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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PHARMA TECH
prnewswire | May 30, 2023
ValGenesis, Inc., the market leader in enterprise validation lifecycle management systems announced that a leading pharmaceutical company in Brazil selected ValGenesis iRisk to redefine and automate the company's risk-based validation processes. ValGenesis iRisk is the world's most advanced risk management platform, used by top pharmaceutical companies across the world.
With corporate origins in Japan, the company draws upon a rich legacy of innovation and a pipeline of robust therapeutics that are enhancing the lives of millions of people across the globe.
Working to keep pace with ever-changing business and regulatory landscapes, the company chose ValGenesis iRisk because it enhances business performance and business process excellence across end-to-end product and process lifecycles. On this compliant platform, experts can analyze, visualize, query, and compare risk over different products, processes, production sites, and more, sharing a continuous flow of risk communications between relevant stakeholders to get products to market more quickly and safely.
"Brazil is the largest pharmaceutical market in Latin America, and we are happy that more companies are turning to ValGenesis for risk-based validation solutions that enforce a structured and consistent approach to risk, " says Steve Reynolds, Chief Revenue Officer at ValGenesis. "ValGenesis iRisk is able to deliver on these stringent requirements simply, efficiently, and very cost-effectively."
ABOUT VALGENESIS
ValGenesis, Inc. is the creator of an innovative software platform that serves as a foundation for managing compliance-based validation activities in life science companies. ValGenesis, Inc. is the provider of the first enterprise application that manages the corporate validation lifecycle process. This solution is fully compliant with U.S. FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and Annex 11 requirements. As the first fully paperless solution for electronic management of validation execution and approval, ValGenesis was selected by an industry peer review committee to receive the Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) New Innovative Technology Award in 2005.
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