biopharma Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

NVIDIA exec on how ‘NIMs’ can help biopharma navigate the challenges of deploying generative AI

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The buzz surrounding generative AI may be undeniable, but its real-world impact on heavily-regulated sectors like drug discovery continues to evolve. Consequently, most drug candidates, circa 90%, continue to fail. Kimberly Powell, vice president of Healthcare at NVIDIA, believes that a new microservices-based offering known as NIMs (NVIDIA Inference Microservices) could help pharma firms navigate this maze. “NIMs were built for the healthcare space, which has very private data,” Powell explained. Healthcare companies, including drug developers, “don’t always want to go to a cloud service. They want to do it in their own environment. We want to give them that capability,” she added.

To date, NVIDIA is offering about two dozen new healthcare microservices with more to follow.

NIMs intend to help scale AI deployment across infrastructures

NIMs, which …

AstraZeneca invests $300 million to establish new cell therapy manufacturing facility in Maryland

AstraZeneca facility in Maryland

Maryland Governor Wes Moore announced that AstraZeneca would invest $300 million to construct a new manufacturing facility in Rockville, a city with roughly 70,000 inhabitants that is about 17 miles from Washington, D.C. The facility will focus on cell therapies for cancer treatment. The 84,000 square-foot facility, slated for completion in 2026, will enable global clinical trials and commercial supply of AstraZeneca’s CAR-T cancer therapies. AstraZeneca estimates the plant to create 150 new high-skilled jobs.

Incentives played a role in new plant

To support AstraZeneca’s new manufacturing facility in Rockville, Maryland, the state and county are providing financial incentives, including a $500,000 conditional loan from the Maryland Department of Commerce’s Advantage Maryland program and a $100,000 conditional grant from Montgomery County’s Economic Developm…

The global biotech funding landscape in 2023: U.S. leads while Europe and China make strides

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In 2023, the U.S. continued to demonstrate its position as the biotech funding leader, commanding over one-third, 35%, of the global investment in the sector. Overall, U.S. biotech firms attracted $56.79 billion in funding, according to a survey of Crunchbase data. Next in line was China, which contributed about 12.7% to the global funding pool, or $20.61 billion. Up next was Europe, which secured more than $11.46 billion and representing more than 7% of the worldwide funding.

While U.S. leads in total biotech funding, Chinese biotech companies, on average, saw larger funding rounds than either Europe or the U.S. The average funding size per company in China was roughly three times larger than that in the U.S. and six times larger than the average in Europe.

But while China-based companies had larger hauls, they were comparatively few. Chinese biotech secured …

Zai Lab’s unified approach to tackling cancer, autoimmune, and neurological diseases

Zai Lab is a global biopharmaceutical company founded in 2014 and based in China and the U.S.. Led by Chairperson and CEO Dr. Samantha Du, the company now has more than 2,000 employees internationally.

Focusing on developing novel therapies for oncology, autoimmune disorders, infectious diseases, and neurological disorders, it has built a broad pipeline of late-stage drug candidates, five of which have been approved and launched in China. The company also has internal research and development capabilities to advance its discovery pipeline.

The company is strategically partnering with prominent biopharma organizations such as Amgen, GSK, Seagen, BMS, Mirati and Deciphera. Concurrently, Zai Lab is building a proprietary pipeline across therapeutic areas such asoncology, autoimmune disorders, infectious diseases, and neuroscience.

In this email Q&A, we heard from Josh Smiley, president and chief operating officer of Zai Lab, and Dr. Harald Reinhart, pre…

Pfizer and AstraZeneca top annual pharma future-readiness rankings

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As 2023 draws to a close, the pharma industry finds itself at an inflection point. On the one hand, stubbornly high inflation rates, a dearth of talent, supply chain hurdles, and a more challenging regulatory climate threaten profitability. But on the other, the rapid advances in areas ranging from cell and gene therapy and IT technology offer new opportunities for efficiency gains and innovation.

Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Lilly come out on top in future-readiness

Against that backdrop, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Lilly round out the top three rankings in terms of future-readiness, according to an analysis from IMD. In its annual ranking, Pfizer advanced from second to first place, Eli Lilly moved up from seventh to third place, and Novo Nordisk rose from 13th to seventh. While Pfizer has had something of a rough year, missing its revenue projections as demand for Paxlovid and Corminaty slides, …

Genmab’s data-driven strategies speed up drug commercialization

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Genmab’s senior vice president, global head of data science and AI, Hisham Hamadeh, describes the company’s journey to becoming “a data-driven decision-making company.” In one sense, there is little choice but to do so. “We’re swimming in data like never before. We’ve seen the volumes of data, the ability to compute on that data, and the type of algorithms that are emerging,” he said.

The initiative has the firm support of the company’s CEO Jan G. J. van de Winkel, who expects AI to help enhance R&D efficiency in the coming years. Already, the company has succeeded in winning FDA approval for the antibody epcoritamab in lymphoma within five years after the first patient was dosed. The approval timeline was “a world record,” van de Winkel told Medwatch, adding that the company believes its investments in data science will unlock further breakthrou…

How the latest AI executive order might impact drug development in the U.S.

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The White House has released an executive order that contains what it hails as “the most sweeping actions ever taken to protect Americans from the potential risks of AI systems.” Relevant to drug development, a fact sheet on the order describes its aim to help further “the responsible use of AI in healthcare and the development of affordable and life-saving drugs.” The order also is designed to protect against the risks of using AI to synthesize new chemicals and biological materials, and will require government agencies funding life science projects to follow these standards as a prerequisite.

Other provisions of the order that could affect drug developers include its potential to affect AI-assisted clinical trials. The order could require drug developers to ensure that their algorithms do not exacerbate discrimination in clinical trials or patient interactions. Drug …

The best-selling pharmaceuticals of 2023: Immunology and oncology return to prominence

Note: This feature on the best-selling pharmaceuticals of 2023 will be updated regularly as new data becomes available. Stay tuned for our ongoing coverage of the pharma sector’s sales dynamics.

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In 2023, as the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic began to loosen, the pharma sector returned to relying on immunology and oncology as sales drivers. So far this year, the two segments are on track to be the strongest in the pharma landscape. In the first half of 2023, the immunology and oncology domains drove sales of $31.110 billion and $37.982 billion, respectively, based on a review of financial data from 13 Big Pharma companies. Conversely, the infectious disease segment accumulated sales of approximately $28.587 billion.

Contrasting the boom of prior years, 2023 has seen a pronounced dip in the appetite for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. For instance, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine generated roug…

Five insights on COVID-19 vaccine side effects

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To date, there have been more than 770 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and nearly 7 million deaths from the virus, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Vaccines remain one of the most potent tools in blunting the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and vaccine developers have distributed more than 13.5 billion vaccine doses to date.

As the global fight against COVID-19 continues, the emphasis on vaccine safety remains a priority. While COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer and J&J vaccines show higher reactogenicity than other commonly administered vaccines, SARS-CoV-2 remains a dangerous virus. Beyond the immediate threat of infection, the prolonged impact of ‘long COVID‘ is considerable. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reveals that more than 40% of U.S. adults have had a COVID-19 infection, with nearly 19% of these individuals still grappling wit…

30 biotech startups making waves

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The biotech industry is facing a reckoning in 2023. To date, roughly 100 biopharmas have cut workers this year, matching the total number of layoffs in the sector in 2022. Many biotech startups have been hit hard. The wave of job cuts comes on the heels of a biotech boom following the COVID-19 pandemic, when new biopharmas proliferated.

Against this turbulent backdrop, a select group of biotech startups have managed to sustain growth. We’ve selected 30 firms that have collectively raised nearly $8 billion. A fair share of these companies are focused on AI techniques to accelerate drug discovery while others have homed in on niche areas like gene therapies, RNA modulation and epigenetic therapies.

1. Tempus Mission: Applying AI for cancer care and beyond. With a valuation ranging in billions and high-profile partnerships, Tempus has forged high-profile partnerships as it extends i…

Assessing the techbio landscape: hype or substance?

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The venture capital firm Artis Ventures, founded in 2001, coined the term “techbio” sector to describe biotech platforms where technology and engineering take the lead in advancing drug discovery and biomanufacturing. In circa 2019, the firm contributed to shaping the techbio landscape by setting up venture capital fund named Artis techbio that bridges the gap between software and drug development.

Although the term term “techbio” has gained prominence in recent year, the use of technologies such as AI, automation and genomics in the biotech sector has attracted considerable attention from startups and investors for much longer. This is evident when noting the founding dates of notable companies in the space: Ginkgo Bioworks’ origins trace back to 2008. Exscientia and AbCellera were established in 2012, and BenevolentAI and Recursion in 2013.

Reality c…

A year in review: AI’s evolving role in drug discovery and development in 2023

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In the realm drug discovery, AI is making waves, and 2023 could potentially be a pivotal year for this technology. As the technology enters the popular consciousness, pharma employees are wondering “why they can’t have similar AI-driven tools for their professional tasks,” said Diane Wuest, head of digital R&D at Sanofi, in a recent interview.

Still, some executives at pharma companies worry about AI’s potential to generate misleading data, as the Economist notes. Such fears are not entirely unfounded. While most headlines continue to tout AI’s promise in the field, there was a notable failure in 2023: an AI-aided drug failed a pair of phase 3 trials.

This article provides an overview of AI’s increasing traction in drug discovery and development in 2023 from January to early August. We’ll update it as the year progresses.

Janua…