Preclinical

People on the Move: Outsourcing-Pharma roundup June ‘19

03-Jul-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Newly-minted Signant Health named a new CTO, Parexel bolstered its Japan presence, and BioAgilytix’s CEO was appointed to the board of FSD Pharma – a company developing products based on cannabinoids – among other people on the move in June.

Amicus picks Brammer for preclinical, clinical gene therapy work

02-Jul-2019 By Vassia Barba

Rare disease drug developer to work with Brammer Bio – which Thermo Fisher acquired in March – on gene therapy programs against Batten disease.

Phastar taps Medidata’s platform and announces additional global offices

26-Jun-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Phastar expands globally, adding offices in Japan and the US, and enters a partnership with Medidata to transform its increasing data points into insights.

WuXi Clinical looks to bridge ‘the gap between China and the rest of the world’

25-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

WuXi Clinical is expanding therapeutically - investing ‘heavily’ in oncology, CNS, GI - and plans to continue growing geographically as well, with a mission to bridge the gap between China and the rest of the world.

Parexel taps into CluePoints risk monitoring to improve clinical data accuracy

25-Jun-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Parexel and CluePoints to use CSM solutions for preclinical and clinical risk-based monitoring, after regulatory guidelines impact mutual acceptance of data across the US, EU and Japan.

Seqens opens collaborative R&D space after an ‘epiphany’

24-Jun-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Seqens opens new center of excellence that houses R&D capabilities, onsite consulting, and space for coworking and collaboration in Porcheville, France.

Concept Life Sciences providing ‘fully integrated offering’ in the early development space

24-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

The drug discovery, development, and analytical service provider has opened a new facility in Sandwich, UK to support the development and manufacturing of APIs – a market expected to top $270bn by 2026.

Be The Match and TrakCel partner on integrated services for cell therapy developers

24-Jun-2019 By Vassia Barba

Be The Match BioTherapies and TrakCel form a strategic partnership to integrate their offering for companies developing cell and gene therapies.

CROs Health Decisions and DSP partner on fertility clinical research

20-Jun-2019 By Vassia Barba

Health Decisions and DSP Clinical Research form a strategic partnership to support research in reproductive endocrinology and infertility.

Surrogate endpoints create potential, require statistical validation

19-Jun-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Transforming statistical data into a surrogate endpoint can enable comprehension of trial results sooner than usual, but few make the cut after formal validation, says drug development expert and DIA panelist.

New liquid 'lab on a chip' automates chemical reactions

19-Jun-2019 By Kayla Matthews

A new 3D-printed, all-liquid device automates complex chemical reactions on demand – enabling drug screening with limited materials, such as patient biopsies, says researcher.

Artificial intelligence in drug development predicted to grow: DIA-Tufts study

19-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

In which areas is artificial intelligence most mature? What are the challenges to widespread adoption? Tufts and DIA recently teamed up to explore these questions.

DIA 2019: Genetics, big data, AI, and separating the hope from hype

19-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

New this year to the discussion at DIA is the conversation around data ownership, as the industry continues to face a deluge of information from more sources than ever.

Catalent enters AAV vector production agreement with IVERIC bio

18-Jun-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Catalent is producing AAV vectors for the preclinical and clinical trial supply of Iveric bio’s lead drug candidates.

Cognizant acquires Zenith to become single source provider

18-Jun-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Zenith-Cognizant Technologies emerges from an acquisition aimed to streamline solutions as more complex “smart factories” become a greater focus in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Medidata acquired by French software firm Dassault Systèmes for $5.8bn

12-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Dassault Systèmes is set to acquire Medidata in an all-cash transaction valued at $5.8bn – a deal which will combine the power of modeling and simulation with data science to “catalyze the next generation of patient-inclusive therapeutics,” says CEO.

CAR-Ts that grow on trees: Automating cell therapy manufacturing

11-Jun-2019 By Vassia Barba

As the cell and gene therapies market evolves, CDMOs and pharmaceutical companies aim to adapt to the rising demands and serve larger patient populations.

GSK spinoffs join forces as single CRO providing immunology lab services

10-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Neomed-Labs/Pacific Biomarkers last week announced its acquisition of PairImmune in a bid to expand its immunology offerings.

Beckman Coulter acquires Cytobank to provide standardized cytometric analysis

10-Jun-2019 By Maggie Lynch

SaaS company Cytobank was acquired by Beckman Coulter Life Sciences to provide standardized cytometry data analytics to its clients.

PCI Pharma adds another San Diego facility as storage needs grow

10-Jun-2019 By Maggie Lynch

PCI Pharma Services adds a third facility in San Diego as it continues to grow its west coast clinical operations.

'AI is the industry standard in drug discovery': Atomwise signs multi-year agreement with Eli Lilly

04-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Atomwise signs a multi-year agreement with Eli Lilly and Company through which it will apply its patented artificial intelligence technology to support Lilly’s preclinical drug discovery efforts.

Gilead taps HitGen for drug discovery

04-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Gilead and HitGen have signed a drug discovery collaboration – one of several recently announced agreements as HitGen sees increased demand for its technology, says CSO.

Scientist.com teams up with VC firm to create marketplace for biotech

03-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

The online marketplace for outsourced R&D services Scientist.com partners with 5AM Ventures to help researchers save time and money – as the industry is "caught between a rock and a hard place," says CEO.

People on the Move: Outsourcing-Pharma roundup May ‘19

31-May-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

This month’s roundup includes the first CFO for CytoReason, a new CEO at Certara and Factory-CRO, as well as an expanded leadership team at BioDuro, among other people on the move in May.

Accenture launches AI tool to improve connectivity between researchers

30-May-2019 By Vassia Barba

Accenture’s technology platform, Intient, will provide access to clinical data and links companies working on drug delivery.

A ‘truly translational mindset’ requires the correct tool for the correct job: Synlogic

29-May-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Translational research faces new challenges – and opportunities – with the rapid growth in precision medicine and new drug modalities, as the industry looks to quickly bring new treatments to patients.

Resero partnership boosts data reports for Charles River clients

20-May-2019 By Vassia Barba

Charles River Laboratories becomes the exclusive CRO partner for Resero’s nonclinical data report generation tool TurboToxicology.

Q&A

Finding clinical assertions in the world of real-world evidence

15-May-2019 By Maggie Lynch

There are two components of RWE but multiple uses and even more challenges that come with it, according to founder of an RWE-based CRO.

Circuit Clinical partners to shape data to drive discovery

14-May-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Circuit Clinical and CUBRC partner to enhance patient data for drug discovery and development services through machine learning platforms and AI.

Immunologix boosts Translational Sciences division with new recruits

13-May-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Immunologix bolsters its scientific expertise with two new hires to build on its bioanalytical biomarker programs created from the launch of its Translational Sciences division.

Takeda and Regeneron continue to tap into Adimab’s capabilities

13-May-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Adimab expands partnerships with Takeda and Regeneron to enable biopharmaceutical companies with discovery and optimization capabilities.

Mispro expands vivarium capacity, sees ‘tremendous potential’

13-May-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Mispro is expanding its vivarium service network with the opening of its fifth facility, an 18,000 square foot facility in Broad Hollow Bioscience Park, NY.

Lonza to manufacture Alector’s mAb drug candidates for Ph I trial

09-May-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Lonza will provide manufacturing for Alector’s Phase I drug candidates for neurodegenerative diseases from its Switzerland site, which is expected to be operational by mid-2020.

LabCorp joins $3m investment round for 3D cell culture tech firm Kiyatec

09-May-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

LabCorp participated in a $3m Series B2 financing round for Kiyatec, which is developing ex vivo 3D cell culture technology to help model and predict cancer patients’ response to drug therapies.

Third-party vendors a cybersecurity risk for big pharma?

08-May-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Increasingly concerned with the potential for cyber attacks at third-party vendors, pharma looks to gain visibility into supplier performance, says industry expert after the recent breach at Charles River.

Janssen collaborates with French startup for AI-powered drug discovery

07-May-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Janssen and Iktos Pharmaceuticals enter an agreement to bolster small molecule discovery using virtual drug design technology.

Wacker Bio licenses its E. coli based production strain to PhaseBio

06-May-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Wacker licenses E. coli based production strain to PhaseBio for the manufacture of antibody fragment.

Lonza serves small biotech with services to accelerate movement to the clinic

06-May-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Lonza announces service offering to accelerate the movement of poorly-soluble small molecules into first-in-human clinical trials.

People on the Move: Outsourcing-Pharma roundup April ‘19

03-May-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Synteract adds to its therapeutic centers of development, Sterling Pharma continues growth in the US, and WCG’s site division sees the addition of several executives, among other people on the move this month.

ACRP 2019

Getting out of its own way: How pharma can use tech to transform

02-May-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Debbie Profit, vice president of applied innovation and process improvement at Otsuka Pharmaceuticals addressed ACRP in April and discussed the various technologies that could ‘transform’ the pharmaceutical industry.

Biomarkers, pre-screened patient pools, and AI to increase productivity: Iqvia report

26-Apr-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Biomarkers have the potential to improve drug development productivity by 34% over the next five years, during which period pre-screened patient pools and the application of predictive analytics also will help address the increasing complexity of clinical...

Medidata launches AI company to help answer pharma’s big questions

18-Apr-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Acorn AI is designed to answer questions across all phases of drug development, making data “liquid” to help pharma make quick “go/no-go” decisions, accelerate clinical trials, and demonstrate value.

Addressing experimental variability: Taconic launches TruBiome

16-Apr-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Taconic Biosciences’ new solution enables researchers to generate and maintain mice with custom microbiome profiles, alterations to which can significantly affect drug efficacy.

Charles River extends Huntington’s Disease collaboration, shutters site in San Diego

15-Apr-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Charles River Laboratories has extended its ongoing collaboration with the CHDI Foundation by five-years – and is closing its San Diego, CA-based research model production facility.

FDA’s project uses RWE to estimate trial results

15-Apr-2019 By Maggie Lynch

The FDA is advancing its project designed to determine the scientific validity and regulatory application of real-world evidence.

Circuit Clinical extends biobanking, genetics, and big data capabilities

11-Apr-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Circuit Clinical partners with the University at Buffalo’s genomics and biorepository program to add personalized medicine capabilities to its service offering lineup.

Manufacturing and the microbiome: Lonza, Chr. Hansen set out to pioneer the live biotherapeutic products industry

11-Apr-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Bringing together the food industry’s know-how and pharma’s manufacturing expertise, the new joint venture from Lonza and Chr. Hansen is positioned to pioneer the live biotherapeutic products space – addressing medical needs not met with ‘conventional’...

Catalent expands HME capabilities at drug development center of excellence

08-Apr-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Catalent Pharma invests $5m in drug development center of excellence to expand its hot melt extrusion capabilities for formulation and drug delivery method optimization.

CDMO collaborates with synthetic DNA provider for biologic drug development

08-Apr-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Twist Bioscience, a synthetic DNA provider, enters a strategic collaboration with LakePharma to bolster antibody discovery and optimization for biologic drug development.