INDUSTRIAL IMPACT, MEDICAL
SOPHiA GENETICS | January 13, 2023
SOPHiA GENETICSTM, a leading cloud-native software firm in the healthcare industry, recently announced that it has partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) to provide physicians and researchers with new testing and analytic capabilities.
The collaboration includes the incorporation of proprietary Comprehensive Genomic Panel (CGP) sequencing tests, such as MSK-ACCESS®, which SOPHiA GENETICS will market as the first comprehensive ctDNA liquid biopsy test powered by the SOPHiA DDMTM platform.
By integrating predictive algorithms, the power of the global SOPHiA GENETICS network, and the clinical knowledge of MSK in cancer genomics, specialists hope to broaden their access to capabilities for precision cancer analysis.
SOPHiA GENETICS and MSK will work together to further develop MSK-ACCESS®, ensuring that the solution leverages the advanced analytics of the SOPHiA DDMTM platform. The enhanced assay will be designed to align with the latest guidelines and clinical trial data reflecting major actionable biomarkers.
As part of this agreement, SOPHiA GENETICS plans to develop a new clinical-genomic, cloud-native analytics platform that enhances the impact of MSK’s extensive precision oncology data. This involves the application of sophisticated machine learning algorithms to examine vast amounts of multimodal data points to get new insights. The new SOPHiA CarePathTM module's goal, in conjunction with MSK's CGP sequencing assays, aims to improve cancer care worldwide.
About SOPHiA GENETICS
SOPHiA GENETICS is a cloud-native software company committed to establishing data-driven medicine as the standard of care and for life sciences research. It offers the SOPHiA DDM™ as a cloud-based SaaS platform that enables healthcare organizations to obtain quick and accurate insights from their data. The platform is currently being used by a broad network of hospitals, laboratories, and biopharma institutions globally. By applying its technology to diseases such as cancer and hereditary disorders, it facilitates the integration of genomic and phenotypic data, which is crucial for supporting discoveries, treatment decisions, and drug development activities. In addition, SOPHiA GENETICS supports its mission of bringing data analytics solutions to market through the global adoption of SOPHiA AI, built using techniques such as statistical inference, pattern recognition, and machine learning.
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INDUSTRIAL IMPACT, MEDICAL
Accesswire | March 24, 2023
Moderna, Inc. a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines, and Generation Bio Co. a biotechnology company innovating genetic medicines for people living with rare and prevalent diseases, today announced that the two companies have entered into a strategic collaboration to combine Moderna's biological and technical expertise with core technologies of Generation Bio's non-viral genetic medicine platform. The collaboration aims to expand the application of each company's platform by developing novel nucleic acid therapeutics, including those capable of reaching immune cells, to accelerate their respective pipelines of non-viral genetic medicines.
"Moderna continues to invest in innovative technology to enable us to develop a breadth of transformative medicines for patients," said Rose Loughlin, Ph.D., Moderna's Senior Vice President for Research and Early Development. "Through this collaboration, which builds on Generation Bio's non-viral genetic medicines platform, we have the potential to target immune cells with diverse nucleic acid cargos and the liver for gene replacement. We are excited to have Generation Bio as our partner as we continue to broaden our therapeutic pipeline and extend the potential benefit of nucleic acid therapeutics to more patients."
"Non-viral DNA therapeutics may offer durable, redosable, titratable genetic medicines to patients suffering from rare and prevalent diseases on a global scale," said Phillip Samayoa, Ph.D., Chief Strategy Officer of Generation Bio. "This collaboration represents a foundational investment in our platform science, both deepening our pipeline of rare and prevalent liver disease programs beyond hemophilia A and accelerating our work to reach outside of the liver with nucleic acid therapies. We are thrilled to collaborate with Moderna to extend genetic medicines to new tissues and cell types through the joint development of novel targeting for our stealth ctLNPs to reach immune cells."
About the Collaboration
Under the terms of the agreement, Moderna may advance two immune cell programs, each of which may use a jointly developed ctLNP to deliver ceDNA. In addition, Moderna may advance two liver programs, each of which may use a liver-targeted ctLNP developed by Generation Bio to deliver ceDNA. Moderna retains an option to license a third program for either immune cells or the liver.
Generation Bio will receive a $40 million upfront cash payment and a $36 million equity investment issued at a premium over recent share prices. Moderna will fund all collaboration work, including a research pre-payment. Generation Bio is also eligible for future development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, as well as royalties on global net sales of liver-targeted and immune cell-targeted products commercialized under the agreement. The agreement additionally provides Moderna with the right, subject to certain terms and conditions, to purchase additional shares of common stock in connection with a future equity financing by Generation Bio.
Further, Moderna and Generation Bio will both leverage collaboration research to continue to advance in vivo immune cell targeting as a new class of genetic medicines, with downstream economics on products utilizing such technology. Generation Bio is eligible to receive certain exclusivity fees as well as potential development and regulatory milestones and royalties on products that Moderna advances using ctLNP technology developed under the collaboration.
About Moderna
In over 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a research-stage company advancing programs in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA), to an enterprise with a diverse clinical portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics across seven modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio in areas including mRNA and lipid nanoparticle formulation, and an integrated manufacturing plant that allows for rapid clinical and commercial production at scale. Moderna maintains alliances with a broad range of domestic and overseas government and commercial collaborators, which has allowed for the pursuit of both groundbreaking science and rapid scaling of manufacturing. Most recently, Moderna's capabilities have come together to allow the authorized use and approval of one of the earliest and most effective vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moderna's mRNA platform builds on continuous advances in basic and applied mRNA science, delivery technology and manufacturing, and has allowed the development of therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases and auto-immune diseases. Moderna has been named a top biopharmaceutical employer by Science for the past eight years.
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MEDTECH, INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
BioNTech and InstaDeep | January 12, 2023
BioNTech and InstaDeep Ltd. recently signed an agreement wherein the former is set to acquire InstaDeep, a worldwide leader in AI and ML technologies.
The acquisition involves a total upfront payment of about £362 million in cash, while BioNTech shares will be used to buy the remaining 100% of InstaDeep shares, excluding those currently held by BioNTech.
The acquisition strengthens BioNTech's aim to establish world-leading abilities in AI-driven drug discovery and develop vaccines as well as next-generation immunotherapies to treat diseases with significant unmet medical needs. In addition, the company will enhance its network of worldwide research collaborators and expand its presence in many talent hubs throughout the United States, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe due to the acquisition.
With the acquisition of InstaDeep, BioNTech's proven and new AI- and ML-based models will be added to all of its discovery platforms and linked to an automated lab infrastructure through InstaDeep's DeepChainTM platform.
MD, CEO and Co-Founder of BioNTech, Prof. Ugur Sahin, said, "Since the inception of BioNTech, we have focused on leveraging computational solutions to create personalized immunotherapies that can reach a wide patient population."
(Source: Globe Newswire)
Adding to this, CEO and Co-Founder of InstaDeep, Karim Beguir, stated, "AI is progressing exponentially and our mission at InstaDeep has always been to make sure it benefits everyone. We are very excited to join forces and become one team with BioNTech, with whom we share the same culture of deep tech innovation and focus on positive human impact."
(Source: Globe Newswire)
About BioNTech
BioNTech is a fully-integrated and worldwide leader in immunotherapy. It has been focusing on automating and digitizing processes and developing capacities for the specialized production of individual vaccinations and large-scale goods, such as the COVID-19 vaccine. As immunotherapy pioneers, the company believes that science and innovation can make a difference for humankind. Therefore, since the beginning, it has focused on harnessing the immune system's total capacity to combat cancer and infectious diseases.
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