Turku, Finland, March 3rd, 2021 – Forendo Pharma, a clinical-stage drug development company focusing on novel treatments in women's health, today announced the completion of Phase 1 studies in healthy volunteers for its lead development program in endometriosis, FOR-6219, and provided a development outlook. The successfully concluded Phase 1 program demonstrated that FOR-6219, a HSD17B1 enzymetargeting small-molecule, was safe and well-tolerated and delivered additional results supporting Forendo's therapeutic concept. The company is now planning the Phase 2 program including endometriosis patients in the US.

Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, 2nd March 2021 – Rejuvenate Biomed NV ("Rejuvenate"), a biomedical company developing prescription drugs for age-related diseases, announces it has completed a EUR 3.2 million Series A round. The funding is being used to advance the development of Rejuvenate's lead candidate RJx-01 in both acute and chronic sarcopenia (disuse-induced and age-related muscle failure).

Munich, Germany, March 1st, 2021 – CatalYm GmbH, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel cancer immunotherapies, today announced changes to the management team and supervisory board. Dr. Manfred Ruediger stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of CatalYm with effect from 28 February 2021 to pursue new business opportunities. The company is in the process of recruiting a new CEO. In the meantime, Anne Burger, CFO of CatalYm, will take responsibility for the company as Managing Director.

NEW YORK, 2021 – SWORD Health, the world's fastest growing virtual musculoskeletal (MSK) care provider, has raised a $25 million financing round, bringing SWORD's cumulative fundraising to $50 million. The round was led by Todd Cozzens, Managing Partner at Transformation Capital and former healthcare investor at Sequoia Capital. Existing investors Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Green Innovations, Vesalius Biocapital and Faber also participated.

Munich, Germany, January 28th, 2021 – CatalYm GmbH, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel cancer immunotherapies, announced today the start of clinical development of CTL-002, its proprietary GDF-15 neutralizing antibody designed to enhance effector T cell entry into the tumor microenvironment. The first patient was enrolled and treated safely in December 2020 in this first clinical trial with CTL-002, acronymed GDFATHER (GDF-15 Antibody-mediaTed Effector cell Relocation, NCT04725474).

Gosselies, 27th November 2020 – Already celebrated by Deloitte's Technology Fast50 in 2015 and 2018, OncoDNA is thrilled to announce that it has received this year's award in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical category. Deloitte's Technology Fast50 award recognizes the success story of a Belgian start-up that strives for international expansion.

On November 24th 2020, 21 winners of the Computable Awards 2020 were announced during a live broadcast in the Scala Theater at Jaarbeurs in Utrecht. For the first time, this year also included the Dutch Applied AI Award, in collaboration with Podcast "De Dataloog" and the Amsterdam University of Applied Science (HvA). Our very own Katinka de Korte was invited as a guest and found herself happily surprised when she was handed this brand new award for DEARhealth!

Munich, Germany, November 10th, 2020: CatalYm GmbH, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel cancer immunotherapies, today announced the closing of its EUR50 million Series B financing round.

By Yvonne Tevis, University of California

Hamburg, October 19th, 2020: Topas Therapeutics GmbH (Topas), a Hamburg, Germany-based private platform company leveraging the natural immune tolerance induction capabilities of the liver, today announced the successful closing of a €22 million (~$26 million) Series B financing round. New investors Vesalius BioCapital III and BioMedPartners co-led this transaction, which included participation from all of Topas' existing investors. The funding will be used to advance the Company's proprietary pipeline based on the Topas Particle Conjugates technology platform. This includes progressing lead program TPM203, currently in clinical development for the treatment of pemphigus vulgaris, and bringing TPM501, Topas' candidate for the treatment of celiac disease, into the clinic.