, PhD, an instructor in pathology, said it appears to involve getting white fat cells which store the fat that makes us obese to behave more like brown fat cells which help to burn stored fat. The strategy is a long way from becoming a therapy, but it has the potential to help obese people burn fat at rates similar to rates seen in lean people.

A large percentage of Americans now have fatty livers, and one reason is that their fat depots cannot take up the fat they eat, so it has to go someplace else, Teitelbaum said. These mice consumed high-fat diets, but they didnt get fatty livers. They dont get type 2 diabetes. It seems that limiting the inflammatory effects of their macrophages allows them to burn more fat, which keeps them leaner and healthier.

Zou W, et al. Myeloid-specific Axsl2 deletion limits diet-induced obesity by regulating energy expenditure. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, May 1, 2020.

This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases; the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Grant numbers HL1388163, AR064755, AR068972, AR070975, HL38180, DK56260, P30 DK52574, P41 EB025815, HL073646, DK102691, AI019653, DK109668, DK056341, AR046523, DK111389 and P30 AR074992. Additional funding from the Physician-Scientist Training Program at Washington University School of Medicine and the Childrens Discovery Institute.

Washington University School of Medicines 1,500 faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals. The School of Medicine is a leader in medical research, teaching and patient care, ranking among the top 10 medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

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Obesity prevented in mice treated with gene-disabling nanoparticles - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Immunology

Could asthma and allergy protect against severe COVID-19? – Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with asthma and allergies have reduced angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) gene expression and this may offer protection against severe COVID-19 illness, a new study suggests.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, uses ACE2 to infect cells. Studies have shown that higher expression of ACE2 is associated with smoking, diabetes and hypertension, all of which have been tied to increased COVID-19 severity.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists asthma as a risk factor for severe COVID-19 illness. However, early case series from China did not include asthma and respiratory allergies as significant risk factors for severe COVID-19 illness.

We were surprised to learn that the COVID-19 pandemic in China did not seem to impact people with asthma as severely as we wouldve expected it to, lead investigator Dr. Daniel Jackson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health said in a statement.

Knowing that other risk factors for severe COVID-19 illness like hypertension and obesity lead to increased ACE2 expression, we wanted to determine if patients with allergies and asthma could have reduced ACE2 gene expression as a potential explanation for this unexpected early finding from the outbreak, he explained.

The researchers analyzed data from three different cohorts of children and adults. In children, allergic sensitization was inversely correlated with ACE2 expression in nasal epithelium regardless of asthma status. In children with asthma, moderate and high allergic sensitization were associated with progressively greater reductions in ACE2 compared with children with no or minimal allergic sensitization. In adults, allergen exposure led to significant reductions in ACE2 expression.

Given that ACE2 serves as the receptor for SARS-CoV-2, our findings suggest a potential mechanism of reduced COVID-19 severity in patients with respiratory allergies, the study team writes in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

However, it is likely that additional factors beyond ACE2 expression modulate the response to COVID-19 in allergic individuals, and elucidation of these factors may also provide important insights into COVID-19 disease pathogenesis.

They note that additional studies focusing on respiratory allergy, asthma and, perhaps, other allergic disorders are needed to gain a better understanding of the impact of underlying allergy on COVID-19 susceptibility and illness severity.

The modulation of ACE2 expression by type 2 inflammatory processes suggests the need to comprehensively evaluate the role of type 2 immune regulation in COVID-19 pathogenesis. Further elucidation of these relationships could identify novel therapeutic strategies to more effectively control this pandemic, they conclude.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2xZCL4m Journal of Clinical Allergy and Immunology, online April 22, 2020.

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Could asthma and allergy protect against severe COVID-19? - Reuters

Immunology

How Long Will It Take Until There’s a Vaccine? – The Nation

Neal Browning receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for Covid-19. (Ted S. Warren / AP Photo)

EDITORS NOTE: The Nation believes that helping readers stay informed about the impact of the coronavirus crisis is a form of public service. For that reason, this article, and all of our coronavirus coverage, is now free. Please subscribe to support our writers and staff, and stay healthy.

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We hope to have a vaccine ready for testing in about two years, Margaret Heckler, the secretary of Health and Human Services, said in a news conference announcing the discovery of the cause of the then-new disease, AIDS. She continued: Yet another terrible disease is about to yield to patience, persistence and outright genius. This was 1984. Its now 36 years later and we still have no vaccine to prevent HIV infection.Ad Policy

In early March of this year, when asked about the timeline for the development of a vaccine against SARS-CoV2 (the virus that causes Covid-19), President Trump said, I dont know what the time will be. Ive heard very quick numbers, that of months. And Ive heard pretty much a year would be an outside number. So, I think thats not a bad range. But if youre talking about three to four months in a couple of cases, a year in other cases. Experts in the room, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, tried to temper expectations, but also offered a timeline of 1218 months for the development of a vaccine. Dr. Fauci has been director of NIAID since 1984, the year Secretary Heckler made her prediction. Will Dr. Faucis optimism be prescient or premature?

Most experts I spoke to recently, including Dr. John Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Cornell-Weill Medical College and Dennis Burton, professor of immunology and microbiology at the Scripps Research Institute, and both veterans of the search for an AIDS vaccine, werent ready to make prognostications. In fact, it takes a long time to develop a vaccinetimelines denominated in years rather than months. However, should Dr. Faucis prediction turn out to be wrong, it wont be for lack of trying. A new paradigm is emerging for vaccine development in the age of Covid-19, in which many of the steps are truncated or happening simultaneously. There are about 90 vaccine candidates in the pipeline right now for Covid-19.

Early bets are being made on a few vaccines, which even in the absence of evidence of their safety and efficacy are being scaled up, with millions of doses being manufactured now or in the planning stages with support from the federal governments Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (whose director, Rick Bright, was purged in mid-April for criticizing the White Houses obsession with hydroxychloroquine) and private companies like Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi. This may turn out to be a multibillion-dollar fumble, but the logic is that we do not have time to waste on the months and months it will take to scale up production of these vaccines, should they actually turn out to work.

However, the urgency with which the development of a vaccine is being approached cannot obviate the scientific obstacles to finding one. First, remember this is a new pathogen: SARS-COV2 emerged only a few months ago and scientists are still learning about how it works, and importantly, how our bodies immune systems respond to it. We still dont know what the correlates of protection are for SARS-COV2meaning the quantifiable immune parameters that determine the attainment of protection against a given pathogen, that is, what part of the immune response, and in what magnitude, keeps you free from infection if you encounter the virus.

As I mentioned in my article about testing two weeks ago, there are some hospitalized patients with Covid-19 who only develop low levels of antibodies to SARS-COV2, with about 5 percent showing no antibody response at all. A new French study suggests that antibody responses in those with mild or asymptomatic infection may be even more difficult to detect due to low levels of antibody as well. In any case, do antibodies to SARS-COV2 confer protectionand how long does this protection last? Tests of an inactivated SARS-COV2 vaccine in rhesus macaques shows promise in generating neutralizing antibodies and protection against infection, but how will this play out in the human host? Might other parts of the immune system be crucial in protecting against this new coronavirus? We simply do not know the answers to these questions right now.

And there are potential pitfalls. Some vaccines can cause immune system malfunctions, in which vaccines can set up an immune response that, instead of protecting you from infection, makes the disease worse if you catch the virus. Weve seen this in vaccine development for diseases like dengue, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and so careful testing of vaccine products looking out for these paradoxical effects is going to be important as we move forward. Some of the technologies on which these vaccines are based are also untried, particularly the RNA-based vaccines that are at the center of discussion right now and had President Trump trying to secure rights to a German mRNA (the m here stands for messenger) vaccine for exclusive US use.

There are lots of hurdles in the development of a SARS-COV2 vaccine, both scientific and practical, and we havent even begun to discuss the complicated ethical issues involved in clinical trials and determining how well deal with who gets access to an approved successful vaccine, when billions may need it. However, one thing is clear: We do desperately need a vaccine. Vaccine development, like public health more generally, is a matter of the common good: Vaccines often dont make profits, and public health doesnt make people rich, so its up to us to invest as a society to develop them and to protect the public health. In the midst of pandemics, no one needs convincing of the urgency of these tasks. It will be after the social distancing is over, when weve gone back to our lives, that we might forget that investing in vaccine development and public health is still urgentfor the diseases that are just around the corner, or those which will never leave us alone, unbothered, unless we vanquish them, once and for all.

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How Long Will It Take Until There's a Vaccine? - The Nation

Immunology

Sitting on a Pile of Cash? Here is Another Coronavirus Immunology Play, Take a Shot – Live Trading News

$INO

Today. Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:INO) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to 17 from 13 at HC Wainwright after announcing promising MERS data that could set the stage for a potential COVID-19 vaccine. My work augurs for a run to 29/30+ if it happens.

This is a speculation, if you can manage the risk, take a shot, and if the stock 2Xs be prudent, sell half of the position and ride it for free.

Wednesday, INO finished at 13.74, -0.01, Vs its 52 wk high at 19.36 on higher than average volume. Key Support is at 8.45 and the Resistance is Nil. 3 of our Key technical indicators have turned Very Bullish, 1 long term.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of DNA medicines to treat, cure, and protect people from diseases associated with human papillomavirus (HPV), cancer, and infectious diseases.

Its SynCon immunotherapy design has the ability to break the immune systems tolerance of cancerous cells and facilitate cross-strain protection against unmatched and matched pathogens.

The company is involved in conducting and planning clinical studies of its DNA medicines for HPV-associated precancers, including cervical, vulvar, and anal dysplasia; HPV-associated cancers, including head and neck, cervical, anal, penile, vulvar, and vaginal; other HPV-associated disorders, such as recurrent respiratory papillomatosis; glioblastoma multiforme; prostate cancer; HIV; Ebola; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS); Lassa fever; Zika virus; and the COVID-19 virus (coronavirus).

Its partners and collaborators include ApolloBio Corp., AstraZeneca PLC or AstraZeneca, Beijing Advaccine Biotechnology Co., The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), GeneOne Life Science, HIV Vaccines Trial Network, the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agencys Medical CBRN Defense Consortium (MCDC), National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Plumbline Life Sciences, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Roche/Genentech, the University of Pennsylvania, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and The Wistar Institute. Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in Y 1979 and is HQd in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.

Have a healthy day, Keep the Faith!

immunology, INO, resistance, risk, stock, support, vaccine

Paul A. Ebeling, polymath, excels in diverse fields of knowledge. Pattern Recognition Analyst in Equities, Commodities and Foreign Exchange and author of The Red Roadmasters Technical Report on the US Major Market Indices, a highly regarded, weekly financial market letter, he is also a philosopher, issuing insights on a wide range of subjects to a following of over 250,000 cohorts. An international audience of opinion makers, business leaders, and global organizations recognizes Ebeling as an expert.

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Sitting on a Pile of Cash? Here is Another Coronavirus Immunology Play, Take a Shot - Live Trading News

Immunology

Outlook on the Worldwide Research Antibodies Industry to 2024 – Mergers, Acquisitions, Agreements and Collaborations – GlobeNewswire

Dublin, May 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Research Antibodies Market - Forecasts from 2019 to 2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The research antibodies market is estimated to be valued at US$1.032 billion in 2018 and is projected to grow further in the coming years. Research antibodies react to the presence of specific antibody make them indispensable tool for the clinical as well as basic researches. Due to the high specificity and selectivity of the antibodies, they are being used in wide variety of applications such as biochemical tools for a range of applications including selection, identification, purification and as therapeutics.

Routine procedures such as western blot, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry (IHC), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and many others also rely on these antibodies. Rising investments for the research and development of the research antibodies coupled with the growing industry-Academia collaboration will drive the market during the given forecast period. Rising demand for the personalized medicine and protein therapeutics will also boost the market growth. However, rising quality concerns regarding these antibodies and large amount of time and cost might restrain the market of research antibodies during the given time frame.

This report is an exhaustive study that aims to present the key market trends through various chapters focusing on different aspects of the market. The study provides a detailed market overview through the market dynamics sections which detail key market, drivers, restraints, and opportunities in the current market. The report analyzes key opportunity regional markets, and the current technology penetration through lifecycle analysis. The report also analyzes the market through comprehensive market segmentation by type, research area, technology, and geography.

The research antibodies market has been segmented based on type, research area, technology, and geography. By type, the market has been segmented on the basis of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), and polyclonal antibodies (pAbs). By research area, the market has been segmented into oncology, infectious diseases, immunology, neurology, and others. By technology, the market has been divided into western blotting, flow cytometry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and others.

Regional analysis has been provided with detailed analysis and forecast for the period 2018 to 2024. The global market has been broken down into North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and the Asia Pacific regions. The report also analyzes 15 countries across these regions with thorough analysis and forecast along with prevailing market trends and opportunities which each of these countries present for the manufacturers.

Major players in the research antibodies market have been covered along with their relative competitive position and strategies. The report also mentions recent deals and investments of different market players over the last year. The company profiles section details the business overview, financial performance for the past three years, key products and services being offered along with the recent developments of these important players in the research antibodies market.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction1.1. Market Definition1.2. Market Segmentation

2. Research Methodology2.1. Research Data2.2. Assumptions

3. Executive Summary3.1. Research Highlights

4. Market Dynamics4.1. Market Drivers4.2. Market Restraints4.3. Porters Five Forces Analysis4.3.1. Bargaining Power of Suppliers4.3.2. Bargaining Power of Buyers4.3.3. Threat of New Entrants4.3.4. Threat of Substitutes4.3.5. Competitive Rivalry in the Industry4.4. Industry Value Chain Analysis

5. Research Antibodies Market Analysis, By Type5.1. Introduction5.2. Monoclonal Antibodies (mAbs)5.3. Polyclonal Antibodies (pAbs)

6. Research Antibodies Market Analysis, By Research Area6.1. Introduction6.2. Oncology6.3. Infectious Diseases6.4. Immunology6.5. Neurology6.6. Others

7. Research Antibodies Market Analysis, By Technology7.1. Introduction7.2. Western Blotting7.3. Flow Cytometry7.4. Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA)7.5. Others

8. Research Antibodies Market Analysis, By Geography8.1. Introduction8.2. North America8.2.1. North America Research Antibodies Market, By Type, 2018 to 20248.2.2. North America Research Antibodies Market, By Research Area, 2018 to 20248.2.3. North America Research Antibodies Market, By Technology, 2018 to 20248.2.4. By Country8.2.4.1. United States8.2.4.2. Canada8.2.4.3. Mexico8.3. South America8.3.1. South America Research Antibodies Market, By Type, 2018 to 20248.3.2. South America Research Antibodies Market, By Research Area, 2018 to 20248.3.3. South America Research Antibodies Market, By Technology, 2018 to 20248.3.4. By Country8.3.4.1. Brazil8.3.4.2. Argentina8.3.4.3. Others8.4. Europe8.4.1. Europe Research Antibodies Market, By Type, 2018 to 20248.4.2. Europe Research Antibodies Market, By Research Area, 2018 to 20248.4.3. Europe Research Antibodies Market, By Technology, 2018 to 20248.4.4. By Country8.4.4.1. Germany8.4.4.2. France8.4.4.3. United Kingdom8.4.4.4. Italy8.4.4.5. Others8.5. Middle East and Africa8.5.1. Middle East and Africa Research Antibodies Market, By Type, 2018 to 20248.5.2. Middle East and Africa Research Antibodies Market, By Research Area, 2018 to 20248.5.3. Middle East and Africa Research Antibodies Market, By Technology, 2018 to 20248.5.4. By Country8.5.4.1. Saudi Arabia8.5.4.2. Israel8.5.4.3. Others8.6. Asia Pacific8.6.1. Asia Pacific Research Antibodies Market, By Type, 2018 to 20248.6.2. Asia Pacific Research Antibodies Market, By Research Area, 2018 to 20248.6.3. Asia Pacific Research Antibodies Market, By Technology, 2018 to 20248.6.4. By Country8.6.4.1. China8.6.4.2. Japan8.6.4.3. South Korea8.6.4.4. India8.6.4.5. Others

9. Competitive Environment and Analysis9.1. Major Players and Strategy Analysis9.2. Emerging Players and Market Lucrativeness9.3. Mergers, Acquisitions, Agreements, and Collaborations9.4. Vendor Competitiveness Matrix

10. Company Profiles10.1. ProSci Incorporated10.2. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc10.3. General Electric10.4. Merck KGaA10.5. Roche Diagnostics10.6. Janssen Global Services, LLC10.7. Rockland Immunochemicals Inc.10.8. ACROBiosystems10.9. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc10.10. Agilent Technologies, Inc.

11. Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/4pzxlp

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

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Outlook on the Worldwide Research Antibodies Industry to 2024 - Mergers, Acquisitions, Agreements and Collaborations - GlobeNewswire

Immunology

Megatrends: 5 Ways To Think Long Term In The Downturn – Seeking Alpha

Transcript

Oscar Pulido: The world is already starting to shift because of the coronavirus and there's no doubt this will continue in the months and years to come. Healthcare companies and researchers around the world are mobilizing to create a vaccine, technology has shifted to emphasize solutions for working at home, and clean energy has become even more in focus as companies and individuals think about their impact on the environment.

Today on The Bid, we're talking about megatrends. The long-term societal shifts that we believe will persist through the pandemic. We'll talk to Jeff Spiegel, U.S. Head of Megatrends and International ETFs about the long-term investment themes that emerged from the 2008 financial crisis, which megatrends are resonating most in today's pandemic and how to think about investing for the long term. I'm your host, Oscar Pulido. We hope you enjoy.

Jeff, thank you so much for joining us today on The Bid.

Jeff Spiegel: Oscar, thanks so much for having me. It wasn't a long commute as we're coming in live from my apartment in New York City.

Oscar Pulido: Oh, for sure. I'm in my home studio as well and been getting used to it over the last couple of weeks. So, I can definitely relate to that. Let's talk about the megatrends. It's actually been a topic that has come up a couple of times on The Bid, certainly a topic of interest for our listeners. Now, these are, as I understand, long-term structural forces that are shaping the way we live and work. But perhaps you can give us a quick refresh on what are the exact megatrends that we're watching.

Jeff Spiegel: So, as you said, megatrends are long-term transformational forces that are really changing the way we live and work. And these are structural opportunities with long-term catalysts that really make them feel almost inevitable, and that's in contrast to more purely cyclical opportunities as captured through traditional sector strategies and the like. Today, a number of them are actually having really once-in-a-lifetime moments where those long-term forces are aligning with short-term cyclical drivers.

Simply put, the world will be different after COVID-19. One example of that is going to be the acceleration of key megatrend themes that were already coming and are now going to arrive even faster. So, really to your question, as part of a firm-wide effort across active investors, index investors, the BlackRock Investment Institute, key external innovators and thought leaders, we've identified five. The first is technology: areas like AI, cybersecurity, networking, data. They're not mutually exclusive though, so tech does play a role in all five. The second is demographics. Here, we're talking about aging populations. For the first time in less than 10 years, there will be more grandparents than grandchildren in the U.S., more over 65s than under 18s, and that will be true worldwide shortly thereafter.

Third is urbanization, which is about the move to cities. Over 75% of people live in the cities and developed markets in Latin America. In the EM markets in Asia and Africa, that number is less than half. We're seeing that drive a massive catch-up effect as these places urbanize, and at the same time, the U.S., Japan, Europe, other developed areas seek to revitalize their own infrastructure. Fourth is climate change. Here, we're talking about firms on the cutting edge of driving a clean green tomorrow through clean energy, electric vehicles and the like. And lastly emerging global wealth. One to two billion people will enter the middle class in the coming decade or so and 90% of those people live in emerging market countries in Southeast Asia.

Oscar Pulido: So, Jeff, as you mention these five megatrends, it sounds like investing in any one of these is really about investing in multiple sectors of the economy. In other words, it doesn't sound like just technology companies capture one of these trends or just healthcare. It feels like you would have sort of cross-sector type investments if you were trying to pursue these megatrends. Is that the right way to think about it?

Jeff Spiegel: Exactly. So, we think that megatrend strategies should be designed in a way that they're unconstrained, and what I mean by that is you've got to go global, you've got to get across sectors. So much technological innovation is getting adopted in non-technology areas. Think about the use of robotics in industrials, the use of artificial intelligence in communication services, the use of big data techniques in medicine. Traditional sector strategies tend not to really capture megatrends, which again, gets back to that point that they tend to be cyclical.

Oscar Pulido: So, if megatrends are long-term and structural and meant to persist over many decades, you mentioned your commute is quite short these days. We're all living in a very new and different reality these last few weeks and it's difficult to think about the long term when it feels like we're just thinking about day-to-day and what the news flow is going to look like. So, do we have examples from the past where we've had these crises or these downturns where we've actually seen a long-term structural trend emerge?

Jeff Spiegel: Yeah, so it's absolutely hard to think long term right now and investors around the world are looking at their portfolios and seeing declines at the same time as they have real fears from job security to health and safety, and that make this moment especially tough. But we know that market downturns are also opportunities, rebalancing the equities during these declines allows investors to recoup their losses and often then some when the market does eventually come back and it always has.

So, cyclical downturns are often pivotal moments for megatrends. They may suffer with the broad market in a sell-off when selling can appear kind of indiscriminate across asset classes and market segments. Sometimes they can sell-off even harder than the overall market, but they tend to outperform in the aftermath. So, e-commerce is a really neat example of that. Before the financial crisis of 2008, 2009, we all knew e-commerce was coming, more shopping was happening online, firms were starting to dominate retail sales. Nonetheless, at the lows of that downturn, e-commerce was down nearly 70%, even more than the S&P 500 at its lows during that same period, but not only did e-commerce recover harder and faster than the S&P, it out-performed over the next 10 years through to today by well over 20 times the returns of U.S. equities broadly1. That means the financial crisis was a huge opportunity to buy the e-commerce megatrend at significantly reduced valuations. We think it's not unlikely that a new set of megatrends, today's equivalent to e-commerce, have the same potential coming out of this downturn.

Oscar Pulido: Well, you're certainly right, e-commerce was a trend that persisted throughout 2008 and judging by the lobby of my building, it seems to be doing pretty well during the corona crisis as well.

Jeff Spiegel: Yeah, so I would say that the farthest I am traveling on most days is to go down and get those packages and that is one of the highlights of my day at the moment to be sure.

Oscar Pulido: You mentioned that we'll likely see some new megatrends that will persist through today's market volatility. So, give us a sense of what are some of the things that you're seeing that you think we'll be talking about in the months and years ahead.

Jeff Spiegel: The megatrends we're focusing on right now are actually being accelerated by the crisis itself, and therefore the long-term structural shifts we've been anticipating seem likely to come to pass even faster. And this is true in a few areas in particular, and I'll break it down by megatrend. Within our technological breakthrough megatrend, we're seeing a huge move to virtual work, that's driving networks and computing systems, big data, cybersecurity, and at the same time, AI is being deployed to understand the pandemic's course, track infections and accelerate the testing of treatments. In demographics and social change, we're seeing the two most game-changing areas of medical breakthrough, genomics and immunology, stand unsurprisingly on the forefront of understanding and treating the disease. And then as far as urbanization and climate change, these are places where we expect that subsequent rounds of government stimulus have the potential to drive outperformance as people are put back to work in these areas. So, we know the long-term structural theses behind these megatrends. In addition, we've got these catalysts coming out of this crisis where some of these key areas of innovation are really playing a role and offering some hope and helping.

Oscar Pulido: You mentioned a number of interesting themes. So, let's deep dive. Let's start with the genomics and immunology. There's obviously a race around the world to produce a vaccine in pretty short order. So, how are we seeing this play out and what implications does this have for after a vaccine is ultimately developed?

Jeff Spiegel: So, the vaccine is a key question for society and our safety. In a lot of ways, I think there's actually a lot more to unpack there for investors. We saw genomics and immunology as key areas of medical innovation before all this started. Now genomics is helping researchers understand the coronavirus' RNA. Breakthroughs in mRNA sequencing are allowing scientists to decode the disease at an incredibly rapid pace. That's not actually the vaccine development itself, but it's enabling quick drug development and experimental trials for vaccines. So, the major drug companies at the forefront of vaccine development are relying on a range of firms in the field of genomics to enable them. For investors, that's a reason to think about the theme versus betting on the individual company that makes it to the vaccine, it's also a lot less risky than trying to pick that single stock winner.

Likewise, immunology is helping to incubate treatments that work directly with our immune systems. One of the most promising potential areas here is stimulating the body's immune system by replicating and transferring antibodies from those who have already successfully beaten the virus. Not to mention, repurposing drugs in immunology that are used in places like rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease; not to create vaccines, but to treat those who are already infected. Again, a range of firms across the theme are set to benefit rather than the one firm with the end product that's ultimately adopted. The latter, that one firm is really hard to identify. It's no coincidence that these exciting areas of medicine are providing the solution to this challenge. The crisis is really only hastening the realization that will see more innovation and investment in these spaces that were the most promising in delivering personalized medicine via genomics and areas like cancer treatments through immunology and immunotherapy long before today's crisis and that will continue to play a role long after.

Oscar Pulido: Let me also ask you about the technology side of this. When you were mentioning some of the megatrends that we think will persist throughout this volatility, we're working from home, we're doing more video conference, audio conference these days just to stay connected at our respective jobs or with our families. Do you think that even after people begin returning to working in offices, will there be more remote work than there was prior to the crisis?

Jeff Spiegel: So, I think the short answer is yes, right? If we think about this, in a matter of weeks, virtually all corporate employees around the globe started working from home, non-essential medical visits became virtual, so did learning for hundreds of millions of students, maybe more than that. So, companies leading in remote software have therefore seen their products leveraged at record rates. 5G and networking connectivity are also therefore in focus. So are data center wreaths which have seen surging demand for their services which power the transition. Is it the short term, is it long term? The answer is both.

The fact that the internet of things is expected to double from 30 billion devices now to over 75 billion in coming years, that was true before this pandemic, but it's not any less true today. In fact, we see the cyclical tailwind pushing connectivity forward, meaning that the future is actually coming faster. So, companies have invested in work from home tech. They are learning what many tech companies have known and been adopting for years that virtual work is actually effective and therefore likely to proliferate after this massive unplanned beta test that was effectively sprung on the world.

Oscar Pulido: And I imagine this has implications for cybersecurity, right? If companies have more of their employees working from home, they have to be thinking about the security risk. So, obviously more people on the networks and more people on the internet. How are companies thinking about the risks to this?

Jeff Spiegel: So, before we moved into a work from home world or WFH as the kids are calling it. Though I'm not entirely sure why since that's actually more syllables rather than fewer. Before that, only 15% of U.S. risk executives felt their firms were well-prepared for cyber threats. So even as the number of cyber criminals on the FBI's most wanted list went from a handful to over 40 in just the last few years, there is still that feeling of unpreparedness. That's pretty scary at a time when we're that much more exposed through virtual work. It means firms are massively investing in the space. And so, if we're right that virtual working actually grows and is accelerated once we're able to return to our offices then that investment in cybersecurity only continues.

Oscar Pulido: Jeff, you've also alluded to AI a couple of times or what we call artificial intelligence. It was a topic of interest even before we got into this corona crisis, but it seems to also be playing a role in a variety of ways in which we're responding to this crisis.

Jeff Spiegel: Yeah. This is a great example of where the structural and cyclical are colliding and really pushing megatrends forward. Year after year, we've been applying artificial intelligence to solving new problems from chess to logistics, to voice-activated assistance, that's a long-term trend. And today, AI is being applied to a range of crisis areas: understanding and mapping the pandemic, keeping track of those under quarantine. Not to mention, many leading AI firms are actually lending their AI super computing power to drug companies enabling testing of treatments in days versus the months it would take using natural or more traditional computing power.

Oscar Pulido: And lastly, you mentioned clean energy, and you also touched on climate change being one of the five megatrends. We've definitely seen a growing interest in sustainability and BlackRock has certainly been very vocal about the belief that climate change represents investment risk in portfolios. But can you talk a little bit about the growing interest in sustainability and maybe more specifically renewable power. How do you see this continuing through the pandemic?

Jeff Spiegel: So, over the last few years, we've seen a surge around clean energy adoption and usage. In fact, governments have pledged two trillion dollars of renewable investments in the near term. In a push driven by governments themselves, businesses, consumers, all around the world looking to go more green. Another stat I really like, 80% of U.S. consumers aged 18 to 34 are actually willing to pay more for a low or zero emission vehicle. That's the long-term trend. Short term, the stimulus the government is focused on so far is getting cash into the pockets of those who need it and ensuring the financial system keeps functioning.

In the midterm, in subsequent rounds of stimulus, governments around the world are likely to put people back to work through infrastructure projects and a lot of those, we think, will be focused on clean energy. So, despite the precipitous decline of oil, clean energy has been doing well and we expect that to continue or even accelerate even further when we see those later rounds of stimulus putting people back to work in helping us build out a green economy.

Oscar Pulido: So, a recurring point that you've made is that these investment themes, these megatrends, are much more structural than they are cyclical. Meaning, that they're meant to last over many years as opposed to just a short time period. So, I guess with that, what's the most important thing for investors to know?

Jeff Spiegel: The most important thing for investors to know unquestionably is that staying invested and rebalancing the equities is critical in a downturn. As we discussed, it's also hardest in a downturn. Long-term structural shifts do present an opportunity to do that. So, I would encourage investors to look at areas with a wide range of names poised for that long-term outperformance and names that were poised for it even before this crisis. Just take as a bonus, if they're being accelerated forward, by helping us manage the pandemic at the same time. Think long term, that's always the key.

Oscar Pulido: Well, and it's sound advice, Jeff. Particularly these days when we're sort of thinking about the day-to-day and the pandemic. But when it comes to investing, thinking long-term has proven to be a recipe for success. So, thank you so much for joining us today. It was a pleasure having you on The Bid.

Jeff Spiegel: Pleasure to be here. Thanks, Oscar.

1 Source: Bloomberg, indices used: MSCI ACWI Internet and Catalog Retail Index and S&P 500 as of March 30, 2020. Index performance is for illustrative purposes only.

This post originally appeared on BlackRock.

Editor's Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.

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Megatrends: 5 Ways To Think Long Term In The Downturn - Seeking Alpha

Immunology

Demand for Immunology Drug Skyrockets with the Surge in Covid-19 Cases, Supporting Global Revenue – Jewish Life News

In 2018, the market size of Immunology Drug Market is million US$ and it will reach million US$ in 2025, growing at a CAGR of from 2018; while in China, the market size is valued at xx million US$ and will increase to xx million US$ in 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during forecast period.

Persistence Market Research recently published a market study that sheds light on the growth prospects of the global Immunology Drug market during the forecast period (20XX-20XX). In addition, the report also includes a detailed analysis of the impact of the novel COVID-19 pandemic on the future prospects of the Immunology Drug market. The report provides a thorough evaluation of the latest trends, market drivers, opportunities, and challenges within the global Immunology Drug market to assist our clients arrive at beneficial business decisions.

Request Sample Report @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.co/samples/15259

This study presents the Immunology Drug Market production, revenue, market share and growth rate for each key company, and also covers the breakdown data (production, consumption, revenue and market share) by regions, type and applications. Immunology Drug history breakdown data from 2014 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.

For top companies in United States, European Union and China, this report investigates and analyzes the production, value, price, market share and growth rate for the top manufacturers, key data from 2014 to 2018.

In global Immunology Drug market, the following companies are covered:

key players and products offered

Request Report Methodology @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.co/methodology/15259

The content of the study subjects, includes a total of 15 chapters:

Chapter 1, to describe Immunology Drug product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market driving force and market risks.

Chapter 2, to profile the top manufacturers of Immunology Drug , with price, sales, revenue and global market share of Immunology Drug in 2017 and 2018.

Chapter 3, the Immunology Drug competitive situation, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast.

Chapter 4, the Immunology Drug breakdown data are shown at the regional level, to show the sales, revenue and growth by regions, from 2014 to 2018.

Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to break the sales data at the country level, with sales, revenue and market share for key countries in the world, from 2014 to 2018.

For any queries get in touch with Industry Expert @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.co/ask-an-expert/15259

Chapter 10 and 11, to segment the sales by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2014 to 2018.

Chapter 12, Immunology Drug market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2024.

Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Immunology Drug sales channel, distributors, customers, research findings and conclusion, appendix and data source.

Read more from the original source:
Demand for Immunology Drug Skyrockets with the Surge in Covid-19 Cases, Supporting Global Revenue - Jewish Life News

Immunology

ROME Therapeutics Launches to Develop Novel Therapies for Cancer and Autoimmune Diseases by Harnessing the Power of the Repeatome – Business Wire

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ROME Therapeutics, a biotechnology company harnessing the power of the repeatome in drug development, launched today with $50 million in Series A funding from GV, ARCH Venture Partners and Partners Innovation Fund. ROME was founded to discover and develop novel therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases by leveraging new insights from the vast uncharted territory of the repeatome the roughly 60% of the human genome consisting of repetitive sequences of nucleic acids, known as repeats. Drawing on deep expertise in oncology, virology, immunology and machine learning, the ROME team has identified several promising drug targets and launched multiple discovery programs.

The overwhelming majority of industry drug discovery programs target the roughly 2% of the human genome which encodes for proteins. Repeats have long been dismissed as junk DNA. However, recent discoveries at this frontier of biology have made it clear that the repeatome is a rich and complex ecosystem. Among other elements, it contains the remnants of ancient viruses which have integrated into the human genome over time. In addition to being vital for embryonic development, these viral-like strands of genetic material are activated in times of stress and may play a significant role in driving diseases such as cancer, as malignant cells co-opt the repeats to facilitate their own survival and growth. These insights are the foundation of ROMEs pioneering work to discover and develop repeatome-based therapeutics.

ROME is led by CEO, President and Co-founder Rosana Kapeller, M.D., Ph.D., who incubated the company during her tenure as an entrepreneur-in-residence at GV, where she is currently a Fellow. In her previous role as founding Chief Scientific Officer at Nimbus Therapeutics, Dr. Kapeller led the companys initiative to apply advanced computational technologies to the design and development of novel therapeutics. Notably, she led discovery and development of a new class of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) inhibitors for NASH, later acquired by Gilead Sciences.

At ROME, we have set out a bold goal: To drive even the most difficult-to-treat cancers and autoimmune diseases into sustained remission, Dr. Kapeller said. Too many patients do not benefit from todays therapies, or experience only a partial response that quickly fades. We believe the repeatome holds the key to longer-lasting interventions. Our scientific founders together with our team have made excellent progress in exploring this uncharted territory and identifying promising therapeutic paths. With the support of our outstanding investors and advisors, were moving quickly to advance our therapeutic programs.

By targeting this uncharted territory, ROME has the potential to open up huge new stretches of the genome for drug discovery, said Kristina Burow, Managing Director, ARCH Venture Partners and a member of ROMEs Board of Directors. We are thrilled to be working alongside the ROME team as they seek to develop novel therapies for intractable cancers and autoimmune diseases.

Rosana has brought together some of the best minds in oncology, immunology, virology and machine learning to create a novel approach to harnessing the power of the repeatome, said Krishna Yeshwant, M.D., General Partner at GV and a member of ROMEs Board of Directors. We believe that ROME has the insights and expertise to turn cutting-edge discoveries in this field into an important new class of medicines, and were proud to continue working with Rosana and her team as they drive their programs forward.

Shaping the development of ROME

The scientific insights leading to the formation of ROME came from clinical oncologist David Ting, M.D., and computational biologist and theoretical physicist Benjamin Greenbaum, Ph.D.

Dr. Ting, who focuses on understanding RNA expression patterns in cancer, is the Associate Clinical Director for Innovation at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Greenbaum uses techniques from statistical physics, information theory and evolutionary biology to understand the interaction of tumors with the immune system and to explore virus evolution. He is an Associate Member of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he is an Associate Attending Computational Oncologist and inaugural Program Leader in Computational Immune-Oncology.

Julius Knowles, a Partner at Partners Innovation Fund and a member of ROMEs Board of Directors, worked with the scientific co-founders on company ideation. ROMEs formation was driven and shaped by Ari Nowacek, M.D., Ph.D., a Principal with ARCH Venture Partners. ROMEs founding intellectual property comes from Massachusetts General Hospital and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where Dr. Greenbaum previously worked and carried out foundational research.

A leadership team with deep expertise

In addition to Dr. Kapeller, ROMEs leadership team includes:

Supporting the leadership team is a world-class Scientific Advisory Board including experts in virology, immunology, oncology and genetics:

A veteran Board of Directors

ROMEs Board of Directors includes investors, business leaders and scientists with deep expertise in company formation and drug discovery and development:

About ROME

ROME Therapeutics is developing novel therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases by harnessing the power of the repeatome vast stretches of uncharted genetic material that have long been dismissed as junk DNA. With several drug targets identified and multiple discovery programs underway, ROME is moving rapidly to leverage this new frontier in biology. To lead this exploration, ROME has assembled a team of world-class leaders across fields including oncology, immunology, virology and machine learning. ROME was launched in April 2020 and was incubated at GV, in collaboration with ARCH Venture Partners and Partners Innovation Fund. ROME is based in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, please visit http://www.rometx.com.

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ROME Therapeutics Launches to Develop Novel Therapies for Cancer and Autoimmune Diseases by Harnessing the Power of the Repeatome - Business Wire