PHARMACY MARKET
PR Newswire | October 12, 2023
Indivior PLC a leading addiction treatment company, announced that it has gained exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize Alar Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s ("Alar") portfolio of long-acting injectable formulations that release a prodrug1 of buprenorphine at varying durations, including its lead long-acting injectable ("LAI") candidate, ALA-1000.
ALA-1000 is a sustained-release LAI prodrug of buprenorphine. With dosage intervals of potentially up to four times per year, ALA-1000 could address unmet opioid use disorder ("OUD") patient needs with a longer duration of treatment, which could provide an option for patients seeking a less frequent maintenance therapy regimen, for patients living in remote areas without easy access to care, and for high-risk patients, such as those transitioning from the Justice system.
Under the agreement with Alar, Indivior will pay $10 million to secure exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize ALA-1000 and Alar's future buprenorphine-based LAI product candidates. The $10 million payment is in addition to an initial $5 million option payment made by Indivior to Alar in Q1. Alar is entitled to potential milestone payments if various developmental, regulatory, and commercial goals are achieved.
"Alar provides Indivior with a unique opportunity to further address unmet patient needs in the treatment of OUD with potentially the first three-month buprenorphine LAI," said Christian Heidbreder, Chief Scientific Officer. "By providing a therapeutic option for patients who might benefit from less frequent dosing, ALA-1000 has the potential to broaden the spectrum of care for OUD treatment as well as enhance the addressable patient population."
ALA-1000 is an investigational drug and is positioned to be the first three-month buprenorphine administered subcutaneously entering the clinical stage. Results from a single-ascending dose ("SAD") study, announced by Alar in January 2022, demonstrated the safety, tolerability and sustained release profile of ALA-1000 over 12 weeks in patients with OUD2. Alar has been granted composition of matter and formulation patents for ALA-1000 covering sustained-release buprenorphine formulations with expiry in 2037 and 2039.
Based in Taichung, Taiwan, Alar is a drug development company which focuses on developing long-acting drug products for central nervous system ("CNS") disorders and chronic diseases, utilizing its proprietary depot technology. Compared with other long-acting subcutaneous injection technologies, its proprietary platform has been associated with distinctive characteristics such as low viscosity solution, small injection volume and sustained drug release profile.
The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on the Group's FY 2023 adjusted results.
About Indivior
Indivior is a global pharmaceutical company working to help change patients' lives by developing medicines to treat addiction and serious mental illnesses. Our vision is that all patients around the world will have access to evidence-based treatment for the chronic conditions and co-occurring disorders of substance use disorder (SUD). Indivior is dedicated to transforming SUD from a global human crisis to a recognized and treated chronic disease. Building on its global portfolio of OUD treatments, Indivior has a pipeline of product candidates designed to both expand on its heritage in this category and potentially address other chronic conditions and co-occurring disorders of SUD, including alcohol use disorder and cannabis use disorder. Headquartered in the United States in Richmond, VA, Indivior employs more than 1,000 individuals globally and its portfolio of products is available in 39 countries worldwide.
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PHARMACY MARKET
Business Wire | October 17, 2023
BioMap announced a groundbreaking strategic collaboration with Sanofi to co-develop cutting-edge AI modules for biotherapeutic drug discovery leveraging BioMap’s AI platform.
“As the largest foundational model-based approach within life sciences, we are thrilled to collaborate with Sanofi and leverage the potential of BioMap’s cutting-edge AI engine to help solve complex problems associated with new protein therapies to drive drug discovery,” said BioMap’s Chief Technology Officer, Le Song. “We have built what is essentially a biological map of proteins using data sets from public and private sources to inform our foundational models. Utilizing automation and integrated workflows to enhance the collection of high-quality data, we can catalyze the process of new hit discovery and lead optimization.”
Traditional AI methods require vast amounts of labeled data to make accurate predictions. However, in life science, labeled data are often in short supply. BioMap’s foundational models are revolutionizing AI in biology by enabling one large model, trained on ubiquitous unlabeled data, to inform multiple downstream task models. This approach enables superior prediction from limited data in a range of therapeutic areas, including immunology, neurology, oncology, and rare diseases.
Leveraging BioMap’s custom-built foundational models and world-leading AI expertise, as well as Sanofi’s proprietary data, computational innovations in protein engineering, and deep biologics development experience, both parties aim to create advanced AI models and protein Large Language Models that will enable biologics design and multiparametric optimization.
"By combining Sanofi’s proprietary data sets, digital infrastructure, AI and data science capabilities, and drug development expertise with BioMap’s protein Large Language Models, high-performance computing, and deep understanding of AI, we can optimize the process of discovery and development of breakthrough biotherapeutics,” said Matt Truppo, Global Head of Research Platforms at Sanofi. “Our collaboration with BioMap further underscores Sanofi’s commitment to becoming the first pharma company powered by artificial intelligence at scale.”
Under the terms of the agreement, BioMap will receive an upfront cash payment and near-term payments for reaching module development milestones from Sanofi. BioMap will be eligible to receive payments of over $1 billion based on achievement of pre-clinical development, clinical development, regulatory, and commercial milestones.
About BioMap
Founded in 2020 by Robin Li and Wei Liu, BioMap is a disruptive life science AI company responsible for building xTrimo, the first and largest protein-centric large language model platform. Their technology allows scientists to model life more accurately, from proteins to a system level, and extract novel insights and predictions from limited data. Supported by an international, cross-functional team of over 300 experts, BioMap is solving critical, protein-related drug development problems and charting a course to radically improve patients’ lives.
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PHARMACY MARKET
PR Newswire | September 21, 2023
Biofourmis, a leading global technology-enabled care delivery company, announced today the release of its expanded Digital Clinical Trials solution within the Biofourmis platform for biopharma and other life sciences companies. The solution offers robust digital tools and resources for trial sponsors and investigators aimed at accelerating drug development and improving access and diversity while also reducing costs.
Biofourmis' Digital Clinical Trials solution includes a technology-enabled, scalable platform and services that support digital tools enablement, trial decentralization, safety monitoring, personalized care, easier participant recruitment and more equitable access to treatment options for patients everywhere. The solution helps sponsors and researchers accelerate clinical development with remote data collection and novel digital endpoints from Biofourmis' library of biomarkers across multiple therapeutic areas.
The expanded solution offers a more holistic workflow, new data management automations and a seamless integration of essential clinical trial documentation, participant scheduling and data collection elements. Because the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform is highly configurable, study start-up timelines can be reduced from months to days. The connected platform seamlessly integrates with 40+ devices, enabling study teams the freedom to select the right device for the right disease area.
Biopharma companies can also tap into Biofourmis' growing principal investigator (PI) network. The network includes experienced and esteemed PIs from leading academic medical centers as a valuable resource to manage digitally driven research and accelerate the pace of recruitment with access to patient databases. Health systems that already use the Biofourmis platform for technology-enabled care delivery at home can easily and quickly expand their clinical research initiatives by leveraging the connected platform to include the Digital Clinical Trials functionality.
"We have consistently earned high satisfaction scores from both researchers and trial participants for our solutions. Now, we have identified additional ways to accelerate access to digital clinical trials, lower costs, and improve the experience for all stakeholders," said Biofourmis COO Jaydev Thakkar. "These new technology and service elements create a more holistic, turnkey solution that achieves those aims while offering greater synergies from drug development to commercialization and creating equitable access to treatment options and clinical research for patients everywhere."
Market-leading enhancements to the Digital Clinical Trials solution include
Robust eConsent and ePROs Capabilities: Robust screening and informed consent tools are integrated into workflows to accelerate recruitment, decrease enrollment time, and help ensure that participants fully understand risks and benefits associated with the trial. The documentation content is easily configurable and compliant with regulatory requirements. The enhanced ePROs (electronic patient-reported outcomes) collection capabilities drive adherence through automated reminders of participants' reporting requirements while offering them the ability to easily share outcomes beyond traditional clinical measures. Reporting flexibility offers investigators increased visibility into participant safety, health and experience.
Dynamic Participant Scheduling: Upon enrollment, the Digital Clinical Trials solution helps research stay on course while encouraging participant adherence and engagement through a virtual visit and schedule of assessment module that streamlines all the "to-do" items for the participant and caregiver, intuitively listing all the required patient reporting and external assessment tasks. Reminders and notifications help participants stay adherent; but if a task is missed, the schedule can automatically adjust so the participant can remain enrolled, and the trial can move forward.
InHome Services: As with all solutions within Biofourmis Connect and Care, In-Home Services such as nurse visits, phlebotomy, infusion, imaging, and other ancillary services delivered within the home are available via the connected platform to support decentralized clinical trials—which further reduces burden on investigators and participants.
Unmatched Safety Monitoring: The solution leverages AI to monitor the efficacy and side effects of drugs. A specific example includes pre-screening for clinical events triggered by high potassium levels (hyperkalemia), which can reduce clinical trial costs by decreasing frequent manual checks by medical professionals while still protecting patient safety. In addition, cardiac safety monitoring capabilities such as auto-detection of QTc prolongation (an extended interval between the heart contracting and relaxing) can improve the safety of trials by detecting patients earlier who are at risk of developing critical heart arrhythmias due to drug side effects.
"Leveraging digital tools and automating and accelerating trial processes for both researchers and participants can increase the likelihood that endpoints will be reached sooner, which lowers costs and simplifies tasks for everyone involved," Thakkar said. "More importantly, shorter trials with more meaningful results mean that groundbreaking new therapies can be discovered and developed faster to improve outcomes for patients worldwide."
About Biofourmis
Biofourmis brings the right care to every person, no matter where they are. The company's AI-driven solution collects and analyzes patient data in real time and identifies shifts that require proactive interventions. This vital innovation provides people everywhere with connected access to hospital-level services, virtual provider networks for remote care, in-home services, and life-changing clinical trials—all without leaving their homes. Trusted by leading health systems, payers, biopharma companies and patients alike, Biofourmis' connected platform improves patient outcomes, prevents hospital readmissions, accelerates drug development, and closes critical gaps in care—ultimately making science smarter, healthcare simpler, and patients healthier.
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