Structure of the UW COVID-19 vaccine (right). (UW Photo)

Two COVID-19 vaccines developed in Seattle got the nod from regulatory agencies outside the U.S. this week. A University of Washington shot is ready for rollout in South Korea, and a shot linked to HDT Bio won emergency use approval in India. The UW shot is the first approved medicine based on computational protein design, “To me that is a watershed moment,” UW researcher Neil King told GeekWire earlier this month.

Read on for more life sciences news this week in the Pacific Northwest.

Structure of a bacterial protein, including a structure produced by open source tool OpenFold. (OpenFold Image)

Clinical trials and studies:

  • Fred Hutch researcher Jesse Bloom and his colleagues published a study outlining key teps in the evolution of Omicron and other COVID-19 variants.
  • South San Francisco and Vancouver, B.C.-based ESSA Pharma’s experimental therapy for prostate cancer showed “initial anti-tumor activity” in an early-stage study.
  • Seattle-area medical device company LumiThera reported data on its trial treating age-related macular degeneration with a type of light therapy.
  • Black women were more likely than white women to experience delays in obtaining a breast biopsy than white women, according to a UW-led study. The findings suggest that systemic racism may be a factor.

Approvals and deals:

  • Bristol Myers Squibb’s CAR T cell cancer therapy Breyanzi, manufactured in the Seattle area, was approved to treat patients at an earlier stage of disease.
  • Arzeda, a Seattle company that designs proteins for industrial use, announced a collaboration with global materials science company W. L. Gore & Associates.
  • Vancouver B.C.-based Poda, which developed nicotine-delivery devices, completed a $100.5 million sale to Altria Group.

Funding:

Tech moves:

  • Timothy Dellit took on interim positions as CEO of UW Medicine, executive VP for medical affairs, and dean of the school of medicine. He replaced Paul Ramsey, who retired this summer.
  • Kineta has a new chief scientific officer, Thierry Guillaudeux, as does Zymeworks, which hired Paul Moore.
  • William Canestaro will be a fellow of the German Marshall Fund while keeping his job as Washington Research Foundation managing director.

In case you missed it:

  • Affini-T Therapeutics announced a partnership with gene editing company Metagenomi. Affini-T, which has operations in Seattle, will apply Metagenomi’s tech to its T cell receptor therapies.
  • Healthcare innovation collaborative Matter launched an incubation program with Amazon Web Services to prepare startups from Europe, Africa and the Middle East to understand and enter the U.S. healthcare market.
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