Trends

5 trending Biotech topics that you should not miss in 2017

2016 wasn’t a successful year for Biotech companies and Big pharma industries. With the increase in the number of companies started this year, thanks to a pool of unsuccessful clinical trials and studies, it did no benefit. The industry faced a backlash among a spiraling opioid epidemic looming across the U.S.

However, the leaders are still optimistic about the year ahead. The trends for 2017 will bring a lot more positive outcomes for biotech industries, which would not only open more doors to better health for consumers; it will revolutionize the biotech and pharma industries.

Here is a list of the top 5  biotech and pharma trends which is set to go big 2017 below:

 1. Advancement of CRISPR

This gene-editing tool is already tested on humans and another gene-editing tool, which is of similar versions used for creating the first baby born with DNA from three parents. More clinical trials are set to test the safety of these technologies in 2017. The first few approvals and trials could lead to greater unintended genetic changes.

2. More effective drugs 

One of the big issues this year in the biopharma industries was that it just makes medicines that are not doing any benefit to human health. However, many companies have gained funding, which helps to integrate drug therapy and behavioral therapy with the new medicine. This year many companies are set to produce drugs that are effective to human health.

3. New Alzheimer treatment

 More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, according to ALZ.org, and a few researchers have landed hefty investments to take cure research to the next level. The industry spent billions of dollars to fund projects which target antibody drugs designed to help retain memory and cognition as humans age.

See also  List of 10 Companies Using CRISPR Technology

However, only now the companies have received funding, which will help to take a different approach for solving the mystery of Alzheimer’s by stopping the immune system from removing cell material needed for neuronal functioning, Forbes reported. Annexon Bioscience, which is based in San Francisco, will head that particular project in 2017, while EIP Pharma is set to work to advance an old anti-inflammatory drug that previously proved capable of improving cognitive function and memory in a group of test subjects already diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s.

4. Human and machine collaborations

Companies this year will take new routes of collecting data with the help of machines in the health care sector. The technologies like IBM’s Watson supercomputer would essentially give doctors a much broader platform for collecting and tracking data while also giving physicians an outlet to discover better means of treatment (with drugs that are already available) and comparable costs of medicines to help their patients efficiently.

5. More research focused on Marijuana

With the legalization of marijuana in many states in the US, it is set to legalize the recreational use of the weed plant nationwide. Finally, cannabis has made into the watch list of pharma and biotech industries. There are already medicinal companies who have started eyeing weed in the pharmaceutical space. Still, it is said that in 2017 there is the possibility that could bring more research to the forefront now that cannabis has become so accepted in many places. While speaking to Forbes in November, Tweeinot Life Sciences president, Rob Hunt, said, “There are many scientists that are desperate to study the efficacious nature of cannabinoids. Legalizing cannabis provides a great deal of insulation to these people and provides them comfort in conducting trials that will ultimately lead to breakthroughs in medicine.”

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