Bio Platforms
EVerZom Achieves First Bioproduction of Clinical-Grade Stem Cell-Derived Exosomes in Large-Scale Bioreactors
EVerZom recently announced it has reached a key milestone in its development with the production of a first exosome GMP batch in a 10L bioreactor…
Lonza Completes Acquisition of Large-Scale Biologics Site in Vacaville (US) From Roche
Lonza recently announced it has completed its acquisition of the Genentech large-scale biologics manufacturing site in Vacaville, CA, from Roche for $1.2 billion. The Vacaville…
PLATFORM TECHNOLOGY - Developing Novel Antisense Oligonucleotides for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Scott Schobel, MD, and Nicole Datson, PhD, are hopeful their novel platform for targeting disease-causing RNA with multiple modulating approaches will lead to major advances in treating genetic disease and improving the lives of patients and their families in the years ahead.
Abzena Expands Partnership With ProteoNic to Include 2G UNic Technology as Standard Offering for All Customers
ProteoNic recently announce an expanded partnership with Abzena, the leading end-to-end integrated CDMO for complex biologics and bioconjugates. Following the successful launch of AbZelectPRO, a high-producing…
Sagimet Receives FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Denifanstat in MASH
Sagimet Biosciences Inc. recently announced the US FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to denifanstat for treatment of noncirrhotic metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) with moderate to…
BriaCell Reports 100% Resolution of Brain Metastasis in Breast Cancer Patient With “Eye-Bulging” Tumor
BriaCell Therapeutics Corp. reports significant anti-tumor response including complete resolution of temporal lobe breast cancer metastasis in a patient treated in the Phase 2 study…
Barinthus Bio Completes Enrollment for Phase 2b Trial in Chronic Hepatitis B & Phase 1 Trial in Prostate Cancer
Barinthus Biotherapeutics plc recently announced the completion of enrollment for two clinical trials: HBV003, a Phase 2b clinical trial of VTP-300 in adults with chronic…
Ocean Biomedical Announces New Data Deepening Understanding of Novel Cancer Immunotherapy Treatment Approach
Ocean Biomedical recently announced Scientific Co-founder Dr. Jack A. Elias, MD, PhD, and colleagues have published new research in the Journal of Immunology that expands…
Sermonix Pharmaceuticals’ Lasofoxifene Demonstrates Anti-Estrogen Therapy Increases Immunotherapy Efficacy by Promoting Antitumor Activity of Eosinophils
Sermonix Pharmaceuticals Inc. recently announced its lead investigational drug, lasofoxifene, was featured in a new Duke Cancer Institute study revealing that anti-estrogen therapy increases the…
Prime Medicine Announces Strategic Research Collaboration & License Agreement With Bristol Myers Squibb
Prime Medicine, Inc. recently announced a strategic research collaboration and license agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb to develop reagents for the next generation of ex…
Enliven Therapeutics Announces Positive Data Update from Phase 1 Clinical Trial of ELVN-001 in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia
Enliven Therapeutics, Inc. recently announced updated, positive data from the Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating ELVN-001 in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) that has…
GRI Bio Granted Patent for Proprietary Natural Killer T Cell Modulators for Prevention & Treatment of Inflammatory Conditions
GRI Bio, Inc. recently announced it has received a Decision to Grant notice from the Japan Patent Office (JPO) for the patent application No. 2023-000750…
Dupixent Approved in the US as the First-Ever Biologic Medicine for Patients With COPD
The US FDA has approved Dupixent (dupilumab) as an add-on maintenance treatment of adults with inadequately controlled chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and an eosinophilic…
Evaxion Significantly Expands Vaccine Development Collaboration With MSD
Evaxion Biotech A/S recently announced it has entered into an option and license agreement with MSD (tradename of Merck & Co., Inc.) for two preclinical…
Acumen Pharmaceuticals Extends Collaboration With Lonza to Add Drug Product Manufacturing of Sabirnetug for Early Alzheimer’s Disease
Acumen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. recently announced it has extended its collaboration with Lonza to enable the potential future commercial launch of sabirnetug (ACU193). Sabirnetug is the…
GRI Bio Receives Authorization to Conduct Phase 2a Biomarker Study Evaluating GRI-0621
GRI Bio, Inc. recently announced the authorization of its Clinical Trial Application (CTA) by the Australian Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the…
ImmunoPrecise Antibodies Advances Therapeutic Innovation With Groundbreaking Rabbit Antibody Developments
ImmunoPrecise Antibodies Ltd. (IPA) recently announced the clinical progress achieved with rabbit monoclonal antibodies designed and developed using IPA’s proprietary B Cell Select platform for…
Palisade Bio Provides Update on Progress Toward Launch of Phase 1 Human Clinical Study for Lead Program for the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis
Palisade Bio, Inc. recently provided an update on its progress toward the launch of its Phase 1 human clinical study for PALI-2108 for the treatment of…
GoLiver Therapeutics Awarded Innovation in Biotherapies & Bioproduction Call for its GOCLINICALS Project Dedicated to Novel Stem Cell-Based Liver Therapy
GoLiver Therapeutics recently announced it has won the Innovations in Biotherapies and Bioproduction call for proposal launched by the French government to make France a…
Lonza & Vertex Sign a Long-Term Commercial Supply Agreement for CASGEVY
Lonza, a global manufacturing partner to the pharmaceutical, biotech, and nutraceutical markets, recently announced the signature of a long-term commercial supply agreement for CASGEVY (exagamglogene…
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).