Volume 15 Issue 2, June 2021

Building on its history of successful collaborations, Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines global business unit of Sanofi, is seeking partners with a common drive for excellence and pursuit of innovation.

How Immunocore’s T cell receptor-based therapies may clear chronic infections.

Fast-tracking future health solutions.

With its unique mRNA therapeutics platform, Arcturus Therapeutics is a leading clinical-stage mRNA medicines company focused on the development of infectious disease vaccines and significant opportunities within liver and respiratory rare diseases.

Touchlight’s DNA synthesis platform is ready to meet the growing demands of the genetic medicine industry.

Longhorn Vaccines and Diagnostics LLC, a family-owned US company that aims to improve global health through innovative infectious disease testing and vaccination, massively scaled up as the FDA requested its help at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Big pharma dealmaking returns to pre-pandemic levels as companies spend big to develop a range of cancer therapies.

Switzerland-based EsoCap has built a novel drug delivery system that aims to provide long-lasting local therapy in the upper gastrointestinal tract and is currently being tested in a phase 2 trial.

Avalon GloboCare, a leading biotechnology company focusing on cell-based technology and therapeutics, is using its leading technology platforms to begin clinical trials of its potential COVID-19 therapy, a mucosal intranasal spray vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, and is developing drugs to combat cancer metastasis.

A specialist in orally administered oncology agents, Taiho Oncology is expanding its portfolio through a growing internal pipeline of targeted therapies and a hunt to acquire new late-stage oncology assets.

Dealmaking in the central nervous system disorder field has been dynamic in the past year despite COVID-19, and the market for therapies is set to expand in the next 5 years.

Partnering with Boehringer Ingelheim on pharmaceuticals and digital therapeutics.

XWPharma is harnessing clinically validated mechanisms of action to develop novel drug candidates with optimized pharmacokinetics, resulting in superior therapies for the treatment of common, debilitating neurological diseases.

Building on an evolutionary ruse to cross the physiological blood–brain barrier, NEUWAY Pharma’s engineered protein capsules (EnPC) are poised to usher in a new era of effective CNS therapies.

Herantis is capitalising on the power of the natural protein Cerebral Dopamine Neurotrophic Factor (CDNF) to restore proteostasis and slow, stop, or even reverse neurodegeneration.

Reviva Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, is focused on the development of next-generation neuroreceptor-targeting therapeutics to treat schizophrenia and other neuroreceptor-driven CNS, respiratory and metabolic diseases with high unmet needs.

Panorama Medicine has built a combined genomics and advanced computational analysis platform to develop therapies for diseases treatable through transcriptome modulation. The company is looking to partner its therapeutic solutions through licensing options, or to collaborate on custom screening projects.

With clinical trials for its novel psychedelic drug underway, trailblazing neuropharma company Small Pharma is exploring a novel path to better mental health.

Approaches such as gene therapy and nucleic acid-based therapies are emerging in recent deals related to potential treatments for ophthalmic diseases.

Isarna Therapeutics’ antisense therapy targeting transforming growth factor beta 2, ISTH0036, is about to enter phase 2 clinical development for two retinal diseases: wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema.

Catalyst Biosciences has built a protease medicines platform for engineering protease therapeutics designed to correct disease-causing imbalances in biological cascades. The company currently focuses on disorders in the complement or coagulation systems, but has the potential to address additional diseases.

One molecule, two products; how Trefoil Therapeutics engineered FGF1 (TTHX1114) to enable the treatment of multiple diseases affecting the cornea.

Tarsus is developing its lead candidate TP-03, potentially the first FDA-approved therapy for Demodex blepharitis, and a pipeline of investigational therapies targeting eye care, dermatology, and infectious disease prevention, including Lyme disease and malaria.

InMed Pharmaceuticals, a leader in the development of rare cannabinoid pharmaceutical drug candidates for various diseases, has a portfolio of cannabinol-based clinical and preclinical programs and is focused on advancing its preclinical glaucoma and ocular disease program via partnerships.

NovaGo Therapeutics is developing a first-in-class fully human antibody therapy to treat diabetic retinopathy. With its novel disease-modifying mode of action, it could save the sight of the many patients who respond poorly to current treatments.

Plentiful financing and multiple pharma partnerships illustrate the burgeoning interest in applying artificial intelligence tools to drug research and development.

With its unique target discovery platforms, PandaOmics and Chemistry42, AI company Insilico is transforming the world of research and development.

Lemonex is opening a new era of safe and highly effective immunotherapy and RNA therapy with a pipeline of candidates based on DegradaBALL, its proprietary porous nanoparticle drug-delivery platform

Auransa’s AI-driven prediction of drug candidates and corresponding patient responders increases the chances of clinical trial success.

Chemiverse provides a quicker route to ‘the best target, the best chemical,’ according to the Korean biotech Pharos iBio. With its first AI-based drug currently undergoing clinical trials, the company is demonstrating the broad value AI can provide from discovery to clinical development.

Better data for better insights and improved outcomes—Molecular Health has built one of the largest, deepest and fully curated digital platforms for biomedicine in the world. The company’s ‘Dataome’ provides the foundation for actionable insights for stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem.

Combining cell sorting technology with artificial intelligence, Japan-based ThinkCyte aims to discover novel high-value therapeutic cells, new functional genes, and novel drug candidates for itself and its partners worldwide.

Deep Quartet, a drug discovery platform developed by INTAGE Healthcare and the Institute for Theoretical Medicine (ITM) uses AI technologies to design new lead compound structures based on pharmacophore models.

Japanese AI specialist HACARUS Inc. is successfully utilizing its proprietary Sparse Modeling AI technology in joint projects including phenotype drug discovery, medical imaging and ECG monitors for human and veterinary applications.

KaiPharm’s KMAP platform combines drug-induced transcriptome profiles and artificial intelligence to accelerate drug development and drug repositioning.

Paige, a global leader in artificial intelligence–based diagnostic software, has built a flexible and scalable digital pathology platform that streamlines tissue analysis and affords opportunities for novel biomarker discovery. The company has a flexible partnership model designed to maximize outcomes for collaborators and patients.

How Daiichi Sankyo and LPIXEL unlocked the power of phenotypic screening.

By harnessing patient and disease data, multi-omics and scientific literature, the fast-growing, AI company My Intelligent Machines (MIMs) is breaking new ground with software solutions that accelerate the identification of drug targets and biomarkers.