The Science Boss is back! It's my first day at @endpts, a @FinancialTimes co. I'll be writing news, analysis, and features as the Senior Science Correspondent for Endpoints, with a focus on the science, reseach, and tech of biomed, biotech, and pharma. rcross@endpointsnews.com

The FDA approved a new dosing of Lilly’s #Alzheimers drug #Kisunla to lower brain swelling risks known as ARIA-E, based on a new Phase 3 study where modified dosing caused ARIA-E in 14% of patients compared to 24% on original dosing. More in @endpts

A new #CRISPR Cures center, funded by $20M from @czi and led by @UrnovFyodor, will create 8 custom therapies for patients in the next 3 years. “Our goal is to aggressively walk the walk of CRISPR platformization,” Urnov told me. More in @endpts:

It's a tough time to be a vaccine startup, but @centivax CEO @CurlyJungleJake raised $45M for a universal flu shot made with 22 different mRNAs encoding viral strains back to 1918. A clinical trial starts next year. My story for @endpts has all the details

Former Pfizer CSO Mikael Dolsten told me he was “thrilled” by the FDA’s “renewed enthusiasm” cell and gene therapy. And he isn't worried about CRISPR getting lumped into political attacks on mRNA technology. Read more in @endpts:

RT @AndrewE_Dunn: If you work at the FDA, I am interested to hear more about your perspective. Please consider reaching out to me on Sign….

RT @JohnCendpts: Can't let the moment pass. Today marks the 9th anniversary of Endpoints News, after Arsalan Arif and I along with 2 stalwa….

If you are at #BIO2025 this morning, stop by room 251 at 9:00 am for my discussion with leaders from Aera, Alnylam, Intellia and Regeneron on "Platform Power" in genetic medicines.

In another interesting alternative to animal models, the organoid startup @ParallelBio has raised $21 million to test drugs and vaccines in its lymph node-in-a-dish technology, sourced from 100 human tissue donors. Read more in my exclusive for @endpts -

RT @maxonwifi: I'm looking forward to breaking down this story with Dr. Cohen at 3:00pm ET. If you're looking for a primer on ACIP, and how….

There are lots of ethical and practical questions questions about this work, some of which I touch upon in my story for Endpoints. It will be interesting to see how widely Bexorg's technology is adopted, and how useful it will be. Stay tuned.

The BrainEx technology itself is probably more shocking than the experiments it enables, but these are the nitty-gritty things that can make or break a drug program. Biohaven, a neuroscience drug company down the road, has already benefited from partnering with Bexorg.

Bexorg is positioning the technology as an alternative to animal models for preclinical drug testing. It can see how well drugs get into the brain, how the organ responds to different doses, and monitor for signs of toxicity. It also measures biomarkers released by the brain.

Bexorg has four of these perfusion machines, dubbed BrainEx, in its New Haven labs across the street from Yale's medical school. The startup has already run tests in 100 human brains, with the goal of doing 500 total this year and 1,000 next year. This is the brain lab:

The scientists insist that the brains are dead. The organs arrive to Bexorg with no electrical activity, and thus no consciousness, and the startup uses a cocktail of drugs to keep them that way. But the individual brain cells are kept alive with a perfusion of artificial blood.

In 2019, Nenad Sestan and Zvonimir Vrselja stunned the world by restoring cellular activity in the brains of decapitated pigs. Now they are applying the same method to dead human brains at their statup Bexorg to reinvent preclinical drug testing.

Most biotech labs look the same. But I recently saw something incredible during my visit to the startup Bexorg: a human brain floating in a bucket, hooked up to a complex machine to keep its constituent cells alive. Read more in my deep dive for @endpts .

Casma Tx has raised more than $150 million since it launched in 2018 to develop drugs that target autophagy. It's presenting its first preclinical data in Gaucher's disease this week, but recently trimmed its staff to 5 employees. Read more in @endpts:

Here's a wild idea: attach a cocaine-like molecule to the surface of a torn-up adenovirus and inject it in chronic drug users to help them develop antibodies that prevent cocaine from reaching the brain. I have the details of the first results in @endpts:

So @CRISPRTX surprised me yesterday when it partnered with an #siRNA company. After all, isn't #CRISPR gene editing supposed to do anything that siRNA can do, only permanently? . I talked to CEO @CrisprSam to learn more in my latest for @endpts:

In an anticipated update for the gene insetion field, @davidrliu and @shsternberg have figured out how to get #CRISPR-associated transposases to insert full genes efficiently in human cells. @leilei_wuu and I have the details in our story for @endpts:.