MEDICAL
PRNewswire | June 02, 2023
During this year's AAPS National biotechnology conference, Navigate BioPharma Services, Inc., a Novartis subsidiary and a leading provider of innovative biomarker solutions for drug development, announced the launch of its new multiplex digital PCR assays for comprehensive quantification of multiple chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, a type of cancer immunotherapy that involves genetically modifying T cells to recognize and destroy certain cancers. These assays are based on the Qiagen QIAcuity digital PCR System, which offers a powerful yet easy-to-use digital PCR experience through its unique nanoplate system.
The new multiplex digital PCR assay enables simultaneous measurement of the number, function and persistence of CAR-T cells in clinical blood and bone marrow samples, without the need for a standard curve. It can detect as low as 0.01% of CAR-T cells among normal T cells, with a turnaround time of less than two hours. These assays can measure up to five different CAR-T cell markers in a single reaction, using specific probes for different CAR targets, to quantitate multiple CAR-domains, or combinations of commonly used therapeutic targets for CAR-T therapies. The assay can help clinicians monitor response or safety events during clinical trials to enable the development of new therapies.
"CAR-T therapy is a promising and innovative approach to treat cancer, but it requires accurate and reliable quantification of CAR-T cells for successful drug development," said Dr. Nathan Riccitelli, Associate Director of Innovative Technologies at Navigate BioPharma Services, Inc. "Our new proprietary multiplex digital PCR assay provides a comprehensive and robust solution for measuring CAR-T cells in clinical samples with high sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility."
Navigate BioPharma Services, Inc. has developed this assay for use in sponsors-led clinical trials. If interested, contact them about how this assay can be used in upcoming clinical trial studies.
Navigate Biopharma Services, Inc.
Navigate BioPharma Services, Inc., an independently operating subsidiary within the Novartis group of companies, is a leading provider of innovative biomarker and specialty bioanalytic solutions for clinical development. Over the past decade, Navigate BioPharma has built and developed its exclusive library of assays, methodologies, and biomarker solutions. Their extensive expertise offers unique, accurate, reliable, and cost-effective solutions for its customers and partners.
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DIAGNOSTICS
PRNewswire | June 06, 2023
PhenomeX Inc. the functional cell biology company, announced the launch of the Beacon Quest™ optofluidic system, with Opto® T Cell Profiling workflows for immunotherapy translational research and a platform price under $1 million USD, less than half of the higher-throughput Beacon system, enabling broader accessibility to the cutting-edge technology critical for next-generation precision medicine.
The Opto T Cell Profiling workflows have enabled scientists to comprehensively profile single T cells to correlate polyfunctionality with cytotoxicity and recover those same cells for downstream analysis such as transcriptome and genome sequencing, revealing functional connections of phenotype with molecular mechanism. This depth of understanding of biology and response to therapeutics is not available on any other platform. Combined with the value-matched Beacon Quest system, more academic, non-profit, and government customers can now access the power of optofluidic and NanoPen® chamber technology and propriety single T Cell Profiling applications along with the optimum level of features to meet their research and budgetary needs.
"At PhenomeX, we are excited to launch the Beacon Quest, as it supports our objective of offering scientists and researchers globally the ability to affordably access the main applications of the Beacon system, including antibody discovery, cell line development and single-cell functional multiomic T-cell profiling," said Siddhartha Kadia, Ph.D., chief executive officer of PhenomeX. "We look forward to partnering with and providing significant value in the academic research segments, particularly in immuno-oncology translational cancer centers and innovative cell and gene therapy development centers."
Beacon Quest for T Cell Profiling Workflow Features
Opto T Cell Profiling workflows on the Beacon Quest system enable multi-functional characterization of single T cells, including for development of efficacious immunotherapies and cell-based cancer therapeutics, that are ideally suited for academic, non-profit, and government customers.
The Beacon Quest system enables a variety of assays to profile single T cells including detection of cytokine secretion, cytotoxicity, cell surface markers, transcriptome profiling and TCRSeq, with the potential to study growth characteristics and cell motility. The resulting analysis is used to identify cells with phenotypes of interest and guide recovery of the same cells for downstream assays, enabling researchers to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying biology by
Investigating molecular mechanisms associated with polyfunctional T cells;
Identifying desirable phenomes by correlating polyfunctionality with cytotoxicity; and
Linking desirable phenotypes to T cell receptor sequences of the same cells.
In addition to supporting the Opto T Cell Profiling workflows, Beacon Quest will enable customers to access the Opto B Discovery workflows and Opto Cell Line Development workflows. To further increase customer accessibility and affordability, PhenomeX will also offer reduced priced OptoSelect® chips (OptoSelect® Research chips) for Beacon Quest, helping academic customers accelerate the pace of scientific discovery for clinical research use applications.
About PhenomeX Inc.
PhenomeX is empowering scientists to leverage the full potential of each cell and drive the next era of functional cell biology that will advance human health. We enable scientists to reveal the most complete insights on cell function and obtain a full view of the behavior of each cell. Our unique suite of proven high-throughput tools and services offer unparalleled resolution and speed, accelerating the insights that are key to advancing discoveries that can profoundly improve the prevention and treatment of disease. Our award-winning platforms are used by researchers across the globe, including those at the top 15 global pharmaceutical companies and approximately 85% of leading U.S. comprehensive cancer centers.
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MEDTECH, INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
Businesswire | April 21, 2023
Twist Bioscience Corporation a company enabling customers to succeed through its offering of high-quality synthetic DNA using its silicon platform, today announced a collaboration with Astellas Pharma Inc. by which Astellas will license a suite of Twist’s VHH antibody libraries to be used by Astellas for drug discovery and development.
“We are pleased to extend our collaboration with Astellas to three agreements across two groups within the company, showcasing our ability to meet the varying needs of our customers and support their success,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. “This latest collaboration with Astellas demonstrates how Twist can enable our customers to grow their pipelines both externally with our antibody discovery services and by supporting their internal discovery with our highly specific and potent antibody libraries.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Astellas will license a suite of Twist’s VHH libraries for a period of five years and will use the libraries to conduct research and development activities. Twist will receive an upfront payment and will be eligible to receive annual maintenance fees and fees per product through payments associated with specific clinical and commercial milestones. Twist will also be eligible to receive royalty payments on product sales.
Twist VHH Antibody Libraries
Antibodies contain two variable domains, the heavy and the light chains. A VHH antibody, also known as a single domain antibody, is the antigen binding domain of the heavy chain, with three complementary determining regions (CDRs), or areas where antigens bind to the antibody. Twist’s VHH libraries use novel methods that combine synthetic and natural approaches to maximize diversity up to 10 billion for each library, creating high quality VHH libraries for use against any protein target. The small size of the VHH antibodies allow them to access targets that traditional antibodies cannot, with tight binding affinity. The modular nature of VHH antibodies supports creation of bi- or multi-specific antibodies ideal for developing next generation therapies specific to oncology, autoimmune disease and virology. During the pandemic, Twist published on the use of these libraries to neutralize SARS-CoV-2.
About Twist Bioscience Corporation
Twist Bioscience is a leading and rapidly growing synthetic biology and genomics company that has developed a disruptive DNA synthesis platform to industrialize the engineering of biology. The core of the platform is a proprietary technology that pioneers a new method of manufacturing synthetic DNA by “writing” DNA on a silicon chip. Twist is leveraging its unique technology to manufacture a broad range of synthetic DNA-based products, including synthetic genes, tools for next-generation sequencing (NGS) preparation, and antibody libraries for drug discovery and development. Twist is also pursuing longer-term opportunities in digital data storage in DNA and biologics drug discovery. Twist makes products for use across many industries including healthcare, industrial chemicals, agriculture and academic research.
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