PHARMACY MARKET
Businesswire | June 02, 2023
REALM IDx announced the launch of REALM Pharma Services, an end-to-end discovery, translational research, and clinical trial service for biotechnology and pharmaceutical partners. Through a strategic integration, REALM Pharma Services brings together the research arms of subsidiaries, Ambry Genetics and Invicro, to offer cutting-edge genomics, traditional and molecular pathology, and advanced imaging and spatial biology. Combined with machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) from REALM’s informatics organization, the company believes this end-to-end service can help reveal new insights and develop multi-dimensional models for drug discovery and validation.
“We are excited to offer a comprehensive multiomic and multimodal program that has been tailored to support the needs of our biopharma partners,” said Aaron Elliott, PhD, CEO of REALM IDx. “We believe the integrated approach offered through REALM Pharma Services is a transformative shift in research and will bring new, data-driven insights to precision medicine.”
Use of advanced omics, including single-cell omics, is increasingly being incorporated by biopharma into discovery and research efforts, particularly in the field of cancer. This approach can support improved understanding of biological complexity in immuno-oncology and a system-wide path to drug efficacy. However, a significant challenge has been the lack of a consolidated infrastructure to not only support analytical testing and data collection, but also computational analysis of unique data sets to find novel associations for translational insights.
“In supporting our biopharma partners, we see ourselves as a powerful connecting force,” said Jonathan Usuaka, PhD, Chief Strategy and Informatics Officer for REALM IDx. “Along with world-class genomics, pathology, spatial imaging and analysis services, we support real-world data and advanced analytics to inform drug development at every stage.”
The company will introduce REALM Pharma Services while exhibiting at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology annual conference in Chicago, June 3 – 5. While at the conference, the company will also share details of a new comprehensive genomic profiling test (CGP) for cancer developed in collaboration with its partners in Japan and set to launch this summer. Additional information about REALM Pharma Services may be found on REALM’s website.
About REALM IDx
REALM IDx, Inc. is a health care company pioneering in the field of Integrated Diagnostics (IDx), an advanced field of clinical science that brings together laboratory medicine, radiology, pathology and sophisticated artificial intelligence to derive actionable insights to predict, diagnose and treat disease. Powered by proprietary software platforms, industry-leading genomics technology from Ambry Genetics Corporation and radiology and pathology services from Invicro, LLC, the company is equipped to collect, analyze and report on multi-modal precision diagnostic data sets.
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PHARMA TECH
Globenewswire | June 01, 2023
The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson today announced the submission of a Type II variation application to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) seeking approval of a new indication for CARVYKTI® (ciltacabtagene autoleucel; cilta-cel) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed and lenalidomide-refractory multiple myeloma.
“The previous European Commission approval recognised the potential for cilta-cel to positively impact outcomes for people living with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma,” said Edmond Chan, MBChB M.D. (Res), Senior Director, EMEA Therapeutic Area Lead Haematology, Janssen-Cilag Limited. “Today’s submission to the EMA is an important step towards helping patients benefit from this CAR-T therapy earlier in their treatment journey. If approved, this will be the first and only CAR-T therapy available to treat relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients as early as second line.”
The application is supported by data from the CARTITUDE-4 study the first randomised Phase 3 study evaluating the efficacy and safety profile of cilta-cel versus pomalidomide, bortezomib and dexamethasone (PVd) or daratumumab, pomalidomide and dexamethasone (DPd) in the treatment of patients with relapsed and lenalidomide-refractory multiple myeloma who received one to three prior lines of therapy.1
The CARTITUDE-4 study results will be presented in a special session at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL on Monday 5 June 2023 at 16:45 CEST.
“This submission is a testament to our relentless commitment to advance science, transform outcomes, challenge what a multiple myeloma diagnosis means for patients and ultimately, work towards our goal of one day curing this complex disease,” said Sen Zhuang, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President, Clinical Research and Development, Janssen Research & Development, LLC. “We look forward to collaborating with the EMA to bring this potential new indication for cilta-cel to the multiple myeloma community as soon as possible.”
About Ciltacabtagene Autoleucel (cilta-cel)
Cilta-cel received conditional marketing authorisation from the European Commission in May 2022, for the treatment of adults with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least three prior therapies, including an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor and an anti-CD38 antibody, and have demonstrated disease progression on the last therapy.3,4 In February 2022, the FDA approved cilta-cel for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma after four or more prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory agent, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody.5
Cilta-cel is a B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed, genetically modified autologous T-cell immunotherapy, which involves reprogramming a patient’s own T-cells with a transgene encoding a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) that identifies and eliminates cells that express BCMA.6 BCMA is primarily expressed on the surface of malignant multiple myeloma B-lineage cells, as well as late-stage B-cells and plasma cells.7,8 The cilta-cel CAR protein features two BCMA-targeting single domain antibodies designed to confer high avidity against human BCMA.6 The CAR-modified T-cells express fusion proteins of antigen receptors against tumour-associated surface antigens and T-cell activation domains, and upon binding to BCMA-expressing cells redirect the effector T-cells and enhance tumour-specific immunosurveillance.9
In December 2017, Janssen Biotech, Inc. (Janssen) entered into a worldwide license and collaboration agreement with Legend Biotech USA, Inc. to develop and commercialise cilta-cel.10
About Multiple Myeloma
Multiple myeloma is an incurable blood cancer that affects a type of white blood cell called plasma cells, which are found in the bone marrow.11 In multiple myeloma, these malignant plasma cells change and grow out of control.8 In Europe, more than 50,900 people were diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2020, and more than 32,400 patients died.12 While some patients with multiple myeloma initially have no symptoms, others can have common signs and symptoms of the disease, which can include bone fracture or pain, low red blood cell counts, tiredness, high calcium levels, or kidney failure.13
About the Janssen Pharmaceutical
At Janssen, we're creating a future where disease is a thing of the past. We're the Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, working tirelessly to make that future a reality for patients everywhere by fighting sickness with science, improving access with ingenuity, and healing hopelessness with heart. We focus on areas of medicine where we can make the biggest difference: Cardiovascular, Metabolism & Retina; Immunology; Infectious Diseases & Vaccines; Neuroscience; Oncology; and Pulmonary Hypertension.
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PHARMA TECH
PRNewswire | May 31, 2023
Today, XtalPi Inc., a pioneering pharmaceutical technology company powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, announced an AI drug discovery collaboration of up to $250 million in upfront and milestone payments with Eli Lilly and Company. The collaboration will leverage XtalPi's integrated AI capabilities and robotics platform to de novo design and deliver drug candidates for an undisclosed target.
XtalPi has established itself as an industry leader in combining mutually informative AI "dry lab" algorithms with large-scale "wet lab" robotics to empower pharmaceutical innovation. Building upon existing success, XtalPi will work closely with the Lilly team to harness the power of its proven one-stop AI drug discovery solution to deliver a novel compound, which Lilly will pursue in clinical and commercial development.
XtalPi's ID4Inno™ small-molecule drug discovery platform touts a tightly interwoven trifecta of AI, autonomous labs, and expert domain knowledge that can generate and investigate a target-specific mega chemical space and quickly zero in on the most promising lead series. Each group of synthesized molecules is tested using XtalPi's internal biochemical, cellular, pharmacodynamic, and pharmacokinetic assay capabilities, feeding project-specific R&D data into generative AI models in iterative design-make-test-analyze cycles until a candidate with optimal drug properties emerges.
XtalPi's fleet of hundreds of autonomous robotic workstations can carry out precise and energy-efficient parallel chemical synthesis and assays 24/7. This high-quality real-world data generated with speed and at scale, combined with over 500 AI models and quantum physics algorithms, continuously enhance XtalPi's capability to predict and authenticate novel drug candidates with greatly accelerated timeframes and reduced experimental costs.
XtalPi's AI + robotics platform is supercharging the shift of pharmaceutical R&D from labor-intensive trial-and-error research to a computation and automation-intensive model, empowering scientists to achieve more with less. Serving over 200 pharmaceutical clients and research institutions from around the world, XtalPi is now bringing its proprietary autonomous lab to Cambridge, MA as its drug discovery business continues to grow.
Dr. Jian Ma, CEO of XtalPi, says, "With a closed loop of AI and quantum physics algorithms working in sync with the data factory of large-scale robotics experiments, XtalPi is uniquely equipped to tackle challenging novel targets. We are honored that Lilly has chosen XtalPi's AI + robotics drug R&D platform as a partner in achieving more fruitful pharmaceutical innovation and bringing much-needed treatments to patients worldwide."
About XtalPi
XtalPi is a pharmaceutical technology company powered by AI and robotics to improve the speed, scale, novelty, and success rate of drug discovery and development. With operations in both China and the U.S., XtalPi has pioneered a new model for drug R&D that leverages a tightly interwoven trifecta of AI, autonomous labs, and expert domain knowledge. Its integrated AI "dry lab" and large-scale robotics "wet lab" capabilities form an iterative feedback loop that empowers continuous innovation to address the unmet needs of patients worldwide.
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