This month’s collaborations, tech partnerships, new facilities, and other happenings include news from Flywheel, Medable, Veeva, and other organizations.
This month’s collaborations, tech partnerships, new facilities, and other happenings include news from Flywheel, Medable, Veeva, and other organizations.
Artificial intelligence (AI) startup Owkin and biotech Amgen have released the results of a three-year project to use AI to more accurately predict cardiovascular risk. Using data from 13,756 patients from Amgen’s FOURIER trial, Owkin trained a machine-learning (ML) algorithm to predict those at higher risk of cardiovascular events; results show ML is more efficient and effective than the statistical models routinely used by clinicians.
Jean-Frédéric Petit-Nivard, senior vice president of commercial and product strategy, said, "We are delighted that our collaboration, which began in 2016, has yielded compelling scientific results that could fundamentally improve patient monitoring and treatment. We look forward to continuing this project with Amgen to translate these scientific findings into clinical applications."
Informatics specialist Flywheel has announced working with Roche and Genentech (a member of the Roche Group) to integrate its platform for ingestion, classification, standardization, curation and analysis of medical imaging data. The platform reportedly is secure and scalable, and it enables aggregation and management of medical imaging and associated data to accelerate drug discovery.
“At Roche we envision a future where data, analytics and digital technologies routinely enable more targeted, efficient research and development and more integrated, personalized care,” said James Sabry, head of Roche Pharma Partnering. “The Flywheel platform enables rapid access to highly-curated imaging data, enhancing our ability to answer key scientific questions that are critical to advancing better patient care experiences and outcomes.”
Medable is joining forces with Vault Health in a collaboration designed to bring trials closer to patients. By combining their expertise in diagnostics, logistics, remote care, and decentralized software solutions, the parties hope to use remote monitoring and direct-to-patient services to improve the inclusivity and accessibilities of research.
“The future of clinical research is decentralized – whether that’s in a traditional clinic, a virtual site, a local pharmacy or someone’s home,” said Michelle Longmire, CEO and co-founder of Medable. “Teaming up with Vault Health allows us to make clinical trial participation much more convenient for patients – providing them with easy testing and diagnostic options, as well as expert remote care they can access from anywhere.”
Lonza and Bioqube Ventures have announced a framework agreement, covering a strategic collaboration for development and manufacturing of small-molecule as well as biologic products. Under the terms, Lonza will support Bioqube Ventures during the due diligence of candidate biotechs and provide a tailored offering of advice and services to its portfolio companies.
Debora Dumont, co-founder and managing partner of Bioqube Ventures, commented, “Bioqube is dedicated to advancing exciting science in the vibrant European ecosystems with the aim of developing breakthrough therapies for patients. This collaboration offers our portfolio companies the opportunity to leverage Lonza's expertise and its global network, supporting our hands-on approach in building new and successful ventures.”
Contract research organization IDDI has announced a partnership with Medidata Solutions, a Dassault Systèmes company, to broaden its eClinical Suite offering. According to IDDI, the partnership will enable them to offer electronic case report forms (eCRFs) using the Rave EDC (electronic data capture) platform.
“IDDI is proud to be a Medidata Partner,” said Damien Tremolet, CEO of IDDI. “This partnership highlights our dedication to bringing industry-leading and robust systems to ensure the highest level of quality, trusted data for our customers.”
Cytel and Pulse Infoframe have entered a collaboration designed to advance research into rare disease/ The partnership reportedly will support drug development sponsors in harnessing real-world evidence where data generated can be put to use for a range of purposes.
Radek Wasiak, chief data officer and head of real-world and advanced analytics for Cytel, said, “Advances in precision medicine enable life sciences companies to develop better and more targeted treatments; however, in rare diseases, this translates to practical difficulties in executing the necessary research activities. Combining Cytel’s pioneering advances in efficient clinical trial design with Pulse Infoframe’s healthie platform and therapeutic area expertise will accelerate our ability to provide our life sciences partners with research needed to obtain regulatory and payer approval.”
Life-sciences education platform provider ACTO has announced a technology partnership with Veeva Systems. The integration reportedly is designed to use Veeva CRM data to provide field teams with more relevant training data.
“The ACTO omnichannel education platform has proven its value during the pandemic — and our deepening partnership with Veeva CRM will further support the life sciences industry’s shift to a hybrid go-to-market strategy,” said ACTO CEO Parth Khanna. “We know that preparedness and readiness for an agile work environment are vital in empowering field reps to have deeper remote conversations with doctors, and also to deliver quick, focused messaging in person when possible.”
Medical device specialist Owen Mumford has commenced work on a new production facility in Witney, UK. According to the company, the new facility aims to combine advanced technology with a commitment to sustainable design and manufacturing methods.
Jarl Severn, CEO at Owen Mumford, said, “We are setting the benchmark high for manufacturing to do its part in the overall reduction of environmental impact. Our investment in this new facility supports the promises we make to all our stakeholders by providing the very best platform for innovation in our products, but most importantly by doing it in a truly responsible and ethical way.”
Pharma company Hoth Therapeutics has entered into contracts with WuXi STA covering development and manufacturing of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and formulation of drug product for HT-KIT. HT-KIT is a new molecular entity (NME) morpholino oligonucleotide therapy in development for targeting mast cell-derived cancers (aggressive systemic mastocytosis, or ASM; systemic mastocytosis with associated hematological neoplasm (SM-AHN); or mast cell leukemia, MCL and anaphylaxis.
"Initiation of API and drug formulation development is a huge leap towards getting HT-KIT into clinical trials, which is a large focus for Hoth Therapeutics in the next year,” said Stefanie Johns, Hoth Therapeutics chief scientific officer. "We are confident in WuXi STA’s experience in manufacturing morpholino oligonucleotides for clinical and commercial applications to help expedite our program for HT-KIT."
