Preclinical

LabConnect’s GSPN could lower sample preparation risk

24-Jan-2019 By Maggie Lynch

The new service from LabConnect, a central laboratory and support services provider, offers a global solution for sample preparation and processing requirements.

Collaboration takes aim at abuse-deterrent drugs and formulations

21-Jan-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

PinneyAssociates and NMS Labs will plan, conduct, and analyze in vitro laboratory testing of pharmaceutical formulations to evaluate any abuse-deterrent properties, says CMO.

Key Biologics teams with CRBS as cell-based therapeutics drive demand for blood products

16-Jan-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Key Biologics and Cascade Regional Blood Services’ multi-year agreement will provide researchers with the critical raw material needed for developing cell- and gene-based therapies.

Sanofi enters agreement to use E.Coli for expression optimization

15-Jan-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Sanofi will use AbSci’s platform to further optimize two of its in-house proteins – and will partner with other companies to accelerate timelines and reduce costs.

Caprion expands assay development services after acquisition

15-Jan-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Caprion Biosciences will provide mass cytometry services to expand its offerings as a specialty CRO after its acquisition of Primity Bio.

AZ signs agreement for targeted drug delivery research

14-Jan-2019 By Maggie Lynch

AstraZeneca and Aptamer Group will collaborate to leverage Aptamer’s platform for targeted delivery of oligonucelotides to the kidney for therapeutic development.

Charles River offering AI-enabled drug discovery services via Atomwise tie-up

14-Jan-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Charles River and Atomwise have formed a strategic alliance aimed at accelerating the drug discovery process using AI-powered design technology.

University Hospitals joins TriNetX Network for clinical research prospects

10-Jan-2019 By Maggie Lynch

University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center has joined the TriNetX network to increase its research opportunities while benefitting the network of real world evidence and data.

The EMA’s 5 goals: Fostering innovative trial design, exploiting AI, and other recommendations

09-Jan-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

The EMA recently outlined five strategic goals with a focus on fostering clinical trial innovation, optimizing capabilities in modeling and simulation, as well as exploiting AI and investing in special populations, among other objectives.

LabCorp licenses NASH test for clinical research

08-Jan-2019 By Maggie Lynch

LabCorp’s Covance has signed an agreement which it will use Genfit’s diagnostic test to identify and characterize patients.

Upperton’s new R&D facility receives MHRA approval

08-Jan-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Upperton Pharma’s new and expanded facilities received a positive inspection from MHRA, enabling both research and development and clinical manufacturing at the site.

Pfizer taps CytoReason’s machine learning platform for drug discovery

07-Jan-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

CytoReason today announced a collaboration with Pfizer – as the machine learning company eyes future partnerships with industry leaders to up the accuracy of its models and affect decision-making throughout the drug development pipeline, says CEO.

$85m financing boosts Schrödinger’s software platform

07-Jan-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Schrödinger closed an $85m (€74) financing round to support an expansion of its computational platform and drug discovery pipeline for internal and external use.

Digital tech exploded in 2018: Will 2019 see broad adoption?

04-Jan-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Awareness around the potential opportunities created by artificial intelligence has never been higher, but pharma’s biggest challenge in 2019 will be adopting and scaling the right technology to improve patient outcomes, says an industry executive.

Ablexis licenses antibodies for CAR-T development

03-Jan-2019 By Maggie Lynch

The clinical-stage biotechnology company Allogene has licensed Ablexis’ antibodies for the use of CAR-T therapy research and development.

AC Immune inks $1.7bn deal with Lilly, strategic partnership with WuXi

03-Jan-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Eli Lilly and Company and AC Immune have signed an agreement for the research and development of tau aggregation inhibitor small molecules, and AC Immune signed a strategic partnership with WuXi biologics.

How in silico trials are making personalized medicine a reality

02-Jan-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

The biopharma industry is on the precipice of making personalized medicine a reality with access to massive amounts of data, computing power, and artificial intelligence to run in silico clinical trials, says GNS Healthcare CEO.

MilliporeSigma and genOway enter CRISPR collaboration

19-Dec-2018 By Maggie Lynch

genOway has acquired exclusive rights to MilliporeSigma's genome-editing patents to produce and sell new rodent models.

2018 regulatory round-up: Patient safety, data transparency, innovative trial designs

18-Dec-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

Global regulatory agencies had a busy 2018. Here, we take a look back at some of the key developments throughout the year, as the industry navigated challenging politics, pressure to increase transparency, and the rapidly evolving digital health space.

Schrödinger enters three year partnership for TB drug discovery

18-Dec-2018 By Maggie Lynch

The three-year partnership between Schrödinger and TB Alliance will work toward identifying bacterial inhibitors for innovative TB therapies.

Through a different lens: From Brexit to digital innovation, clinical research is sparking change that matters

17-Dec-2018 By Doug Peddicord, executive director, Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO)

Clinical research organizations all share a common goal of advancing health innovations. They are investing and learning, iterating and re-inventing.

A new industry standard? Unified data model reaches project milestone

17-Dec-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

The Pistoia Alliance hopes to facilitate “seamless data integration” between various industry stakeholders, including life sciences companies and CROs, via an open and freely available data format.

Elpis eyes strategic partnerships as it works to scale ‘direct cell reprogramming’ tech

14-Dec-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

Elpis Biomed is scaling its proprietary ‘direct cellular reprogramming platform’ – and has its sights set on becoming a global provider of high-quality human cells, with strategic partnerships soon to be announced, says the company’s founder.

SGS invests €3.5m in its French bioanalytical site

13-Dec-2018 By Maggie Lynch

This second phase of the two-phase expansion project will increase the company’s bioanalytical capabilities at the site by 50% when the expansion is complete in 2020.

Biorasi closes PE deal, next stage to be ‘vastly different’ as CRO plans scale-up

13-Dec-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

Biorasi plans to scale several aspects of its global CRO business following a PE investment – and while it does not plan to “buy size,” smaller strategic acquisitions are not out of the question, says company executive.

Histopathology providers merge to serve biopharma, CRO industry as single company backed by PE

12-Dec-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

Histo-Scientific Research Laboratories and Vet Path Services have merged to create one company dedicated to providing histology, pathology, and archiving services to the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and contract research industries.

Merck KGaA takes ‘balanced risk’ with Cyclica’s AI platform

12-Dec-2018 By Maggie Lynch

Merck’s agreement with Cyclica will establish efficiency in its small molecule therapy development with access to Cyclica’s AI protein screening platform.

More data will be generated in 2019 than in the last 5,000 years

11-Dec-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

The new year will bring more data than the last 500 decades, information that will be used to improve clinical trial design and shorten drug development timelines, say industry experts.

2018 brought record drug approvals, but 2019 needs to bring greater efficiency

11-Dec-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

The industry has a “tremendous opportunity” to build on its progress by further improving operational performance in the face of pricing and patient access challenges.

5 predictions for AI in 2019

11-Dec-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

While several companies touted the potential of AI to disrupt the drug development industry in 2018, what practical applications can the industry expect next year?

Trianni licenses humanized model platform to MacroGenics for oncology research

10-Dec-2018 By Maggie Lynch

Trianni to provide MacroGenics with humanized mouse model platform for its mAb therapeutics research.

From mouse to man: New machine-learning model reduces number of ‘wasted experiments’

07-Dec-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

The new “groundbreaking” model can translate the results of mouse experiments into the equivalent human condition, outperforming traditional methods of extrapolation by up to 50%, say researchers.

Evotec and LEO Pharma partner for hit identification platform use

06-Dec-2018 By Maggie Lynch

Evotec to use its hit identification platform in LEO Pharma alliance, another drug discovery partnership among the many.

Elsevier platform makes data ‘AI-ready’ to help researchers overcome R&D challenges

06-Dec-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

The information analytics business Elsevier has launched a new cloud-based data platform, Entellect, to de-silo, contextualize, and connect drug, target, and disease data.

Medidata collab sheds light on rare diseases, the value of precision medicine

06-Dec-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

Medidata’s machine learning-based solution revealed novel biomarkers for Castleman disease among other discoveries that could help accelerate diagnosis and treatment.

‘Patients will lose’ if airlines refuse to transport lab animals: NABR files complaint

06-Dec-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

A lobby group has filed a complaint alleging illegal discrimination by airlines refusing to transport lab animals – a battle that will be difficult to win, says an industry expert.

Partnership will expand research into ‘urgently needed’ area

05-Dec-2018 By Maggie Lynch

SPARC and Schrödinger will collaborate to use Schrödinger’s technological platforms and SPARC’s insights into research therapeutics for neurodegenerative conditions.

Guest column

To access the rewards of big data in health care, potential risks must be managed

05-Dec-2018 By Melanie Brickman Borchard, PhD, MSc, director of life sciences, New York Academy of Sciences

Increased access to real-world data sources opens up new possibilities, but it also raises new ethical questions, which cannot be tackled by one organization, government agency, or company alone.

‘Buzz about AI’ lends to Linguamatics win

03-Dec-2018 By Maggie Lynch

Linguamatics’ platform was recognized for its ability to generate insights from unstructured and semi-structured data.

People on the Move: Outsourcing-Pharma roundup November ‘18

30-Nov-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

ABL named a successor to its previous CEO, Syneos has two new hires, and BTS Research appointed a VP to push its growth model. These, among other people on the move this month.

CRO sponsoring coworking lab in Boston as area continues to see strong demand for space

29-Nov-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

The CRO Calvert Laboratories is sponsoring a Boston-based coworking launchpad and will provide various services to the lab’s tenants.

Evotec and Immuneering bring iPSC, AI tech together in research tie-up

28-Nov-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

Evotec and Immuneering are combining iPSC and AI technologies through a research collaboration to discover novel small molecules for rare hereditary metabolic diseases.

Bayer taps AI technologies in drug discovery collaboration

28-Nov-2018 By Maggie Lynch

Cyclica, a Bayer G4A company, will work with Bayer to advance drug discovery. The collaboration will involve looking further into polypharmacological profiles of small molecules.

Janssen: ‘There’s too much at stake to settle for doing things the way we’ve always done them’

28-Nov-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

The industry must be “relentless” in driving the adoption of new advances in technology, says Janssen, which has shifted from doing things for patients and investigators, to doing things with them.

Fusion Antibodies collab using AI to generate humanized antibodies

27-Nov-2018 By Maggie Lynch

Fusion Antibodies signed an agreement with Analytics Engines to bring machine learning and AI to its humanization platform in an aim to bolster product quality and manufacturability.

UK-based CRO Sygnature puts down roots in US, its largest market

27-Nov-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

Sygnature Discovery is opening its first office in the US – the CRO’s largest market and one in which it sees the biggest growth potential, says CEO.

Repositive expands preclinical cancer model offering

26-Nov-2018 By Maggie Lynch

Repostive expanded its cancer models offering to include cell-line derived xenograft (CDX) models, syngeneic, and humanized mouse models.

WuXi Biologics announces new discovery, development and manufacturing site in China

23-Nov-2018 By Flora Southey

The CDMO has broken ground on its 1.6 million-square-foot Biologics Innovation Center in Shanghai.

New AI tech reduces research bottlenecks

21-Nov-2018 By Maggie Lynch

The new technology, Pattern to Knowledge (P2K), reduces “bottlenecks” in drug research by examining bio-sequences in a shorter time frame.

Once significantly behind, China begins to close the drug development gap

20-Nov-2018 By Melissa Fassbender

Moving forward, China will take a more integral role in global drug development, following several regulatory changes designed to accelerate innovation.