Acquisition of Diagnostic Tracers to Enhance Understanding of Tau Protein in Alzheimer’s Disease
The company hope that the technology will contribute to the development of therapies to help tackle the disease
Eli Lilly and Company (IN, USA) has announced that it has acquired two investigational positron emission tomography (PET) tracers from Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. (PA, USA). The tracers are intended to study one of the two known hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, tau tangles, which are a result of misfolding of the tau protein in the brain. Study samples taken at autopsy have illustrated that the amount and location of tau tangles in Alzheimer’s disease is thought to correlate with disease severity. Currently, there are no approved diagnostics to detect tau tangles in living patients, which creates difficulties in studying the progression of the disease as well as the impact of therapeutics.
It is thought that the formation of both amyloid plaques and tau tangles is required for the development of Alzheimer’s disease, with tau playing a secondary, but critical, role in neuronal toxicity and death. For this reason Lilly will look to focus this technology into its anti-amyloid and anti-tau R&D programs. The company state that a tau tangle tracer: “could enable tailoring and early-identification of at-risk patients, as well as potentially provide a marker for treatment response.”
“The acquisition of these tau tangle tracers builds on our 25-year commitment of investing in Alzheimer’s disease R&D to bring new medicines to patients facing the terrible consequences of Alzheimer’s disease,” commented Jan M Lundberg, Executive Vice President of science and technology, and President of Lilly Research Laboratories. “We are hopeful that this technology will both enhance our understanding of tau and its role in Alzheimer’s disease, and contribute to the development of our anti-amyloid and anti-tau-based therapies to treat this disease.”
James Williams, Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Molecular Imaging business unit, added, “PET imaging is a valuable tool in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, and Siemens is committed to helping fight this growing threat to our aging population. Lilly’s continued development of these tau PET tracers combined with Siemens’ ongoing investment in innovative PET imaging solutions is another great example of how Siemens is collaborating with pharmaceutical companies in an effort to provide new hope to patients and their families.”
While financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, Lilly have the option to commercialize the tracers, which will be developed and validated by a team at Avid Radiopharmaceuticals (PA, USA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Lilly.
– Written by James Potticary
Source: Lilly acquires novel tau tangle diagnostic program to bolster Alzheimer’s disease research and development: http://newsroom.lilly.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=757053
Partnership for High-Throughput Assay Development and Validation
Bruker (MA, USA) has announced a partnership with the University of Victoria Genome British Columbia Proteomics Centre (UVic GBC Proteomics Centre [BC, Canada]) that will focus on the development and validation of high-throughput assays for determining hemoglobin variants and diabetes risk. The joint effort will utilize MALDI Biotyper platform of Bruker for clinical MS, and will be based on intellectual property developed at the UVic GBC Proteomics Centre.
It is expected that the MALDI TOF-MS-based tests that are designed for use on the MALDI Biotyper platform will provide advantages (including specificity, accuracy, speed of analysis and the cost per analysis) in diagnosing and monitoring diabetes, as well as in measuring other hemoglobin variants, over the currently available methods available such as LC, immunoassay and electrophoresis-based methods. These benefits are expected to lead to higher patient screening rates, which in the case of diabetes patients could be crucial, where earlier detection of at-risk subjects can prevent onset of disease.
The MALDI Biotyper platform is already in widespread clinical use and has various applications including microbial identification, environmental and pharmaceutical analysis, taxonomical research and quality control. Gary Kruppa, Vice President for Business Development at Bruker commented, “The MALDI Biotyper is a versatile, robust, benchtop system that is well suited for use in clinical laboratories as evidenced by its large installed base. We are very pleased to be working with the world-class team of researchers at the UVic GBC Proteomics Centre on the development and validation of high-throughput immuno-MALDI tests to further broaden the clinical applications of the MALDI Biotyper platform.”
Christoph Borchers, Director of the Uvic GBC Proteomics Centre added: “The collaboration with Bruker is an excellent match. We believe that further development of our MALDI and immuno-MALDI technology will lead to commercialization of MALDI-TOF-based tests for a number of important diseases. Developing and validating these tests in collaboration with Bruker gives us a partner ready to deploy such tests on the clinically accepted MALDI Biotyper platform, which will reduce our time to market.”
– Written by James Potticary,
Source: Bruker and the University of Victoria announce collaboration on high throughput iMALDI assays: www.bruker.com/news-records/single-view/article/bruker-and-the-genome-british-columbia-proteomics-centre-at-the-university-of-victoria-announce-coll.html
Development of Next Generation Antibody–Drug Conjugates
Ambrx recently joined a collaboration agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb to develop and discover novel antibody–drug conjugates. The collaboration will use Ambrx’s protein medicinal chemistry technology and the company is to receive US$15 million funding payment for discovery and research into the novel conjugates.
Under the terms of the agreement, Ambrx could receive payment milestones of up to US$97 million per product for development, regulatory and sales. The company will also receive royalties on net sales of the products produced as a result of this partnership. Bristol-Myers Squibb will receive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize the products.
“Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical leader with expertise developing and commercializing novel medicines for the treatment of cancer and other diseases, and we are pleased to enter into a third collaboration with the company to include another aspect of our technology platform,” commented Lawson Macartney, Chief Executive Officer of Ambrx.
This is not the first collaboration between the two companies using Ambrx’s protein medicinal chemistry technology. In 2011, two agreements were made to research, develop and commercialize biologics. The first biologic targets the Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 for the potential treatment of Type 2 diabetes and the second targets the Relaxin hormone for potential treatment of heart failure. These are both currently under development by Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Macartney added, “We look forward to working together to further utilize Ambrx’s technology to discover and advance these antibody drug conjugates for oncology indications.”
– Written by Lisa Parks
Source: Ambrx initiates collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb for discovery, development of next-generation antibody–drug conjugates: www.ambrx.com/about-ambrx/05-03-2013.aspx
New CRO Facility on Swansea’s Waterfront
A new PRA facility in Swansea (UK) is set to create more than 100 graduate-level jobs in South Wales. The CRO is based in Raleigh (NC, USA), and operates globally with more than 50 international offices employing over 5000 employees.
The new facility, officially opened in early May, is an expansion of the original PRA facility located in Matrix Court, Swansea. It will house a new multi-lingual help desk as an expansion of the Clinical Informatics Teams. PRA are looking to recruit high-caliber graduates from Welsh universities into highly skilled graduate jobs across a range of disciplines.
PRA considered several locations for its expansion, but it was secured by Wales after GB£1.29 million business finance funding from the Welsh Government.
Steve Powell, PRA Executive Vice President, Clinical Informatics and Late Phase Services, said: “We are delighted to officially open our expanded location in Swansea. The new site has received substantial funding from the Welsh government, which will mean significant job creation and support for the local economy. As a leading CRO, we are committed to the growth of our Swansea team and to transforming clinical trials across all phases of drug development; the new building and jobs demonstrates PRA’s commitment to offering a more dynamic service to our customers, both locally and internationally.”
– Written by Rosanna Hill
Source: PRA supports Welsh economy with opening of new facility in Swansea substantial new jobs created: www.praintl.com/news-events/press-releases/pra-supports-welsh-economy-with-opening-of-new-facility-in-swansea/
Mobidiag Oy/Ltd Merges with Amplidiag Oy and Genewave Sas to Develop Diagnostics for Infectious Diseases
Genewave SAS (Paris, Frane) and Amplidiag Oy (Helsinki, Finland) have become subsidiaries of fellow biotechnology company, Mobidiag Oy/Ltd. (Helsinki, Finland), in a newly formed an alliance that aims to advance technology in the field of molecular diagnostics in infectious diseases.
Under the new partnership, Mobidiag plans to combine its diagnostics tools for infectious diseases, with Amplidiag’s high multiplex proprietary diagnostic test portfolios and Genewave’s automated and integrated test platform. “The fusion of these three complementary companies creates a unique opportunity to bring forward the next generation of infectious disease diagnostics to dramatically improve global healthcare,” said Tuomas Tenkanen, Chief Executive Officer at Mobidiag.
Accompanying the merger was a financing round by existing investors, including Helsinki University Fund (Helsinki, Finland) and iXLife (Marly le Roi, France), among others, as well as public funding support from the Finnish funding agencies, Tekes and Finnvera, and the EU.
According to a press release from Mobidiag, the new company is to be headquartered in Helsinki, with a center of excellence in Paris. With the diagnostic test pipeline, integrated test platform, infrastructure and financial resources in place, the company envisages the development and commercialization of its automated instrument and panel of diagnostic tests, capable of identifying a large number of pathogens from a single patient sample. The merger is anticipated to address the need in clinical laboratories for automated and integrated solutions for diagnostic testing of severe diseases.
– Written by Hannah Coaker
Source: Mobidiag, Genewave, and Amplidiag announce merger to create a leading innovator in molecular diagnostics: www.mobidiag.com/Media/PressReleases/MobidiagGenewaveandAmplidiagannouncemerger/tabid/255/Default.aspx