BioPharma Startup Quris Aims to Use a ‘Patient on a Chip’ to Target Drug Delivery
Nobel Laureate, Aaron Ciechanover, is one of several notable names behind biopharma startup Quris. The company aims to bring together artificial intelligence, the industry’s vast knowledge of the human genome, and the concept of the “patient on a chip” to improve the effectiveness of drug delivery. Last month, the startup announced the launch of its AI platform and a $9 million seed round. Quris has developed its AI tool to predict things like which patients are the best candidates for certain drugs, as well as which drugs will be most effective on those particular patients based on various genome subtypes. Patients with a similar subtype of cancer or rare genetic disease are likely to respond to similar therapies. Learn More
Blackstone to Invest Up to $250 Million in Autolus Therapeutics
Blackstone is investing as much as $250 million in Autolus Therapeutics to fund the final stages of development of a new therapy to treat a serious form of leukemia, the companies said. Of the total investment, as much as $150 million will support the development and commercialization of obecabtagene autoleucel, a cell therapy. Autolus will receive $50 million of that upfront, with the rest to be paid as the company achieves certain milestones. In return, Blackstone’s life-sciences unit will receive a portion of the therapy’s royalties. Blackstone will also buy $100 million worth of Autolus’s shares. Learn More
Pfizer Says Its Covid Pill with HIV Drug Cuts the Risk of Hospitalization or Death by 89%
Pfizer says that its easy-to-administer Covid-19 pill, used in combination with a widely used HIV drug, cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% in high-risk adults who’ve been exposed to the virus. It’s now the second antiviral pill behind Merck’s to demonstrate strong effectiveness for treating Covid at the first sign of illness. If cleared by regulators, it would likely be a game changer in the ongoing global pandemic fight. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC the company plans to submit its data to the Food and Drug Administration before Thanksgiving. Pfizer’s pill, scientifically known as PF-07321332, is part of a class of medicines called protease inhibitors and works by inhibiting an enzyme the virus needs to replicate in human cells. Learn More
On November 8, 1895, physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923) becomes the first person to observe X-rays, a significant scientific advancement that would ultimately benefit a variety of fields, most of all medicine, by making the invisible visible. Learn More
Originally discovered by accident, X-rays are now used about 100 million times a year in clinics around the world. How do these magic eyes work? Ge Wang details the history and mechanics of the X-ray machine and CT scanners. Learn More
Poll Alert
If you found $100 in cash and were unable to determine the owner, what would you do with it?
► Keep it
► Leave it where you found it
► Donate it to a charity
Nathan Ahlgren is a professor of biology at Clark University. In this interview, he explains exactly what a protein is, how they are made, and the wide variety of functions they perform in our body. Learn More
Both end users and suppliers of single use solutions have been experiencing supply challenges over the past 2 years. This has only been exasperated by SARS-Cov-2 pandemic. This webinar looks at how leading biopharma companies such as Sanofi and a leading supplier of single-use solutions – Thermo Fisher Scientific – are addressing these challenges and developing collaborative processes. Designed as an interactive panel discussion, participants will get a better insight into how to think about their single-use supply chain of the future. Learn More
Translating Lab Insights for Outcomes to Cancer Patients, Heike Keilhack, CSO, Ribon Therapeutics
Dr. Keilhack is an accomplished cancer biologist with rich experience in cell biology, animal models of cancer, pharmacology and translational medicine with over 15 years of experience in oncology drug discovery in both small biotechnology companies and large pharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining Ribon, Dr. Keilhack was Senior Director of Biology at Epizyme where, among other responsibilities, she was the project leader for the company’s EZH2 inhibitor program, tazemetostat, which was FDA-approved in 2020 as Tazverik®. Before that, she was a research fellow at Merck and the biology project lead for the company’s clinical stage AKT inhibitor, MK-2206. Learn More
Final Formulation: Managing Aggregates in Your Monoclonal Antibody (mAb) Process
Christoph Korpus, Liquid Formulation Stability, focuses on monoclonal antibody aggregation highlighting liquid formulation stability through the use of excipients and the importance of high-quality chemicals. Learn More
FDA Taking Incremental Approach to Launching KASA Reviews
The US FDA is taking a “step-wise” approach to implementing its Knowledge-Aided Assessment and Structured Application (KASA) drug review program. The review program has already launched for abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) for solid oral dosage forms and will eventually be rolled out for new drug applications (NDAs) and ANDA liquid dosage forms in FY 2023. KASA will be phased in for investigational new drug applications (INDs) and post-approval changes in FY 2024, with work on biologics license applications (BLAs) modules continuing in FY 2025. Officials described their implementation plans at an October 26 Pharmaceutical Quality Symposium sponsored by the Small Business and Industry Assistance (SBIA) program at FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). Learn More
Scientists Identify Mechanism That May Influence Infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 Variants
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have found that a process in cells may limit infectivity of SARS-CoV-2, and that mutations in the alpha and delta variants overcome this effect, potentially boosting the virus's ability to spread. The findings were published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study was led by Kelly Ten Hagen, Ph.D., a senior investigator at NIH's National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). Since the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020, several more-infectious variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, have emerged. Learn More
Project Alert
Absci Cuts Ribbon on New HQ in Vancouver, Washington
Absci has cut the ribbon on its new headquarters in Vancouver, Washington, barely three months after going public in an IPO that valued the biotech company at nearly $2 billion. The 200-employee company now has room to expand, with 77,400 square feet of new office and lab space and a 9,150 square foot courtyard. The facility was built in a close collaboration between Absci, Portland design firm Bora Architecture & Interiors, and contractor Bremik Construction. The company leases the space from Pac Trust. Learn More
Functionalized Chromatography Medium Comprising Polymer Nanofibers and Process of Preparation Thereof
A U.S. Patent for a "Functionalized Chromatography Medium Comprising Polymer Nanofibers and Process of Preparation Thereof" was awarded to Puridify on August 24, 2021. The present invention provides a functionalised polymeric chromatography medium, prepared by a process which comprises (i) providing a substrate formed of one or more polymer nanofibres, (ii) grafting one or more neutral polymer chains from the substrate, and (iii) contacting the grafted product with a reagent which functionalises the product of step (ii) as a chromatography medium, wherein step (ii) comprises reacting a plurality of compounds of formula and/or its enantiomers, and/or its derivatives of formula (I) and/or enantiomers and/or diastereomers thereof... Learn More
Shake flasks are a widely used and incredibly useful bioreactor for bioprocess development and scale-up of mammalian and microbial bioprocesses. There are several parameters to consider when optimizing a bioprocess in a shake flask, including the conditions of the shaker platform (e.g. shaking frequency and orbital diameter) and the conditions of the shake flask (e.g. flask size and filling volume). The maximum oxygen transfer capacity (OTR max) is a measure of the maximum rate at which oxygen transfers between the gas and the liquid phase in the vessel. Since most cells require oxygen to grow, this is generally viewed as a key predictor for the performance of a shaken bioprocess. Here we review how the OTR max of a shake flask will vary as a function of both shaker conditions and flask conditions. Learn More
Our understanding of the double-helix shape of DNA was provided in part by x-ray crystallography—a technique in which x-rays bounce off the three-dimensional pattern of atoms within a crystal lattice to form a shadow image of its structure. In the early 1950s, a British researcher name Rosalind Franklin took the x-ray photos that first showed DNA’s structure, but died before she could share the Nobel Prize with the men more generally given credit for discovering the shape of the “secret of life”—James Watson and Francis Crick. Learn More
Saint-Gobain Applications Engineer II Beaverton, MI
In this position, the employee will work with customers in developing innovative Single-Use solutions for Bio/pharmaceutical & Medical applications using Saint-Gobain and other supplied components. Learn More
Sanofi Principal Engineer, Upstream Framingham, MA
The successful candidate will work with a group of scientists and engineers responsible for technology transfer mammalian cell culture processes to a diverse network of manufacturing facilities, Lifecycle Management and support of commercial processes. Learn More
GSK Associate Scientist - Downstream Process Development King of Prussia, PA
As an Associate Scientist in Downstream Process Development, you will be a member of a highly skilled team of scientists and engineers responsible for the evaluation and optimization of purification processes. You will be involved in all aspects of the development of purification processes. Learn More
