Liquid handling in a regulated lab: 5 automation must-haves

Cost-efficient application of advanced technologies such as next generation sequencing (NGS) and liquid-chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC-MS) demands sophisticated automation solutions that can handle complex protocols and evolving applications. However, if you are working in a clinical lab or other highly regulated environment then increasing instrument flexibility can make meeting compliance standards a real challenge. Before you buy, here are 5 key considerations to ensure you get the best of both worlds in terms of flexible functionality and compliance with your automated liquid handling system.

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Oxford PharmaGenesis

Oxford PharmaGenesis is a HealthScience communications consultancy providing services to the healthcare industry, professional societies and patient groups.

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Emergence of CRM in Pharmaceutical: Types & Features

Article | July 7, 2023

Introduction In the past, the pharmaceutical industry was solely concerned with the development of new drugs and medical devices, along with improving their clinical efficacy, safety, usability, and superiority over alternatives. However, the rapid transformation of the life science industry from product-based to customer-based has presented pharmaceutical companies with various obstacles, driving them to enhance their customer relationship management (CRM). Due to the proliferation of the medical and life-science industries, customer-focused solutions are becoming increasingly crucial for pharmaceutical enterprises to remain afloat. With the increasing complexity of the industry, the emergence of new business models, and the introduction of cutting-edge technologies, the pharmaceutical industry is under intense pressure to deliver superior products and services to stay on edge. In addition, the Internet has made it possible for new technologies to spread rapidly, giving consumers greater freedom to select products and services that match their individual requirements. Thus, rather than emphasizing product differentiation, drug and medical aid manufacturing companies are focusing on embracing innovative customer-centric solutions, such as pharma CRM software, to assist them in analyzing and prioritizing the wants and needs of consumers. Pharma CRM Solution Types: Roads from Product to Customer Experience As the world turns toward the dictum "the customer is king," superior customer service is no longer a luxury. In addition, as a result of increased digitalization, life science organizations are dealing with vast quantities of data. A study shows that the pharmaceutical industry generates twice as much data every five months. This is because of the increased need to capture and store a plethora of information, such as patient data and insights, HCP interests, prescription writing patterns, sensitive patient program information, and segmentation analysis, among others. CRMs assist pharmaceutical companies in accurately collecting and tracking customer information, decreasing marketing costs, increasing sales, improving customer support, and organizing data collection and storage. With all-time high competitiveness in the pharmaceutical industry, every drug and medical equipment provider is investing huge sums of money to explore new audiences before anyone else in order to get a competitive edge. In response to this, pharma CRM solutions are gaining tremendous traction across the life science industry for building solid relationships with High Lifetime Value (LTV)customers. There are different types of pharma CRM solutions available for pharma organizations to collect, store, and analyze data related to customers. Let’s look at a few: Operational Pharma CRM Operational pharma CRM solutions are ideal for assisting teams in gaining a deeper understanding of customers through the acquisition and management of customer relationships and connections, as well as improving the company's perspective on customers and sales. These systems aid pharmaceutical companies with lead generation and contact conversion. By streamlining numerous business activities such as marketing, sales, customer service, and others, they assist in creating the solid service foundation needed to retain customers and improve customer relationships. Operational pharma CRM solutions capture customer details and use them to automate sales, marketing, and other operations for providing services throughout the customer lifecycle. In addition, the system tracks and stores data related to employees, customers, and leads using a centralized platform to support existing and potential customers in an efficient manner. Analytical Pharma CRM With the increasing significance of understanding the needs of patients and customers, analytical pharma CRM systems are gaining massive popularity among mid-sized and large pharmaceutical enterprises. It is increasingly being used to accumulate and analyze large amounts of data, including sales, marketing, and financial data, and filter this data into trends and insights. Throughout the pharmaceutical industry, analytical pharma CRM solutions are making deeper inroads as they aid in the development of strategies to generate new leads, improve customer satisfaction, boost customer retention, and increase sales and marketing department efficiency. Collaborative Pharma CRM Collaborative pharma CRM enables pharmaceutical organizations to create and improve communication between various company divisions involved in customer service. These departments include marketing, sales, customer service, technical support, external customers, vendors, and distributors. The idea of collaboration in the workforce is not new, but it is one that is constantly being redefined in light of new technological innovations. It assists life-science spaces in automating their back-office operations, customer interactions, and business management, resulting in enhanced transparency among the organization’s teams. As the teams often operate independently, particularly in large pharma enterprises, the adoption of collaborative pharma CRM solutions can aid them in breaking down several communication silos to address fast-changing customer needs and effectively manage customer relationships. Pharmaceutical Customer Relationship Management Solutions: The Features List Constantly rising business expenditures and budgets, along with the emergence of new challenges and issues related to generating revenue, are compelling medical product developers to embrace modern solutions, such as pharma CRM software, for increasing sales and improving customer retention. As complexity in the pharma industry increases and competition in fields such as immunology and oncology continues to intensify, enhancing customer experiences is becoming even more important. With the "one size fits all" approach no longer delivering results, the implementation of robust and resilient tech systems for understanding customer needs and supervising medical operations is becoming necessary for pharmaceutical companies. While extensively focusing on the clinical value of the medication or medical equipment, firms operating in the pharmaceutical sector often overlook a prominent driver for success: the customer experience. By addressing critical pain points across patients’ and prescribers’ journeys, pharma CRM technology assists these companies in increasing customer satisfaction, improving adherence, and boosting revenues. Apart from this, here are some features of pharma CRM that are vital for organizations’ success Provide Integrated Customer Database Workflow Automation Management of Customers’ Accounts Cycle Activity Planning Customization Real-time data and CRM analytics Sales forecasting Why Are Life Science Companies Leveraging Pharma CRM Solutions? Today, the company's success is predominantly determined by its relationship management with customers and potential leads. With the fast-changing life science landscape and increased competitiveness, the need for pharmaceutical firms to manage customer interactions and improve customer engagement is surfacing at a robust pace to build a better brand reputation. It is crucial in the pharmaceutical industry to acquire patients' trust and maintain a stellar reputation for generating revenue and sustaining in a highly regulated environment. Using customer relationship management solutions is an excellent strategy for accomplishing this objective. According to a survey, a CRM system can enhance customer retention rates by 5%. Depending on the industry, this can then result in a profit gain ranging from 25% to 85%. (Source – PharmaVoice) Let’s see some of the reasons why pharma companies are emphasizing embracing customer relationship management solutions: Creates a Strong Connection with Customers Today, it is imperative for pharmaceutical firms to have a better understanding of their customers and their needs. Deploying pharma CRM software assists these companies in accumulating critical data and insights related to customer and patient behavior to comprehend the past, present, and future of their clients’ relationship with the organization. This aids them in creating a stronger connection with their customers. Promotes Efficiency in the Organization Automated procedures are designed to increase efficiency and enhance productivity without compromising operational accuracy. The use of CRM in pharma companies enables the automation of various consumer-facing business operations such as campaign management, marketing, customer service, and sales, among others. This assists medication manufacturers in enhancing the efficiency of their tasks. These solutions also aid in optimizing communication between the different departments, which in turn results in boosting the productivity of the business as a whole. Enhances Business Accessibility from Anywhere Remote access from anywhere is emerging as one of the essential modern needs for businesses today. For example, pharmaceutical CRM executives need to visit hospitals, chemists, warehouse staff, doctors, and stockists for sales meetings and operations. Cloud pharma CRM systems enable these representatives to access clients' and customers' vital information on the go, thus enhancing business accessibility. Improves Customer Service With the rising importance of improving customer service across the life science industry, it is becoming essential for pharma companies to respond to customer queries within the shortest possible time. Deployment of pharma CRM solutions can provide them with easy access to information stored in the database for resolving the query without causing any inconvenience to the customer or client, thereby offering better customer service. From Lead to Customer: Tracks Complete Journey Based on the current industry conditions and purchasing patterns of customers, the need to identify targeted audiences and potential leads is imperative. To get a complete picture of a customer's purchasing behavior, it is crucial for pharmaceutical firms to follow a customer from their initial interest to being a customer. Pharma CRM software enables these companies to track the complete journey of the customer, starting from being a prospective lead to a lifetime paying client. It can also assist in creating new strategies for future objectives. What Says the Future? With the emergence of new regulations, laws, and policies, the procedures and processes widely employed by pharmaceutical organizations have become more rigorous and rigid in the absence of technological assistance. In addition, intense market competition and rising company expenditures are pushing life-science firms to embrace innovative solutions to boost revenue generation, such as pharma CRM software. As the implementation of customer relationship management solutions assists pharmaceutical businesses in countering these obstacles along with optimizing processes, including customer retention, segmentation, behavior analysis, and many others, these solutions are expected to take center stage in the pharma world over the coming years. FAQ What is Pharma Customer Relationship Management Software? Pharma CRM is a tool that enables life science companies to gain sales and marketing efficiency, complete sales campaigns, adhere to compliance requirements, and efficiently monitor customer relationships. How Does CRM work for Pharma Companies? CRM is used to reduce the workload of pharma companies. Here are the steps showcasing how CRM for the pharmaceutical industry works. Capture the leads Optimize lead management Personalize the pitch Generate more customer value Personalize cross-sell and upsell Help customers help themselves What are the 3 main elements of pharma CRM software? These are the three key elements of pharma CRM solutions. Component #1 – Marketing Automation. Component #2 – Sales Force Automation. Component #3 – Customer Service Solutions.

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Pharma Tech

Bridging the Gaps in Complex Patient Journeys by Enriching Data

Article | October 6, 2022

Generating insights about patients on specialty therapies through data aggregation and integration can improve patient outcomes. As the number of specialty drugs expands in complex disease areas, such as autoimmune, multiple sclerosis, oncology, and respiratory illnesses, pharmaceutical companies have shown an increased interest in tracking and understanding real world and clinical data throughout the patient journey to support more targeted decision-making. There are significant challenges in the journeys that patients with complex diseases experience, including gaps, lapses, or delays in therapy. This often includes the initial start of a treatment, as well as when switching to a next-line therapy. These delays or gaps can not only lead to negative impacts for the patients but can affect the manufacturers as well. When specialty product pharmaceutical companies enrich their understanding of the patient journey through aggregated and integrated data, they will be more apt in improving treatment outcomes and making smarter decisions. Complexities with specialty products Over the last several decades, the production and use of specialty drugs has increased as there has been a wider global share of spending in higher-income countries.In the 10 largest developed countries and other high- and upper-middle-income countries,the use of specialty therapies has reached 47% and 37% respectively in 2020, up from 24% and 21% 10 years earlier. Specialty therapies will represent nearly half of global spending in 2025 and almost 60% of total spending in developed markets. The growing number of specialty products in any given market has generated improved patient outcomes, but the stakes are high for manufacturers when it comes to new patient starts and adherence. Specialty products typically demand more complex distribution and more hands-on administration to patients. A wealth of data is available from limited network specialty providers, but to get a broader view of the patients’ entire healthcare experience, integration with third-party claims data is necessary. With access to a greater depth and breadth of data, specialty product manufacturers have opportunities to advance their analytics capabilities and generate greater insights across vital patient touch points. For patients with complex diseases who are being treated with specialty products, there are multiple challenges they may face throughout their journeys: Fragmentation: Patients often need to interact with multiple sites of care, which results in fragmented data. A mix of pharmacy and medical claims can result in an incomplete view of the patient, prescriber, or payer, as well as create distorted views of administrations or doses across treatments which may need to be normalized for analysis. Data gaps: There could also be differences in the various data elements reported by each source, which can vary significantly, whether these are prescription data, laboratory data, claims databases, electronic health records, health registries, or patient reported outcomes data. Furthermore, there can be data lags, varying frequencies across datasets. Finally, multiple pieces of patient data can result in elevated privacy risks. These complexities directly affect manufacturers’ ability to gain insights to support their commercial activities: Finding and understanding potential patients, or tracking patients enrolled on a treatment, but subsequently dropped, can be a challenge as well as understanding comorbidities or concomitant therapies. Targeting HCPs is difficult as prescriber volume across datasets can be unclear and can limit the ability to prioritize healthcare professionals by patient mix, practice, specialty, and treatment dynamics. Aligning pricing, contracting and access, and determining incentives and return on investment (ROI)promotional metrics represent challenges. There is only a partial picture of market access and payer dynamics. Incentive compensation is complex due to duplicate or missing data which causes inequities in geographic or target-based plans. ROI metrics for promotional effectiveness may be over or understated due to inaccuracies in prescriber counts and inability to bridge to associated data. Defining the patient journey Specialty drugs are high-cost, high-touch products with complex manufacturing, dosing, and handling requirements. Often, the patient populations who utilize these drugs are small and dispersed, and may experience late diagnoses, misdiagnoses, lack of treatment options, and limited access to relevant specialists. This makes it difficult to find them and requires more customized market strategies to ensure their physicians have the right data they need at the point of treatment initiation. To generate effective forecasting and commercial strategies, pharmaceutical companies need specialty data tactics which can define every step to help them answer key questions, including: When in the patient journey is treatment prescribed? Who is prescribing it? Which tests, physician appointments, or medical events precede diagnosis? How long are patients typically adherent and what typically complicates adherence or causes a stop? Is the product being used as part of a combination therapy? What triggers the transition to a new line of therapy? What impact do copay assistance, nurse educator services, and other value-added programs have on the patient and physician experience? When pharmaceutical companies can combine the answers to these questions, they gain clarity into the critical milestones that define the patient experience. This enables them to find patients and their physicians more quickly and to be more targeted in their engagement strategies which, ultimately, generates more successful marketing campaigns. Difficulty accessing the data Unfortunately, these datasets can be difficult to access. Many pharmaceutical manufacturers partner with individual specialty pharma service providers to try to meet their data needs. But these resources tend to be limited and often fail to provide the comprehensive view needed to make meaningful decisions. Because most specialty products have such small and dispersed patient populations, patients are rarely served by a single pharmacy, healthcare professional, or healthcare organization. Each time a patient switches a product or line of therapy, it can result in disparate data collected through several channels, including physicians, clinics, hospitals, alternate sites of care, pharmacies, labs, payers, and digital health assets. Additionally, much of the patient journey data never passes through the limited distribution specialty pharmacy network, nor is it collected in a consistent, accessible format, making it difficult to analyze. As more specialty pharmacy service providers launch, it will become more difficult for manufacturers to compile a global view of the product from any single source, or to capture patient data with any degree of granularity. Expanding the view of the patient journey with data aggregation and integration Data aggregation and integration can help specialty pharmaceutical companies obtain an expanded view of the patient journey. The best data aggregation solutions provide pharmaceutical companies with broad sourcesof data as well as integration services that deliver high-level perspectives across patient populations or geographies. The data can be linked back to an individual prescriber, healthcare organization, insurer’s practice, or de-identified patient. By leveraging data from a limited distribution network and integrating with third-party healthcare data assets, including digital patient data, sponsors can identify a greater majority of patients likely to be prescribed or considered for their treatment. Oncology example: One manufacturer might choose three specialty pharmacies for their third-line oral oncology product, but the entire category, which includes first- and second-line therapies, may span well over 10 specialty pharmacies and a multitude of medical claims processors. An experienced data partner will be able to recommend and access data from most of these providers either directly and/or via use of syndicated data assets, to deliver a more complete picture of the patient journey and competitive landscape. The best partners offer more than data aggregation and integration; they provide deep analytics capabilities which empower commercial teams to deliver precise physician, organization, and patient engagements. The best partners will prioritize their efforts based on individual needs. Predictive analytics via artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities are a must for a patient journey analysis and timely decision-making. Ultimately, good data aggregation and integration will lead to enriched data and insights to generate personalized treatment plans for the right patient at the right time to enhance outcomes. Access to the right data, analytics, and insights drive tangible results for patients and physicians while also ensuring that pharmaceutical companies generate the best ROIs.

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Pharma CRM: Fostering Customer Engagement in the Life Science Industry

Article | July 13, 2022

Introduction The pharmaceutical industry is becoming more competitive day-by-day with the proliferation of novel technologies and the increasing introduction of new drug-developing companies. As a result, a significant number of pharmaceutical companies are facing difficulties securing solid financial returns. This has left no other choice for life science organizations than to move to digital-AI-based customer-centric systems to stand out. In addition, unexpected circumstances, such as the lack of in-person interaction with customers, have compelled pharma businesses to invest in cutting-edge, conversion-oriented CRM tools. As CRM in pharma provides a centralized platform for managing all the pharmaceutical data and monitoring relationships with customers, it is increasingly being sought in the industry. This strategy is getting a lot of attention in the pharmaceutical industry as a way to build and keep customer loyalty while moving toward supremacy in its respective segment. How Are CRM Solutions Assisting Pharma Companies to Become Customer-Centric? Several pharmaceutical organizations are looking for new strategies to stay competitive and improve their financial returns. The emergence of the pharma CRM trend has presented pharma businesses with a lucrative opportunity to develop new market approaches by transforming into customer-centric organizations. With real-time reports and analytics, any-time data access, and data availability in one place, novel CRM solutions are assisting pharma businesses in developing solid relationships with pharmacies, health care providers, distributors, suppliers, and even end patients. As the trend of improved customer experience and customer relationships spreads throughout the industry, many companies aiming to stay ahead are leveraging pharma CRM solutions to become more customer-centric and improve their financial returns. What are the key pharma CRM features that assist organizations to become customer centric? Let’s find out. Optimizes Products and Services As more and more businesses enter the pharmaceutical market, existing ones are looking for new ways to cut costs without compromising quality in order to survive and thrive in the respective domain. CRM software assists businesses in optimizing their products and services by creating detailed profiles of patients and potential customers, thereby declining costs and adding customer centricity. This also enables them to provide more tailored drugs, faster treatment delivery, and reduce wastage. Enables Integration with Customer Database It is important for drug manufacturing companies to maintain customer databases as they contain crucial information related to customers, such as customer buying behavior, purchasing patterns, usability, and others. Implementing cloud pharma CRM software enables integration with customer data, providing centralized access to organizations and assisting them to become customer-centric. Redefines the Customer Journey Customers and technologies are constantly evolving, and so are customer expectations. Hence, it is becoming crucial for pharma companies to track customers' journeys and analyze if the customer is in the sales cycle. Pharma CRM software assists these firms in determining whether customers are dissatisfied or are interested in an upsell, thereby making them customer-centric and increasing their revenue. Engages Customers in the Marketing Process Engaging customers within their sales and marketing strategies is of great significance for medical aid-providing enterprises to increase their ROI. As CRM for pharma helps in collecting valuable insights on what works and what does not, it assists these firms in constructing innovative marketing and sales campaigns and strategies as per customers’ interests and needs. This results in engaging customers in the marketing process. The Final Word In an intense competitive environment, it is critical for pharmaceutical organizations to engage the customers and build a better brand reputation to improve sales and ROI. As pharma CRM solutions helps in developing customer-centric services by allowing optimization of processes such as production, marketing, and sales, these solutions are ex

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PHARMACY MARKET

How long will the world wait for the next pandemic of antimicrobial resistance before we act?

Article | October 10, 2023

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become an increasingly serious global health problem in recent years. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 700,000 people die each year due to drug-resistant infections, and the number is expected to increase in the coming years. How does antimicrobial resistance emerge? Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines. It makes infections harder to treat and increases the risk of disease, severe illness, and death. When we use antibiotics, some bacteria die, but resistant bacteria can survive and even multiply. The overuse of antibiotics and substandard antibiotics make resistant bacteria more common. So, the more we use antibiotics, the more chances bacteria have to become resistant to them. The rise in AMR is caused by multiple factors including the misuse and overuse of antibiotics by humans as well as in livestock and agriculture. Although these are the main drivers in the development of drug-resistant pathogens, the emergence of substandard and falsified antibiotics is another lesser-known, huge contributory factor. Even though AMR is a leading cause of death around the world, it is tracked most closely in clinical high-income settings and developed countries. Unfortunately, this is not the case in low and middle-income countries, where the highest burden is in low-resource settings and low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). These countries are disproportionately affected, in part due to the high burden of communicable diseases. Consequences to human health of AMR AMR poses significant risks to human health, resulting in prolonged and more severe infections, extended hospitalizations, and increased healthcare expenses. It can also lead to an increased risk of death, as an infection may become untreatable. Additionally, it can reduce the effectiveness of medicines and treatments, making it more difficult to manage existing medical conditions. It is even more concerning that it can lead to the emergence of new, more dangerous strains of bacteria, viruses, and other microbes. This would mean medical procedures, such as surgery, including caesarean sections or hip replacements, cancer chemotherapy, and organ transplantation, will become riskier. Counterfeit medicines and antibiotics: Antibiotics are the most counterfeited medicines in the world, as they account for 28% of global counterfeit medicines. Substandard and falsified antibiotics are medicines that do not meet the quality standards set by regulatory authorities. Counterfeit antibiotics are estimated at 5% of the global antibiotic market. These medicines are often of inferior quality or contain incorrect ingredients or incorrect amounts of active ingredients. They may also contain toxic contaminants or be expired, posing serious consequences for patients. Sadly, counterfeit antibiotics are mostly found in LMICs due to a lack of regulation and enforcement, as well as a lack of access to quality healthcare. In many of these countries, the demand for antibiotics is higher than the supply, and counterfeit antibiotics are seen as a cheaper and more accessible alternative. Furthermore, there is a lack of awareness around the dangers of taking counterfeit antibiotics, and there is a lack of resources for health authorities to test for the authenticity of these medicines. Why are antibiotics so rife for counterfeit drugs? Counterfeiters of pharmaceuticals succeed in large part by exploiting weaknesses in supply chains, which are often fragmented with poor regulatory frameworks. Antibiotics are often counterfeited because they are in high demand and can be sold for a large profit. To combat the problem of substandard and falsified antibiotics, governments must take a multi-pronged approach. This should encompass enacting laws and regulations to ensure the quality and safety of medicines, conducting surveillance for detecting and removing substandard and falsified products from the market, as well as providing training and education to healthcare professionals and patients regarding the responsible use of antibiotics. In addition, governments must work to strengthen the pharmaceutical supply chain. This includes increasing the transparency of the supply chain, improving the quality control systems, and introducing traceability systems to track the movement of medicines from the manufacturer to the patient. Medical investment in low and middle-income countries Another neglected aspect by international NGOs and governments is investment in building local laboratory capacity in LMICs to combat antimicrobial resistance. Localized laboratory facilities can help identify, track, and prevent the spread of antimicrobial-resistant infections, as well as provide early warnings of emerging drug-resistant strains. Localized microbiology, surveillance, and quality control laboratories can also play an important role in developing new treatments and interventions for combating antimicrobial resistance. In addition, having localized laboratory capacity can provide more accurate standardized data on the prevalence of drug-resistant infections, which can help inform policy decisions and public health interventions. Affordable medicines Finally, governments must work to increase access to high-quality, affordable medicines. This includes improving the availability of generic medicines, which are typically cheaper alternatives to brand-name drugs. They also need to increase access to newer, more effective antibiotics.

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Oxford PharmaGenesis is a HealthScience communications consultancy providing services to the healthcare industry, professional societies and patient groups.

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Flagship Pioneering and Samsung Announce Collaboration to Advance Groundbreaking Technologies in Translational Science and Medicine

PR Newswire | January 09, 2024

Flagship Pioneering, the bioplatform innovation company, and Samsung today announced a collaboration aimed at fostering cutting-edge biopharmaceutical innovation poised to transform the world of healthcare through groundbreaking advancements in translational science and medicine. Through this collaboration, Samsung will work alongside Flagship-founded companies, leveraging Samsung's leading technologies and capabilities to accelerate first and best-in-class therapies. The newly formed strategic partnership is an expansion of the ongoing cooperation between Samsung and Flagship. The collaboration between Samsung and Flagship leverages the expertise of both organizations in the areas of life science technology, artificial intelligence, and CDMO services, and extends across Flagship's ecosystem of companies. Key Highlights of the Collaboration: Revolutionary Technology: The collaboration will leverage state-of-the-art technology including artificial intelligence, translational medicine, access to high quality clinical samples and Samsung's clinical trials infrastructure, and investment by Samsung in Flagship-founded companies. Shared Vision: Flagship Pioneering and Samsung share a common vision of transforming conventional drug discovery and development approaches to help bring new targeted therapeutic solutions to patients. The collaboration is driven by a commitment to pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the bio-pharmaceutical industry. "This collaboration represents a significant milestone in the pursuit of innovation and scientific excellence," said Stephen Berenson, Managing Partner, Flagship Pioneering. "As partners, we will bring together Flagship Pioneering's unparalleled expertise in inventing and developing revolutionary bioplatform companies with Samsung's strategic capabilities to reshape and empower the bio-pharmaceutical landscape, ultimately resulting in bigger leaps for patient care." "This newly formed collaboration is an important evolution of the ongoing relationship between two companies," said Jaywoo Kim, executive vice president, Samsung C&T. "We look forward to seeing the accelerating effect of Samsung's various technical expertise and extensive commercial capabilities on the future innovations Flagship and its ecosystem of companies will bring to market." About Flagship Pioneering: Flagship Pioneering is a biotechnology company that invents and builds platform companies, each with the potential for multiple products that transform human health or sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated and fostered more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $70 billion in aggregate value. To date, Flagship has deployed over $3.6 billion in capital toward the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than $27 billion of follow-on investments from other institutions. About Samsung C&T: Samsung C&T Corporation, a dynamic player in industries ranging from construction, trading, fashion and resorts, is actively expanding its portfolio with strategic investments in the biopharmaceutical industry. Since its investing in Samsung Biologics and Bioepis, Samsung Biologics' CDMO production capacity has grown to over 600 kilo liters and contribute greatly to the stabilization of the biopharmaceutical supply chain. In addition, Samsung Bioepis has improved the accessibility of many patients around the world by successfully launching seven biosimilar products. Samsung C&T will continue investment in innovative technologies and businesses that contribute to 'improving quality of life' in various areas of bio & healthcare.

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AION Labs Welcomes Amiti as Strategic Partner to Accelerate Israel's Position as a Leading Hub for Transformative AI-Powered Drug Discovery Innovation

PR Newswire | January 09, 2024

AION Labs, the first-of-its-kind venture studio spearheading the adoption of AI technologies and computational science to solve therapeutic challenges, announced today a new strategic partnership with Amiti Ventures, one of the leading early-stage venture capital firms in Israel. The partnership further strengthens the alliance of global leaders in pharma, biotech, and technology investment, expanding its offering as a venture studio and partner for new startups. "With a proven track record of identifying the best teams for the mission and investing early in the most innovative deep tech startups that shape the future, Amiti Ventures will bring important complementary capabilities and expert investor knowledge to the AION Labs partnership," said Mati Gill, CEO of AION Labs. "We thank Amiti for its vote of confidence in our model of innovation for groundbreaking AI and computational biotech ventures. We further appreciate Amiti's recognition that Israel's ecosystem is poised to lead the world in bringing AI and biotech together to solve our biggest drug discovery challenges." By joining forces with Amiti, AION Labs is enhancing its expertise and capabilities in the deep tech and computational technology domains, areas that are critical to the success of biotech innovation. Amiti's extensive experience and track record in these fields will bring invaluable investor knowledge and insights to AION Labs, enabling it to more effectively develop and support early-stage startups focused on AI and computational biology. Amiti's first investment in the venture studio will entail investment in DenovAI Biotech's Seed round of funding. Launched in 2022, DenovAI is developing an AI-powered biophysics solution for de novo antibody and protein design. AION Labs builds and invests in early-stage startup teams focused on AI and computational biology in drug discovery and development, offering them top-notch resources and mentorship while working closely with them to develop new technologies that meet the most significant challenges in the pharmaceutical industry. The partnership with Amiti Ventures will help AION Labs to advance healthcare towards patient-centric precision medicine and create a significant contribution to the health and well-being of humankind by helping to bring new treatments to market faster and more efficiently. "We believe that AION Labs is uniquely positioned to identify the biggest challenges to accelerate drug discovery and development and then evaluate the best computational bio approaches and entrepreneurs," said Ben Rabinowitz, Founder and Managing Partner of Amiti Ventures. "AION Labs' venture studio model bridges the gap between outstanding academic research, huge leaps forward in generative AI, and the biggest challenges and opportunities in the development of new medicines, and we look forward to working closely with our new partners to make this a reality. "We also have been amazed by the can-do spirit of the AION Labs team," added Rabinowitz. "It is that readiness to create, pull themselves up by the bootstraps and forge ahead with amazing innovation that makes AION and Israel's entire startup ecosystem so special." About AION Labs AION Labs is a first-of-its-kind alliance of Astrazeneca, Merck, Pfizer, Teva, the Israel Biotech Fund, Amiti Ventures, and Amazon Web Services (AWS), powered by BioMed X with the support of the Israeli Government via the Israel Innovation Authority, that have come together with one clear mission: to create and adopt groundbreaking new AI technologies that will transform the process of drug discovery and development in order to contribute to the health and well-being of all people world-wide. AION Labs is a unique venture hub where brilliant innovators and scientist-founders convene from around the world to solve the biggest R&D challenges guided by years of accumulated know-how, data and experience in pharma. The lab leverages its partners' wealth of knowledge and a new multidisciplinary mindset with the ingenuity, agility and innovative power of Israel's startup ecosystem, to develop strong companies with clear long-term strategies, that will pave the way to the future of healthcare. AION Labs cultivates innovation from within; its unique venture creation process bridges the gap between outstanding academic research in the field of AI and the biggest R&D needs in the discovery and development of new medicines for the benefit of patients.

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PHARMA TECH

Frontage Laboratories Acquires Accelera S.r.l.'s Bioanalytical and DMPK Businesses

PR Newswire | January 03, 2024

Frontage Laboratories, Inc. today announced that, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Frontage Europe S.r.l., it has completed the acquisition of the Bioanalytical and Drug Metabolism & Pharmacokinetics businesses of Accelera S.r.l (Accelera). Accelera is a premier Contract Research Organization located in Nerviano, within the Lombardy region of Italy, part of the well-established NMS Group S.p.A. which has positioned itself as a global niche player in delivering discovery & preclinical studies and clinical bioanalysis to pharma and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, and other healthcare stakeholders. "Today marks a very significant achievement in the 23-year history of Frontage Laboratories, as we establish a base of operations in continental Europe. Accelera has developed a tremendous reputation for high quality R&D services and we look forward to welcoming their Bioanalytical and Drug Metabolism & Pharmacokinetics teams to the Frontage family," said Dr. Abdul Mutlib, CEO of Frontage. "We envision this strategic acquisition as a first step in establishing Frontage's footprint in Europe, with the intent of adding other service areas in the continent. We believe both existing Frontage and Accelera clients stand to benefit greatly by leveraging Frontage's increasingly global platform. In addition, we are looking forward to partnering with the remaining Accelera business on exciting opportunities to service clients across our organizations." According to Dr. Song Li, Founder and Chairman of Frontage: "It has been a long-standing goal of Frontage to expand our operations in Europe. We consider ourselves fortunate to capitalize on our outstanding relationship with the Accelera team, which has enabled us to bring our plans to fruition. We are very enthusiastic about working together as we further develop the Frontage platform in Europe, starting from a footprint in the Biopark in Nerviano Lombardy, where Accelera and Nerviano Medical Sciences Srl have already established a long-standing and efficient value chain. As always, our ongoing focus will remain on delivering the highest levels of quality, technology and expertise to our clients." "We are thrilled to join forces with Frontage as part of this strategic acquisition that marks a significant milestone in Accelera's journey," said Luca Leone, CEO of Accelera. "Accelera has built a strong reputation for delivering high-quality R&D services through all phases of drug research and development with extensive experience in oncology. This unique occasion opens up new horizons for collaboration and growth. On one hand, we will further focus on offering top-notch In-vivo (end-to-end services) for multiple emerging modalities. At the same time, we look forward to exploring exciting opportunities to serve our clients across continents through our ongoing collaboration. This partnership reflects our commitment to advancing research and providing innovative solutions in the European market and beyond," said Luca Leone, CEO of Accelera S.r.l. "Having Frontage as part of the growing partners operating from our Biopark is a landmark moment for us. In addition to the endless potential of the Accelera-Frontage collaboration, Nerviano Medical Sciences can leverage Frontage's world-class capabilities to drive breakthrough advancements in our drug discovery and development process. By uniting our strengths, we believe we can accelerate the pace of innovation and make a lasting difference in the field where all companies of this strong alliance operate and thrive here in Nerviano," said Hugues Dolgos, CEO of NMS Group S.p.A and Nerviano Medical Sciences Srl. About Frontage Frontage Holdings Corp (1521.HK), together with its wholly owned subsidiary Frontage Laboratories, Inc., is a global Contract Research Organization (CRO) which provides integrated, science-driven, product development services from drug discovery to late phase clinical process to enable biopharmaceutical companies to achieve their development goals. Comprehensive services include drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, analytical testing and formulation development, preclinical and clinical trial material manufacturing, bioanalysis, preclinical safety and toxicology assessment and early phase clinical studies. Frontage has enabled many biotechnology companies and leading pharmaceutical companies of varying sizes to advance a myriad of new molecules through development and to successfully file global regulatory submissions. About NMS Group NMS Group is the largest oncological R&D company in Italy with more than 400 employees, of whom more than half are highly educated individuals dedicated to innovative research, development and manufacturing. The NMS kinase inhibitor discovery platform as well as the antibody-conjugating payload platform are the driving forces of the group's innovation, securing global recognition of NMS in personalized therapy. Recently entrectinib, originally discovered by NMS, which is a targeted kinase inhibitor used to treat NTRK1/2/3 and ROS1 dependent solid tumors that was licensed to Ignyta, now a member of the Roche Group, gained approvals for commercialization in all major markets. This is further evidence of the competitiveness of the drug discovery platform of NMS Group. NMS Group has three subsidiaries. NMS S.r.l. is a FIC / BIC focused drug research and development company with a robust pipeline of more than a dozen anti-cancer projects, and three of the projects are currently in early clinical development.

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PHARMA TECH

Flagship Pioneering and Samsung Announce Collaboration to Advance Groundbreaking Technologies in Translational Science and Medicine

PR Newswire | January 09, 2024

Flagship Pioneering, the bioplatform innovation company, and Samsung today announced a collaboration aimed at fostering cutting-edge biopharmaceutical innovation poised to transform the world of healthcare through groundbreaking advancements in translational science and medicine. Through this collaboration, Samsung will work alongside Flagship-founded companies, leveraging Samsung's leading technologies and capabilities to accelerate first and best-in-class therapies. The newly formed strategic partnership is an expansion of the ongoing cooperation between Samsung and Flagship. The collaboration between Samsung and Flagship leverages the expertise of both organizations in the areas of life science technology, artificial intelligence, and CDMO services, and extends across Flagship's ecosystem of companies. Key Highlights of the Collaboration: Revolutionary Technology: The collaboration will leverage state-of-the-art technology including artificial intelligence, translational medicine, access to high quality clinical samples and Samsung's clinical trials infrastructure, and investment by Samsung in Flagship-founded companies. Shared Vision: Flagship Pioneering and Samsung share a common vision of transforming conventional drug discovery and development approaches to help bring new targeted therapeutic solutions to patients. The collaboration is driven by a commitment to pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the bio-pharmaceutical industry. "This collaboration represents a significant milestone in the pursuit of innovation and scientific excellence," said Stephen Berenson, Managing Partner, Flagship Pioneering. "As partners, we will bring together Flagship Pioneering's unparalleled expertise in inventing and developing revolutionary bioplatform companies with Samsung's strategic capabilities to reshape and empower the bio-pharmaceutical landscape, ultimately resulting in bigger leaps for patient care." "This newly formed collaboration is an important evolution of the ongoing relationship between two companies," said Jaywoo Kim, executive vice president, Samsung C&T. "We look forward to seeing the accelerating effect of Samsung's various technical expertise and extensive commercial capabilities on the future innovations Flagship and its ecosystem of companies will bring to market." About Flagship Pioneering: Flagship Pioneering is a biotechnology company that invents and builds platform companies, each with the potential for multiple products that transform human health or sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated and fostered more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $70 billion in aggregate value. To date, Flagship has deployed over $3.6 billion in capital toward the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than $27 billion of follow-on investments from other institutions. About Samsung C&T: Samsung C&T Corporation, a dynamic player in industries ranging from construction, trading, fashion and resorts, is actively expanding its portfolio with strategic investments in the biopharmaceutical industry. Since its investing in Samsung Biologics and Bioepis, Samsung Biologics' CDMO production capacity has grown to over 600 kilo liters and contribute greatly to the stabilization of the biopharmaceutical supply chain. In addition, Samsung Bioepis has improved the accessibility of many patients around the world by successfully launching seven biosimilar products. Samsung C&T will continue investment in innovative technologies and businesses that contribute to 'improving quality of life' in various areas of bio & healthcare.

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PHARMA TECH

AION Labs Welcomes Amiti as Strategic Partner to Accelerate Israel's Position as a Leading Hub for Transformative AI-Powered Drug Discovery Innovation

PR Newswire | January 09, 2024

AION Labs, the first-of-its-kind venture studio spearheading the adoption of AI technologies and computational science to solve therapeutic challenges, announced today a new strategic partnership with Amiti Ventures, one of the leading early-stage venture capital firms in Israel. The partnership further strengthens the alliance of global leaders in pharma, biotech, and technology investment, expanding its offering as a venture studio and partner for new startups. "With a proven track record of identifying the best teams for the mission and investing early in the most innovative deep tech startups that shape the future, Amiti Ventures will bring important complementary capabilities and expert investor knowledge to the AION Labs partnership," said Mati Gill, CEO of AION Labs. "We thank Amiti for its vote of confidence in our model of innovation for groundbreaking AI and computational biotech ventures. We further appreciate Amiti's recognition that Israel's ecosystem is poised to lead the world in bringing AI and biotech together to solve our biggest drug discovery challenges." By joining forces with Amiti, AION Labs is enhancing its expertise and capabilities in the deep tech and computational technology domains, areas that are critical to the success of biotech innovation. Amiti's extensive experience and track record in these fields will bring invaluable investor knowledge and insights to AION Labs, enabling it to more effectively develop and support early-stage startups focused on AI and computational biology. Amiti's first investment in the venture studio will entail investment in DenovAI Biotech's Seed round of funding. Launched in 2022, DenovAI is developing an AI-powered biophysics solution for de novo antibody and protein design. AION Labs builds and invests in early-stage startup teams focused on AI and computational biology in drug discovery and development, offering them top-notch resources and mentorship while working closely with them to develop new technologies that meet the most significant challenges in the pharmaceutical industry. The partnership with Amiti Ventures will help AION Labs to advance healthcare towards patient-centric precision medicine and create a significant contribution to the health and well-being of humankind by helping to bring new treatments to market faster and more efficiently. "We believe that AION Labs is uniquely positioned to identify the biggest challenges to accelerate drug discovery and development and then evaluate the best computational bio approaches and entrepreneurs," said Ben Rabinowitz, Founder and Managing Partner of Amiti Ventures. "AION Labs' venture studio model bridges the gap between outstanding academic research, huge leaps forward in generative AI, and the biggest challenges and opportunities in the development of new medicines, and we look forward to working closely with our new partners to make this a reality. "We also have been amazed by the can-do spirit of the AION Labs team," added Rabinowitz. "It is that readiness to create, pull themselves up by the bootstraps and forge ahead with amazing innovation that makes AION and Israel's entire startup ecosystem so special." About AION Labs AION Labs is a first-of-its-kind alliance of Astrazeneca, Merck, Pfizer, Teva, the Israel Biotech Fund, Amiti Ventures, and Amazon Web Services (AWS), powered by BioMed X with the support of the Israeli Government via the Israel Innovation Authority, that have come together with one clear mission: to create and adopt groundbreaking new AI technologies that will transform the process of drug discovery and development in order to contribute to the health and well-being of all people world-wide. AION Labs is a unique venture hub where brilliant innovators and scientist-founders convene from around the world to solve the biggest R&D challenges guided by years of accumulated know-how, data and experience in pharma. The lab leverages its partners' wealth of knowledge and a new multidisciplinary mindset with the ingenuity, agility and innovative power of Israel's startup ecosystem, to develop strong companies with clear long-term strategies, that will pave the way to the future of healthcare. AION Labs cultivates innovation from within; its unique venture creation process bridges the gap between outstanding academic research in the field of AI and the biggest R&D needs in the discovery and development of new medicines for the benefit of patients.

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PHARMA TECH

Frontage Laboratories Acquires Accelera S.r.l.'s Bioanalytical and DMPK Businesses

PR Newswire | January 03, 2024

Frontage Laboratories, Inc. today announced that, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Frontage Europe S.r.l., it has completed the acquisition of the Bioanalytical and Drug Metabolism & Pharmacokinetics businesses of Accelera S.r.l (Accelera). Accelera is a premier Contract Research Organization located in Nerviano, within the Lombardy region of Italy, part of the well-established NMS Group S.p.A. which has positioned itself as a global niche player in delivering discovery & preclinical studies and clinical bioanalysis to pharma and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, and other healthcare stakeholders. "Today marks a very significant achievement in the 23-year history of Frontage Laboratories, as we establish a base of operations in continental Europe. Accelera has developed a tremendous reputation for high quality R&D services and we look forward to welcoming their Bioanalytical and Drug Metabolism & Pharmacokinetics teams to the Frontage family," said Dr. Abdul Mutlib, CEO of Frontage. "We envision this strategic acquisition as a first step in establishing Frontage's footprint in Europe, with the intent of adding other service areas in the continent. We believe both existing Frontage and Accelera clients stand to benefit greatly by leveraging Frontage's increasingly global platform. In addition, we are looking forward to partnering with the remaining Accelera business on exciting opportunities to service clients across our organizations." According to Dr. Song Li, Founder and Chairman of Frontage: "It has been a long-standing goal of Frontage to expand our operations in Europe. We consider ourselves fortunate to capitalize on our outstanding relationship with the Accelera team, which has enabled us to bring our plans to fruition. We are very enthusiastic about working together as we further develop the Frontage platform in Europe, starting from a footprint in the Biopark in Nerviano Lombardy, where Accelera and Nerviano Medical Sciences Srl have already established a long-standing and efficient value chain. As always, our ongoing focus will remain on delivering the highest levels of quality, technology and expertise to our clients." "We are thrilled to join forces with Frontage as part of this strategic acquisition that marks a significant milestone in Accelera's journey," said Luca Leone, CEO of Accelera. "Accelera has built a strong reputation for delivering high-quality R&D services through all phases of drug research and development with extensive experience in oncology. This unique occasion opens up new horizons for collaboration and growth. On one hand, we will further focus on offering top-notch In-vivo (end-to-end services) for multiple emerging modalities. At the same time, we look forward to exploring exciting opportunities to serve our clients across continents through our ongoing collaboration. This partnership reflects our commitment to advancing research and providing innovative solutions in the European market and beyond," said Luca Leone, CEO of Accelera S.r.l. "Having Frontage as part of the growing partners operating from our Biopark is a landmark moment for us. In addition to the endless potential of the Accelera-Frontage collaboration, Nerviano Medical Sciences can leverage Frontage's world-class capabilities to drive breakthrough advancements in our drug discovery and development process. By uniting our strengths, we believe we can accelerate the pace of innovation and make a lasting difference in the field where all companies of this strong alliance operate and thrive here in Nerviano," said Hugues Dolgos, CEO of NMS Group S.p.A and Nerviano Medical Sciences Srl. About Frontage Frontage Holdings Corp (1521.HK), together with its wholly owned subsidiary Frontage Laboratories, Inc., is a global Contract Research Organization (CRO) which provides integrated, science-driven, product development services from drug discovery to late phase clinical process to enable biopharmaceutical companies to achieve their development goals. Comprehensive services include drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, analytical testing and formulation development, preclinical and clinical trial material manufacturing, bioanalysis, preclinical safety and toxicology assessment and early phase clinical studies. Frontage has enabled many biotechnology companies and leading pharmaceutical companies of varying sizes to advance a myriad of new molecules through development and to successfully file global regulatory submissions. About NMS Group NMS Group is the largest oncological R&D company in Italy with more than 400 employees, of whom more than half are highly educated individuals dedicated to innovative research, development and manufacturing. The NMS kinase inhibitor discovery platform as well as the antibody-conjugating payload platform are the driving forces of the group's innovation, securing global recognition of NMS in personalized therapy. Recently entrectinib, originally discovered by NMS, which is a targeted kinase inhibitor used to treat NTRK1/2/3 and ROS1 dependent solid tumors that was licensed to Ignyta, now a member of the Roche Group, gained approvals for commercialization in all major markets. This is further evidence of the competitiveness of the drug discovery platform of NMS Group. NMS Group has three subsidiaries. NMS S.r.l. is a FIC / BIC focused drug research and development company with a robust pipeline of more than a dozen anti-cancer projects, and three of the projects are currently in early clinical development.

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