This month’s roundup of new technology, equipment, and industry partnerships includes news from IBM, IQVIA, Medidata, Labcorp, and other notable companies.
This month’s roundup of new technology, equipment, and industry partnerships includes news from IBM, IQVIA, Medidata, Labcorp, and other notable companies.
AccuraDX has launched the KAS-Direct single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) labeling and enrichment kit, intended to enable laboratory personnel with an easy, robust way to directly label and read out transcription activity genome-wide to identify cell states in different biological processes. The kit reportedly can be used to perform ssDNA labeling and enrichment in bulk live cells, as well as fresh or frozen tissues, and can be used by veteran or novice researchers.
Diana West-Szymanski, AccuraDX’s vice president of operations, said, “Both experienced researchers and newcomers with little-to-no experience with next-generation sequencing methods will be now able to perform the key labeling and enrichment steps of KAS-seq easily. AccuraDX is the exclusive licensee of the technology and there are no other kits available to perform KAS-seq on the market.”
Medidata, a Dassault Systèmes company, has announced a partnership with Labcorp Drug Development. Under the terms, Medidata will receive and process medical-grade sensor data within drug, vaccine and device trials across Labcorp Drug Development’s clinical trial portfolio, specifically enhancing their decentralized clinical trial offerings.
“Sensor Cloud solves key technical, operational, and analytical challenges that have historically stifled the widespread usage of medical devices in clinical research,” said Ben Schlatka, vice president of digital biomarker solutions at Medidata. “Combining the power of Sensor Cloud with Labcorp’s innovative approach to clinical research and its scale in clinical diagnostics will transform how patient data are collected, managed, analyzed and leveraged—driving faster, more effective drug development and overall better health outcomes.”
IQVIA has announced the addition of artificial intelligence (AI) powered technologies to its existing Medical Information (MI) Contact Center services. The MI Contact Center is available to clients looking to share information about new products and related therapeutic areas, and to monitor quality and safety of their products.
“Adding new digital capabilities to our existing MI services marks a critical point in the industry as companies seek to balance the delivery of unbiased information to meet the needs of HCPs and patients,” said Annette Williams, vice president for IQVIA Lifecycle Safety. “IQVIA’s MIservices integrate across our Safety and Quality offerings, equipping clients with the end-to-end technology and services they need to increase trust, loyalty, and efficiencies for their patients.”
Biotech firm Regis Technologies has announced a partnership with University of Alabama researchers aimed at developing a kit to speed discovery of potential drug therapies from plant-based sources. The project is funded by an initial $250,000 USD grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Small Business Technology Transfer program. The initial $250,000 award to the company allows the team to enhance the kit to become more customer-friendly and establish its commercial potential and feasibility.
“The ultimate goal is to develop a commercially viable kit that will speed up the process of finding drugs from natural samples,” said Lukasz Ciesla, assistant professor of biological sciences at the university. “The partnership with Regis Technologies is crucial to expand access to this innovation so more novel therapies can be discovered and begin the pipeline from the lab to patients.”
Benchling is expanding its R&D Cloud software to include features geared toward early-development solutions. The added capabilities are intended to enable users to take their work from research through development within a single system.
The recent additions to the R&D Cloud software reportedly include:
- Enhancements to the Workflows application that enable users to coordinate task requests and processes across their teams
- Structured templates that enable development teams to create and share standardized processes
- Validated Cloud, which supports customers employing the platform in GxP environments
Supply chain management software provider Kinaxis announced it will partner with Exelixis to help advanced the cancer-focused biotech firm’s global supply chain planning abilities. Exelixis will leverage Kinaxis’s RapidStart enterprise deployment methodology to help reach time-to-value more rapidly.
Kinaxis CEO John Sicard said, “Interruptions in a pharmaceutical supply chain, even if seemingly small, can be costly to people’s health. It’s critical for companies like Exelixis to have the agility offered by concurrent planning to be able to predict, understand and react quickly to changes in time to make a difference.”
Egnyte has launched Egnyte for Life Sciences eTMF, designed to simplify trial master file processes and facilitate regulatory compliance. The 21 CFR Part 11 compliant solution reportedly reduces document processing time and aids in maintaining compliance and audit readiness.
“In the US alone, the number of registered studies this year has already surpassed the high-water mark set in 2020, and we have not even entered the fourth quarter,” said Egnyte chief product officer Ramin Farassat. “Designed to meet the needs of the growing class of emerging and midsize biosciences companies, Egnyte’s eTMF solution will alleviate the data management burdens associated with trial studies, so that clinical teams can focus on their core mission – getting safe and effective treatments to market quickly.”
Artificial intelligence firm Sensyne Health has introduced the Sensight artificial intelligence data analytics platform for healthcare and life science applications. It is designed to provide industrial-scale access to de-identified real-world data (RWD) insights across multiple therapy areas, with built-in research algorithms, to help accelerate drug discovery.
Sensyne CEO Paul Drayson said, “The transformative power of Sensyne’s ethical AI is now available to the smallest and largest healthcare and life sciences organizations and its design enables the creation of a global community of researchers all working towards a common aim: better health for all.”
Quotient Sciences has announced a £6.3m ($8.7m USD) investment in expansion of its recently acquired Alnwick, UK manufacturing facility. The funds reportedly will expand the company’s manufacturing capacity and create 80 jobs over the next three years.
Quotient Sciences senior vice president of candidate development services Roger Kilburn said, “Science and agility are at the core of Quotient Sciences, and our team strives to innovate and develop smarter approaches to process R&D for our customers and drive the adoption of continuous processing technologies.”
Arctoris and IBM Research have announced a partnership that involves investigating the application of artificial intelligence and automation technology to accelerate closed-loop molecule discovery. The collaborators reportedly plan to use IBM Research’s RXN for Chemistry online platform (which uses natural language processing architectures to automate synthetic chemistry) and automated platform for drug discovery research.
Thomas A. Fleming, Arctoris COO and co-founder, said, "The future of drug discovery is computational, with AI and robotics paving the way for better treatments to reach patients sooner. We are excited about partnering with IBM Research on a world-first closed loop drug discovery project bringing together two leaders in the field of AI and robotics-powered drug discovery; this collaboration will showcase how the combination of our unique technology platforms will lead to accelerated research based on better data enabling better decisions."
