Bio Platforms
IMMUNOLOGY – Innovation Gathers Momentum Amid New Scientific & Technological Breakthroughs
Patrick Larcier, PhD, says research is entering a new era in immunology with treatments for pathologies that previously had few or no options and looks at the latest trends and what is on the horizon for 2023 and beyond.
EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW – Novadip Biosciences: Developing a New Class of Regenerative Tissue Products to Accelerate Healing of Critical Size Bone Defects, Trauma & Spinal Problems
Denis Dufrane, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, and Founder of Novadip Biosciences, discusses his company’s innovative approach to tissue regeneration technology.
VACCINE TECHNOLOGY – Solving the Challenges & Introducing New Strategies for Influenza & COVID-19 Protection
Paul Radspinner, MBA, and Pamuk Bilsel, PhD, say with a combination vaccination strategy, the biopharma industry could truly solve the efficacy, durability, and drift problems of current influenza and COVID-19 vaccines.
INFLAMMASOME INHIBITORS – 21st Century Miracle Drugs: Spotlight on Clinical NLRP3 Inflammasome Inhibitors
Bryan Oronsky, PhD, says traditionally, pharmaceutical development is based on the “magic bullet” concept of “one drug, one target, one disease.” However, with the growing realization that chronic inflammation lies at the center of many, if not all, diseases, it is possible to envision inflammasome inhibitors, which reduce or prevent inflammation, as near-universal treatment panaceas.
DRUG-ELUTING IMPLANTS – Delivery of RNAi Therapeutics Through Drug-Eluting Implants
Cyonna Holmes, PhD, Karen Chen, MS, and Brian Wilson, PhD, review how localized therapeutic delivery of these therapies through an implant provides an innovative route of administration for chronic conditions that are difficult to dose adequately.
PLATFORM TECHNOLOGY – An Alternative Solution for Peptide Drug Formulation
Michael Neely introduces a unique technology platform and provides examples of how it has solved difficult formulation problems while adding significant commercial value to the resulting drug products.
WHITEPAPER – Improve Process Economics & Enable High Protein Concentrations
What if you could achieve higher protein concentrations during downstream processing? This whitepaper spotlights how excipient combinations can enhance manufacturability and final concentration of mAb formulations.
WHITEPAPER – Purity is Paramount: Assessing N-Oxide Impurities in Lipids Used in Lipid Nanoparticle Delivery Systems
This study demonstrates that Evonik is capable of manufacturing high-quality lipids with a purity greater than 99% and a consistently low level of the N-Oxide impurity.
SPECIAL FEATURE – Solubility & Bioavailability: Difficult Beasts to Tame
Contributor Cindy H. Dubin highlights the services many of these outsourced providers offer to enhance solubility and bioavailability and get their clients’ projects to market faster and cost effectively – while maintaining critical quality attributes.
EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW – Purple Biotech Ltd.: Developing First-In-Class Oncology Therapies
Gil Efron, Chief Executive Officer of Purple Biotech, discusses the company’s focus on identifying and developing promising molecules that may offer first-in-class approaches to treating devastating cancers with large unmet medical needs.
EXCLUSIVE ONLINE CONTENT
ReciBioPharm & GeneVentiv Therapeutics Partner to Advance First AAV-Based Gene Therapy for Haemophilia PatientsWith Inhibitors
ReciBioPharm has recently announced a collaboration agreement with GeneVentiv Therapeutics to advance development of an Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV)-based universal gene therapy for….
Purple Biotech Reports Preclinical Proof of Concept for its Tribody Platform Technology
Cleavable capping technology confines therapeutic activity to the local tumor micro environment which increases the anticipated therapeutic window in patients….
Ubiquigent Enters Agreement With Astellas Subsidiary, Nanna Therapeutics
Agreement leverages Ubiquigent’s DUB-focused drug discovery platform to support the development of novel therapeutic candidates for multiple disease targets selected by Nanna Therapeutics….
Genezen Announces Strategic Process Development & Manufacturing Partnership Agreement With Seattle Children’s Research Institute
Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Genezen have unveiled a strategic manufacturing partnership for Seattle Children’s Research Institute’s X-linked agammaglobulinemia….
BiomX Enters Merger Agreement With Adaptive Phage Therapeutics & Concurrent $50-Million Financing
Acquisition will create phage therapy company with an advanced pipeline with two Phase 2 assets, BX004 for the treatment of chronic pulmonary infections in cystic fibrosis patients and BX211 for the treatment of diabetic foot osteomyelitis….
MARKET NEWS & TRENDS
WEBINARS
On-Demand Webinar: How to Safely Handle Your Antibody Drug Conjugate
Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) have a highly specific mechanism of action which is an advantage for the treatment of several oncology indications…..
WHITE PAPERS
WHITEPAPER – Use of a Platform Formulation Technology to De-Risk Solid-State Variation in Drug Development
This white paper describes use of mesoporous silica as a porous carrier formulation technology to stabilize unstable polymorphs and to optimize solid state properties.
WHITEPAPER – Long-Acting Injectable Nanoparticle Formulations
Long acting injectable (LAI) formulations have been the subject of continued interest in the recent past due, in part, to their longer systemic circulation requiring less frequent dosing of drugs.
WHITEPAPER – PLGA Nanoparticles – Bridging the Gap From R&D to GMP
Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) has emerged as a promising material for drug delivery and biomedical applications. Its exceptional biocompatibility, customizable degradation and release properties, and versatility have led to….
APPLICATION NOTE: Process Optimization & Preclinical Production Using the ANP System
Particle Works is thrilled to announce the launch of a new Application Note that delves into the advancement of nanoparticles as carriers for targeted drug delivery. Developing nanoparticles for this purpose can be….
WHITEPAPER – Improve Process Economics & Enable High Protein Concentrations
What if you could achieve higher protein concentrations during downstream processing? This whitepaper spotlights how excipient combinations can enhance manufacturability and final concentration of mAb formulations.
What are Bio Platforms?
Platforms (or asset-independent technologies to capture all kinds of capabilities that can be leveraged across many different drug candidate assets rather than just discovery tools that the term ‘platform’ immediately brings to mind) are ubiquitous in modern pharma. They are the product of an arms race, to secure access to the best capabilities in key areas.
Platform technologies are considered a valuable tool to improve efficiency and quality in drug product development. The basic idea is that a platform, in combination with a risk-based approach, is the most systematic method to leverage prior knowledge for a given new molecule. Furthermore, such a platform enables a continuous improvement by adding data for every new molecule developed by this approach, increasing the robustness of the platform.
But it has often been said that access to the latest technological platforms to aid efficient drug discovery and development is limited to Big Pharma, which can more easily justify the costs of creating and operating these platforms.
Benefits of Bio Platforms
Platform technologies have the ability to radically improve upon current products and generate completely novel products. In this sense, they open up new arenas for drug discovery and development, potentially increasing the number of therapeutic options for patients. Once a single compound or therapeutic has been generated and demonstrates a clinical benefit in patients, it is more likely this platform technology can successfully be applied to other therapeutic areas, derisking future compounds/products.
Complex drugs by their very nature are challenging and costly to manufacture. This, in turn, translates into higher costs for patients and other payers. In order to provide safe and effective therapies at a reasonable price, it is necessary for the industry to develop manufacturing technologies that reduce costs and provide a consistent product. While the initial investment may be larger, manufacturing costs will be lower over time as the manufacturing process is solidified.
Scale and Investment of Bio Platforms
Despite the initial upfront costs, platform technologies inevitably provide pragmatic solutions to production challenges, while yielding safer and more effective therapeutic products. It has often been said that one of the key features that distinguishes “Big Pharma” from biotech is access to the latest technological platforms to aid efficient drug discovery and development.
These platforms range from vast chemical libraries, ultra-high throughput screening and huge genetic databases in discovery, to predictive toxicology platforms, cutting-edge ‘omics’ and even deep-seated knowledge of particular therapeutic areas in development. All these platforms have two things in common: They can be used on any (or many) development candidate assets, and they cost huge sums to establish in the first place, and in a few cases each time they are used as well. Hence their restriction to the largest pharmaceutical companies (and a few of the so-called “big biotechs” that are, in many ways, indistinguishable from the old-guard pharma).
Only when you have hundreds of active projects can you justify the cost of creating and operating these platforms. Or so the mantra goes. It is access to these platforms that keeps the big companies ahead in the race to discover and develop the best medicines (or at least counterbalance the disadvantages of being large and slow-moving, depending on your point of view). But is that just an assertion? How much evidence is there to support the proposition that the efficiency gains due to these platforms outstrips the cost of creating and maintaining them?
Keeping these technologies “cutting edge” has become so expensive that increasingly we hear pharma companies talking of “pre-competitive” approaches to develop the next generation. A group of companies might develop a platform capability they then share. The principle goal of such initiatives is to access even grander and more expensive tools than individual companies could afford, rather than to dramatically cut costs (although sharing platforms rather than developing the same thing in parallel in each silo should at least keep a lid on rising costs).