Biopharmaceuticals

Pune, India – September 24, 2026 -- The global placenta market is set to nearly triple from USD 96.1 billion in 2025 to USD 275.18 billion by 2034, expanding at a 12.4% compound annual growth rate, according to a new analysis by Maximize Market Research.

Asia-Pacific leads global demand as Japan, South Korea and China drive placenta research

Asia-Pacific held the leading market position in 2025, backed by strong placenta research and development in Japan, South Korea and China, alongside rising production of placenta-derived products for pharmaceutical and cosmetics applications. The region's large consumer base and appetite for anti-aging and skincare solutions continue to underpin its dominant position.

Pune – September 24, 2026 -- The global bioinformatics market is projected to expand from $20.34 billion in 2025 to $64.60 billion by 2034, a 13.7% compound annual growth rate, according to new analysis from Maximize Market Research.

Genomic data volumes and NGS adoption fuel core demand

Rising volumes of genomic and biological data, driven by expanding next-generation sequencing (NGS) adoption, are pushing pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies toward advanced bioinformatics platforms, sequencing data analysis tools, and biological databases. Declining sequencing costs are drawing smaller research institutions into the market, while growing precision medicine applications are increasing demand for pharmacogenomics, biomarker analysis, and genomic diagnostics.

Vancouver – September 24, 2026 -- IM Cannabis Corp. (Nasdaq: IMCC) has closed a registered direct offering, selling 655,000 common shares at US$2.00 apiece for gross proceeds of US$1.31 million before expenses.

Norwell, Mass. – September 24, 2026 -- The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) has named six companies and nonprofits as 2026 Industry Innovator honorees for delivering first-of-their-kind FDA-approved therapies to patients with rare diseases that affect a fraction of the more than 30 million Americans living with such conditions.

Six FDA approvals mark milestones across ultra-rare indications

Mighty Therapeutics was recognized for FORZINITY, the first therapy for Barth syndrome, a rare mitochondrial disease, shown to improve muscle strength and quality of life. UCB earned recognition for KYGEVVI, the first and only approved treatment for thymidine kinase 2 deficiency in patients whose symptoms began at or before age 12. Fondazione Telethon was honored for Waskyra, a gene therapy for Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome that stands as the first FDA-approved gene therapy for a primary immunodeficiency disorder and the first developed by a nonprofit.

San Diego – September 24, 2026 -- ACROBiosystems has launched CHO-Direct, a rapid high-throughput affinity validation service that delivers antibody affinity data in as little as four days from sequence submission, alongside a broader infrastructure platform called ACRO AIx aimed at AI-driven drug discovery (AIDD).

CHO-Direct compresses antibody validation timelines to four days

Using an optimized CHO cell system, CHO-Direct converts computationally generated antibody sequences into structured affinity data within days, addressing a bottleneck where AI tools generate candidate sequences faster than labs can validate them. The service leverages the protein-folding and post-translational modification environment of mammalian cells while maintaining compatibility with CHO systems already used in downstream development and manufacturing.

Boston – September 24, 2026 -- RS2 Healthcare Partners has completed an investment in KMM Group, a Hatboro, Pennsylvania-based precision contract manufacturer for the medical device industry, marking the Boston private equity firm's first new platform deal since narrowing its focus exclusively to lower middle-market healthcare investing.

RS2 names industry veteran J. Mark King as KMM's new CEO

J. Mark King, who brings more than 30 years of medical device industry experience, has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of KMM. King previously served as President and CEO of Tegra Medical, a medical device contract manufacturer and former RS2 portfolio company, and has also acted as an advisor to KMM prior to the deal.

"I am honored and excited to continue building on KMM's momentum," King said, citing a long working history with RS2's principals.

West Chester, Ohio – September 24, 2026 -- E Tech Group will present on the compliance and data integrity risks of scaling laboratory automation from pilot to full production at the ISPE Boston Area Chapter 2026 Product Show on October 7 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Session targets the gap between pilot success and regulated production failure

Sura Hadi, Director of Laboratory Automation and Industrial Robotics (LAIR) at E Tech Group, will lead the 3:00 p.m. ET session, "From Pilot to Production: Scaling Lab Automation Without Breaking Compliance, Data Integrity, or Teams," in West Red Level, Suite 81. The talk addresses why automation pilots that succeed in contained workflows frequently break down when expanded into regulated manufacturing environments, where instruments must connect to scheduling systems, Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS), Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELN), and other enterprise platforms.

Shanghai – September 24, 2026 -- Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. and NovoCodex Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. have signed a strategic collaboration agreement to jointly develop next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), combining Sanyou Bio's AI-driven antibody discovery platforms with NovoCodex's clinically validated site-specific conjugation technology.

NovoCodex brings a clinically validated conjugation platform to the partnership

NovoCodex's proprietary NovoCodeTM platform incorporates unnatural amino acids into antibodies to achieve defined, controllable conjugation sites, producing homogeneous ADC products rather than the heterogeneous mixtures typical of traditional random conjugation. The technology has been validated in the pivotal Phase III trial of ARX788 and supported ARX305 in showing a favorable safety window and durable antitumor activity in advanced renal cancer patients with high CD70 expression.

Pleasanton, Calif. – – September 24, 2026 -- Aqua Medical, Inc. has closed a Series B financing round led by Nashville-based Relevance Ventures, with proceeds earmarked to complete its ongoing U.S. RESTORE-1 pilot study and prepare for a planned U.S. pivotal trial of its investigational diabetes procedure.

Series B capital targets completion of RESTORE-1 pilot and pivotal trial launch

The financing will fund the remaining stages of the RESTORE-1 pilot study, which is evaluating Aqua Medical's Proximal Intestinal Mucosal Ablation (PIMA) procedure for Type 2 diabetes under an FDA-approved Investigational Device Exemption. The company said the round will also support operational preparations, including patient recruitment infrastructure, for a larger planned pivotal trial subject to regulatory authorization.

Seattle – September 24, 2026 -- Atossa Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATOS) announced that President and CEO Steven Quay, M.D., Ph.D., will serve as a panelist at the 13th Aging Research and Drug Discovery Meeting (ARDD 2026), scheduled for October 1-3, 2026, at the David Rubenstein Treehouse at Harvard University in Boston.

Quay joins regulatory and academic leaders to discuss clinical pathways for aging-related diseases

The panel, titled "Clinical Trials in Diseases of Aging: From Evidence to New Therapeutics and Regulatory Pathways," is set for Thursday, October 1, 2026, from 11:20 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. ET. The session will be moderated by Sebastien Thuault, Editor at Nature Medicine, and will include Jill Lee, Director of Regulatory Policy & Intelligence at Novo Nordisk; Calum MacRae, Professor at Mass General Brigham; and Steve Horvath, Professor at UCLA.