Omicron’s open questions, plus the business case for ultra-rare diseases

BioCentury This Week podcast also features the latest strategies for optimizing the potency of TCR-based cancer therapies

How can vaccine makers get actionable information fast enough to act on a COVID-19 variant before an even newer one replaces it? What does the model look like for developing new vaccines? On the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, BioCentury’s editors discuss the open questions raised for industry by the Omicron variant. The team also assesses how FDA and NIH hope to scale gene therapy development for ultra rare diseases via the Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium and catch up on the latest strategies for optimizing the potency of TCR-based cancer therapies. This week’s Emerging Company Spotlight features  Quell Therapeutics Ltd. On Monday, the London-based company raised a crossover-laden $156 million series B round as its Treg platform heads toward the clinic.