BUSINESS INSIGHTS, PHARMACY MARKET

Envision Pharma Group Announces Acquisition of OKRA.ai

Envision Pharma Group | February 10, 2023 | Read time : 02:00 min

Envision Pharma Group

Envision Pharma Group (Envision), a leading evidence-based communication services and industry-leading technology solutions provider serving biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies recently announced the acquisition of OKRA.ai, a leading technology company active in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for commercialization, medical, real-world evidence and data analytics, and pricing for the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries.

OKRA.ai's AI products and solutions transform enormous scientific, clinical, and commercial data sets into actionable insights for customers in the health sciences industry, empowering decision-making and driving action.

Dr. Loubna Bouarfa, the founder of OKRA.ai, will join the Executive Leadership Team of Envision. Loubna recently received the renowned Deloitte Fast 50 Women in Leadership Award as well as the Forbes 50 Top Women in Tech.

OKRA.ai has offices in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands and employs around 30 people. With the purchase of OKRA.ai, Envision Pharma Group will have over 1,400 employees spread across four continents.

Envision Pharma Group's CEO Meg Heim commented, "We are delighted to welcome OKRA.ai into the Envision Pharma Group family." She added, "The acquisition of OKRA.ai marks an exciting milestone in Envision's evolution as we continue to accelerate and deliver a compelling combination of technology-enabled capabilities and solutions to clients. The combination of Envision's leading technology, capabilities, and solutions with OKRA.ai's artificial intelligence solutions and expertise enables us to strengthen our offerings to clients across the product life cycle, but more importantly, support patients in their journey to health and wellness."

(Source – Globe Newswire)

About Envision Pharma Group

Founded in 2001, Envision is a leading evidence-based communication service and industry-leading technology solutions provider serving biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies. It works with over 200 pharmaceutical and biotech firms, including 18 of the top 20 pharmaceutical firms. The company began by reinventing how biopharma companies managed their global data communications programs by leveraging smart technology and best-in-class publication planning. It has since grown to become a leading provider of healthcare communications services and medical affairs technology solutions. It assists clients throughout the pharmaceutical product lifecycle, establishing solid partnerships and gaining client trust in purpose-built solutions.

Spotlight

Oligonucleotides are short strands of synthetic DNA or RNA that can selectively alter gene expression and protein production.

Spotlight

Oligonucleotides are short strands of synthetic DNA or RNA that can selectively alter gene expression and protein production.

Related News

PHARMA TECH

XtalPi Announces Collaboration with Lilly, Using AI + Robotics to Uncover First-in-class Therapeutics

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.

Read More

PHARMACY MARKET

Xeris Biopharma Announces Research Evaluation Collaboration and Option Agreement With Regeneron for XeriJect™

businesswire | April 03, 2023

Xeris Biopharma Holdings, Inc. a growth-oriented biopharmaceutical company committed to improving patient lives by developing and commercializing innovative products across a range of therapeutic areas, today announced that it has entered into a platform research evaluation collaboration and option agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, Xeris will use its proprietary drug-formulation platform, XeriJect™, to develop ultra-highly concentrated, ready-to-use, small volume subcutaneous injections of two undisclosed monoclonal antibodies developed by Regeneron. Xeris will receive an upfront payment and potential milestone payments for preclinical achievements. Regeneron has an option to commercially license the Xeris technology for such molecules and nominate additional molecules for reformulation and potential commercialization. Specific financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. “We are excited to be working with Regeneron on a platform collaboration basis, which builds on our prior feasibility studies and reflects the significant progress and investment we have been making into the development of XeriJect™,” said Paul R. Edick, Chairman and CEO of Xeris Biopharma. “Through our novel drug-formulation platform, we aim to provide our biologic development collaborators with the competitive advantage of delivering a significantly improved patient and provider experience through stable, ready-to-use, ultra-highly concentrated, small-volume subcutaneous injection formulations. This agreement with Regeneron is another in a series of collaborations Xeris has recently undertaken with top pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.” About XeriJect™ Xeris’ drug-delivery system, XeriJect, provides innovative, ready-to-use, viscoelastic pharmaceutical suspensions that have the potential to improve drug delivery, lower treatment burden and improve patients' lives across a broad range of therapeutic categories. XeriJect suspensions maximize drug loadings at >450mg/mL, enable small volume subcutaneous injections, do not settle on storage and are ready-to-use. The suspensions use FDA-approved excipients and leverage known manufacturing processes. XeriJect formulation technology is well suited for drugs and biologics including large molecules such as proteins, monoclonal antibodies, and vaccines. The technology is protected by an extensive patent estate, trade secrets and know-how, and it is available for licensing. About Xeris Xeris is a growth-oriented biopharmaceutical company committed to improving patients’ lives by developing and commercializing differentiated and innovative products across a range of therapies. Xeris has three commercially available products: Gvoke®, a ready-to-use liquid glucagon for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia; Keveyis®, a proven therapy for primary periodic paralysis; and Recorlev® for the treatment of endogenous Cushing’s syndrome. Xeris has a diverse pipeline of development and partnered programs using its formulation sciences, XeriSol™ and XeriJect™, to support long-term product development and commercial success.

Read More

BUSINESS INSIGHTS, PHARMACY MARKET

Hovione and Laxxon Medical Establish an Agreement for the cGMP Production of 3D Screen Printed Pharmaceutical Applications

PRNewswire | March 23, 2023

Hovione and Laxxon Medical announced a strategic collaboration to advance the use of 3D screen printing technologies for the pharmaceutical industry. This partnership combines Laxxon´s expertise in 3D screen printing, based on their SPID®-Technology, with Hovione's product & process development, engineering and manufacturing expertise in pharmaceutical applications. Under the terms of the agreement, Hovione will establish the Laxxon Medical 3D screen printing technology at Hovione's cGMP production sites first in Portugal and later in the USA. The 3D technology displays numerous advantages including the potential to produce unique or customized dosage forms with characteristics that cannot be achieved with conventional dosage forms, the ability to create tablets of any shape and size, the option to easily adjust the number of active substances and individual components in the composition of the tablet and even to set the dosage individually for each patient for personalized medicines. "Laxxon is thrilled to establish a long-term partnership with Hovione." said Klaus Kuehne, COO of Laxxon Medical. "This partnership will serve as a great accelerator in establishing 3D screen printing within the pharmaceutical industry thus accelerating our ability to serve our customers." "Hovione has a global reputation for their pharmaceutical innovation services, expertise and market access. This agreement marks a significant milestone for Laxxon in terms of our own market strategy and development efforts." said Helmut Kerschbaumer, Laxxon's CEO. "We are looking forward to collaborating with Hovione to promote innovation through 3D screen printing." "We find the Laxxon Medical 3D printing technology to be very innovative and enabling. It not only allows for the customization and production of drug products with complex shapes and structures as well as unique API release characteristics but it also has the potential to reduce the time and cost of drug development" says Dr. Jean-Luc Herbeaux, Hovione´s CEO. He adds "Hovione has a track record of turning emerging pharmaceutical production technologies into reliable and scalable offerings at both developmental and commercial scales. We are excited at the prospect of supporting Laxxon in industrializing its 3D printing technology and make it accessible to a greater number of pharmaceutical and medical device companies." With this partnership the platform will be available from early development phases to routine commercial manufacturing. About Hovione Hovione is an international company with over 60 years of experience in pharmaceutical development and manufacturing operations. As a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) Hovione has a fully integrated offering of services for drug substance, drug product intermediate and drug product. The company has four FDA inspected sites in the USA, Portugal, Ireland and China and development laboratories in Lisbon, Portugal and New Jersey, USA. Hovione provides pharmaceutical customers services for the development and compliant manufacture of innovative drugs, including highly potent compounds, and customized product solutions across the entire drug life cycle. In the inhalation area, Hovione offers a complete range of services, from API, formulation development and devices. Hovione´s culture is based on innovation, quality and delivery. Hovione was the first Chemical/ Pharmaceutical Company to become a Certified B Corp, is a member of Rx-360, EFCG and participates actively in industry quality improvement initiatives to lead new global industry standards.

Read More