Latest news with #Nijmegen
National Post
3 days ago
- Business
- National Post
Byondis Announces First Patient Dosed in Phase 1 Clinical Trial of Novel SIRPα-Directed Monoclonal Antibody BYON4228 in Patients With Advanced or Metastatic Solid Tumors
Article content Two-Part Dose Escalation and Expansion Trial Will Evaluate Efficacy and Safety of BYON4228 Alone and in Combination with Pembrolizumab Article content Article content NIJMEGEN, The Netherlands — Byondis B.V., an independent clinical stage biopharmaceutical company creating innovative targeted medicines for patients with cancer, announces the first patient dosed in its Phase 1 dose escalation and expansion BYON4228.002 clinical trial to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and efficacy of novel SIRPα-directed monoclonal antibody (mAb) BYON4228 alone and in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors. Article content BYON4228 is a potential best-in-class novel mAb that targets and blocks the CD47-SIRPα axis, responsible for tumors' ability to escape from recognition and destruction by the immune system. By targeting SIRPα and not CD47, BYON4228 offers selective targeting of myeloid cells and avoids disruption of other biologically meaningful CD47-dependent interactions. In preclinical studies, BYON4228 was found to potentiate the tumor killing capacity of tumor-targeting mAbs tested without the toxicity associated with CD47 agents. Article content 'Building on strong preclinical data, we believe that there is broad potential for BYON4228 alone and in combination with tumor-targeting mAbs, checkpoint inhibitors and antibody drug conjugates and other modalities across hematological and solid tumors,' said Louis Denis, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Byondis. 'We look forward to evaluating the results of this trial to support the clinical development of BYON4228 alone and in combination with other agents and to bring a new therapeutic option to patients with high unmet medical need.' Article content Part 1 of the BYON4228.002 trial will evaluate the safety of BYON4228 alone and in combination to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), or optimal biological dose (OBD) if the MTD is not reached, and recommended combination dose regimen(s) for expansion (RDE(s)). The second part of the trial will evaluate the objective tumor response rate (ORR). The secondary objectives of this trial are safety, pharmacokinetics, immunogenicity and preliminary efficacy. The trial will be conducted at multiple sites across Europe, including the United Kingdom, Belgium and Spain. Article content BYON4228 is a novel monoclonal antibody (mAb) from Byondis' next generation immuno-oncology (IO) program that targets and blocks the CD47-SIRPα axis, responsible for tumors' ability to escape from recognition and destruction by the immune system. BYON4228 is currently being studied in two Phase 1 Clinical Trials evaluating BYON4228 alone and in combination with Rituximab in patients with Relapsed/Refractory CD20 positive B-cell Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) (NCT05737628) and BYON4228 alone and in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors (NCT06932952). Article content Driven to improve patients' lives, Byondis is an independent clinical stage fully integrated biopharmaceutical research and development company creating innovative targeted medicines for cancer. The company is developing new biological entities (NBEs) with a focus on antibody-drug conjugates and antibody-based therapeutics. Article content Byondis' broad development portfolio comprises preclinical and early-stage clinical programs. The product candidates combine Byondis' expertise in linker-drug (LD) technology, antibody-drug conjugation, targeted cytotoxic therapy, immunology, and monoclonal antibody (mAb) development. Byondis' expertise covers all preclinical R&D from early lead finding to production of clinical batches of the selected product candidates, which are all done in-house. Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content
The Sun
13-05-2025
- Science
- The Sun
Terrifying ‘death date' of the universe moves much CLOSER as scientists reveal exactly when all the stars will go out
Sean Keach, Head of Technology and Science Published: Invalid Date, OUR universe is set to end far sooner than we thought – so if you planned on living forever, there's bad news. Scientists have calculated a possible "death date" for our universe, revealing how long it will take for all stars to decay. 5 Thankfully this terrifying dead universe is so far in the future that you won't have to cancel any plans. The prediction is 10 to the power of 78 years away – or a one followed by 78 zeroes. Written out, that looks like: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years. That's a lot of candles for the universe's final birthday cake. This "end" is due to take place through an "evaporation"-like process where objects in the universe ultimately decay. This is through a process similar to something called Hawking radiation, which is where black holes decay over time. And through a series of calculations, scientists were able to show how long it might take for other objects to decay too. "The researchers calculated that the end of the universe is about 10^78 years away (a 1 with 78 zeros), if only Hawking-like radiation is taken into account," Radboud University Nijmegen noted. "This is the time it takes for white dwarf stars, the most persistent celestial bodies, to decay via Hawking-like radiation." Previous studies that have examined the end of the universe didn't take this effect into account. Terrifying Nasa simulation lets you 'plunge' into black hole to 'point of no return' that would rip your body apart So the earlier estimation showed the lifetime of white dwarfs as 10 to the power of 1,100 years – or a one followed by 1,100 zeroes. That's far longer than the latest estimate, although both numbers are incomprehensibly large that it's unlikely to affect humans. "So the ultimate end of the universe comes much sooner than expected," said study lead author Heino Falcke. "But fortunately it still takes a very long time." 5 HAWKING RADIATION Hawking radiation is named after famed English theoretical physicist and Cambridge professor Stephen Hawking. In the 1970s, Hawking suggested that radiation could escape from a black hole. "At the edge of a black hole, two temporary particles can form, and before they merge, one particle is sucked into the black hole and the other particle escapes," the Radboud University Nijmegen explained. "One of the consequences of this so-called Hawking radiation is that a black hole very slowly decays into particles and radiation. 5 What is a black hole? The key facts Here's what you need to know... A black hole is a region of space where absolutely nothing can escape That's because they have extremely strong gravitational effects, which means once something goes into a black hole, it can't come back out They get their name because even light can't escape once it's been sucked in – which is why a black hole is dark What is an event horizon? The point at which you can no longer escape from a black hole's gravitational pull is called the event horizon The event horizon varies between different black holes, depending on their mass and size What is a singularity? The gravitational singularity is the very centre of a black hole It's a one-dimensional point that contains an incredibly large mass in an infinitely small space At the singularity, space-time curves infinitely, and the gravitational pull is infinitely strong Conventional laws of physics stop applying at this point How are black holes created? Most black holes are made when a supergiant star dies This happens when stars run out of fuel – like hydrogen – to burn, causing the star to collapse When this happens, gravity pulls the center of the star inwards quickly and collapses into a tiny ball Part of the star collapses inward thanks to gravity, and the rest of the star explodes outwards The remaining central ball is extremely dense, and if it's especially dense, you get a black hole 5 "This contradicts Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, which says that black holes can only grow." Scientists working on this new study calculated that this "evaporation" process can also apply to other objects with a gravitational field – not just black holes. They also checked to see how long it would take the Moon and a human to decay in this way. And it turns out that it would take us 10 to the power of 90 years (or one with 90 zeroes) to disappear. But there are lots of other reasons why the Moon and humans won't make it anywhere close to that distant time.
BBC News
07-05-2025
- BBC News
Historic vehicles arrive in Guernsey for Liberation Day events
Historic vehicles arrive for Liberation Day events 14 minutes ago Share Save Jake Wallace BBC News, Guernsey Share Save Brittany Ferries About 250 historic and military vehicles are expected to take part in celebration About 120 vintage vehicles have arrived in Guernsey ahead of Liberation Day on a special sailing from Poole. A cavalcade of about 250 historic and military vehicles will be among the events marking the 80th anniversary of Liberation Day on Friday. The additional sailing specifically for the vehicles arrived on Tuesday, carrying vehicles from across the UK and as far away as Nijmegen in the Netherlands, said Brittany Ferries. Craig Bagley, who is from the UK, said it was "just amazing" to be part of the celebrations marking the end of Occupation in Guernsey during World War Two. Mr Bagley, who was visiting Guernsey for the first time, said he was thankful to be part of the island's celebrations. "I've been doing this hobby now for 50 years, so coming to do this, to celebrate what them boys did for us, to give us the freedom we've got, is just amazing," he said. Brittany Ferries, which organised the additional sailing, said the ship carried Jeeps, ambulances, motorcycles, command cars, amphibious cars and trucks. Mr Bagley is visiting Guernsey for the first time Brittany Ferries said the vehicles had travelled from across southern England, Wales, Norfolk, Lancashire and Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Steve Jugg, also from the UK, said owning a vintage vehicle was a "very expensive" hobby but he was "very grateful" he could be part of the cavalcade. "It's all part of remembering the sacrifices were made for us in order that we can observe the freedoms that we've got nowadays," he said. Steve Jugg, bottom, said owning a vintage was a "very expensive" hobby Brittany Ferries Vintage truck owner Darren Compton said he had to drive carefully on Guernsey's small roads Darren Compton, from the UK, said it had taken seven months to prepare his large vintage truck for the cavalcade. "This one's had a bit of a lick of paint, we haven't done too much to it," he said. "It only does 28mph (45km/h), so it has taken nine hours to get it down to the ferry. "When we get over here, it's very small roads for something this big, so we have to be very careful with what we do with it." Follow BBC Guernsey on X and Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to More on this story Liberation Day cavalcade could be 'largest ever'
