Q&A with Margaret Molloy, Global CMO, Siegel+Gale

MEDIA 7 | May 20, 2019

Margaret Molloy, Global CMO of Siegel+Gale has a 20-year track record as a business-to-business growth instigator, achieved by uniting brand building with demand generation. In Siegel+Gale’s Simplifiers series, Margaret Molloy interviews business leaders who put simplicity to work.

Considered a "CMO whisperer," Margaret is a highly influential CMO and convener of panels and roundtables. She has been recognized by Forbes as one of the top 10 CMOs on Twitter. Margaret also serves as the New York Chair of the Marketing Society

MEDIA 7: If we were to say to a bunch of people who know you, ‘Give us three adjectives that best describe you’, what would we hear?
MARGARET MOLLOY: 
Passionate, energetic and influential.

M7: What is your favourite part of working at Siegel+Gale?
MM:
Both our ethos—helping brands realize the power of simplicity, and the strategists, designers, researchers, and writers who deliver on that ethos to our clients. Our teams are truly simplifiers. I believe that in our harried, cluttered world, brands that focus on simplicity, win.


"It's incumbent on brands to be relevant in order to be part of a conversation that drives their business forward. And to be relevant, you must be in tune with your customers’ needs."

M7: What is the ‘power of simplicity’ that you’re helping CMOs and brand leaders realize?
MM: Simplicity is the ultimate driver of brand loyalty. It inspires people to spend more with a brand, motivates employees to deliver on a brand’s promise and ultimately, drives financial gain for those companies that embrace it.

M7: At Siegel+Gale, how do you align sales and marketing to achieve your branding goals?
MM:
There has always been a natural tension. A CMO’s job is to reconcile that tension by setting a vision for the brand and determining the resource allocation between short-term revenue targets and long-term brand value. At Siegel+Gale, we do not engage in random acts of marketing—all marketing is in the service of the brand and the revenue targets.


"A CMO’s job is to reconcile tension between brand-building programs and performance marketing by setting a vision for the brand and determining the resource allocation between short-term revenue targets and long-term brand value."

M7: Margaret, you were listed on Forbes Top 10 Most Influential Chief Marketing Officers on Social Media in 2017 and have won IrishCentral’s 2018 Creativity and Arts Award in Fashion and Design. How is social media transforming the marketing landscape and how do you see it evolving in future?
MM:
In previous eras, a brand’s responsibility was to broadcast its message and product offerings to the community. Today, with the advent of social media, it has become a multi-party dialogue. The fundamental shift is from controlling the brand message to engaging constituencies (i.e., customers, shareholders, the community at large). Therefore, it's incumbent on brands to be relevant in order to be part of a conversation that drives their business forward. And to be relevant, you must be in tune with your customers’ needs.  Social media is a great mechanism not only for engagement but also for listening.


"Simplicity is the ultimate driver of brand loyalty. It inspires people to spend more with a brand, motivates employees to deliver on a brand’s promise and ultimately, drives financial gain for those companies that embrace it."

M7: For your platform #WearingIrish, which channels helped you the most in reaching out to the target audience?
MM: I created WearingIrish to expose Ireland’s talented fashion designers to new markets and to showcase Irish fashion design on the global stage. Instagram is an obvious choice to reach shoppers and influencers; it’s a robust platform for any fashion brand because it's inherently visual.

In addition to Instagram, I leveraged my professional network on LinkedIn to build a broad-based board of advisors and potential collaborators for WearingIrish.

M7: What motivates you to get out of the bed in the morning?
MM:
I’m a connector, and I get my energy from convening the marketing community via live events and other programs. On a daily basis, I host conversations with ambitious CMOs and brand leaders about their challenges. I relish the opportunity to connect marketing leaders with the team at Siegel+Gale because of our depth of expertise in helping our clients build brands.

ABOUT SIEGEL+GALE

Siegel+Gale is the simplicity company. We seek it, defend it and embrace it in everything we do to help brands reach their true potential. Simplicity is the centerpiece of the strategies we develop that reveal the unique truths of an organization, the engaging stories we create that connect brands with their audiences and the meaningful experiences we deliver that are both unexpectedly fresh and remarkably clear.

Since 1969, Siegel+Gale has championed simplicity for leading corporations, nonprofits and government organizations worldwide. We have offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Dubai, and Shanghai, but we’re willing to fly just about anywhere. We’re also not alone. As part of Brand Consulting Group, a division of Omnicom Group Inc., we have strong partners all around the world.

More C-Suite on deck

Q&A with Sangram Vajre, Co-founder & Chief Evangelist at Terminus

MEDIA 7 | January 9, 2020

Sangram Vajre, Co-Founder & Chief Evangelist at Terminus is also an author and host of the podcast FlipmyFunnel. He is one of the leading minds in B2B marketing. MEDIA 7: What are you passionate about? SANGRAM VAJRE: Three things: Lead professionally. Grow personally. Love family. M7: Terminus has been recognized as one of Georgia’s 40 fastest-growing companies by ACG Atlanta. What factors contribute to this pace? SV: One of our core values is #OneTeam – which means we think and act as one team and know that if we treat our team right, they will treat our customers amazing. There are no great companies, only great people that make those companies.

Read More

Q&A with Andrea Lechner-Becker, Chief Marketing Officer at LeadMD

MEDIA 7 | December 5, 2019

Andrea Lechner-Becker, Chief Marketing Officer at LeadMD is an experienced Marketing and Sales Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing and advertising industry. Skilled in Business Process, Marketo, Sales, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and IT Service Management, Andrea is also a strong business development professional and a storyteller. MEDIA 7: What inspired you to get into marketing? ANDREA LECHNER: Frankly, not having better options. I originally attended the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse thinking I’d major in Archaeology. I wanted to be Indiana Jones! But, after visiting the archaeology building – i.e. the cold, dark basement of the science building – where a girl sat to piece together pieces of an old Native American vase, I knew archaeology was not going to be the right path for me. And so, without being good at science and a major in art or art history was unlikely to pay my bills, I decided to go into “business”. I originally registered as a management major, but took my first marketing class and thought it was more interesting and switched my sophomore year. That was pretty much it. I’d never been involved in business classes or DECA in high school – I didn’t really know what to do or what jobs in marketing were even possible. I dumb lucked myself into it really. M7: As a storyteller, do you relate the brand to a story or story to the brand? AL: Both? Neither? I think there are stories in every brand, because there are people working on the brand and people engaging with the brand and people using what the brand creates. People, most often a single person, are at the heart of great stories. You can start with the “point” of the story you’re trying to tell. Say you have a software that help accountants better create reports for board meetings. It’s likely you’ll want to tell a success story about an accountant getting promoted to CFO in part because your software helped better communicate their work product to the board. You could have the idea for that and go looking for that story in your customers. OR, you could hear that story, and say, “That’s amazing!” and share it with customers, partners and internal people. Stories are all around us – the most important thing is to keep your ears and eyes open for finding them.

Read More

Q&A with Ed Breault, Chief Marketing Officer at Aprimo

MEDIA 7 | November 28, 2019

Ed Breault, Chief Marketing Officer at Aprimo is a marketer with over 18 years of industry experience. At Aprimo, Ed is responsible for the global brand and growth which includes all Paid/Owned/Earned media, Brand Experience, Product Marketing, Industry Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Strategic Communications, Content Marketing, Analyst Relations, Alliance Marketing, Public Relations, Events, Demand Generation and Account-Based Marketing. MEDIA 7: What’s your superpower? ED BREAULT: I would say it’s applying the full spectrum of art and science that is required in marketing today. Not just left or right brained, but whole-brained strategy. Being human yet data-driven and really understanding numbers and (the right) metrics to make connections to business drivers. Add storytelling to that, so I can effectively communicate to my team, the CEO and CFO as well as my Board of Directors on those metrics, and connecting all that we are doing in marketing to the mission of the business. Then quickly shifting gears to the art and creative aspects of marketing that are required to engage an audience and tell great commercial stories that take complex concepts and craft them in a way that is interesting for people to pay attention to. I have to be the ultimate point of truth for the brand. M7: At Aprimo, how have marketing leadership roles and responsibilities evolved over the past few years? EB: There are so many dimensions needed by marketing leaders today. There are several elements driving this evolution, it’s the new experience battlefront that is emerging and also marketers themselves driving changes. From a market perspective, there is a clear appetite for disruption and consumers are wanting more experiential elements to their buying experience and interactions with brands. Take a few direct to consumer disruptions like trialing products in-home, purchasing directly from a brand or even wanting to ensure that the producer’s trade practices are in line with the buyer’s or even a regulator’s for that matter. Then we want to try before we buy, and we emotionally care about the supply chain of products. Do we TRUST this brand to do business with them? Behind all of this is a story that needs to be told, and it is those marketers who know their audience well and make connections that will win the commercial game. Back to the marketer, there are so many diverse backgrounds that marketers bring now and I’m really intrigued by those who have unconventional backgrounds because they contribute something uniquely new to the field. I love hearing about the marketer’s journey.

Read More

Q&A with Sangram Vajre, Co-founder & Chief Evangelist at Terminus

MEDIA 7 | January 9, 2020

Sangram Vajre, Co-Founder & Chief Evangelist at Terminus is also an author and host of the podcast FlipmyFunnel. He is one of the leading minds in B2B marketing. MEDIA 7: What are you passionate about? SANGRAM VAJRE: Three things: Lead professionally. Grow personally. Love family. M7: Terminus has been recognized as one of Georgia’s 40 fastest-growing companies by ACG Atlanta. What factors contribute to this pace? SV: One of our core values is #OneTeam – which means we think and act as one team and know that if we treat our team right, they will treat our customers amazing. There are no great companies, only great people that make those companies.

Read More

Q&A with Andrea Lechner-Becker, Chief Marketing Officer at LeadMD

MEDIA 7 | December 5, 2019

Andrea Lechner-Becker, Chief Marketing Officer at LeadMD is an experienced Marketing and Sales Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing and advertising industry. Skilled in Business Process, Marketo, Sales, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and IT Service Management, Andrea is also a strong business development professional and a storyteller. MEDIA 7: What inspired you to get into marketing? ANDREA LECHNER: Frankly, not having better options. I originally attended the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse thinking I’d major in Archaeology. I wanted to be Indiana Jones! But, after visiting the archaeology building – i.e. the cold, dark basement of the science building – where a girl sat to piece together pieces of an old Native American vase, I knew archaeology was not going to be the right path for me. And so, without being good at science and a major in art or art history was unlikely to pay my bills, I decided to go into “business”. I originally registered as a management major, but took my first marketing class and thought it was more interesting and switched my sophomore year. That was pretty much it. I’d never been involved in business classes or DECA in high school – I didn’t really know what to do or what jobs in marketing were even possible. I dumb lucked myself into it really. M7: As a storyteller, do you relate the brand to a story or story to the brand? AL: Both? Neither? I think there are stories in every brand, because there are people working on the brand and people engaging with the brand and people using what the brand creates. People, most often a single person, are at the heart of great stories. You can start with the “point” of the story you’re trying to tell. Say you have a software that help accountants better create reports for board meetings. It’s likely you’ll want to tell a success story about an accountant getting promoted to CFO in part because your software helped better communicate their work product to the board. You could have the idea for that and go looking for that story in your customers. OR, you could hear that story, and say, “That’s amazing!” and share it with customers, partners and internal people. Stories are all around us – the most important thing is to keep your ears and eyes open for finding them.

Read More

Q&A with Ed Breault, Chief Marketing Officer at Aprimo

MEDIA 7 | November 28, 2019

Ed Breault, Chief Marketing Officer at Aprimo is a marketer with over 18 years of industry experience. At Aprimo, Ed is responsible for the global brand and growth which includes all Paid/Owned/Earned media, Brand Experience, Product Marketing, Industry Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Strategic Communications, Content Marketing, Analyst Relations, Alliance Marketing, Public Relations, Events, Demand Generation and Account-Based Marketing. MEDIA 7: What’s your superpower? ED BREAULT: I would say it’s applying the full spectrum of art and science that is required in marketing today. Not just left or right brained, but whole-brained strategy. Being human yet data-driven and really understanding numbers and (the right) metrics to make connections to business drivers. Add storytelling to that, so I can effectively communicate to my team, the CEO and CFO as well as my Board of Directors on those metrics, and connecting all that we are doing in marketing to the mission of the business. Then quickly shifting gears to the art and creative aspects of marketing that are required to engage an audience and tell great commercial stories that take complex concepts and craft them in a way that is interesting for people to pay attention to. I have to be the ultimate point of truth for the brand. M7: At Aprimo, how have marketing leadership roles and responsibilities evolved over the past few years? EB: There are so many dimensions needed by marketing leaders today. There are several elements driving this evolution, it’s the new experience battlefront that is emerging and also marketers themselves driving changes. From a market perspective, there is a clear appetite for disruption and consumers are wanting more experiential elements to their buying experience and interactions with brands. Take a few direct to consumer disruptions like trialing products in-home, purchasing directly from a brand or even wanting to ensure that the producer’s trade practices are in line with the buyer’s or even a regulator’s for that matter. Then we want to try before we buy, and we emotionally care about the supply chain of products. Do we TRUST this brand to do business with them? Behind all of this is a story that needs to be told, and it is those marketers who know their audience well and make connections that will win the commercial game. Back to the marketer, there are so many diverse backgrounds that marketers bring now and I’m really intrigued by those who have unconventional backgrounds because they contribute something uniquely new to the field. I love hearing about the marketer’s journey.

Read More

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MedTech

Watchmaker Genomics Announces Co-Exclusive License to Disruptive DNA Methylation Technology and Strategic Supply Agreements with Exact Sciences

businesswire | August 31, 2023

Watchmaker Genomics, a supplier of innovative products for molecular analysis, today announced a multi-year, co-exclusive agreement with Exact Sciences Corporation, a leading provider of cancer screening and diagnostic tests, to develop and commercialize the breakthrough DNA methylation analysis technology, TET-assisted pyridine borane sequencing (TAPS). Watchmaker will apply its expertise in engineering DNA-modifying enzymes to further improve the TAPS chemistry, ultimately enabling advanced applications, including cancer screening and minimal residual disease (MRD) testing. Under the licensing agreement, Watchmaker may develop and commercialize the TAPS technology under its own brand. DNA methylation patterns offer dynamic and rich insights into the status of both healthy and diseased tissue. These signatures are stable, relatively abundant, and often measurable in the blood, making them promising biomarkers in minimally invasive liquid biopsies. TAPS has the potential to dramatically improve DNA methylation analysis accuracy by enabling a direct readout of cytosine methylation with less template damage and noise when compared to existing methods.1 "Exact Sciences is a leader in cancer screening, and this agreement is a great fit with Watchmaker’s core competencies in next-generation sequencing and genomics applications," said Brian Kudlow, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Watchmaker Genomics. "It aligns with our belief that multimodal genomic and epigenomic assays represent the frontier of numerous liquid biopsy applications, including early cancer detection." In addition to the development and licensing agreement, the companies have entered into a long-term strategic supply agreement. Under its terms, Watchmaker will provide Exact Sciences with access to its portfolio of best-in-class sequencing reagents and precision enzymes. These products have the potential to enhance the performance of Exact Sciences’ tests while significantly reducing associated costs. “Our company’s mission is to develop and broadly commercialize tools that improve the efficiency of capturing and interpreting the biological information required for many advanced genetic testing applications,” said Trey Foskett, CEO of Watchmaker Genomics. “This arrangement provides us with an exciting opportunity to accelerate the development and commercialization of a game-changing technology to the benefit of the broader research and clinical genomics markets.” About Watchmaker Genomics Watchmaker Genomics applies advanced enzymology to enable breakthrough applications for the reading, writing, and editing of DNA and RNA. The company combines domain expertise in protein engineering with large-scale enzyme manufacturing to address the demanding quality, performance, and scale requirements of high-growth clinical genomics applications. Watchmaker's product portfolio includes enzymes and kits for next-generation sequencing, synthetic biology, and molecular diagnostics. A leading provider of cancer screening and diagnostic tests, Exact Sciences gives patients and health care professionals the clarity needed to take life-changing action earlier. Building on the success of the Cologuard® and Oncotype® tests, Exact Sciences is investing in its pipeline to develop innovative solutions for use before, during, and after a cancer diagnosis.

Read More

Industry Outlook

Cabaletta Bio and WuXi Advanced Therapies Announce Expansion of GMP Manufacturing Agreement to Include CABA-201

Globenewswire | August 23, 2023

Cabaletta Bio, Inc. a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing and launching the first curative targeted cell therapies for patients with autoimmune diseases, today announced that it has entered into certain work orders relating to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) manufacturing under its existing master services agreement with WuXi Advanced Therapies (WuXi ATU), a global Contract Testing, Development and Manufacturing Organization (CTDMO). As part of the agreement, WuXi ATU will serve as a cell processing manufacturing partner for the planned global clinical development of CABA-201 in multiple indications, including potential late-stage clinical trials and commercial readiness activities for CABA-201. “We have had a successful collaboration with WuXi ATU over the past two years for the GMP compliant production of novel cell therapies. Based on this initial collaboration, we chose to expand our partnership to include WuXi ATU as a manufacturer for our CABA-201 clinical programs,” said Gwendolyn Binder, Ph.D., President of Science and Technology of Cabaletta. “WuXi ATU’s dedicated production capacity for CABA-201 supports our planned global expansion and commercial preparedness efforts and will enable us to dose patients in multiple clinical trials with separate parallel cohorts, while maintaining a capital-efficient manufacturing strategy.” Under the terms of the agreement, WuXi ATU will provide GMP manufacturing of CABA-201, a 4-1BB-containing fully human CD19-CAR T cell investigational therapy, to support any of Cabaletta’s planned clinical trials, including the previously announced separate Phase 1/2 clinical trials of CABA-201 for the treatment of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, or myositis. In addition, WuXi ATU will continue to serve as the Company’s cell processing manufacturing partner for the MusCAARTes™ Phase 1 clinical trial of MuSK-CAART. “We are delighted to expand our partnership with Cabaletta to advance the development of CABA-201 for patients with autoimmune diseases,” said David Y. H. Chang, Ph.D., President and Chief Technology Officer of WuXi ATU. “We look forward to applying our expertise in cell and gene therapy manufacturing to better support our customers to bring potentially life-saving treatments faster to patients in need.” About Cabaletta Bio Cabaletta Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of engineered T cell therapies that have the potential to provide a deep and durable, perhaps curative, treatment for patients with autoimmune diseases. The CABA™ platform encompasses two strategies: the CARTA (chimeric antigen receptor T cells for autoimmunity) strategy, with CABA-201, a 4-1BB-containing fully human CD19-CAR T, as the lead product candidate being evaluated in systemic lupus erythematosus and myositis, and the CAART (chimeric autoantibody receptor T cells) strategy, with multiple clinical-stage candidates, including DSG3-CAART for mucosal pemphigus vulgaris and MuSK-CAART for MuSK myasthenia gravis. The expanding CABA™ platform is designed to develop potentially curative therapies that offer deep and durable responses for patients with a broad range of autoimmune diseases. Cabaletta Bio’s headquarters and labs are located in Philadelphia, PA. About WuXi Advanced Therapies (WuXi ATU) As the advanced therapies business unit of WuXi AppTec, WuXi Advanced Therapies is a Contract Testing, Development and Manufacturing Organization (CTDMO) that offers integrated platforms to transform the discovery, development, testing, manufacturing, and commercialization of cell and gene therapies. Our services and solutions accelerate time to market and support customer programs around the world.

Read More

Cell and Gene Therapy, Medical

Synthego and bit.bio Expand Strategic Partnership to Build a Platform for the Development of Safer and More Efficient Genetic Engineering of Human

prnewswire | August 25, 2023

Synthego, a leading provider of industrialized genome editing solutions that accelerate discovery to clinic journey, and bit.bio, the company coding human cells for novel cures, today announced a strategic partnership to build a platform centered on the implementation of synthetic circuitry in cells for therapeutic application. bit.bio is building a pipeline of cell therapies focused on areas of unmet clinical need. The partnership will apply Synthego's expertise in gene editing to bit.bio's opti-oxTM precision cell programming technology, with the aim of discovering and developing advanced genetic engineering solutions for cell therapies. Synthego will rapidly design, build, test and deliver an end-to-end optimized multiplexed genetic editing strategy. The implementation of the multiplexed opti-ox engineering approach will reduce the number of engineering steps required, with the potential of shortening clinical cell engineering and development timelines by up to 10 months. "bit.bio is the leading synthetic biology company focussed on human cells. We are thrilled to deepen our partnership with bit.bio to facilitate a leap forward in the development of synthetic biology-based cell therapies," said Paul Dabrowski, CEO at Synthego. "By coordinating our respective technologies, expertise and resources, we will unlock new opportunities for addressing critical challenges in the field by advancing the R&D cycle of innovative cell therapies." "Synthego are experts when it comes to industrialized cell engineering," stated Mark Kotter, CEO at bit.bio. "Teaming up with Synthego will boost our genetic engineering capabilities. We expect efficiency gains across bit.bio's platform which will allow us and our partners to deliver transformative therapies more rapidly to patients in need." About Synthego Synthego is a genome engineering company that enables the acceleration of life science research and development in the pursuit of improved human health. The company leverages machine learning, automation, and gene editing to build platforms and products for science at scale. With its foundations in engineering disciplines, the company's platform technologies vertically integrate proprietary hardware, software, bioinformatics, chemistries, and molecular biology to advance basic research, target validation, and clinical trials. With its technologies cited in hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and utilized by thousands of commercial and academic researchers and therapeutic drug developers, Synthego is at the forefront of innovation, enabling the next generation of medicines by delivering genome editing at an unprecedented scale. About bit.bio bit.bio is a synthetic biology company focused on human cells that is advancing medicine (UN SDG9) and enabling curative treatments (UN SDG3). The company does this by industrializing the manufacture of human cells and making them more accessible. The company was spun out of the University of Cambridge in 2016 and has since raised approximately $200m from investors such as Arch Ventures, Foresite Capital, Milky Way, Charles River Laboratories, National Resilience, Tencent, Verition Fund and Puhua Capital. bit.bio's opti-ox™ precision cell programming and manufacturing technology enables conversion of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into any desired human cell type in a single step. This can be achieved within days and at industrial scale, while maintaining exceptional purity and unparalleled consistency. Our discovery platform extends this approach to any desired cell type by identifying the transcription factor combinations that define cell states (including identity, cell subtype identity, maturity) using high throughput screens and advanced data analysis. We believe that opti-ox can revolutionize regenerative medicine similarly to how CRISPR is unlocking gene therapy. bit.bio's cell therapy pipeline is focused on serious diseases that currently lack effective treatments. Our preclinical research areas include liver, immunology and metabolic disease, and we have a collaboration with BlueRock Therapeutics (Bayer AG) to create therapeutics for autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. In addition, our extensive ioCells™ research cell product portfolio, which includes wild type and disease model cells, is opening up new possibilities for studying human biology and developing new medicines in both research and high throughput and high content drug discovery.

Read More

MedTech

Watchmaker Genomics Announces Co-Exclusive License to Disruptive DNA Methylation Technology and Strategic Supply Agreements with Exact Sciences

businesswire | August 31, 2023

Watchmaker Genomics, a supplier of innovative products for molecular analysis, today announced a multi-year, co-exclusive agreement with Exact Sciences Corporation, a leading provider of cancer screening and diagnostic tests, to develop and commercialize the breakthrough DNA methylation analysis technology, TET-assisted pyridine borane sequencing (TAPS). Watchmaker will apply its expertise in engineering DNA-modifying enzymes to further improve the TAPS chemistry, ultimately enabling advanced applications, including cancer screening and minimal residual disease (MRD) testing. Under the licensing agreement, Watchmaker may develop and commercialize the TAPS technology under its own brand. DNA methylation patterns offer dynamic and rich insights into the status of both healthy and diseased tissue. These signatures are stable, relatively abundant, and often measurable in the blood, making them promising biomarkers in minimally invasive liquid biopsies. TAPS has the potential to dramatically improve DNA methylation analysis accuracy by enabling a direct readout of cytosine methylation with less template damage and noise when compared to existing methods.1 "Exact Sciences is a leader in cancer screening, and this agreement is a great fit with Watchmaker’s core competencies in next-generation sequencing and genomics applications," said Brian Kudlow, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Watchmaker Genomics. "It aligns with our belief that multimodal genomic and epigenomic assays represent the frontier of numerous liquid biopsy applications, including early cancer detection." In addition to the development and licensing agreement, the companies have entered into a long-term strategic supply agreement. Under its terms, Watchmaker will provide Exact Sciences with access to its portfolio of best-in-class sequencing reagents and precision enzymes. These products have the potential to enhance the performance of Exact Sciences’ tests while significantly reducing associated costs. “Our company’s mission is to develop and broadly commercialize tools that improve the efficiency of capturing and interpreting the biological information required for many advanced genetic testing applications,” said Trey Foskett, CEO of Watchmaker Genomics. “This arrangement provides us with an exciting opportunity to accelerate the development and commercialization of a game-changing technology to the benefit of the broader research and clinical genomics markets.” About Watchmaker Genomics Watchmaker Genomics applies advanced enzymology to enable breakthrough applications for the reading, writing, and editing of DNA and RNA. The company combines domain expertise in protein engineering with large-scale enzyme manufacturing to address the demanding quality, performance, and scale requirements of high-growth clinical genomics applications. Watchmaker's product portfolio includes enzymes and kits for next-generation sequencing, synthetic biology, and molecular diagnostics. A leading provider of cancer screening and diagnostic tests, Exact Sciences gives patients and health care professionals the clarity needed to take life-changing action earlier. Building on the success of the Cologuard® and Oncotype® tests, Exact Sciences is investing in its pipeline to develop innovative solutions for use before, during, and after a cancer diagnosis.

Read More

Industry Outlook

Cabaletta Bio and WuXi Advanced Therapies Announce Expansion of GMP Manufacturing Agreement to Include CABA-201

Globenewswire | August 23, 2023

Cabaletta Bio, Inc. a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing and launching the first curative targeted cell therapies for patients with autoimmune diseases, today announced that it has entered into certain work orders relating to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) manufacturing under its existing master services agreement with WuXi Advanced Therapies (WuXi ATU), a global Contract Testing, Development and Manufacturing Organization (CTDMO). As part of the agreement, WuXi ATU will serve as a cell processing manufacturing partner for the planned global clinical development of CABA-201 in multiple indications, including potential late-stage clinical trials and commercial readiness activities for CABA-201. “We have had a successful collaboration with WuXi ATU over the past two years for the GMP compliant production of novel cell therapies. Based on this initial collaboration, we chose to expand our partnership to include WuXi ATU as a manufacturer for our CABA-201 clinical programs,” said Gwendolyn Binder, Ph.D., President of Science and Technology of Cabaletta. “WuXi ATU’s dedicated production capacity for CABA-201 supports our planned global expansion and commercial preparedness efforts and will enable us to dose patients in multiple clinical trials with separate parallel cohorts, while maintaining a capital-efficient manufacturing strategy.” Under the terms of the agreement, WuXi ATU will provide GMP manufacturing of CABA-201, a 4-1BB-containing fully human CD19-CAR T cell investigational therapy, to support any of Cabaletta’s planned clinical trials, including the previously announced separate Phase 1/2 clinical trials of CABA-201 for the treatment of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, or myositis. In addition, WuXi ATU will continue to serve as the Company’s cell processing manufacturing partner for the MusCAARTes™ Phase 1 clinical trial of MuSK-CAART. “We are delighted to expand our partnership with Cabaletta to advance the development of CABA-201 for patients with autoimmune diseases,” said David Y. H. Chang, Ph.D., President and Chief Technology Officer of WuXi ATU. “We look forward to applying our expertise in cell and gene therapy manufacturing to better support our customers to bring potentially life-saving treatments faster to patients in need.” About Cabaletta Bio Cabaletta Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of engineered T cell therapies that have the potential to provide a deep and durable, perhaps curative, treatment for patients with autoimmune diseases. The CABA™ platform encompasses two strategies: the CARTA (chimeric antigen receptor T cells for autoimmunity) strategy, with CABA-201, a 4-1BB-containing fully human CD19-CAR T, as the lead product candidate being evaluated in systemic lupus erythematosus and myositis, and the CAART (chimeric autoantibody receptor T cells) strategy, with multiple clinical-stage candidates, including DSG3-CAART for mucosal pemphigus vulgaris and MuSK-CAART for MuSK myasthenia gravis. The expanding CABA™ platform is designed to develop potentially curative therapies that offer deep and durable responses for patients with a broad range of autoimmune diseases. Cabaletta Bio’s headquarters and labs are located in Philadelphia, PA. About WuXi Advanced Therapies (WuXi ATU) As the advanced therapies business unit of WuXi AppTec, WuXi Advanced Therapies is a Contract Testing, Development and Manufacturing Organization (CTDMO) that offers integrated platforms to transform the discovery, development, testing, manufacturing, and commercialization of cell and gene therapies. Our services and solutions accelerate time to market and support customer programs around the world.

Read More

Cell and Gene Therapy, Medical

Synthego and bit.bio Expand Strategic Partnership to Build a Platform for the Development of Safer and More Efficient Genetic Engineering of Human

prnewswire | August 25, 2023

Synthego, a leading provider of industrialized genome editing solutions that accelerate discovery to clinic journey, and bit.bio, the company coding human cells for novel cures, today announced a strategic partnership to build a platform centered on the implementation of synthetic circuitry in cells for therapeutic application. bit.bio is building a pipeline of cell therapies focused on areas of unmet clinical need. The partnership will apply Synthego's expertise in gene editing to bit.bio's opti-oxTM precision cell programming technology, with the aim of discovering and developing advanced genetic engineering solutions for cell therapies. Synthego will rapidly design, build, test and deliver an end-to-end optimized multiplexed genetic editing strategy. The implementation of the multiplexed opti-ox engineering approach will reduce the number of engineering steps required, with the potential of shortening clinical cell engineering and development timelines by up to 10 months. "bit.bio is the leading synthetic biology company focussed on human cells. We are thrilled to deepen our partnership with bit.bio to facilitate a leap forward in the development of synthetic biology-based cell therapies," said Paul Dabrowski, CEO at Synthego. "By coordinating our respective technologies, expertise and resources, we will unlock new opportunities for addressing critical challenges in the field by advancing the R&D cycle of innovative cell therapies." "Synthego are experts when it comes to industrialized cell engineering," stated Mark Kotter, CEO at bit.bio. "Teaming up with Synthego will boost our genetic engineering capabilities. We expect efficiency gains across bit.bio's platform which will allow us and our partners to deliver transformative therapies more rapidly to patients in need." About Synthego Synthego is a genome engineering company that enables the acceleration of life science research and development in the pursuit of improved human health. The company leverages machine learning, automation, and gene editing to build platforms and products for science at scale. With its foundations in engineering disciplines, the company's platform technologies vertically integrate proprietary hardware, software, bioinformatics, chemistries, and molecular biology to advance basic research, target validation, and clinical trials. With its technologies cited in hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and utilized by thousands of commercial and academic researchers and therapeutic drug developers, Synthego is at the forefront of innovation, enabling the next generation of medicines by delivering genome editing at an unprecedented scale. About bit.bio bit.bio is a synthetic biology company focused on human cells that is advancing medicine (UN SDG9) and enabling curative treatments (UN SDG3). The company does this by industrializing the manufacture of human cells and making them more accessible. The company was spun out of the University of Cambridge in 2016 and has since raised approximately $200m from investors such as Arch Ventures, Foresite Capital, Milky Way, Charles River Laboratories, National Resilience, Tencent, Verition Fund and Puhua Capital. bit.bio's opti-ox™ precision cell programming and manufacturing technology enables conversion of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into any desired human cell type in a single step. This can be achieved within days and at industrial scale, while maintaining exceptional purity and unparalleled consistency. Our discovery platform extends this approach to any desired cell type by identifying the transcription factor combinations that define cell states (including identity, cell subtype identity, maturity) using high throughput screens and advanced data analysis. We believe that opti-ox can revolutionize regenerative medicine similarly to how CRISPR is unlocking gene therapy. bit.bio's cell therapy pipeline is focused on serious diseases that currently lack effective treatments. Our preclinical research areas include liver, immunology and metabolic disease, and we have a collaboration with BlueRock Therapeutics (Bayer AG) to create therapeutics for autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. In addition, our extensive ioCells™ research cell product portfolio, which includes wild type and disease model cells, is opening up new possibilities for studying human biology and developing new medicines in both research and high throughput and high content drug discovery.

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