German firm Adrenomed has received new funding to push its innovative antibody for septic shock further into development. The company talks to Scrip about how it works, and why it won’t allow the asset to be a victim of strategic decision making.

Sepsis trials designed with narrower enrollment criteria could allow treatment effects to emerge, countering the “signal to noise” problem that has plagued late-stage trials in sepsis, researchers suggest.

Funding for biopharma start-ups nearly doubled from Q1 to Q2 2011, with a total of $251 million. The quarter saw increased investment in emerging markets, particularly in China. Biopharma start-ups scored many deals with Big Pharma, in several cases playing the role of licensee. And while M&A activity for the start-up set was limited to two deals, for each of those agreements the start-ups were the ones on the acquiring side scooping up assets from other companies.

In Vivo briefly describes these recently founded companies: BioCritica, Entericon, Epiomed Therapeutics, Radisens Diagnostics, Sapiens and Sova Pharmaceuticals.