LAUSR

DENMARK Copenhagen’s Steno Diabetes Center will use a €400 ($470) million gift from the Novo Nordisk Foundation to set up a center of excellence for diabetes research and clinical care. The state-of-the-art hospital due for completion in 2020 will trial new tools and treatments which, if successful, would then be rolled out to other regions in Denmark and throughout Europe. The center, previously owned by Novo Nordisk for 82 years, is one of the oldest specialist diabetes clinics in the world. SOUTH KOREA Regulators approve a gene therapy to treat osteoarthritis of the knee. Kolon Life Sciences received marketing approval from the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for Invossa, as a single intra-articular injection. The Gwacheon-based company says this is the world’s first cell-mediated gene therapy for degenerative arthritis. In phase 3 trials in South Korea, Invossa demonstrated pain relief and joint structure improvements in 84% of patients. Clinical trials in the US are in phase 3.