Pharmaceutical packaging is changing, with patient preferences and evolving legislation working in tandem to drive sustainability to the top of the agenda. The need to introduce more environmentally responsible packaging has predominantly been a focus for consumer brands. And, while patient safety and product security remain critical, they must now be viewed through the lens of sustainability. As many companies increasingly incorporate ESG policies into the core of their business operations, it is clear the pharma packaging landscape is undergoing a permanent shift in the European market. Erwin Klünder, Head of Sales  – Healthcare & Flexibles at Graphic Packaging explores… Driving Circularity…

Pheon Therapeutics, a leading Antibody-Drug Conjugate specialist developing next generation ADCs for a wide range of hard-to-treat cancers, have announced the completion of a $120m Series B financing to fund the development of its pipeline of differentiated ADCs. The financing was led by TCGX with participation from other new investors BVF Partners, Lightspeed and Perceptive Advisors, alongside existing investors Atlas Venture, Brandon Capital, Forbion, and Research Corporation Technologies. The new financing will be used to further advance Pheon’s differentiated ADC pipeline through clinical proof of concept. The first three assets are aimed at an undisclosed novel target which is highly overexpressed in…

Oxford BioDynamics and The London Clinic, one of the UK’s leading private hospitals, have signed an agreement to give The London Clinic patients access to OBD’s EpiSwitch PSE (EpiSwitch Prostate Screening) and EpiSwitch CiRT (Checkpoint inhibitor Response Test) blood tests. The London Clinic is the UK’s largest independent charitable hospital, situated in London’s renowned medical district at Harley Street. The organisation works with all major UK and many international private medical insurers, with its doctors treating around 155 different conditions. The integration of OBD’s EpiSwitch PSE test into The London Clinic’s suite of oncology diagnostics aligns with the recent opening of…

To discuss the recent news from Exothera that the company are expand into North America, we at EPM caught up with Darren Leva, Chief Business Officer, Exothera.  EPM: Can you explain how Exothera’s expansion of the Ntensify platform into North America will impact the development and manufacturing of RNA therapies in the region? DL: Through our expansion into the US, developers of RNA therapeutics and vaccines will have access to the most advanced RNA production processes and equipment, allowing for fast delivery of therapeutics and vaccines to their patients on US soil. EPM: Can you explain how does continuous mRNA production…

Cresset is expanding its existing Asia Pacific presence by creating a new headquarters in Bangalore, one of India’s leading centres for biotechnology and pharmaceutical research.  This latest announcement consolidates Cresset’s position as a global player in the drug discovery space, and comes off the back of establishing a new facility in Boston earlier in the year.  From its origins in the UK, Cresset has grown into a drug discovery solutions company with a genuine global reach, with more than 60% of its revenues now coming from outside the UK. The company has experienced rapid growth in recent years, achieving an…

NeuroSense Therapeutics have announced that it partnered with PhaseV, a pioneer in causal machine learning for clinical trial analysis and optimisation, with respect to the planned Phase 3 trial of PrimeC as a treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. As part of the collaboration, PhaseV conducted an independent analysis of NeuroSense’s PARADIGM Phase 2b study using a causal ML and predicts a high probability of success in multiple subgroups for the planned Phase 3 trial of PrimeC as a treatment for ALS. The external results provide important insights that will significantly inform study design, patient enrolment and ensure cost-effectiveness. “There remains a critical need for new…

Up to now, the sheer amount of work required in bringing intelligent automation systems up to speed and validating them for life sciences R&D purposes, e.g. to transform adverse event case intake, has threatened to undermine the business case. But now the large language models (LLMs) used to power Generative AI are bringing down those barriers and bolstering compliance. The opportunity surrounds on-the-fly data discovery, ‘in context’ learning, and narrative extrapolation – in a way that’s ‘explainable’ to regulators. Ramesh Ramani and RaviKanth Valigari, AI experts at ArisGlobal, explore what’s possible. Where high volumes of information exist across different formats,…

Oxford BioDynamics have announced it is collaborating with the King’s College London team in the immediate follow up of  the APIPPRA trial, the largest RA prevention trial to date. The APIPPRA trial of Abatacept was a multicentre trial in 213 individuals at high risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Break-through results of the trial were recently published in The Lancetin February 2024. Prof Andrew Cope, who led the research, commented: “The APIPPRA trial is the largest rheumatoid arthritis prevention trial to date, and the first to show a treatment effective in preventing the onset of disease in people at risk.” In the immediate follow-up of the…

Johnson & Johnson and Shockwave Medical have entered into a definitive agreement under which Johnson & Johnson will acquire all outstanding shares of Shockwave corresponding to an enterprise value of approximately $13.1 billion including cash acquired. The transaction was approved by both companies’ boards of directors. The acquisition of Shockwave further extends Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s position in cardiovascular intervention and accelerates its shift into higher-growth markets. Cardiovascular intervention is one of the fastest-growing global medtech markets, with significant unmet patient need. With the addition of Shockwave, Johnson & Johnson will expand its MedTech cardiovascular portfolio into two of the highest-growth, innovation-oriented segments of cardiovascular intervention –…

Saint-Gobain Life Sciences has opened a state-of-the-art production facility at Magna Business Park in Citywest. The new facility will enable Saint-Gobain Life Sciences to increase production and further expand its presence in the manufacture and supply from Ireland to the life sciences and biopharmaceutical sectors both nationally and internationally.  The company expects their current headcount of 80 employees to grow to between 110 and 120 people over the next 3 years if they continue on their current growth trajectory. Saint-Gobain Life Sciences established its presence in Ireland through acquisition in 2018 and has experienced rapid growth in both turnover and its…

GSK will become the first founding partner of the Fleming Initiative, an innovative and collaborative approach led by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) around the world. AMR is widely recognised, including by the World Health Organization, as an urgent global public health threat. In 2019 there were an estimated 1.2 million deaths directly attributable to drug-resistant bacterial infections and as many as 10 million people could die annually from AMR by 2050, resulting in global economic damage of up to $100 trillion by 2050 without effective action. The Fleming Initiative’s unique and…

Closed Loop Medicine and Pharmanovia have announced the initiation of their OptiZest study, ID: NCT06372470, and first patient recruitment. OptiZest will investigate whether patients with hypertension can improve blood pressure control at home while receiving a personalised dose of Zestril (lisinopril). The study demonstrates an important stage in Closed Loop Medicine and Pharmanovia’s co-development partnership to progress the development and launch of a drug plus software combination version of a first-line anti-hypertensive in the UK, before phased global roll-out and additional therapeutic areas are added. Hypertension is a leading preventable cause of morbidity and premature death worldwide, impacting over 1 in 4 men and…

UK-based Contract Research Organisation Gentronix has been awarded the King’s Award for Enterprise after achieving a triple-figure revenue growth following rapid expansion in international markets. Gentronix recorded total growth of 239% in overseas earnings over the past three years, with the percentage of total sales exported rising from 71% to 81% over the same period, driving revenue to in excess of £10m per annum. The US has been a particularly strong area of growth and this market now makes up almost half of the firm’s international business, with demand continuing to increase across North America. As a result of the business’s…

AbbVie and Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals have announced a collaboration and option-to-license agreement to develop next-generation therapies for psychiatric disorders. This collaboration will leverage AbbVie’s expertise in psychiatry and Gilgamesh’s innovative research platform to discover novel neuroplastogens. Classic psychedelic compounds provide novel mechanisms to address mental health disorders, and some have shown promising clinical efficacy where other treatments have been ineffective. However, these first-generation compounds may induce profound psychoactive effects, such as hallucinations, necessitating in-office administration and concomitant supportive care. Next-generation versions known as neuroplastogens target mechanisms that have shown potential to provide significant clinical benefits and are designed to minimise the…

BBI Solutions OEM Limited (BBI) has signed a partnership agreement with BioAgilytix. The partnership will integrate BBI’s ability to efficiently produce high-quality custom antibody reagents for a variety of testing applications, with BioAgilytix’s renowned bioanalytical testing services. This approach simplifies a crucial step in bioanalytical testing for pharma and biopharma sponsors. The more streamlined service will ultimately help bring customers one step closer to market for their innovative therapies. As part of bioanalytical testing — a key aspect of bringing any new therapy to market — drug developers often need a variety of antibody reagents tailored to their candidate therapy,…

Western blots are frequently included in pharmaceutical research papers to report results when analysing proteins in a sample. However, research shows that Western blot images are a common source of integrity issues, the publication of which can be harmful to the advancement of new treatments. Here, Dr Dror Kolodkin Gal, founder of image checking tool, Proofig AI, explores the challenges faced when reviewing Western blot images in pharmaceutical research. Then, he advises on how to more effectively identify issues before publication to maintain the integrity of research that can improve health outcomes.  Western blotting is commonly used in laboratories around…