UK

Money fears could leave people vulnerable to loan sharks, say campaigners

Vicky Shaw, PA Personal Finance Correspondent
Tue, 27 June 2023 


Concerns have been raised about struggling borrowers potentially being preyed on by loan sharks.

One in 14 (7%) of people surveyed in June said they or someone else in their household has borrowed from an unlicensed or unauthorised informal money lender who charges interest in the past three years.

The survey was carried out by Ipsos UK, among more than 1,800 people aged 18 to 75 years old across Britain.


Sacha Romanovitch, CEO of not-for-profit financial inclusion organisation Fair4All Finance, which commissioned research to shine a light on illegal money lending, said: “There is a growing consensus that structural change is needed to create a credit market that serves everyone.

“Fair4All Finance is convening support from across the financial services sector, regulators and cross-party policy makers to ensure that mainstream banks and lenders better serve millions of creditworthy, lower income individuals alongside accelerating the scale up of community finance provision.”

The organisation is concerned that the problem could grow as people look for ways to meet their living costs.

It warned that illegal money lenders may present themselves as “friends” to their customers or operate out of businesses which appear legitimate, such as some cafes or pubs.

Some loan sharks may charge people double the amount they originally borrowed and in some cases people are unaware how much they are being charged, it said.

Some borrowers had been used as “money mules” in money laundering operations, it warned, with some then losing their bank account as a result. Money muling is an illegal activity.

Fair4All Finance said borrowers using illegal lenders can end up being harassed with repeated phone calls or visits at home or work and some may be threatened with violence.

It suggested that if someone needs credit and their bank cannot help, they should consider the UK’s community finance sector, made up of credit unions and other responsible lenders.

Find Your Credit Union helps people find a credit union near them or one that works with particular employers, while Finding Finance helps people to find loan providers, Fair4All Finance said.

One in three ‘could struggle to achieve minimum living standards in retirement’

Vicky Shaw, PA Personal Finance Correspondent
Tue, 27 June 2023 


Around one in three (35%) people could struggle to make ends meet in retirement, according to a report.

The average man is on track to receive £19,000 a year in retirement income per year, compared with £12,000 for the average woman, the report found.

Many of those predicted to struggle in retirement expect to be still paying rent, Scottish Widows said.


The research also indicated that the average person with disabilities will need to manage on around 61% of the typical income predicted for people without disabilities.

Scottish Widows commissioned YouGov to survey more than 5,000 people across the UK in March and April 2023.

They were asked about their preparations for retirement, and their expectations of life when no longer working.

It also used retirement living standards levels set by the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) to calculate the quality of lifestyle that people are set to achieve in retirement.

The standards reflect different lifestyles in terms of the amounts that retirees will have available to spend on outgoings such as household bills, holidays and transport.

Scottish Widows’ national retirement forecast (NRF) has been created to assess the potential retirement outcomes for people aged 22 to 65.

The research indicated that 35% of people are at risk of having less than the minimum needed in retirement, while a similar proportion (36%) are on course for a “comfortable” lifestyle, with enough money to cover various luxuries.

A further 18% are on course for a “minimum” lifestyle, covering the basics, with some money left over for non-essentials.

And 11% are thought to be on track for a “moderate” lifestyle, which sits between the minimum and the comfortable levels.

The report also found that living expenses are a concern for three-quarters (75%) of people and just over a fifth (21%) are cutting back on essentials.

Pete Glancy, head of policy at Scottish Widows, said: “Our new national retirement forecast paints a stark picture – one in three of us are facing the harsh reality of a retirement where we will struggle to make ends meet.

“Last year’s retirement report highlighted the impacts of the pandemic, cost of living and wage stagnation. This year the pressure seems to have intensified due to increasing inflation and interest rates continuing to climb.”

He added: “The financial services industry must get better at effectively communicating with diverse groups to build trust and ensure that people of all incomes and demographics understand how to save effectively for retirement.”

Louise Rubin, head of policy and campaigns at charity Scope, said: “Life costs a lot more when you’re disabled, and planning for retirement is a luxury many cannot afford.

“Many disabled people are denied the opportunity to get into, stay in, and progress in work, making it much harder to build up a pension.

“We need to break the link between poverty and disability and make sure disabled people have an equal standard of living.

“Tackling the disability employment gap and driving down the extra cost of disability must be made political priorities.”

Phil Brown, director of policy at People’s Partnership, which provides the People’s Pension, said: “The possibility of a retirement crisis in the next 10 years and beyond will not be averted on its own.

“The cost-of-living crisis makes immediate action impossible but we need to use the next few years to work out how to solve the very real problem of under-saving.”

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “Automatic enrolment has transformed pension saving with more than 10.8 million workers signed up to a workplace pension and an extra £33 billion saved in 2021 compared to 2012.

“We are supporting proposals to expand this so millions more save earlier, including young people, women and lower earners, while the free guidance on offer via MoneyHelper and Pension Wise is also helping people make informed choices about their financial futures.”

NOT THE 1%

UK

Sunak’s stealth tax raid hits 1.2 million savers


Charlotte Gifford
Tue, 27 June 2023

Rishi Sunak's decisions on tax band thresholds will see many exposed to savings tax for the first time this year - Victoria Jones/PA Wire

More than 1.2m savers will be forced to pay tax on their interest for the first time this year as a stealth raid by Rishi Sunak brings in billions of pounds for the Treasury.

A record number of people are expected to be caught by the raid after Rishi Sunak froze income tax bands, meaning more people are dragged into the 40pc threshold as their wages increase.

Rising interest rates mean that returns on savings are also going up. Taxpayers in the higher rate bracket must pay 40p in tax on any interest they earn above £500.


The accountant RSM estimates 1.2m new people will face the savings tax in 2023, with many of them also forced to fill out a tax return for the first time as a result.

The figures are likely to cast doubt on Jeremy Hunt’s commitment to supporting savers after he criticised banks earlier this week for failing to pay high enough interest rates. The Chancellor suggested the Government was preparing to intervene in the market on customers’ behalf.

It came as the Resolution Foundation think tank suggested Mr Hunt should slash stamp duty and end a 60pc tax trap for higher earners.

The left-leaning think tank warned that the Chancellor and Prime Minister’s decision to freeze a series of tax thresholds for five years will cost every household the equivalent of £4,200 in extra taxes by 2027-28.

The personal savings allowance lets basic rate payers earn up to £1,000 in interest on their savings, and higher rate payers £500, before they are taxed.

These limits have not changed since they were introduced by former Chancellor George Osborne in 2016.

The tax cost savers £7.2bn last year alone, according to analysis for the Telegraph by the Centre for Economics and Business Research think tank, which estimates it will surge again to £7.6bn in 2023-24.

This is a significant increase on previous years. The tax raised £1.4bn in 2020-21.

Shaun Moore, of the investment company Quilter, said: “The era of ultra-low interest rates is in the back mirror for the time being and the government needs to modernise the tax system to appreciate this new environment.”

The average rate on an easy-access savings account is 2.36pc, according to data from financial analyst Moneyfacts, compared to 0.46pc this time last year. Meanwhile the top rate on a one-year fixed-rate bond is 5.8pc.

At last year’s average rate, a higher rate taxpayer would only pay tax on their savings if their nest egg was worth more than £108,000.

At today’s average rate, tax will kick in once they hold over £21,000 outside of a tax-free wrapper, such as an Individual Savings Account (Isa).

Additional rate taxpayers get no personal savings allowance. The threshold for the 45pc tax dropped from £150,000 to £125,140 in April this year, robbing 300,000 taxpayers of their £500 allowance and putting them at risk of an unexpected tax bill.

Separately, the Resolution Foundation described stamp duty on homes as a “bad tax” that distorts the housing market and called for the existing rate to be halved for main homes, a change that analysts said would reduce the average cost of moving by nearly £4,000.

It also urged Mr Hunt to remove a tax grab that means people earning over £100,000 pay an effective 60pc income tax rate up to £125,140, as their tax-free personal allowance is withdrawn.

However, the Foundation - whose chief executive Torsten Bell previously served as then-Labour leader Ed Miliband’s policy head - also recommended a series of politically unpopular tax hikes, including broadening the scope of inheritance tax to include pension pots and agricultural land and a raid of the self-employed.

Former pensions minister Ros Altmann has urged the Chancellor to increase the tax-free savings allowance so taxpayers can keep more of their hard-earned savings.

Maxwell Marlow of the Adam Smith Institute, a think tank, said the Government’s decision to maintain frozen tax thresholds has created a fiscal drag effect that is highly detrimental.

He said: “Instead of keeping up with inflation, the Treasury is intent on increasing medium-term household insecurity, reducing investment from savings, and ensuring people’s post-tax income goes less far.”

Tom Clougherty of the Centre for Policy Studies, a think tank, said there was a good argument for abolishing the tax on savings income altogether.

He added: “Cash savings are overwhelmingly made out of taxed income and shouldn’t be subject to another layer of tax.”

The Treasury was approached for comment.

UK

Chancellor to meet watchdogs amid concerns over profiteering from inflation

Holly Williams and Sophie Wingate, PA
Tue, June 27, 2023 

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will question consumer watchdogs on Wednesday over what powers they can use to help lower prices as concerns grow that firms are exploiting rampant inflation to boost their profits.

He is set to meet the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), and the regulators for the energy, water and communications sectors to press them on whether there is a profiteering problem and what they are doing to tackle it.

The meeting with the CMA, Ofgem, Ofwat and Ofcom comes after the Bank of England suggested some retailers were hiking prices or failing to pass on lower costs to consumers as a way of increasing their profit margins at a time of stubborn inflation.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warned retailers about pricing “responsibly and fairly”, saying household weekly shopping bills had “gone up far too much in the past few months”.

Mr Hunt also confirmed that ministers were talking to the food industry about “potential measures to ease the pressure on consumers”.

He is expected to back a CMA review of food prices and reportedly sees regulators playing a central role in helping curb inflation.

Supermarkets insisted in a committee hearing with MPs on Tuesday that they were not profiteering, with Tesco claiming the group was the “most competitive we have ever been”.

The supermarket chiefs were quizzed by the Business and Trade Committee on allegations that they were using inflation as a cover to raise prices, but told MPs they were not passing on all their costs to shoppers.

The chains added they were not in favour of a cap on the price of basic food items, recently considered by the Government.

The accusations of profiteering have sparked a backlash from the industry, with the British Retail Consortium, the trade body representing the sector, saying there had been a “regular stream of price cuts” by supermarkets despite experiencing “extremely tight” profit margins.

It followed official figures last week that showed Consumer Prices Index inflation failed to ease as hoped in May, remaining at 8.7%, with food inflation easing back only slightly to 18.4%.

The Bank subsequently raised interest rates to a 15-year high last week in a shock move designed to tame inflation.

Mr Sunak on Sunday urged cash-strapped Britons to “hold our nerve” over high interest rates as he stressed “there is no alternative” to stamping out inflation.

He said “inflation is the enemy” as he defended the Bank’s rate hike, even as it piled pressure on mortgage-holders.

The Chancellor, last week, agreed measures with banks aimed at cooling the mortgage crisis, including allowing borrowers to extend the term of their mortgages or move to an interest-only plan temporarily.

Probiotics positively influence honeybee health, study shows

by Crystal Mackay, University of Western Ontario

Western researchers Brendan Daisley, Anna Chernyshova and Sophie Killam at the 

experimental apiaries on campus. Credit: Western Communications

Widespread pesticide-use and diminished floral diversity in the environment have contributed to the worsening susceptibility of honeybees to infectious disease, threatening their support of adequate pollination of food crops. With the aim of tackling honeybee decline, a collaborative team including researchers at Western University have shown certain probiotic bacteria can be used to help ward off disease and promote overall hive health.

In a new study published in The ISME Journal, scientists used two methods to deliver probiotics to hives within large commercial apiaries in California—a probiotic pollen patty and a spray-based delivery system—demonstrating a range of health benefits associated with the supplementation.

"We tend to think of bees just as organisms in themselves. But actually, bees have co-evolved with a lot of other organisms, the plants they feed on, and the bacteria that live inside their guts," said Graham Thompson, biology professor at Western who has been studying honeybees for over two decades. "Those bacteria are functionally very important to the bees, for digestion and acquiring nutrients. It's a symbiotic arrangement."

Testing in a real-world setting

While the Western team in collaboration with Lawson Health Research Institute has led research on three probiotic strains and shown they benefit honeybees, this latest research is the largest field study of its kind to date.

"Seeing an effect in the lab is one thing, but seeing it in the real world is quite another," said Thompson. "After treating the hives with probiotics using a BioPatty and a novel topical spray, we monitored them for all kinds of downstream effects and found lasting effects in their ability to withstand a variety of very common diseases."

The probiotics developed by the researchers at Western and Lawson are specifically designed to enhance the honeybee's core gut microbiota to boost their immunity and provide a viable alternative to antibiotics.

"Right now, most beekeepers treat their hives with antibiotics to prevent infectious disease," said Brendan Daisley, a former Ph.D. student at Western and now a postdoctoral researcher at Western and the University of Guelph.

"Unfortunately, there are a lot of negative side effects associated with treating hives with antibiotics, including development of resistance, and off-target health effects due to the drugs harming beneficial microbes, in addition to the pathogens of interest. We need different solutions to improve honeybee health, especially in a sustainable way, and we believe probiotics could be a feasible option."

Credit: University of Western Ontario

The researchers say part of the goal of testing the delivery methods of the probiotics is ensuring the research can be easily translated to the real world.

"A beekeeper has to go to the hive and be able to apply the probiotics, so we're trying to make it easier for them to do that," said Gregor Reid, professor emeritus at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, retired Lawson scientist and an international expert on probiotics. "We aim to make the solution practical, easy to use and proven to work, which is the essence of translational science. Not every bacterial strain works and even some commercial products have not been proven to be effective, so we can't generalize. The key is selecting the right strains and proving they are effective in the real world."

The team is working closely with SeedLabs to promote their research with major players in the beekeeping world.

Bee research on campus

The next phase of this research is continuing this summer on Western's campus in the university's experimental apiaries. Students Anna Chernyshova and Sophie Killam will be looking at how the probiotics influence the bees' social behavior, to understand what is referenced as the "gut-brain-axis." In other words, how probiotic bacteria influence the brain.

"The idea is fascinating because it shows that the gut and the brain are actually communicating with each other through millions of bacteria releasing or inducing specific chemicals and neuro-compounds that influence the activity of the brain, including behavior such as grooming or cleaning," said Chernyshova, a Ph.D. student in Biology. "Previously, this has only been studied at the individual level. And as we know, honeybees are social. So, we are looking to see if and how probiotic organisms can improve foraging and hygienic behavior."

The researchers are also comparing the hives treated with probiotics to those that have been treated with antibiotics to see which performs better. Using pollen traps, they can assess overall pollen production and determine which hives have bees that go to more diverse flowers.

Killam, a master's student in Thompson's lab, is looking specifically at how these manipulations of the bees' gut microbiomes influence where worker bees detect and remove diseased brood from the hive. She'll spend the summer alongside the bees using video, radio tags and other observations to monitor the insects' behavior.

"I've really enjoyed taking care of the colonies here and am excited to do the field work this summer," said Killam. "Bees are both an economically and ecologically important insect, for plants, animals and humans. And because they live in these large and close-knit colonies close to humans and industry, they are susceptible to disease. Looking at how we can support their health and well-being through natural mechanisms is really important."

More information: Brendan A. Daisley et al, Delivery mechanism can enhance probiotic activity against honey bee pathogens, The ISME Journal (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41396-023-01422-z

Journal information: ISME Journal Provided by University of Western OntarioUsing probiotics to protect honey bees against fatal disease

Bacterial signallers in the soil

Streptomyces bacteria produce a group of signalling molecules that trigger a variety of processes

Peer-Reviewed Publication

LEIBNIZ INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL PRODUCT RESEARCH AND INFECTION BIOLOGY - HANS KNOELL INSTITUTE -

 

IMAGE: THIS ASPERGILLUS NIDULANS REPORTER STRAIN PRODUCES GREEN FLUORESCENT PROTEIN (GFP) WHEN A SPECIFIC GENE CLUSTER IS ACTIVATED. THIS IN TURN HAPPENS WHEN AN ARGINOKETIDE IS ADDED. view more 

CREDIT: MAIRA ROSIN/LEIBNIZ-HKI

Bacteria of the genus Streptomyces produce chemical substances called arginoketides, to which many other microorganisms react: Bacteria form biofilms, algae join together to form aggregates, and fungi produce signalling substances that they would not otherwise produce triggering new responses from other organisms. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI) show this in a study, in which they investigated various Streptomyces species, the arginoketides they produce and their influence on other soil microorganisms.

Even though microorganisms cannot speak, they communicate with each other. To do so, they use chemical substances that other microorganisms understand as signals. "These are relatively small organic compounds, known as natural products," explains Axel Brakhage, head of the study and director of the Leibniz-HKI as well as a professor at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. "Microorganisms produce a variety of such compounds and we are just beginning to understand this language."

Bacteria of the genus Streptomyces are apparently particularly important for communication in the soil. They are found all over the world and produce many different arginoketides, as was recently discovered by researchers at the Leibniz-HKI in a study published in Nature Microbiology. Arginoketides are a subgroup of polyketides, a group of natural products produced by various organisms. Many polyketides are of medical interest because they, for example, are antibiotic or act against cancer cells.

The group of arginoketides identified by the Leibniz-HKI team triggers various processes in the soil. "In previous studies, we have already seen that the fungus Aspergillus nidulans produces some substances only in the presence of streptomycetes," says Maria Stroe, one of the two lead authors of the study. The arginoketide azalomycin F was identified as responsible for this.

For the current study, the researchers therefore investigated whether streptomycetes produce other compounds that are active as signalling substances. "Through a literature search, we found a large number of examples where Streptomyces species worldwide produce structurally similar compounds or at least have biosynthetic gene clusters for corresponding arginoketides," explains Mario Krespach, lead author of the study.

The researchers isolated some of these compounds from Streptomyces strains from soil samples and successfully tested them on the mould Aspergillus nidulans - they also triggered the production of chemical substances in the fungus that it does not otherwise produce. "We therefore suspected that we may have found a general mechanism of microbial communication," says Lukas Zehner, another author of the study.

And indeed, the team found a large number of fungi in soil samples that formed substances in the presence of Streptomyces iranensis that they do not form otherwise. If the researchers switched off the corresponding biosynthesis genes for arginoketides, the effect did not occur.

Previous studies showed numerous activities of arginoketides - for example, they cause a fungus and a green alga to enter into a symbiosis, another fungus changes its shape and a bacterium forms a biofilm in response to the substances.

"We are now trying to understand the effects on the composition of microbial communities, the microbiomes, both from arginoketide production itself, and also from the substances produced from fungi in response," says study leader Brakhage. For example, one of the substances produced by Aspergillus nidulans inhibits a plant-pathogenic fungus. The effects of arginoketides on algae and fungi may also have contributed to the evolution of lichens and multicellularity.

"Elucidating this interplay helps us understand, among other things, how microbial communities are structured and how they help prevent plant diseases. In addition, we discover entirely new substances when we study the coexistence of microorganisms instead of just looking at isolated organisms," Brakhage explains.

The study was supported by the German Research Foundation as part of the Balance of the Microverse Cluster of Excellence and the Collaborative Research Centres FungiNet (Transregio) and ChemBioSys, as well as by the Leibniz Association as part of the Leibniz Competition.

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JOURNAL

Nature Microbiology

DOI

10.1038/s41564-023-01382-2 

ARTICLE TITLE

Streptomyces polyketides mediate bacteria–fungi interactions across soil environments.

Chocolate can be fruity or flowery — if you skip the roasting step

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

 

IMAGE: UNROASTED CACAO BEANS, AS SHOWN HERE, FEATURE UNIQUE FRUITY FLAVORS THAT CAN BE LOST WHEN THEY’RE PROCESSED AT HIGH TEMPERATURE. view more 

CREDIT: MARLON AC-PANGAN

“Natural” foods are trendy, and proponents claim that little or no processing helps preserve the food’s inherent flavor. Research now published in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry shows that, at least for certain artisanal, bean-to-bar chocolates, this could indeed be the case. The team reports that unroasted, “raw” chocolate features certain compounds responsible for fruity flavors and sour tastes that are lost when the cacao beans are processed at high temperatures.

Chocolate is made from cacao beans, which are fermented, roasted and processed into cacao nibs. These bits can be eaten on their own, or melted down and sweetened to form the chocolate products found on grocery or boutique store shelves. Similar to wines, the environmental conditions, or “terroir,” where the cacao is grown provide a unique flavor profile to the bean. However, when the beans are roasted during processing, these subtle flavors can be hidden or destroyed.

To preserve the terroir and potential health benefits of cacao beans, some chocolatiers are now interested in creating minimally processed products by skipping the roasting step. Although these bars and chips are often called “raw,” some people say that this is a misnomer because chemical changes have already occurred during fermentation. But regardless of the terminology, exactly which flavor compounds are potentially lost during this process is not well understood. So, Marlon Ac-Pangan, Nicki Engeseth and Keith Cadwallader wanted to investigate how the aroma and sensory characteristics of chocolate change during high-temperature roasting.

The team made two groups of nibs from the same set of cacao beans. One was roasted, and the other was not, and then both groups were molded into chocolates. Using solvent-assisted flavor evaporation and aroma extract dilution analysis, the researchers found that volatile flavor compounds, including the “hazelnut-like” 2- or 3-methylbutanoic acid and the “caramel-like” HDMF were more pronounced in the roasted samples. But the process masked other volatiles — including the “bell pepper-like” 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine — which were more noticeable in the unroasted chocolate, along with others that have fruity or flowery aromas. Additionally, a trained sensory panel found that these unroasted samples tasted sourer and sweeter. The researchers say that this is probably because the vinegary flavors produced during fermentation were allowed to shine, instead of being masked by the more pronounced, “roasty” flavors. So, while roasting does change the flavor profile and may make it more “chocolatey,” it may also hide some of the subtler flavors and sourness from the raw cacao beans.

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Follow us: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram

---

JOURNAL

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

DOI

10.1021/acs.jafc.3c01366 

ARTICLE TITLE

“Identification of Important Aroma Components and Sensory Profiles of Minimally Processed (Unroasted) and Conventionally Roasted Dark Chocolates”

First drug discovered and designed with generative AI enters Phase II trials, with first patients dosed

Business Announcement

INSILICO MEDICINE

 

IMAGE: INSILICO MEDICINE HAS COMPLETED THE FIRST DOSE IN PATIENTS IN THE PHASE II CLINICAL TRIAL OF INS018_055, MARKING THE WORLD'S FIRST ANTI-FIBROTIC SMALL MOLECULE INHIBITOR DISCOVERED AND DESIGNED USING GENERATIVE AI view more 

CREDIT: INSILICO MEDICINE

• After completing Phase 0 and Phase I human safety studies, INS018_055, Insilico’s AI-discovered and AI-generated drug, has entered multi-regional Phase II clinical trials in the U.S and China.
• The first human patients were administered the drug.
• This is a potentially first-in-class anti-fibrotic drug candidate that has reached clinical Phase II, and it is fully delivered by generative AI, with a novel AI-discovered target and a novel AI-generated molecular structure.
• Powered by its integrated commercially available AI platform, Pharma.AI, Insilico has nominated and announced 12 preclinical candidates for internal drug discovery programs since 2021 and three of them have advanced into human clinical trials. 

Insilico Medicine ("Insilico"), a generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven clinical-stage biotechnology company, today announced that it has completed the first dose in patients in the Phase II clinical trial of INS018_055, marking the world's first anti-fibrotic small molecule inhibitor discovered and designed using generative AI, initiating Phase II clinical trials for further evaluation.

The study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and preliminary efficacy of 12-week oral INS018_055 dosage in subjects with IPF divided into four parallel cohorts. To further evaluate the candidate in wider populations, the company plans to recruit 60 subjects with IPF at about 40 sites in both the U.S and China. 

INS018_055 received positive topline data in Phase I in early 2023. In Phase I trials carried out in New Zealand and China, INS018_055 was tested in 78 and 48 healthy subjects, divided into cohorts focusing on a single ascending dose (SAD) study and multiple ascending dose (MAD) study. The international multi-sites Phase I studies yielded consistent results, demonstrating favorable safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics (PK) profiles of INS018_055, supporting the initiation of the Phase II study.

“With demonstrated potential against both fibrosis and inflammation, INS018_055 could offer another option for patients worldwide,” said Feng Ren, PhD, co-CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of Insilico Medicine. “The achievement of the first dose for INS018_055 in the Phase II clinical trial is not only an important step for Insilico, but also a milestone for AI-driven drug discovery and development. Together, we are expecting more achievements powered by AI for global unmet medical needs.” 

“When we started developing generative AI for drug discovery, I never expected to see the clinical and preclinical results we have today,” said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, Founder and co-CEO of Insilico Medicine. “Initiating Phase II trials with this novel inhibitor for IPF represents a major milestone for deep generative reinforcement learning in drug discovery. We will explore the efficacy for patients of AI-discovered and designed treatments in clinical trials, which is a true validation of our generative AI platform. We are eager to continue to advance this potentially first-in-class therapy forward to help patients in need and show the value of generative AI in drug discovery and development.”

Insilico is one of the pioneers in utilizing generative AI for drug discovery and development. The company first described the concept of using generative AI for the design of novel molecules in a peer-reviewed journal in 2016. Then, Insilico developed and validated multiple approaches and features for its generative adversarial network (GAN)-based AI platform and integrated those algorithms into the commercially available Pharma.AI platform, which includes generative biology, chemistry, and medicine. Moreover, Insilico Medicine launched its target discovery AI platform PandaOmics, generative chemistry AI platform Chemistry42, and clinical trial analysis platform inClinico commercially to enable the biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry to utilize these advanced generative AI tools to power their internal research and development. 

Insilico is delivering breakthroughs for healthcare in multiple disease areas using generative AI. Since 2021, Insilico has nominated and announced 12 preclinical candidates in its comprehensive portfolio of over 30 assets and has advanced 3 of them to the clinical stage. The Company has benefited from a technology collaboration with NVIDIA, including NVIDIA DGX systems. 

“When we started, there were hundreds of companies claiming to use AI for drug discovery,” says Zhavoronkov. “Insilico was started as a deep learning pureplay at NVIDIA GTC, a global conference on AI and the metaverse. We were one of the first to get the DevBox, test the latest hardware early, and now work on NVIDIA DGX. We made a bet on generative AI early, tapped NVIDIA’s best-in-class technology, worked hard, and now we can tangibly demonstrate substantial R&D performance boosts and real clinical-stage drugs imagined by AI.”

 

About INS018_055

INS018_055 is a potentially first-in-class small molecule inhibitor with a novel target discovered by Insilico’s target identification engine, PandaOmics, and a novel molecular structure designed by its generative chemistry engine, Chemistry42. In February 2021, Insilico nominated INS018_055 as a preclinical candidate for the treatment of IPF, a chronic lung disease that results in progressive and irreversible decline in lung function, and started a first-in-human study in November 2021. The FDA granted Orphan Drug Designation to INS018_055 for the treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in February 2023.

 

About Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF)

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), included in the List of Rare Diseases (the First List) in 2018, is a chronic scarring lung disease characterized by progressive and irreversible decline in lung function, affecting approximately five million people worldwide. Patients diagnosed with IPF are often in advanced stages due to lack of differential symptoms, and the median survival is three years. Given the limited available therapies and poor prognosis, there remains a large unmet clinical need for new IPF therapies.

 

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, a clinical stage biotech company powered by generative AI, is connecting biology, chemistry, and clinical trials analysis using next-generation AI systems. The company has developed AI platforms that utilize deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, immunity, central nervous system diseases, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and aging-related diseases. www.insilico.com

Light or moderate alcohol consumption does not guard against diabetes, obesity

Study finds these associations are stronger in women

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE ENDOCRINE SOCIETY

WASHINGTON—People who have just one or two drinks per day are not protected against endocrine conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Alcohol consumption is a significant public health concern because it is related to many medical conditions such as diabetes, obesity, liver conditions and heart disease. While it is widely accepted that excessive alcohol consumption causes a wide range of health issues, whether modest alcohol consumption has beneficial health effects remains controversial.

“Some research has indicated that moderate drinkers may be less likely to develop obesity or diabetes compared to non-drinkers and heavy drinkers. However, our study shows that even light-to-moderate alcohol consumption (no more than one standard drink per day) does not protect against obesity and type 2 diabetes in the general population,” said Tianyuan Lu, Ph.D., from McGill University in Québec, Canada. “We confirmed that heavy drinking could lead to increased measures of obesity (body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, fat mass, etc.) as well as increased risk of type 2 diabetes.”

The researchers assessed self-reported alcohol intake data from 408,540 participants in the U.K. Biobank and found people who had more than 14 drinks per week had higher fat mass and a higher risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

These associations were stronger in women than in men. No data supported the association between moderate drinking and improved health outcomes in people drinking less than or equal to seven alcoholic beverages per week.

“We hope our research helps people understand the risks associated with drinking alcohol and that it informs future public health guidelines and recommendations related to alcohol use,” Lu said. “We want our work to encourage the general population to choose alternative healthier behaviors over drinking.”

The other authors of this study are Tomoko Nakanishi and Satoshi Yoshiji of the Jewish General Hospital and McGill University in Québec, Canada, Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan, and the Japan Society for Promotion of Science in Japan; Guillaume Butler-Laporte and Celia Greenwood of the Jewish General Hospital and McGill University; and J. Brent Richards of the Jewish General Hospital, Prime Sciences Inc. in Québec, Canada, McGill University, and King’s College London in London, U.K.

The study received funding from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, McGill University, the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, the Fondation de l'Hôpital Général Juif, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, Génome Québec, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Cancer Research UK, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

The manuscript, “Dose-dependent Association of Alcohol Consumption with Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes: Mendelian Randomization Analyses,” was published online, ahead of print.

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Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, from diabetes and obesity to infertility, bone health, and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the world’s oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions.

The Society has more than 18,000 members, including scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in 122 countries. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit our site at www.endocrine.org. Follow us on Twitter at @TheEndoSociety and @EndoMedia.

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JOURNAL

The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

University of Helsinki announces world's first professorship of sustainable pharmacy

Business Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI

 

IMAGE: THE FACULTY OF PHARMACY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI ESTABLISHES THE WORLD’S FIRST PROFESSORSHIP IN SUSTAINABLE PHARMACY. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI

The new discipline aims to address sustainability gaps in the entire life-cycle of medicines, from drug discovery to end-of-life, and reduce the environmental footprint of pharmaceuticals.

The University of Helsinki, renowned for its strong presence in pharmaceutical drug research, recognizes the urgent need for sustainable solutions in the field. The Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Helsinki now establishes the world’s first professorship in sustainable pharmacy. The professorship will help the University community provide companies and employers with experts in pharmacy and medicines, who will have the opportunity to change practices in the sector and make them more environmentally oriented.

“The professorship has been made possible by generous donations from pharmaceutical companies, organisations working in the field, student organisations and private citizens. We are very grateful for the support”, says Dean Jari Yli-Kauhaluoma.

The position is part of the Resilient and Just Systems (RESET) profiling area, funded by the Research Council of Finland, which aims to foster inter- and transdisciplinary research, promoting sustainable and just solutions and increasing system resilience.

Sustainable pharmacy, as an emerging field, offers a unique opportunity for the selected candidate to pioneer and develop the discipline. The appointed professor will lead frontier research projects, collaborate nationally and internationally, and work closely with regulatory bodies, the pharmaceutical industry, and other healthcare professionals to ensure societal impact and foster innovation.

In addition to research, the professor will actively contribute to the academic community by enhancing the quality of research and teaching. The role includes responsibilities in graduate and postgraduate/doctoral level education in sustainable pharmacy, both in domestic language programs and the English language Master's Program in Pharmaceutical Research, Development, and Safety.

To be considered for the position, applicants should possess a doctoral degree, demonstrate proficiency in sustainable pharmacy, and have teaching and research experience. Fluency in English is required, and proficiency in Finnish (or Swedish) is desirable.