PHARMA, BIOTECH & LIFE SCIENCE WHAT’S INSIDE DISCOVERY6 RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT 12 PRECLINICAL16 CLINICAL TRIALS 25 JANUARY 2015 : VOLUME 11 : NUMBER 1 PUBLISHED SINCE 2005 01.15 Merck to pay $8.4 billion for Cubist Merck cites leadership in anti-infectives and identification of hospital acute care as a priority area BY JEFFREY BOULEY WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J.—Antibiotics haven’t been what one would call a priority for Big Pharma lately, given the fact they BUSINESS & GOVERNMENT POLICY 33 don’t lend themselves as well to blockbuster status compared to many other therapeutic TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY areas. However, that doesn’t seem to be stopPreferred tox partner...........................................................12 ping Merck & Co., known as MSD outside Nanofiber vs. HIV.................................................................14 the United States and Canada, from making a On ‘cloud 9’ with new mobile health app........................25 Alion taps MPI for companion diagnostic.......................26 pricey and, to some, risky decision to acquire On the cutting edge.............................................................34 Lexington, Mass.-based Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $102 per share in cash, a 35-perFINANCE/MARKETS3 cent premium to Cubist’s average stock price EDITORIAL/COMMENTARY10 for the most recent five trading days at the time of the early-December announcement. AWARDS & HONORS 37 This makes for an equity valuation of $8.4 PRODUCTS & SERVICES 38 billion, but the deal also includes the assumpQ&A39 tion of $1.1 billion in net debt and other putting the total transaction SOCIETY FOR LABORATORY 20 considerations, AUTOMATION AND SCREENING value at around $9.5 billion. 4th Annual Conference and Exhibition The boards of directors for both companies Washington, D.C., will host have weighed in with their approval of the “what’s new in lab automation and screening” at SLAS2015 deal, and the companies expect the transac- DIAGNOSTICS30 tion to close in the first quarter of this year. The acquisition of Cubist will create what Merck calls a “strong fundamental value with return on capital in excess of Merck’s hurdle rate within a few years of closing,” and the company expects the acquisition to add more than $1 billion of revenue to its 2015 base. In the end, the transaction will likely be neutral to non-GAAP EPS in 2015, Merck acknowledged, though it expects the deal to be significantly accretive to non-GAAP EPS in 2016 and beyond, with these gains expected to appear in both Merck’s sales and earnings growth. Cubist’s pipeline and abilities reportedly complement Merck’s strategy and the global initiative the company launched last year, particularly in the area of “sharpening its commercial focus on key therapeutic areas that have the potential to deliver the greatest return on investment.” Merck leaders maintain that with the company’s longstanding leadership in anti-infectives, as well as its customer-focused operating model, it was natural to identify the hospital acute-care segment as one of the company’s key priority areas and one in which Merck maintains CUBIST CONTINUED ON PAGE 36 Although Cubist (pictured here) is facing legal challenges that could force it to face generic competition for its lead drug, Cubicin, four years earlier than planned, Merck is ready to pay $8.4 billion for the company and assume some $1.1 billion in debt. Two partners, three initiatives, five years Evotec and Sanofi forge three-part deal to improve innovation in drug discovery and preclinical development BY KELSEY KAUSTINEN AND JEFFREY BOULEY Unlike current treatments for multiple sclerosis, which focus on reducing the frequency of relapses, GeNeuro’s drug holds the potential to stop progression of the disease altogether. Targeting MS at its root Servier and GeNeuro to advance drug offering new approach to treating multiple sclerosis BY ZACK ANCHORS SURESNES, France— A deal struck between Servier and the Swiss biotech firm GeNeuro will push forward the development of a drug that offers a new approach toward the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). Servier has agreed to fund the development and marketing of GeNeuro’s drug candidate GNbAC1 to target a protein believed to play a key role in causing MS. “This drug offers a completely new way to treat MS,” GeNeuro CEO Francois Curtin tells DDNews. “GNbAC1 targets the protein MSRV-ENv, a factor that strong evidence shows to be a causal. This is the first treatment targeting this factor.” Servier will provide GeNeuro $47 million for the completion of Phase 2b trials as the first stage in a deal that provides a framework for the global development and licensing of the drug. Following Phase 2b trials, Servier will have the option to license the drug in all markets except the United Staes and Japan. Servier will cover Phase 3 global development costs and pay GeNeuro up to $408 million in future development and sales milestones, in GENEURO CONTINUED ON PAGE 29 HAMBURG, Germany—Evotec AG and Sano- fi have begun exclusive negotiations for a major multi-component strategic alliance focused on early-stage drug development that could run over the next five years. The collaboration will consist of three major strategic initiatives focused on improving innovation effectiveness in the drug discovery and preclinical development space. Evotec also expects this undertaking to bolster its position as “the leading drug discovery EARLY CONTINUED ON PAGE 9 Sanofi’s small-molecule library, established on its Toulouse R&D site, has over one million compounds and will greatly boost Evotec’s library of more than 400,000 compounds once Evotec takes over the Toulouse site. HANDS-ON. It’s our job to understand what you do, why you do it, and why it matters. Consulting and Plan Development Creative and Brand Management Content and Technical Writing Digital Media Platforms A Leader in Life Science Marketing Since 1985. Fort Street, Marietta OH | 1-800-606-1610 www.offwhite.com/ddn ©2014 OffWhite, Inc. OW 10665 FINANCE For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 3 Promethera raises $31.4 million in Series C financial round MONT-SAINT-GUIBERT, Belgium— Promethera Biosciences, a biotechnology company developing Promethera HepaStem, a cell-based therapy for the treatment of in-born errors of metabolism and acquired liver diseases, recently announced the completion of its Series C fundraising round. The company has raised €25.33 million (about $31.4 million), including €20.33 million in capital. The success of the Series C fundraising is considered to be the result of the completion of the HepaStem Phase 1/2 study, following a Series B fundraising in March 2012 when €17 million in equity was raised. The financing round was supported by existing Promethera Biosciences investors and two new investors: SFPI-FPIM, the Belgian Federal Holding and Investment Company, and SMS Investments, a Luxemburg-based subsidiary office Oramed closes $5M investment from Guangxi JERUSALEM—Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc., a developer of oral drug delivery systems, today announced that it has received $5 million in connection with the definitive agreement with Guangxi Wuzhou Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. previously reported on Nov. 3 for the purchase of 696,378 restricted shares of common stock for $7.18 per share, the closing price of Oramed’s common stock on Oct. 31 in a private placement. “We are pleased to have Wuzhou as a new shareholder,” noted Nadav Kidron, CEO of Oramed. “China offers a substantial market opportunity for our diabetes-focused pipeline, and we are delighted to have Wuzhou as a supportive shareholder, as they can help strategically guide our development and commercial entrance into China.” Oramed intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for expenses primarily related to the company’s anticipated U.S.-focused clinical development programs for its oral insulin for type 1 and type 2 diabetes indications, for preclinical and clinical studies of its oral GLP-1 analog project and for general corporate purposes, including general working capital purposes. Oramed is seeking to revolutionize the treatment of diabetes through its flagship product, an orally ingestible insulin capsule (ORMD-0801). Having completed separate Phase 2a clinical trials, the company anticipates the initiation of separate Phase 2b clinical trials in patients with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes under an Investigational New Drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In addition, the company is developing an oral GLP-1 analog capsule (ORMD-0901). n of the German SMS group. They join the company’s historical international investors: Vesalius Biocapital and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (the venture capital fund of the German pharmaceutical group), the lead investors; SRIW; Shire; Mitsui Global Investment, the venture capital fund of Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsui & Co Ltd. and Pall-ATMI LifeSciences; Vives-Louvain Technology Transfer Office Fund; as well as several business angels. In addition, the Walloon region, which has backed the company since its inception, has granted loans and subsidies of €5 million to support the clinical development of HepaStem and the collaborative program with EMD Millipore. “We have made substantial progress and obtained significant achievements during the past three years, including the successful completion of our Phase 1/2 clinical trial with Promethera HepaStem in urea cycle disorders and Crigler-Najjar disease. The study provided positive safety and preliminary efficacy data that enabled us to pursue the development of these indications. In addition, we have already obtained the first authorization for the HEP002 study, a Phase 2b/3 clinical trial in urea cycle disorders,” said Eric Hali- oua, CEO of Promethera Biosciences. “We are hopeful that Promethera’s technology will shift the treatment paradigm for patients living with orphan liver diseases. We see a lot of interest from healthcare professionals who are eager to see this innovative therapy become a reality to support patients with high unmet medical needs,” added Prof. Etienne Sokal, chief scientific officer and founder of Promethera Biosciences. n MAXimize reproducibility. Minimize costs. Advance your science and increase the pace of your experiments by allowing PIPETMAX to do the routine pipetting tasks. Focus on what is really important to your research: scientific analysis and publications. Standard Amplification Curves for COX gene. Standard cDNA samples were serially diluted 5-fold and amplified in 5 replicates (dilutions left to right: 5x, 25x, 125x, 625x and 3125x). Accomplish more by automating your sample prep protocols for: qPCR PCR NGS library prep ELISA most tip-based protocols instruments • accessories • software • solutions Meet MAX at www.pipetmax.com Visit www.gilson.com to download Speaking Volumes, our interactive publication for your tablet! MARKETS 4 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com Pharmaceutical and biotech market indices T Amex Pharmaceutical Index he burrill select index rose 1.17 percent in November, less than the modest gains posted by the major market indices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.52 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 2.45 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index finished the month up 3.47 percent. 465 03/Jan 492 495 14/Feb 14/Mar 481 11/Apr 505 512 522 09/May 13/Jun 11/Jul 551 524 533 531 29/Aug 30/Sep 31/Oct 28/Nov 1151 1222 1236 1144 15/Aug 29/Aug 30/Sep 31/Oct 28/Nov 506 15/Aug SOURCE: YAHOO FINANCE Burrill Select Burrill Mid-Cap Biotech and Small-Cap Biotech 533 586 257 576 497 505 207 184 14/Feb 11/Apr 09/May 553 567 215 197 220 13/Jun 11/Jul 610 696 666 1105 1090 946 941 963 1036 1076 1116 300 145 03/Jan 552 621 14/Mar MID -C AP 225 218 15/Aug 29/Aug 30/Sep 243 31/Oct 218 03/Jan 28/Nov 14/Feb 14/Mar 11/Apr 09/May 13/Jun 11/Jul SMA L L- CA P SOURCE: BURRILL & CO. SOURCE: BURRILL & CO. Costs of M&As rise as environment becomes more competitive BY BURRILL MEDIA SAN FRANCISCO—The merger and acquisi- tion (M&A) deal signed by Actavis to acquire Botox-maker Allergan for $66 billion was big news in November, and as Burrill Media recapped that month of activity, it noted an “increasingly competitive environment for sought-after assets” is pushing prices higher. The acquisition announcement topped what Burrill Media called “another big month for life-sciences M&A activity in what is already a record year of dealmaking,” and the deal raised total M&A life-sciences activity through the first 11 months of 2014 to a record $340.8 billion, up from $118.3 billion for the same period a year ago and well beyond the previous record set in 2009 of $189.7 billion for M&A transactions involving therapeutics, tools, diagnostics and digital health companies. Actavis says the combined company will be one of the world’s top-10 drugmakers by revenue. The deal, which seems to end efforts by Valeant Pharmaceuticals and hedge fund management company Pershing Square Capital Management to acquire Allergan, benefits from Actavis’ inversion last year, prior to September 2014 rules by the U.S. Treasury Department aimed at curtailing inversions. “The Actavis acquisition reflects a continued effort by drugmakers to build their pipelines and revenue base through acquisitions and capitalize on synergies they can identify with potential targets,” says G. Steven Burrill, CEO of Burrill Media. “The accelerated pace of activity this year is an acknowledgement that companies can’t generate adequate growth through internal development of their own pipelines.” Partnering deals also picked up speed in November, with companies announcing deals with a total potential value of $7.1 billion, up from $3.9 billion during November 2013. Overall, partnering during the first 11 months of November increased to $47.9 billion, up from $35 billion during the same period a year ago. The largest of these deals was between Pfizer and Merck under which Pfizer will provide Merck with an $850 million upfront payment and up to a potential P U B L I Prosensa provides updates for the third quarter LEIDEN, The Netherlands—Prosensa C Holding N.V., a biopharmaceutical company focusing on RNAmodulating therapeutics for rare diseases with high unmet need, recently reported financial results for the third quarter ending Sept. 30 and announced various plans and next steps for followon exon skipping compounds for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. “We are incredibly pleased with the substantial progress we have accomplished during this period. We have delivered on our promise of initiating the re-dosing process for patients who were previously in drisapersen clinical trials with a total of 15 boys now back on treatment, and our rolling New Drug Application submission with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration is currently well underway,” said Hans Schikan, CEO of Prosensa. Revenue for the third quarter was nil, compared with €2.4 million (about $2.9 million) in the same period in 2013 due to a decrease in license revenue of €1.3 million (about $1.6 million) and a companies raised a total of $1 billion. For the first 11 months, a total of 101 IPOs have been completed on U.S. exchanges, compared to 49 during the same period in 2013. IPOs completed in 2014 are up an average of 13.5 percent, with 51 of those issues trading above their initial offering price and 50 below. Companies and investor expectations were generally in line in November, as only three of the offerings came modestly below the target range and one above. n $2 billion in additional milestones to share rights to and co-develop Merck’s experimental immunotherapy that is designed to circumvent tumors’ ability to hide themselves from patients’ immune systems. Record-breaking initial public offering (IPO) activity continued in November with a total of 11 life-sciences companies completing initial public offerings during the month to raise $1.2 billion globally. Ten of those IPOs occurred on U.S. exchanges where C O M P A N decrease in collaboration revenue of €1.1 million (about $1.3 million) due to the termination of a research and collaboration agreement with GSK. Catalyst announces Q3 financials CORAL GABLES, Fla.—Catalyst Pharmaceutical Part- ners Inc., focused on developing and commercializing therapies for people with rare debilitating diseases, recently reported financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended Sept. 30. Highlights include positive top-line Phase 3 data from Firdapse in patients with Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome and initiation of a Phase 1b safety and tolerance study for CPP-115, a novel GABA aminotransferase (GABA-AT) inhibitor. Upcoming milestones include top-line results from a Tourette’s disorder Phase 1/2 investigator-sponsored study and exploration of additional indications for Firdapse, such as congenital myasthenic syndrome and downbeat nystagmus; and financial results include a GAAP net loss of about $5 million, or 7 cents per basic and diluted share, and about $12 million, or 19 cents per basic and diluted share, for the first Y N E W S nine months of the fiscal year. As a developmentstage biopharma, Catalyst had no revenues in either the third quarter or the first nine months of 2014. uniQure offers financial update AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands—Recently, uniQure N.V., which deals with human gene therapy, announced results for the third quarter of 2014. As of Sept. 30, the company held cash and cash equivalents of €62.8 million (about $76.4 million). Total revenues (consisting of licensing and collaboration revenues) for the three months ended in the third quarter were €1 million ($1.2 million), compared with €1.3 million ($1.6 million) in the same period of 2013. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, total revenues were €3.2 million ($3.9 million), compared to €2.1 million ($2.5 million) in the first nine months of 2013. In other news, uniQure is finalizing all regulatory, trial site and administrative preparations for the initiation of its Phase 1/2 clinical trial in hemophilia B. The company expects dosing of the first patient to be announced in early 2015 and to announce initial results in mid-2015. FINANCE & MARKETS For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 5 Stem cell therapies gathering momentum but challenges remain LONDON—With 104 programs in late-stage clinical development, the stem cell therapy space could reach the commercialization threshold by 2017, but a number of challenges remain, notes research and consulting firm GlobalData in a new report it released in December. According to the firm, complicated manufacturing processes, untested regulatory pathways and a demanding economic landscape are the largest barriers to progress in the stem cell sector, with a number of companies finding the business unviable. “Most firms operating in stem cells are undercapitalized and rely heavily on research grants, leveraged finance and capital raised from public offerings or venture capital investment to fund their research efforts and expansion,” said Aparna Krishnan, GlobalData’s analyst covering healthcare industry dynamics, pointing out that the financial challenges to the industry have been profound, intensified by the technology’s high failure rates. “[The] recession impacted the flow of investments into the sector at a crucial time in its evolution. Many startups and small companies that form a significant part of the industry lacked financial discipline and often over-leveraged themselves,” Krishnan said. Despite this, GlobalData says that there has been increasing investment capital flowing in from venture capital firms, reaching a maximum of $200 million in 2012, and there are continued signs of investment strength through 2013 and 2014. “With the economy stabilizing, attention from major drug firms such as Pfizer and Novartis is growing, as they seek to diversify their REVA closes Intellia announces financing SAN DIEGO—REVA Medical Inc. recently announced that the financing transaction approved by the company’s shareholders at the special meeting of stockholders held in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 31, 2014, has been successfully completed. Under the terms of the prospectus dated Oct. 24, and in accordance with the convertible note deed dated Sept. 25, REVA issued an aggregate principal amount of $25 million in senior unsecured convertible notes and 8,750,000 options; each option allows the noteholders to purchase one share of REVA’s common stock. The proceeds from the financing will be used to fund the company’s ongoing operating, clinical and capital needs, including the clinical program for its Fantom bioresorbable scaffold. “We are very pleased to announce the close of this financing,” said REVA’s chairman and CEO Bob Stockman. “The funding we have secured will allow REVA to move forward with our clinical plans and to take the product through to CE mark application, which we expect will occur in 2016.” Fantom is a bioresorbable coronary stent made from REVA’s proprietary polymer that is designed to dissolve over time, leaving the artery free of a permanent implant and thereby allowing the artery to return to its natural movement or “vasomotion.” Due to this temporary nature, bioresorbable stents are commonly referred to as scaffolds. Fantom’s polymer properties also enable complete x-ray visibility of the scaffold when placed in the artery, an attribute unique to REVA among bioresorbable scaffolds. REVA believes that this distinct feature will offer a procedural advantage, as x-ray visibility helps confirm proper placement of the scaffold and is a tool interventional cardiologists routinely rely on when implanting metal stents. n Neothetics announces closing of upsized IPO SAN DIEGO—Neothetics Inc., a clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company developing therapeutics for the aesthetic market, today announced the closing of its initial public offering of 4,650,000 shares of its common stock at an initial public offering price of $14 per share. The company originally filed to raise 4,300,000 shares. Neothetics estimates net proceeds from the offering to be approximately $60.5 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses. n $15M in funding CAMBRIDGE, Mass.— Intellia Therapeutics, a new company formed to develop therapeutic products using CRISPR-Cas9 technology for gene editing and repair, announced in November that it has closed a Series A investment round with $15 million in financing led by Atlas Venture and Novartis. Created by Atlas Venture and Caribou Biosciences, together with leading scientists shaping CRISPR biology, Intellia leverages exclusive access to what it calls “one of the most comprehensive intellectual property portfolios covering the therapeutic application of this transformative technology.” “Discovery of the CRISPR-Cas9 system has been a significant advance toward the long-elusive therapeutic goal of targeting and repairing specific genetic defects,” said Dr. Nessan Bermingham, CEO and co-founder of Intellia. “We have assembled an experienced team with a track record of success in all phases of development, from discovery through translation, clinical testing and commercialization. Together with our key advisors, we are focused squarely on clinical drug development as we progress toward our first IND filing.” “Translating the potential of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology to focused preclinical and clinical development programs at Intellia is an exciting step forward in the evolution of our cell engineering platform,” said Dr. Rachel Haurwitz, CEO and cofounder of Caribou Biosciences. “The management team, advisors and investors assembled at Intellia have an outstanding track record of developing therapeutics that will transform the lives of patients.” Intellia’s initial therapeutic focus is ex-vivo applications, wherein cells are removed from the body (collected from blood or bone marrow), modified to correct disease-causing genes and returned to the patient for therapeutic benefit. Near-term ex-vivo applications include blood disorders, therapeutic protein production and cancer, focused on such approaches as CAR-T and checkpoint inhibitor regulation. Intellia has also initiated longer-term development of in-vivo applications, administered either systemically or locally to correct genes residing within specific cells of the body. In-vivo applications include ophthalmic, central nervous system, muscle, liver and anti-infective, among other disease states. n businesses in growth segments through licensing deals and acquisitions,” Krishnan noted. “Also, some stem cell companies, including Bluebird bio and Capricor, have concluded initial public offerings, raising enough capital to continue research and development efforts in the process.” Krishnan added that the opportunity provided by stem cells in regenerative medicine, among other areas, is clear from the current crop of stem cell companies and their research pipelines. “The scientific advancement of adult stem cells and the new technology’s demonstrable clinical benefits have led to increasing patient acceptance. As such, GlobalData believes that stem cells are likely to become an integral part of the pharmaceutical industry’s R&D process,” the analyst concluded. n 6 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com DISCOVERY SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—Calithera Biosciences Inc. and Mars Symbioscience have inked a global license agreement that grants Calithera exclusive worldwide rights to research, develop and commercialize Symbioscience’s portfolio of arginase inhibitors for use in healthcare, supporting Calithera’s goal of submitting an IND for an arginase inhibitor for cancer treatment by the end of 2015. Calithera will in turn make an upfront payment to Symbioscience, in addition to potential development and commercialization milestones and royalties on any approved products. Susan M. Molineaux, CEO of Calithera Biosciences, said that “I am particularly excited about this agreement, because we believe we can apply our core expertise in tumor biology to rapidly advance Symbioscience’s potent and selective small-molecule arginase inhibitors into the clinic to develop a first-inclass immuno-oncology therapy for cancer patients.” Celgene extends exclusivity period with Agios CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Under a $20-million deal with Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celgene Corp. has extended its exclusive option to drug candidates resulting from Agios’ platform through April 2016. The companies have been collaborating since April 2010 for the discovery, development and commercialization of disease-altering cancer therapies stemming from Agios’ cancer metabolism research platform. The extension marks the final year for the discovery phase of the collaboration under the original terms. This follows another development in June of this year when Celgene exercised its exclusive option to license AG-221, a drug candidate nominated during the discovery phase of the collaboration, gaining worldwide development and commercialization rights, though Agios continues to conduct early clinical development activities. IN THIS SECTION Academic research/Competition Making medicines..................................... 8 Autism Blood plasma signature may be key to early autism diagnosis.............................. 6 Getting into the genetics of autism.......... 6 Dyslipidemia/Cardiovascular AstraZeneca explores new target for heart disease....................................... 6 Oncology Calithera secures license to arginase inhibitors.................................................... 6 Celgene extends exclusivity period with Agios................................................. 6 Oncology/Early-stage partnering Two partners, three initiatives, five years (EARLY from cover).................... 9 Blood plasma signature may be key to early autism diagnosis Test identified autistic children with 81-percent accuracy, according to Stemina-UC Davis report in PLOS One BY LORI LESKO MADISON, Wis.—Looking to find a way to diagnose autism in children earlier, scientists at Stemina Biomarker Discovery and the UC Davis MIND Institute (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), conducted a study to compare the metabolomics signatures in the blood plasma of 4-to6-year-olds with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with those of typically developing children. The results, published in the November 2014 issue of PLOS One, indicates that an early-stage, blood-based test identified autistic children with 81-percent accuracy. The researchers analyzed metabolites in the blood, trying to establish which of the small molecules signal autism. This method CREDIT: STEMINA Calithera secures license to arginase inhibitors “Our study provides proof of concept that the metabolism of children with autism is significantly different from that of typically developing children. Stemina’s metabolic approach to diagnosing autism will revolutionize diagnosis and treatment of ASD,” says Elizabeth Donley, co-founder and CEO of Stemina (a lab of which is pictured here). differs from other blood-based biomarker studies in the past few years that have tried to detect activity or expression of genes. “We are very pleased with the result of this CREDIT: ERIK031 BR IEFS Lipigon has already sent scientists to AstraZeneca to begin work on the collaboration to identify molecules that can modulate lipoprotein lipase. Pictured here is an AstraZeneca R&D facility in Mölndal, Sweden. AstraZeneca explores new target for heart disease LONDON—AstraZeneca has entered into a research collaboration with a small Swedish biotech firm to explore the potential for a new therapeutic target for heart disease. The company is partnering with Lipigon Pharmaceuticals to PLASMA CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 Getting into the genetics of autism Recent Nature study identifies 107 genes tied to autism risk BY KELSEY KAUSTINEN NEW YORK—According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Con- identify molecules that modulate lipoprotein lipase (LPL), an enzyme that plays a role in the metabolism of cholesterol. Lipigon, which specializes in LPL biology, has developed a screening platform to find molecules that affect the enzyme. trol, roughly 1 percent of the world’s population presents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with the numbers in the United States standing at one in 68 children. That number is on the rise—two years ago, U.S. statistics reported one in 88 children had autism—but thankfully, scientific and genetic knowledge of autism is increasing as well. A recent international study involving researchers from 37 institutions is one of the latest contributors to that knowledge base. The study, which appeared in Nature, has reported that genetic differences in the top 107 genes were found to impact an individual’s risk of autism. This study is the largest in autism to date, with data collected and analyzed from 3,871 autism cases, 2,270 sets of mothers, fathers and affected children and additional control samples. The scope is thanks to the Autism Sequencing Consortium, which was originally funded by the Beatrice and Samuel A. Seaver Foundation and the Seaver Autism Center within the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The study looked at data on several types of rare genetic differences in more than 14,000 DNA samples from parents, LPL CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 AUTISM CONTINUED ON PAGE 9 Company will work with Lipigon on potential drugs to modulate lipoprotein lipase BY ZACK ANCHORS first study because it demonstrates that differences in the metabolism of children with ASD are profound enough to distinguish DISCOVERY For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 them from typically developing children,” Elizabeth Donley, Stemina co-founder and CEO, stated in a news release. “This will allow us to understand the individual metabolism of children with ASD in a way we never could before, leading to an earlier diagnosis and individualized treatment.” The etiology of the vast majority of cases of ASD are unknown and their genetics have proven to be incredibly complex, according to the PLOS study. Diagnosing the disorder as early as possible is crucial because studies have shown earlier treatment can boost the child’s cognitive and social skills, Donley said. The current standard for diagnosis is a series of behavioral tests conducted by experts, partly because scientists have yet to crack the code on the biology underpinning autism. Donley believes the key to cracking that code lies within metabolomics, rather than focusing on biology or genetics. “Our study provides proof of concept that the metabolism of children with autism is significantly different from that of typically developing children,” Donley tells DDNews. “Stemina’s metabolic approach to diagnosing autism will revolutionize diagnosis and treatment of ASD.” Metabolomics not only provides an important piece of the puzzle, but it’s an opportunity to understand what is different about the metabolism of kids with autism and to treat the individual child in response to their own individual metabolism, she says. The current average age of an autism diagnosis in the United States is 4.5 years, and Stemina is researching a diagnosis as early as age 2, paving the way for earlier screening and diagnosis to improve both therapy and outcome for patients and families. Stemina has conducted two similar studies with roughly the same results as the PLOS paper—another one in partnership with the UC Davis MIND Institute and a study with the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute. Stemina’s own autism test is still at least three years and one larger-scale study away from commercialization. “Our work in autism began with a study that was conducted at the University of Wisconsin (UW) in the lab of Dr. Gabriela Cezar,” Donley relates. “She studied neural cells made from human embryonic stem cells dosed with valproic acid (VPA) as models of neurodevelopmental disruption using a metabolomics approach to discovering biomarkers associated with neurodevelopmental disruption. “VPA is known to cause an increase in the incidence of autism in children exposed during gestation, and so Dr. Cezar hypothesized that she was creating a model of autism in the dish that might be seen in patients,” Donley explains. “Dr. Cezar next studied post-mortem brain tissue from the Autism Tissue Program and discovered some of the same pathways disrupted in the brains of children with autism as had been seen in neural cells in the dish.” This was a UW study in collaboration with Stemina, which did the metabolomics study for Cezar’s lab, Donley says. Stemina then sought out sources of banked blood sam- Copyright Cisbio Bioassays. All rights reserved. All trademarks are property of Cisbio Bioassays. PLASMA JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 7 ples to develop a diagnostic test for autism. The first generation of the diagnostic test will be delivered by Stemina and its partners as a laboratory-developed test, Donley says, adding, “Next generations will include a kit that could be used in pediatric clinics and specialty centers.” While Stemina’s current test can identify about four-fifths of children with autism by analyzing 179 small molecules, the company’s goal is to identify more sub-signatures, of PROUD TO OFFER THE WORLD’S MOST COMPLETE LINE OF GPCR ASSAYS four to 11 biomarkers, that would give more information about the subtype of autism that a child has. Stemina is trying to raise $5 million for a 1,500-patient study, Donley notes, adding she wants to begin enrolling patients next year, with the intention of commercializing the autism test by the end of 2017. “We have a lead investor for our $5-million series B round,” Donley reports. The Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation has committed $2.3 million to fund the clinical study. Stemina has also applied for a $2.7-million Phase II SBIR grant to help support the study. Stemina plans to initially commercialize the test by utilizing a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory exception that allows companies to market laboratory-developed tests that they handle in-house, thus bypassing the typical FDA approval process. However, Stemina intends to eventually seek full FDA approval of the autism test. n EDITCONNECT: E011504 ExplorE morE frEEly with a singlE, provEn tEchnology platform. 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For more information on our complete line or to discuss your specific custom requirements, please email us at [email protected] or visit www.htrf.com/gpcr www.cisbio.com Visit us at SLAS 2015 Booth #923 8 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 DISCOVERY For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com MAKING MEDICINES GSK names winners of 2014 Discovery Fast Track Challenge and explains rationale for program BY ILENE SCHNEIDER MIDDLESEX, U.K.—GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, has announced the winners of its second Discovery Fast Track Challenge. The program is designed to combine the expertise of academic researchers with that of drug discovery scientists at GSK to accelerate the search for new medicines. “There are several reasons why we do this,” says Andrew Pope, senior director of discovery partnerships with academia and leader of platform technology and science at GSK. “We want to build partnerships with academia by getting to know every academic institution and building trust. We want to ‘de-risk’ the target; to make medicine, we need to find a target and have the ability to drug it. We want people to know who we are and why we’re different. We also think it’s a great way to build medicines.” Launched by GSK in the United Kingdom in late 2010, Discovery Partnerships with Academia is a new approach to drug discovery where academic partners become core members of drug discovery teams. GSK and the academic partner share the challenges and reward of innovation as GSK funds activities in the partner laboratories and provides in-kind resources to progress a program from idea to candidate medicine. Since the Fast Track Challenge program started in 2013 in North America, every project that has been a winner has had a screen run. The winning scientists work with GSK’s Discovery Partnerships with Academia and Molecular Discovery Research teams to test their hypotheses on targets and disease pathways against GSK’s extensive library of compounds. During this process, if a compound is identified that shows activity against these pathways or targets, the winning investigators could be offered a formal partnership with GSK to refine these molecules and work together on the development of a potential new medicine. “It’s a long process, so we’re not yet at a point where the initial ones have turned into “We’re doing this to create new medicines with the sense that building partnerships on the strengths of both academics and companies who can commercialize their ideas is a powerful proposition. Direct word-ofmouth builds the ability to open doors and let academics know that we’re scientists and drug hunters who bring capabilities and resources to their projects.” Andrew Pope, senior director of discovery partnerships with academia at GSK of dyslipidemia and other conditions that mark high risk for cardiovascular and metabolic CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 disorders. Statins are now widely Stefan Nilsson, CEO of Lipigon, used as a means of lowering “bad” believes that using the technology low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in collaboration with AstraZeneca levels in patients at high risk of could lead to the discovery of a heart disease. But pharmaceutical drug that complements the use of companies have had less success statins in patients at high risk for “There have been at developing drugs that address heart disease. “ There have been many many attempts to other imbalances in patients’ compounds lipid profiles, such as elevated attempts to find compounds that find that are able to triglyceride levels and low HDL are able to activate LPL, but it’s not activate LPL, but cholesterol levels. easily done,” Nilsson tells DDNews. it’s not easily Previous research has shown “What we’ve done is unique, and done,” says Stefan that people with low levels of now by working with AstraZeneca Nilsson, CEO of LPL are more likely to have we will be able to screen one- Lipigon. “What such imbalances. No drugs have hundredfold more compounds we’ve done is unique, and now been developed, however, that than we have capacity for on our by working with effectively and safely target the own.” AstraZeneca we enzyme as a means of lowering LPL, which is found mostly in will be able to triglyceride levels and raising fatty tissue and in muscles, plays screen onea central role in breaking down hundredfold more levels of HDL cholesterol. Lipigon’s goal is to discover a prophylactic fat into energy for immediate use compounds than we have capacity drug that accomplishes this. by the body. When triglycerides for on our own.” “The ideal outcome would be a accumulate in the blood as small lipid droplets after eating, they are too large drug that can treat both low HDL and high to be absorbed by cells. LPL cleaves the fatty triglycerides,” says Nilsson. Lipigon has identified a number of comtails from the triglycerides to produce free fatty acids for use by the body. The surfaces of the pounds that it believes to hold the potential fatty droplets combine to form the components for such a drug and has examined these comof high-density lipoprotein (HDL), sometimes pounds in academic studies. “We’ve shown these compounds to be quite referred to as “good” cholesterol. A drug that targets LPL has the potential powerful, and we got good data from in-vivo to offer a new approach to the treatment models,” says Nilsson. “This created interest LPL partnerships,” Pope notes. “We expect at least two partnerships out of eight winners last year. Out of the targets selected in 2013, we have been finding compounds that can provide new insights even if the project doesn’t move forward into a drug discovery program. Compelling targets may not be realistic, but the program helps academics to know that and move on to other projects. It’s a great way to maximize resources for translational research.” In 2014, 14 winning proposals were selected from 428 entries in 26 countries across North America and Europe. These proposals covered a wide range of approaches and disease areas, from searching for new antibiotics or antivirals to discovering new treatments for cardiovascular and kidney diseases. As Pope explains, the starting point of the process is a website where people submit a non-confidential proposal. From the outset, GSK makes it clear that it is trying to facilitate the “legalese” involved in intellectual property issues by setting forth an agreement that is “simple and that sets the stage for a potential partnership,” he said. External experts review and score the proposals, internal roundtables analyze them and 20 finalists are chosen. At that point, GSK asks the institution for a confidentiality agreement and assigns a mentor from GSK to the project. “Then there are face-to-face meetings with internal experts who serve as a judging panel and provide feedback,” Pope continues. “This has been described as an enjoyable and useful process even for non-winners. Finally, there is the selection process with a very high bar.” Because there are more than 100 academic drug discovery centers in the United States GlaxoSmithKline expects at least two partnerships to arise out of the eight winners of the 2013 Fast Track Challenge. The most recent challenge yielded 14 winning proposals. alone, Pope thought that “ideas would be more or less ready to go.” GSK learned that some had not moved forward in terms of high-throughout screening or other areas of practical development. “There’s always a compelling story and an able academic to move the process forward, and that’s why we take on the work of making it happen.” Pope concludes: “We’re doing this to create new medicines with the sense that building partnerships on the strengths of both academics and companies who can commercialize their ideas is a powerful proposition. Direct word-of-mouth builds the ability to open doors and let academics know that we’re scientists and drug hunters who bring capabilities and resources to their projects.” n EDITCONNECT: E011507 “This is an exciting opportunity where a small Swedish biotech company with an innovative approach complements AstraZeneca’s research in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Lipigon is internationally recognized for their scientific knowledge and technological know-how in a challenging area.” Marcus Schindler, vice-president of AstraZeneca’s Innovative Medicines unit in our company from pharmaceuticals and led to our partnership with AstraZeneca.” Nilsson tells DDNews that a drug that targets LPL could be used in some patients to complement statins. “This would be a perfect complement for use with high-risk patients who are already on statin treatment,” he says. “This is important because statins in combination with other conventional treatments only prevent about 25 percent of heart attacks.” The terms of the agreement call for the companies to use Lipigon’s screening platform to develop a high-throughput assay that identifies molecules that promote stabilization of LPL. “We’ve screened 17,500 compounds on our own, so the ultimate goal is to screen AstraZeneca’s compound library that includes a couple million,” says Nilsson. “That will give us a much greater chance of finding compounds that are even more efficient and more drugable than what we have right now.” Lipigon, which has already sent scientists to AstraZeneca to begin work, is receiving upfront payment in addition to milestone payments from the pharmaceutical company. “This is an exciting opportunity where a small Swedish biotech company with an innovative approach complements AstraZeneca’s research in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases,” says Marcus Schindler, vice president of AstraZeneca’s Innovative Medicines unit. “Lipigon is internationally recognized for their scientific knowledge and technological know-how in a challenging area.” Throughout its partnership with AstraZeneca, Lipigon will continue to explore the potential of compounds affecting LPL that it has already discovered on its own. “We want to work on the compounds we’ve found on our own so that we have all options available in terms of capital investment,” Nilsson tells DDNews. n EDITCONNECT: E011505 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com AUTISM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 affected children and unrelated individuals, which resulted in a multitude of new genes linked with ASD. Where until recently only nine genes have been closely linked to autism risk, this study nearly quadrupled the number of genes definitively associated with autism to 33. More than 70 additional likely ASD genes were also identified, with each one mutated in more than 5 percent of autistic individuals. The researchers used DNA sequencing techniques that can determine the order of the genetic “letters” in DNA to reveal variations, with whole-exome sequencing utilized as well. “The steps we added to our analysis over past studies provide the most complete theoretical picture to date of how many genetic changes pile up to affect the brains of children with autism. Beyond autism, we think this work will yield insights into what makes us social beings,” said Dr. Joseph D. Buxbaum, professor of psychiatry, neuroscience and genetics and genomic sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and director of the Seaver Autism Center. This study found that three pathways required for healthy development are linked to increased autism risk when mutations are present. One of the key discoveries for this study was the association discovered between autism risk and mutations in genes responsible for controlling chromatin remodeling, which plays a key role in DNA processes. “What was novel was that we saw for the first time, on large scale, that chromatin remodeling is a major area for autism risk. DISCOVERY Synaptic formation and turnover happens over our lifetime, but chromatin remodeling is especially important in development,” says Buxbaum, who, along with Dr. Mark J. Daly, co-director of the Program in Medical and Population Genetics at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, is senior author of the study. Along those lines, one of the groups of genes this study has linked to autism codes for an enzyme that regulates histones by attaching or removing methyl groups to one of their building blocks, thereby influencing when certain genes are turned on or off. This aligns with the theory that these mechanisms are altered in autism, with the result that developing brain cells might not mature, divide or migrate in the same way. Other variations were seen in genes that govern synapses, as well as in another group of genes that regulate basic steps that turn genes into proteins. While past studies regarding genetic autism risk have focused only on de-novo loss-of-function mutations, this Nature study examined inherited and de-novo loss-of-function mutations, as well as de-novo missense mutations, in which a protein is present but does not work properly. “Until now, nobody’s looked formally at missense mutations. So we’re able to show very clearly that missense mutations, the more deleterious ones, are a major part of risk and actually can be equally deleterious as the loss-of-function mutations,” Buxbaum tells DDNews. “While we have very strong findings in these genetic analyses, newfound genetic discoveries must next be moved into molecu- The scope of a recent study on autism genetics is thanks to the Autism Sequencing Consortium, originally funded by the Beatrice and Samuel A. Seaver Foundation and the Seaver Autism Center within the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Pictured here is Mount Sinai Hospital, which is affiliated with Icahn. lar, cell and animal studies to realize future benefits for families,” he adds. “A study like this creates an industry for years to come, with labs worldwide checking the brain changes linked to each new genetic finding and searching for drugs to counter them.” Another recent Nature study shed further light on autism risk and the contribution genetic mutations play in that sphere. The study, “The contribution of de novo coding mutations to autism spectrum disorder,” was co-led by investigators from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Yale University, the Uni- EARLY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 collaboration partner to the pharma and biotech industry as well as academia.” This collaboration will entail a minimum guaranteed commitment from Sanofi to Evotec of €250 million (approximately $309.5 million) over the next five years, including an upfront cash payment to be defined in the agreement. The initiative will also include a co-development agreement with associated upfront, development, regulatory and sales milestones, in addition to royalties that will benefit both parties. This deal is expected to be signed in the first half of 2015, subject to finalization of the definitive agreements and completion of the appropriate social process. A key part of the deal involves Evotec taking over Sanofi’s Toulouse-based research and development operations—in 2012, those operations were threatened with closure to cut costs, though pressure from the French government and trade unions prevented such closure from taking place. “Open innovation is a key driver of Sanofi’s strategy. We believe Evotec will be an ideal partner, a company that fits our quality expectations and our strategic vision. Our collaboration will secure the future for our employees in Toulouse and importantly accelerate our pipeline productivity,” Dr. Elias Zerhouni, president of global R&D for Sanofi, commented in a statement. Within the three strategic initiatives, one will consist of pipeline-building, in which Sanofi and Evotec will collaborate on selected preclinical development projects with a focus on oncology and potential Cure X/Target X initiatives. Typically, that will feature The collaboration between Sanofi (pictured here) and Evotec will entail a minimum guaranteed commitment from Sanofi to Evotec of more than $309 million over the next five years. Evotec accelerating projects to the point of clinical development candidates, at which point Sanofi may take over development and commercialization. Evotec will license a portfolio of projects from Sanofi, including five preclinical projects in oncology that the companies will jointly progress to the IND stage before potential partnering. Additionally, Evotec will continue expanding its Cure X/Target X business model, an initiative that Sanofi will fund through a commitment to Evotec’s scouting strategy over the course of the agreements. Sanofi could also provide support for individual projects that progress through this program. In addition, Evotec will expand its capabilities by acquiring Sanofi’s drug discovery operations in Toulouse, a small-molecule discovery site with more than 200 scientists. Evotec’s expanded JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 9 capabilities will cover the early-stage discovery and preclinical process from screening to medicinal chemistry. In conjunction with these initiatives, the companies will be combining their small-molecule libraries to make them available for screening to Evotec’s partners. Sanofi’s library, established on its Toulouse site, has over one million compounds, greatly boosting Evotec’s library of more than 400,000 compounds. Evotec will screen the libraries against collaborators’ and partners’ targets under pre-agreed upon terms, from which Sanofi will receive a contribution if a product is developed from a library hit. “We are very proud that Sanofi has chosen Evotec for this significant alliance,” Dr. Werner Lanthaler, CEO of Evotec, said in a press release. “This collaboration is a major milestone in the drug discovery space and accelerates Evotec’s versity of Washington and the University of California, San Francisco. The researchers report that based on their work, at least 30 percent of all autism cases are the result of de-novo mutations—and that is likely a conservative estimate. There are three major contributors to that number: missense mutations, likely gene-disrupting (LGD) mutations and large-scale copy number variations. Missense mutations were noted as the cause of 12 percent of autism cases, and LGD mutations as the cause of 9 percent. n EDITCONNECT: E011506 strategy to become the leading drug discovery partner to the pharma and biotech industry as well as academia. We will warmly welcome the Sanofi employees to the Evotec Group and look forward to working with them.” In other early-stage news for Evotec, announced a couple weeks after the Sanofi deal, the company noted it achieved multiple milestones in ongoing alliances with strategic research partners. The milestones were reached in its multi-target collaboration with Bayer HealthCare in endometriosis and in its partnership with Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. for the EVT100 series for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) diseases. These milestones trigger revenues of approximately €8 million (about $9.7 million), which Evotec says will be recognized in fiscal 2014. In its collaboration with Bayer, Evotec reached important milestones for the transition of certain molecules into preclinical development for the treatment of endometriosis. These milestones were achieved under the agreement between Evotec and Bayer signed in October 2012. The goal of this collaboration is to identify three clinical candidates within the five-year alliance. According to Evotec, “Both parties contribute innovative drug targets and high-quality technology infrastructures and share the responsibility for early research and preclinical characterization of potential clinical candidates in the disease area of endometriosis.” In its collaboration with Janssen on a NR2B subtype selective NMDA-antagonist portfolio for development against CNS diseases, Evotec said merely that it had “reached an important validation milestone for a new compound.” n EDITCONNECT: E011503 10 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 EDITORIAL For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com Making a big deal of mergers O he noted, “The accelerated pace of activity this NE OF THE CHALLENGES of being year is an acknowledgement that companies a monthly news-based magazine can’t generate adequate growth through internal is that, sometimes, things fall development of their own pipelines” and that through the cracks. Well, not they are looking not just for potentially valuable exactly; sometimes they just pipeline-boosters, but also for companies don’t get into the niche you might have wanted. that are synergistic with their own goals and philosophies. Back in mid-November came the Looking at the Actavis-Allergan news that Actavis had announced deal, Zacks Investment Research a definitive agreement by which it wrote, “The addition of several would acquire Allergan in a deal blockbuster therapeutic franchises worth approximately $66 billion, will boost Actavis’ North American serving as the rescuer for Allergan, Specialty Brands business which had been fending off an significantly … the combined unsolicited—and unwanted—offer company will have three blockbuster from Valeant Pharmaceuticals. f r a n c h i s e s ( o p h t h a l m o l o g y, It was too late to shoehorn that neurosciences/CNS and medical story into the December print issue, Jeffrey Bouley, DDNews Chief Editor aesthetics/dermatology/plastic which was well underway, and by the time this January issue was being planned, surgery), each with annual revenues of more the news didn’t seem fresh enough to run on than $3 billion. Meanwhile, the specialty product the cover or in one of our news sections. Still, franchises (gastroenterology, cardiovascular, $66 billion is a mighty large number, and the women’s health, urology and infectious disease) story bears mentioning in some form in print, will have combined revenues of about $4 billion.” Still, it remains to be seen whether that $66 so why not here? (We did cover the story on our website, and you can read it by searching for the billion will pay off handsomely in the long run. Editconnect number, which is E11201401.) In And while other deals weren’t so big, they also fact, this “Editor’s Focus” isn’t the only place it’s raise concerns that—at least in some cases— mentioned. In our Finance & Markets section too much might be getting spent on the as-yetthis issue, on page 4, G. Steven Burrill, CEO of unrealized promise of payoffs. For example, in an M&A story that appears Burrill Media, notes that not only did the deal help push 2014 merger and acquisition (M&A) on the cover of this issue, Merck & Co. decided activity to clearly record levels, but also that to strike a deal to buy Cubist Pharmaceuticals it signals a more competitive environment in Inc. in a transaction valued at around $9.5 which a lot of companies with money to spend billion ($8.4 billion upfront and assumption or financing they can access are trying to gobble of more than a billion in debt). Both investors up valuable assets that they didn’t develop. As and analysts have expressed concern that Merck BY JEFFREY BOULEY may have paid too much, perhaps by as much as $3 billion. That may not seem like much in comparison to the Actavis/Allergan deal, but it matters. This is an industry where no therapeutic or diagnostic is guaranteed to win approval and make it to market, and the costs are high. As Forbes noted in an August 2013 article, 66 of 98 companies studied launched just one drug over the previous decade, and that was at a median cost per drug of $350 million—more startling was that for companies that approve more drugs, the costs rose drastically until it hit $5.5 billion for companies that have brought to market between eight and 13 medicines over a decade. In more recent data in November 2014, the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development estimated that drug makers can expect to spend more than $2.5 billion over a decade before winning approval to sell a new prescription medicine. The rewards are high, both for blockbuster drugs that serve large patient populations and very expensive niche drugs for rare diseases. But the costs are getting higher, too, and only time will tell if that is money well spent. n JE SUIS CHARLIE... As this issue went to press, French satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” had just a couple days before been the victim of a deadly attack by extremists who apparently wished to make a violent statement about the publication’s use of free speech. As a journalistic vehicle ourselves, we stand in unity with others who put the pen and keyboard to use around the world, whether politically, satirically, informationally or otherwise. Our hearts go out to the victims, their loved ones and their associates. Out of Order: Substance over volume W BY RANDALL C WILLIS HEN YOU MEET SOMEONE who does not speak your language, there is a cliché response of talking louder to make yourself understood. There is something within many of us that says if we simply pump up the volume, we can overcome the disconnect. A couple of months ago, Tufts University released their latest estimates for the average cost of developing a new drug: $2.6 billion (I’ve seen estimates up to $5 billion). Eleven years ago, the same group calculated the costs at $0.8 billion. Now, every time these estimates arise, the hand-wringing begins over how the costs were calculated, which factors make sense and which are over-reaching. What no one seems to argue, however, is that drugs are less expensive to develop today than they were a decade ago. So what has this to do with speaking louder? The same period has seen amazing technological achievements designed to facilitate and accelerate drug discovery and development. Combinatorial chemistry was heralded as a way to expand compound libraries from hundreds to hundreds of thousands. Highthroughput and high-content screening, as well as miniaturization and automation, were lauded as ways to screen all of these compounds faster under the paradigm of “fail early, fail often.” And given the masses of data these technologies would churn out, the informatics revolution was supposed to convert data into knowledge and knowledge into healthcare. And yet, for all of these improvements in efficiency with throughput hasn’t improved throughput, I question whether we have seen our precision at the cost of our accuracy. If you ask the wrong question, all of the much improvement in the number throughput in the world won’t get or quality of drugs being produced. you closer to the right answer. We certainly haven’t made them less In researching the DDNews expensive. Special Reports over the last couple Please understand, I don’t place of years, I have spoken at length any fault in the technologies. These to several pharma and biotech are truly marvels of engineering. specialists about this topic, and Rather, I question the applications many feel that the industrialization and expectations of the technologies. of drug discovery and development Almost two years ago, GSK has underwhelmed if not outright CEO Andrew Witty told a London Randall C Willis failed. Several have suggested it healthcare conference: “It’s entirely achievable that we can improve the efficiency is time to step back and learn to ask better of the industry and pass that forward in terms questions of our technologies. But getting back to the costs issue. of reduced prices.” I know many will rightly point out that the The pivotal question here, I believe, is how largest expense comes from clinical trials. To one defines efficiency. I wonder how many people simply felt address this challenge, new technologies and economies of scale would improve discovery, methodologies are being developed to get the much as mass production made Henry Ford a most useful information out of the smallest rich man. But drugs are not cars, and where patient populations. Here again, however, no one segment of the throughput and scale make sense when you have a fully characterized end product, they have drug development process stands in isolation, and I think back to the compounds reaching the their limitations during exploration. When I was a protein biochemist in an NMR clinic and question the expense of incremental structural biology lab, I spent some time trying improvements. Oncolytics CEO Brad Thompson discussed to wrap my head around two concepts: precision and accuracy. A 3-Å protein structure is very the challenge in Cancer in the Clinic (June 2014 precise, but if the structure isn’t truly reflective DDNews). “If you could double [overall survival], you of what happens in nature, it is meaningless. A 30-Å protein structure is much less precise, but could show that in a couple of hundred patients. if it is more accurate, more in tune with nature, If you want to do a 10-percent improvement, you’re talking thousands of patients to do it to then it is likely more useful. By comparison, I wonder if our zeal to equate ORDER CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 www.DDN-News.com PUBLISHER Bruce Poorman [email protected] ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Laurence Doyle [email protected] EDITORIAL Jeffrey Bouley, Chief Editor [email protected] Lloyd Dunlap, Managing Editor [email protected] Kelsey Kaustinen, Senior Editor [email protected] FEATURES EDITOR Randall C Willis CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Zack Anchors, Jim Cirigliano, Lori Lesko, Ilene Schneider ADVERTISING NORTHEAST Michael Stack 1127 Kristin Drive, Suite 100 Libertyville, IL 60048 847.922.1799 TEL [email protected] MIDWEST/MIDATLANTIC Ryan King 1900 N. 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Target-based research, with its large investments and reliance on HE CELL-BASED ASSAY arena different ‘omics, has shown limited output, has become highly prevalent with the number of new chemical entities due to the serious, major and significantly decreased. Calorimetry, and especially IMC, has mounting medical challenges some unique properties that facing healthcare link high-throughput screening internationally—both financial and primary screens to in-vivo in the field of drug development results. IMC, being a continuous and curative in the arena of and nondestructive technology, antibiotic resistance. Calorimetry allows the study of disease is a mature technique, available models from 2D to 3D to tissue, in a modern 3D holistic format, paving the way for cost efficiency that provides the answers to a and better predictability in drug number of some of these critical development. challenges. Magnus Jansson of Novel cell-based assays Measurement of the total SymCel Sverige AB with better predictive power metabolic response of a biological system is a true time- and cost-efficient link target binding potential to the true complement to existing assays and a highly phenotype response of the organism, the human. Calorimetry is unique in that it is valuable proposition. completely independent of cell morphology Power and metabolic activity and media composition. Most cell-based assays are limited to All living cells produce heat through chemical and physical processes. By monitoring specific growth media or 2D cell cultures heat flow over time (J/s or W), significant Calorimetry assays can be run using information is obtained regarding biological conventional 2D cell growth and various systems. Calorimetry-based assays represent types of 3D cell models on matrices or true measurements of the cellular phenotypic synthetic tissue models, as well as tissue response. Any changes in nutrient status, the samples directly from donors. IMC increases environment or external stimuli are reflected the value of the assays, as it is not necessary in the metabolic status of the living cell, which to know the timeframe for a cellular event. is directly monitored by the calorimetric Additionally, postexperimental analysis of assay. Isothermal microcalorimetry (IMC) protein and RNA levels can be performed. These properties make IMC extremely is specific due to the fact that samples are kept at a constant temperature during the relevant for studying disease models from 2D to 3D to tissue. Furthermore, it is also course of experiments. possible to apply whole-body calorimetry to Calorimetry: A specific correlate between in-vitro models and in-vivo footprint of cellular events results, especially in metabolic research, IMC provides the potential for rapid where energy expenditure is key. identification and quantification as it measures the total metabolic status and IMC: An open platform that response of a cellular system. This makes IMC changes scientific development a true phenotype assay with the benefit that Open platform solutions face strong demand, very little information is required about the especially at the higher end of the assay system to be studied. Faster results in drug market. Expensive lab equipment, usable discovery and cell research are generated due for more than one assay type, presents a to the fact that there is no need to know the better and more cost-effective use of scarce pathways or receptors involved in a process. resources than existing, highly specialized, Consequently, novel systems can be studied locked-in equipment. IMC is a very open directly, leading to quicker results in drug platform and its sole limitation is the discovery and cell research. creativity of the scientist, not the technology. IMC is a continuous measurement and The development of novel antibiotic the power over time curve is comparable to substances is a prime example, in which IMC a specific footprint for the cellular events can easily be adapted for novel compound involved. For example, the power curves are testing. The same IMC can then be utilized to different for necrosis and apoptosis, and the evaluate cellular toxicity for lead compounds effects of different compounds can thus be on mammalian cell cultures. classified based on the “kinetic” profile of a specific compound. For prokaryotes, there Applications: Metabolic drug discovery are different growth patterns for different Energy expenditure assays are used in species and for different nutritional status. metabolic disease drug discovery, but they This can potentially be used for rapid are not limited to this field. It is clear that identification and quantification. IMC has direct advantages for metabolic drug development since the kinetic profiling 3D potential: Holistic approaches and of the cellular metabolism makes it possible a new dawn for drug discovery to distinguish between different cellular Genotype-based research, complemented events. IMC is also well suited for finding with phenotype results, is an important and distinguishing between apoptotic and research direction in drug discovery that is necrotic mechanisms and grouping antibody replacing the previous focus on target-based behavior-based killing kinetics and efficacy. BY MAGNUS JANSSON, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC T OFFICER OF SYMCEL SVERIGE AB Antibiotic resistance The medical/pharmaceutical world is facing an enormous challenge to rapidly develop novel antibiotic classes. IMC can easily be used to quantify the effects of novel antibiotics on bacterial viability and growth. Closedampule IMC captures basic pharmacologic information, e.g., minimum inhibitory concentration of an antibiotic needed to stop growth of a given organism. Also, it can simultaneously provide dynamic growth parameters—lag time and maximum growth rate. IMC provides a rapid, cost-efficient development scheme for novel antibiotics. Antiparasite drugs With IMC, it is possible to use whole intact organisms, thereby providing a novel tool for antiparasite drug development. Parasites of the Helmint type easily fit in modern, highthroughput IMC, and the drug efficacy can be tested on the whole organism. Manual input is minimal compared to the current microscopy assays used. Bacteriological disease control IMC can be used as a diagnostics tool in the field of bacteriological disease control. This is because IMC has very high sensitivity to rapidly detect slow-growing organisms, such as in tuberculosis, generating considerable time and cost savings. In the future, when personalized medicine has matured, IMC will potentially be used in prescreening for the treatment of diseases like leukemia. The direct drug effect can be studied in individual patient material prior to treatment with minimal lag, increasing the likelihood of a successful treatment scheme. Ease of working with IMC Novel technological developments now make IMC more adaptable to cell biology research. The combined benefits of increased throughput; presterilized, cell growthcompatible disposables; higher sensitivity; and decreased use of cells and chemicals, combined with easier data interpretation, are too important to disregard. Together with outstanding cost efficiency, this positions IMC as a state-of-the-art technology and increases the IMC-based assay usage in cell biology research. Conclusion Isothermal microcalorimetry-based cell assays provide multiple advantages, especially given that all living cells produce metabolic heat. There is a now great deal of valuable information available in heat which previously wasn’t given much weight due to old perceptions and a complete lack of tools. IMC is a label-free technology that is sensitive, fast and low-cost, continuously provides important time-resolved data, is nondestructive, has few limits in morphology other than size and is nonspecific. Furthermore, by carefully designing and posing the right questions in each study, IMC is no different than any other type of assay. In conclusion, isothermal calorimetry complements a wide number of cell-based assays, from manual microscopic inspection to oxygen consumption and capacitance measurements. The only limit to possible application areas is creativity. Recent advances in equipment make calorimetry more accessible for the cell environmentalist. The holistic approach, in which 3D cultures and phenotype response are poised to provide predictable models, requires novel tools. Calorimetry should now be thought of as label-free cell monitoring. Essentially, calorimetry is a good complement to the many current trends in drug discovery and prioritized research areas. Indeed, cell-based assays can now be performed on a versatile and adaptable platform that provides considerably more information with significantly less effort. Calorimetry has arrived. n REFERENCES 1.Manneck, T.; Braissant, O. et al. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2011 Apr, 49(4), 1217-25; doi: 10.1128/JCM.02382-10; Epub 2011 Jan 26. 2.Kirchhofer, C.; Vargas, M. Acta Trop. 2011 Apr, 118(1), 56-62; doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2011.02.003; Epub 2011 Feb 21. 3.Global tuberculosis report 2013. WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: 1. Tuberculosis— epidemiology. 2. Tuberculosis, Pulmonary—prevention and control. 3. Tuberculosis—economics. 4. Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant. 5. Annual reports. I. World Health Organization. ISBN 978 92 4 156465 6. 4.Howell, M.; Wirz, D. et al. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2012 Jan, 50(1):16-20; doi: 10.1128/JCM.05556-11; Epub 2011 Nov 16. 5.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isothermal_ microcalorimetry. 6.Braissant, O.; Wirz, D. et al. Sensors (Basel) 2010, 10(10), 9369-83; doi: 10.3390/s101009369; Epub 2010 Oct 18. ORDER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 the statistical level that everybody would prefer to see. How do you run a study like that?” That is a huge difference in financial expenditure that begs the question is an efficacy improvement of just 10 percent of value. From an individual patient perspective, assuredly. From a pharmacoeconomic perspective, maybe not, and particularly with the growing prevalence of high-cost targeted biologics. Maybe we need to aim for bigger improvements before moving candidates forward, which happens long before the clinic. Again, I’m not placing blame. The history of any industry is filled with experimentation in different methodologies and technologies. Everyone involved had the best of intentions. But after a couple of decades of middling results, perhaps it is time to question how and when many of these advancements are applied. Simply yelling at a higher volume doesn’t seem to be enough. n The opinions expressed in guest commentaries do not necessarily represent those of DDNews and/or its owners, editors or other staff. 12 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT Codexis demonstrates proof of concept for PKU therapy REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—Codexis Inc. has developed a novel enzyme therapeutic product candidate for the potential treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU) via oral administration. In PKU, the enzyme that converts phenylalanine into tyrosine is deficient, causing phenylalanine to accumulate in high levels in the brain, which leads to severe neurological problems. Studies conducted in an animal model of PKU demonstrated proof of concept for the product candidate, which, when introduced into the stomach of animal models, resulted in decreased blood phenylalanine levels. Codexis has filed patent applications covering the composition of matter for its enzymes and their use in treating PKU, and is seeking partners to advance the development of the PKU program. Preclinical studies for the enzyme therapeutic candidate are expected to begin next year. Horizon inks supply and licensing deal with Adarza CAMBRIDGE, U.K & ST. LOUIS—An exclusive license and supply agreement was announced between Horizon Discovery Group plc and Adarza BioSystems Inc. that grants Horizon the exclusive right to supply services on Adarza’s multiplex immunoassay technology, Arrayed Imaging Reflectometry. Under this agreement, Horizon has exclusive rights to offer research services using Adarza’s platform, and next year, Horizon will launch a portfolio of products that can detect between 100 and 400 analytes and will offer custom assay development on the platform. “We are delighted to be working with one of the world’s fastest-growing life-science companies dedicated to driving forward the fields of gene editing and translational genomics. The agreement with Horizon validates Adarza’s disruptive technology platform and allows us to leverage Horizon’s worldclass sales and marketing network to bring the technology to market sooner and much more broadly than we could alone,” said Dr. Preston Keller, Adarza’s vice president of business development. IN THIS SECTION Efficacy/Toxicity Preferred tox partner............................... 12 HIV/AIDS Nanofiber vs. HIV..................................... 14 Immunoassay technology Horizon inks supply and licensing deal with Adarza..................................... 12 Microbiome Focus on the microbiome........................ 12 Oncology/Nanomedicines Joint R&D on Accurins............................ 12 Phenylketonuria Codexis demonstrates proof of concept for PKU therapy..................... 12 PREFERRED TOX PARTNER MicroMatrices enters partnership agreement for use of ACD’s RNAscope technology BY ILENE SCHNEIDER DUNDEE, U.K.—MicroMatrices, a service provider specializing in high-resolution cell type-specific analysis to characterize toxicological responses in different cell types in tissue, has entered a preferred partnership agreement with Advanced Cell Diagnostics Inc. (ACD), a leader in the field of molecular pathology and developer of cell- and tissuebased analysis tools. MicroMatrices solves molecular toxicological problems using visualization and localization technologies, adding resolving power to standard methodologies. The company specializes in immunohistochemistry staining and has recently become expert in the use of ACD’s RNAscope technology to detect RNA based biomarkers in situ. According to the companies, this has resulted in expertise in combined protein/RNA co-detection and co- localization to offer clients an exceptional target visualization capacity that can guide and/or corroborate mechanistic and mode of action studies. In recognition of MicroMatrices’ extensive experience in applying RNAscope in preclinical toxicology investigations for safety and efficacy, ACD has begun a preferred partnership program for the provision and/or development of preclinical applications of RNAscope Technology. ACD and MicroMatrices first met in 2012 at the Society for Toxicology (SOT) meeting in San Francisco, when both companies were within their first one or two years of operation. When Simon Plummer, managing director of MicroMatrices, visited the ACD exhibition at the SOT ToxExpo, he “quickly recognized the power of ACD’s RNAscope technology and saw how it could significantly enhance existing visualization technologies used in preclinical toxicology investigations.” As Plummer explains, “Over the past two years, this early assessment has been proven to be correct. RNAscope technology has played a central role in the services MicroMatrices TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY CREDIT: BIND THERAPEUTICS BRIEFS Accurins represent the next stage in the evolution of targeted therapies and nanomedicine, according to BIND Therapeutics. Accurin nanoparticles are designed to encapsulate cancer-killing drugs in a biodegradable polymer shell and bring them specifically to cancer cells, while avoiding healthy ones. BY LORI LESKO CAMBRIDGE, Mass.— Biotech company BIND Therapeutics Inc. has entered into a joint research offers to its clients in the chemical/pharmaceutical industries and has helped to guide and/or corroborate many significant mechaTOX CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 Focus on the microbiome MIT partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital, other institutions to foster regional ecosystem for rapidly evolving field BY LLOYD DUNLAP CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Although perhaps not top of mind for and development agreement with New Jersey-based pharma giant Merck & Co. to discover and develop novel nanomedicines for oncology and expand the company’s pipeline with at least two new clinical candidates. The financial terms are not being disclosed, but BIND is expected to pay for research up through early-stage human testing, and if Merck takes over, it most researchers, more than 90 percent of the genes in our bodies do not come from our own cells. Instead, the vast majority of this genetic material is found within the trillions of microorganisms that call our bodies home. Collectively known as the microbiome, these communities of bacteria and other microbes play a significant role in the functioning of the digestive tract, immune system, skin and other body systems. In recent years, the microbiome has attracted increasing attention for its role in health and disease. Recently, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) announced the launch of the Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics, a new interdisciplinary center dedicated to advancing the understanding of the microbiome’s role in human biology and harnessing this knowledge to develop treatments for related illnesses. With an expendable $25-million fund to support research and operations for the first five years, the center will fuel ACCURIN CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 MICRO CONTINUED ON PAGE 15 Joint R&D on Accurins BIND and Merck collaborate on developing nanomedicines for oncology, pipeline expansion “Essentially MicroMatrices, through its partner Aquila Histoplex, will be able to provide preclinical applications of RNAscope to clients seeking to assess mechanistic and mode of action studies, as well as aid target validation,” says Barry Lynch, regional sales director at Advanced Cell Diagnostics. For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com TOX CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 nistic and mode-of-action studies, as well as aid target validation.” He adds, “The power and versatility of RNAscope has been an invaluable tool to enable us to solve mode of action/efficacy/toxicity challenges for our clients in the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and chemical industries. We are delighted to be partnering with ACD to promote the wider application of RNAscope technology in preclinical safety/drug development problem solving for our collaborators.” The preferred partnership between the two companies has been established as a practical and reciprocal marketing strategy that enables ACD to add value to its product portfolio by linking with MicroMatrices, a company that has extensive experience in applying RNAscope within preclinical toxicological investigations. Likewise, the partnership with ACD will raise awareness within a wider customer base of the powerful, inno- “The power and versatility of RNAscope has been an invaluable tool to enable us to solve mode of action/ efficacy/toxicity challenges for our clients in the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and chemical industries.” Simon Plummer, managing director of MicroMatrices vative investigative approaches to safety/efficacy questions MicroMatrices can offer, according to Plummer. ACD’s RNAscope assays represent a major technological advance for in-situ RNA detection. For the first time, the company says, robust single RNA molecule detection is available for formalin-fixed, paraffinembedded tissue, offering quantitative molecular detection with morphological context in a single assay. Since their commercialization three years ago, these assays have been adopted across the globe by major pharma biotech companies and leading research institutions for drug discovery, translational research and the development of clinical and companion diagnostic tests. According to Barry Lynch, regional sales director at ACD, “Essentially MicroMatrices, through its partner Aquila Histoplex, will be able to provide preclinical applications of RNAscope to clients seeking to assess mechanistic and mode of action studies, as well as aid target validation.” RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 13 “ACD has established high-quality performance standards through RNAscope products and services, and MicroMatrices is known for quality, service and expertise in the drug development community. As ACD’s install base is growing very rapidly in Europe, MicroMatrices is an ideal partner not only to extend our reach but also to solidify our commitment in service quality.” Dr. Steve Chen, chief operating officer of ACD “ACD has established high-quality performance standards through RNAscope products and services, and MicroMatrices is known for quality, service and expertise in the drug development community,” according to Dr. Steve Chen, chief operating officer of ACD. “As ACD’s install base is growing very rapidly in Europe, MicroMatrices is an ideal partner not only to extend our reach but also to solidify our commitment in service quality.” Both companies say that the part- nership is open-ended. Plummer believes that there is commercial potential for both companies in the partnership: ACD should tap into new markets as its technologies are taken up for use in preclinical safety applications, and MicroMa- trices stands to benefit by virtue of the recognition offered to its track record/expertise in executing these applications, which it can offer to new clients on either a contract or consultancy basis. n EDITCONNECT: E011508 RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT 14 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 ACCURIN CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 Dr. Bi-Botti Youan and his colleagues at the University of Missouri (pictured here) developed a nanofiber-based delivery system designed to stop HIV transmission through the vaginal mucosa. Nanofiber vs. HIV Novel nanofiber-based technology developed at University of Missouri could help prevent HIV/AIDS transmission BY JEFFREY BOULEY SAN DIEGO—The American Asso- ciation of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) signaled what could be a breakthrough in fighting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection when it announced that its 2014 AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition in November would feature a research presentation related to the development of a novel topical microbicide loaded with hyaluronic acid (HA) nanofibers that could potentially prevent transmission of HIV through the vaginal mucosa. HIV, the AAPS notes, is an infectious virus that attacks T lymphocytes, and over time, HIV dramatically depletes the body’s T cell population, leaving the body defenseless against opportunistic pathogens. Estimates are that some 1.2 million people aged 13 years and older are living with HIV infection in the United States alone, including more than 180,000 who are unaware that they have the virus. To date, of course, there is no functional cure for HIV infection or the condition AIDS that results from it. Currently available anti-HIV drug delivery methods are formulated as gels and suppositories, the AAPS notes, but can lack appropriate vaginal retention, are prone to medicine leakage and may cause uncomfortable wetness. To address these issues, Dr. Bi-Botti Youan and his colleagues at the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Pharmacy developed an anti-HIV drug loaded onto a mucoadhesive HA nanofiber delivery system. The idea behind this delivery system is that it will offer a “triggered release” upon exposure to semen fluid during sexual intercourse, thus preventing HIV transmission through the vaginal mucosa. As the AAPS describes the study conducted at the University of Missouri, the researchers used an electrospinning method to prepare the nanofibers loaded with tenofovir, a topical anti-HIV compound. Both semen enzyme-dependent TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY HIV CONTINUED ON PAGE 15 “The success of vaginal drug delivery systems depends on the length of time that the drug-containing formulation remains at the site of administration. The mucoadhesive nanofibers developed in this study could be beneficial by causing much less discomfort and reducing the dosing frequency simultaneously due to their prolonged retention at the target site.” Dr. Bi-Botti Youan of the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Pharmacy will pay BIND a fee and then royalties on any drug sales. “This is an exciting and unique collaboration for BIND as it provides us with novel proprietary payloads to develop Accurin product candidates for our internal pipeline,” said Scott Minick, CEO of BIND, in a statement. “The structure of this agreement marks an advancement in our collaboration approach and demonstrates the strength of our leadership position in the field of nanomedicine.” The lynchpin of the partnership is BIND’s Accurin nanoparticles, which encapsulate cancerkilling drugs in a biodegradable polymer shell that can bring them specifically to cancer cells, while avoiding healthy ones. The two potential drugs from Merck to serve as the first two anticancer agents under the new agreement are both kinase inhibitors. For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com “Using our nanomedicine platform, we believe that an Accurin containing vincristine has the potential to overcome these liabilities and emerge as a potent and well-tolerated drug with utility across a broad range of tumor types. BIND-510 is designed to concentrate high levels of vincristine in tumors while limiting exposure to healthy tissue.” Scott Minick, CEO of BIND Therapeutics to overcome these liabilities and emerge as a potent and welltolerated drug with utility across a broad range of tumor types. BIND-510 is designed to concentrate high levels of vincristine in tumors while limiting exposure to healthy tissue.” “We are in the process of selecting the lead formulation of BIND-510 and initiating INDenabling tox studies and manu- “Merck is focused on exploring immuno-oncology and other promising pathways, and we look forward to combining compounds from our oncology portfolio with BIND’s nanomedicine technology platform.” Dr. Eric Rubin, vice president of clinical oncology for Merck Research Laboratories “To select our next product candidate, we evaluated a broad range of therapeutic payloads and targeting ligand combinations to identify Accurin product concepts that we believe would have a meaningful impact on cancer treatment,” Minick tells DDNews, describing the thought process behind BIND’S product strategy. “We selected PSMAtargeted vincristine as our lead candidate.” Vincristine is a clinically validated and highly potent vinca alkaloid microtubule-disrupting agent predominantly used in the CHOP chemotherapy regimen for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Minick explains. “While vincristine and the broader vinca alkaloid class are well established in both solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, their clinical utility in conventional form is limited by severe toxicities, specifically cumulative and sometimes irreversible neuropathy,” Minick says. “This limits the dose and duration of treatment, which prevents vincristine from achieving its full therapeutic potential across a broad range of tumor types. Using our nanomedicine platform, we believe that an Accurin containing vincristine has the potential facturing scale-up for an IND submission in 2016,” he adds. “We plan to develop BIND-510 in both solid and hematological malignancies, and will have more specifics on tumor types as we get closer to the IND filing.” Current treatment standards in oncology include many compounds that are prevented from achieving their full therapeutic potential due to on-target but off-tissue toxicities that limit the drug from achieving maximum therapeutic effectiveness, he notes, adding, “This is because tumor cells can be virtually identical to healthy cell types in many respects, including sensitivity toward cancer drugs. Our nanomedicine platform is designed to maximize the efficacy of highly potent compounds that can benefit from the ability of an Accurin to better distinguish between healthy and tumor tissue. By combining prolonged circulation, tumor targeting and controlled and timely release of the therapeutic payload, Accurins have the potential to significantly increase the clinical benefit, potentially resulting in efficacy and safety currently not achievable with conventional treatment standards.” Accurins increase the concentration and duration of a broad range of therapeutic payloads at disease sites when compared to payloads administered in conventional form, he says. In the near term, this agreement is unique for BIND because it enables the company to develop internal product candidates utilizing Merck-supplied pipeline molecules, one of which is a kinesin spindle protein (KSP) and the other of which is a pololike kinase 1 (PLK1). “Our collaboration with Merck represents a new type of agreement that provides us with access to innovative proprietary therapeutic payloads well suited to the Accurin platform,” Minick says. “Both KSP and PLK1 generated a great deal of excitement in the oncology community a few years ago as key regulators of cellular mitosis that are essential to the proliferation of cancer cells. PLK1 and KSP inhibitors showed strong promise preclinically, but not in the clinic due to toxicity issues.” The high potency and narrow therapeutic window of the Merck compounds make them excellent candidates for the Accurin technology, he adds, saying, “Based on Merck’s extensive preclinical data for both compounds and our unique technology, we believe that these promising antimitotic agents have the potential to become significant additions to the armamentarium of novel cancer therapies.” Overall, this agreement allows both companies to discover and develop novel nanomedicines for oncology by leveraging BIND’s proprietary technology for targeted Accurins and novel, potent payloads from Merck’s oncology pipeline. “We are pleased to collaborate with BIND Therapeutics to expand Merck’s active oncology discovery programs,” stated Dr. Eric Rubin, vice president of clinical oncology for Merck Research Laboratories, in a news release. “Merck is focused on exploring immuno-oncology and other promising pathways, and we look forward to combining compounds from our oncology portfolio with BIND’s nanomedicine technology platform.” n EDITCONNECT: E011509 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com MICRO CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 link to the microbiome, according to Alm: “Microbiome-based medicine is poised to revolutionize patient care for IBD and many other diseases in the gastrointestinal tract,” he says. “Our goal is to develop new treatment options— personalized to an individual’s microbiota and based on natural or engineered microorganisms— that have higher efficacy and fewer side effects than conventional drug treatments.” “ Today, low- cost genetic sequencing and high-powered computational methods give us an unprecedented ability to collect information about the human microbiome, but our ability to translate this data into usable knowledge is lagging behind,” says Arup K. Chakraborty, the Robert MIT (pictured here) will be home for the Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics, a joint effort with Massachusetts General Hospital to advance understanding of the microbiome’s role in human biology. The center will have three core functions: to advance the field by funding research proposals; to help individual research projects proceed more efficiently through shared services, such as a regional sample facility or support for regulatory compliance; and to draw new talent to microbiome research by promoting the field within the academic community. The center’s initial flagship project will focus on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Individuals with IBD, which includes conditions such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, suffer from chronic inflammation of the digestive tract and experience severe diarrhea, pain, fatigue and weight loss. IBD is known to have a strong JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 15 “Today, low-cost genetic sequencing and high-powered computational methods give us an unprecedented ability to collect information about the human microbiome, but our ability to translate this data into usable knowledge is lagging behind.” Arup K. Chakraborty, director of the MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science CREDIT: DRKENNETH collaborations at the junction of clinical practice, basic research, computational biology and engineering—critical disciplines for gathering and analyzing vast quantities of data related to the diverse types of bacteria within the human body and their interactions with each other and the body’s own cells and organs. The ultimate goal is to develop tools and techniques for treating diseases and conditions linked to an altered microbiome. The new center’s co-directors are Eric Alm, an associate professor of biological engineering at MIT, and Ramnik Xavier, chief of gastroenterology and director of the Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease at MGH. Under their guidance, the center will seek to develop a regional ecosystem together with other hospitals, universities and research institutions. Collaboration between academic investigators and real-world clinicians is vital to the center’s purpose, according to Xavier, who also serves as the Kurt Isselbacher Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT T. Haslam Professor of Chemical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry and Biological Engineering at MIT, and director of the MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES). “This center is built around a bold idea: to accelerate our progress toward a world in which conditions with a genesis in the microbiome can be prevented and treated by solutions derived from a deep scientific understanding of the microbiome.” The center introduces a new research and academic component to MIT and adds an important pillar to the formal strategic partnership announced by MIT and MGH last month. It is also a key component of IMES, which was established at MIT in 2012 to tackle some of the world’s biggest health challenges through interdisciplinary approaches at the intersection of engineering, science and clinical medicine. Major funding to support the center’s launch was provided by the Neil and Anna Rasmussen Foundation. “Molecular biologists, microbiologists and cell biologists seek to understand microbe/microbe and microbe/host cell function and communication,” Xavier says. “Immunologists, geneticists and genomics researchers drive progress. To this wealth of information, clinicians contribute patientbased insights and gain potential targets for therapeutics. We want this center to be a convening hub for strengths that are distributed across disciplines and throughout different institutions in the New England region.” Until a few years ago, researchers studied the microbiome by carefully separating individual strains and culturing them in isolation, a time-consuming method that is biased toward species that grow well in the laboratory. Today, however, researchers and doctors can take advantage of faster, low-cost genomic tools that allow them to study the entire bacterial system of individual patients. These tools have opened a window into the balance of human cells and the bacteria, viruses and fungi that colonize and interact within the body. Based on this knowledge, potential future treatments for IBD and other conditions might include simple dietary adjustments; targeted therapies designed to remove, add or even modify specific bacteria; or medical interventions based on reprogramming an individual’s immune system. “We need to develop a toolkit for engineering the human microbiome,” Alm says. Both Alm and Xavier emphasize that the center’s long-term purpose is to expand the breadth and depth of this emerging field. To that end, the center will also support smaller-scale “innovation projects” that would not otherwise receive funding due to their cross-disciplinary or exploratory nature. While IBD is the focus of the initial flagship project, the center is designed to foster opportunities to explore the impact of the microbiome on systemic autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes and arthritis as well as other disorders, such as autism, obesity, acne and allergies. n EDITCONNECT: E011510 More than 1 million Americans aged 13 years and older are living with HIV infection, according to government estimates. Researchers at the University of Missouri have loaded an anti-HIV drug onto a mucoadhesive hyaluronic acid nanofiber delivery system to develop an option they hope will help stem the rate of transmission. HIV CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 nanofiber degradation and drug release were then measured using chemical and analytical assays. The cytotoxic effects of the nanofibers on human vaginal cells and on the Lactobacilli bacteria present in vaginal flora were also assessed. “The success of vaginal drug delivery systems depends on the length of time that the “The nanofiberbased formulation offers various potential advantages in vaginal drug delivery, including the ability to adapt delivery systems for different medical needs, with no leakage or messiness after their application. Furthermore, this technology could be beneficial in protecting drug molecules against enzymatic and other degradation that can occur in the body.” American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists drug-containing formulation remains at the site of administration,” according to Youan. “The mucoadhesive nanofibers developed in this study could be beneficial by causing much less discomfort and reducing the dosing frequency simultaneously due to their prolonged retention at the target site.” As the AAPS notes, “The nanofiber-based formulation offers various potential advantages in vaginal drug delivery, including the ability to adapt delivery systems for different medical needs, with no leakage or messiness after their application. Furthermore, this technology could be beneficial in protecting drug molecules against enzymatic and other degradation that can occur in the body. Since human semen is the carrier of HIV virus transmission during male-to-female intercourse, a semen enzyme-triggered nanofiber delivery system as used in this study has the potential to inactivate or kill the HIV virus prior to exposure and penetration of the vaginal mucosa.” The next step for Youan and his colleagues is to assess the safety and efficacy of the HAbased nanofiber templates, and they will conduct in-vivo studies using animal models to characterize the viral transmission, inhibition, potential biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, vaginal retention time, safety and immunological responses to the nanofibers. n EDITCONNECT: E011511 16 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com PRECLINICAL BR IEFS CB-839 shows efficacy SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.— Biotechnology company Calithera Biosciences Inc. has released preclinical data for CB-839, its lead anticancer therapeutic candidate. The compound is a potent, selective, orally bioavailable glutaminase inhibitor currently under investigation in Phase 1 clinical trials as a treatment for multiple myeloma. Myeloma cells that did not express high levels of pyruvate carboxylase proved sensitive to CB-839, and those CB-839-sensitive cells presented with different metabolic profiles from those of insensitive cells. Metabolic stress induced by CB-839 resulted in sustained inhibition of mTORC1 in sensitive cells, with downstream effects on protein synthesis, nucleotide production and glycolysis. In a separate preclinical study of CB-839’s antitumor activity in combination with pomalidomide, the combination demonstrated synergistic antiproliferative effects in IMiD-resistant cells. CB-839 also demonstrated significant single-agent antitumor efficacy and enhanced antitumor activity when combined with pomalidomide in a multiple myeloma xenograft model. recAP improves mineralization in hypophosphatasia models Better together? Getting the facts on FACT Combination cancer immunotherapy regimen shows promise for systemic immune response to cancer cells BY JIM CIRIGLIANO CBL0137 found to be effective in pancreatic cancer by targeting cancer stem cells CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Clinical-stage biophar- BY KELSEY KAUSTINEN maceutical company Idera Pharmaceuticals recently presented promising preclinical data for cancer immunotherapy, with its intratumoral compound IMO-2055 demonstrating potent and systemic antitumor activity in well-established models of bladder, colon and lung cancer. The company presented its findings at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Meeting in Orlando, Fla., in December 2014. According to the company, preclinical data showed that cancer immunotherapy with intratumoral injections combining IMO-2055 and ipilimumab demonstrated potent and systemic antitumor activity in multiple preclinical models. IMO-2055 is one of Idera’s synthetic oligonucleotide-based agonists of Toll-like receptor BUFFALO, N.Y.—Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive types of cancer, presenting with some of the worst survival rates. While chemotherapeutic regimens exist, patients with this cancer type are prone to drug resistance. As such, the publication of recent studies from Cleveland BioLabs Inc. and Roswell Park Cancer Institute detailing the efficacy of the small molecule CBL0137 in pancreatic cancer models could offer some hope for patients. Idera recently presented promising preclinical data for its intratumoral compound IMO-2055 in well-established models of colon cancer, as well as bladder and lung cancer. (TLR) 9, and ipilimumab is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved checkpoint inhibitor targeting cytotoxic T-lymphoIDERA CONTINUED ON PAGE 17 IN THIS SECTION Bone/tooth disease recAP improves mineralization in hypophosphatasia models................... 16 Oncology Better together?...................................... 16 CB-839 shows efficacy............................ 16 Getting the facts on FACT....................... 16 Programmed hematopoietic cells show potential................................ 16 Ophthalmology Going after vision loss with MANF......... 18 At the 56th Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology in December, Fate Therapeutics released preclinical data highlighting the pharmacological properties of ex-vivo programmed hematopoietic cells sourced from mobilized peripheral blood. Programmed hematopoietic cells show potential SAN DIEGO—Fate Therapeutics Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of pharmacologic modulators of adult stem “These data reinforce our growing base of evidence regarding the potentially broad efficacy of Curaxin CBL0137’s mechanism of action,” says Dr. Andrei Gudkov, senior vice president of basic science at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and chief scientific officer of Cleveland BioLabs. cells to treat severe, life-threatening orphan diseases, including hematologic malignancies, lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs) and muscular dystrophies. Incorporated on April Studies detailing CBL0137’s preclinical efficacy appeared in Oncotarget in a paper titled “Curaxin CBL0137 eradicates drug resistant cancer stem cells and potentiates efficacy of gemcitabine in preclinical models of pancreatic cancer.” Cleveland BioLabs and Roswell Park Cancer Institute are studying CBL0137 both as a monotherapy and in combination with gemcitabine, the current standard of care, in models of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) and models of gemcitabine-resistant tumors. The studies were conducted by researchers at Roswell Park, SUNY Downstate FATE CONTINUED ON PAGE 18 FACT CONTINUED ON PAGE 19 Fate Therapeutics demonstrates treatment option that could be life-saver for people with hematologic malignancies BY ILENE SCHNEIDER CREDIT: ROSWELL PARK CANCER INSTITUTE shared preclinical data on its drug candidate recAP (recombinant human Alkaline Phosphatase) for the treatment of the rare disease hypophosphatasia, which appeared in Bone. Hypophosphatasia, a mineralization disorder that causes soft bones (rickets or osteomalacia) and defects in teeth and periodontal tissues, affects an estimated one in 100,000 newborns. AM-Pharma’s paper detailed how recAP increased mineralization of bone and teeth and prevented seizures. Mice with severe hypophosphatasia received daily subcutaneous injections of recAP in 1, 8 or 16 mg/kg doses from birth up to 53 days, and as a result saw normal lifespans and body weights, while untreated mice died after 20 days. Imaging showed improved mineralization of cortical and trabecular bone as well as secondary ossification centers in longer bones. Additionally, treated mice displayed no evidence of craniosynostosis or ectopic calcification. CREDIT: FATE THERAPEUTICS BUNNIK, The Netherlands—AM-Pharma B.V. recently PRECLINICAL For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com IDERA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 cyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4). The findings presented at the meeting summarized several studies evaluating monotherapy with IMO-2055 as well as a combination regimen in which both IMO-2055 and ipilimumab were administered via intratumoral injections. The results of these studies showed that intratumoral injections of IMO2055 inhibited the growth of treated and distant tumors, measured by tumor volume and histology. Compared to monotherapy with either agent, the combination of the two agents demonstrated increased and sustained systemic inhibition of tumor growth. In addition, the studies identified statistically significant increases in cytotoxic T cells against two tumor-specific antigens (AH1 and β-gal) expressed in treated and distant tumors, respectively, for the combination therapy versus monotherapy with either agent. “The data showed that IMO2055 and ipilimumab injections directly into a tumor stimulated a potent immune response and greater inhibition of tumor growth compared to treatment with either agent alone,” says Dr. Sudhir Agrawal, president of research at Idera. “Importantly, these injections into a single tumor also led to a systemic immune response that inhibited the growth of distant, untreated tumors.” The findings are consistent with Idera researchers’ belief that IMO-2055 and ipilimumab may have complementary mechanisms of action, which would enhance their effectiveness when administered together as part of a cancer immunotherapy regimen. Other combination regimens with IMO2055 and different checkpoint inhibitors—several of which have been approved by the FDA or are in late-stage clinical trials—also may be effective, Agrawal says. IMO-2055 is an investigational agonist of TLR 9 discovered and developed by Idera that activates TLR 9 signaling to stimulate an immune response against tumorspecific antigens. TLRs play a key role in alerting the body’s innate immune system to invading pathogens as well as damaged or dysfunctional cells such as cancer cells. Ipilimumab, a compound developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., is approved by the FDA for the treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma. “By targeting regulatory checkpoint pathways such as CTLA-4 or programmed cell death protein 1, checkpoint inhibitors are designed to enable the immune system to recognize tumor cells,” says Agrawal. “A TLR 9 agonist such as IMO2055 has the potential to enhance the anti-tumor response by activating TLR signaling.” In simple terms, Agrawal explains, the checkpoint inhibitor is designed to weaken the tumor’s defenses against immune attack, while the TLR 9 agonist is designed to enhance an antitumor immune response. “We are continuing to conduct preclinical studies of IMO-2055 in combination with various checkpoint inhibitors to further characterize potential cancer immunotherapy combination regimens,” says Agrawal. “In parallel, we are assessing our options to advance an immunotherapy program into clinical development. We look forward JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 17 “The data showed that IMO-2055 and ipilimumab injections directly into a tumor stimulated a potent immune response and greater inhibition of tumor growth compared to treatment with either agent alone. Importantly, these injections into a single tumor also led to a systemic immune response that inhibited the growth of distant, untreated tumors.” Dr. Sudhir Agrawal, president of research at Idera Pharmaceuticals to unveiling those plans next year.” Additional candidates based on Idera’s discovery platform include IMO-2125 (another synthetic oligonucleotide-based TLR 9 ago- nist) and IMO-8400, an antagonist of TLRs 7, 8 and 9 designed to inhibit TLR-mediated immune responses. Two Phase 1/2 clinical trials of IMO-8400 are underway in patients with genetically defined forms of B-cell lymphoma in which over-activated TLR signaling contributes to the disease process. ■ EDITCONNECT: E011512 Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s Fourteenth Annual APRIL 21 – 23, 2015 SEAPORT WORLD TRADE CENTER BOSTON, MA CONFERENCE & EXPO ’15 Enabling Technology. Leveraging Data. Transforming Medicine. CONFERENCE TRACKS: 1 IT Infrastructure – Hardware 2 Software Development 3 Cloud Computing 4 Bioinformatics 5 Next-Gen Sequencing Informatics 6 Clinical & Translational Informatics 7 Data Visualization & Exploration Tools 8 Pharmaceutical R&D Informatics 9 Clinical Genomics 10 Collaborations & Open Access Innovations 11 Cancer Informatics 12 Data Security EVENT FEATURES: PLENARY SESSION SPEAKERS: • Access All 12 Tracks for One Price Philip E. Bourne, Ph.D. Associate Director for Data Science (ADDS), National Institutes of Health • Network with 3,000+ Global Attendees • Hear 150+ Technology and Scientific Presentations Christian Sander, Ph.D. Computational Biologist and Chair of the Computational Biology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center • Attend Bio-IT World’s Best Practices Awards • Connect with Attendees Using CHI’s Intro-Net Benjamin Heywood Co-Founder and President, PatientsLikeMe, Inc. • Participate in the Poster Competition • Choose from 17 Pre-Conference Workshops Andreas Kogelnik, M.D., Ph.D. Founder, Open Medicine Institute Katherine Wendelsdorf, Ph.D. Field Application Scientist - Ingenuity Systems, QIAGEN Bioinformatics; Spokesperson, Empowered Genome Community Register Early for Maximum Savings Mention keycode O30 • See the Winners of the following 2015 Awards: • Benjamin Franklin • Best of Show • Best Practices • View Novel Technologies and Solutions in the Expansive Exhibit Hall • And Much More! Platinum Sponsors: Organized by: Cambridge Healthtech Institute Bio-ITWorldExpo.com 18 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 PRECLINICAL For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com Going after vision loss with MANF Amarantus announces positive preclinical data on effects of MANF on vision in model of retinitis pigmentosa BY LLOYD DUNLAP SAN FRANCISCO—Amarantus BioScience Holdings Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the development of diagnostics and therapeutic products in the areas of neurology, psychiatry, ophthalmology and regenerative medicine, has announced positive effects of mesencephalic-astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) for the protection from vision loss in an animal model of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). MANF was discovered utilizing Amarantus’ proprietary PhenoGuard Protein Discovery Engine. MANF, the company’s lead therapeutic program, is a targeted therapeutic to address the underlying programmed cell death (apoptosis) associated with a wide range of devastating human disorders with a priority to identify drugable orphan indications, including RP. Amarantus President and CEO Gerald E. Commissiong led the Neurotrophic Factors Group at the U.S. National Institutes of Health in the 1990s, where he became keenly interested in astrocytes because they dramatically outnumber neurons in terms of number of cells and morphological complexity. After years of research, his team demonstrated that astrocytes from one region of the brain (substantia nigra) secreted molecules that protected neurons from that region of the brain (dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra) better than astrocytes from any other brain region. Shortly after his group FATE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 27, 2007, the company’s approaches use pharmacologic modalities, including small molecules and therapeutic proteins, to enhance the therapeutic potential of adult stem cells. Adult stem cells play a key role in the growth, maintenance and repair of many tissues and organ systems in the body. Because they can self-renew and regenerate and repair diseased or damaged tissue, adult stem cells hold considerable therapeutic promise according to the company. At the 56th Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in December, Fate Therapeutics released preclinical data highlighting the pharmacological properties of ex-vivo programmed hematopoietic cells sourced from mobilized peripheral blood. Using a newly identified combination of two small-molecule modulators, scientists from the company demonstrated that both T cells and CD34+ cells from mobilized peripheral blood can be modulated ex vivo, with preclinical evidence pointing to the programmed hematopoietic cells having improved therapeutic potential. The company’s hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) modulation platform focuses on the ex-vivo pharmacologic optimization of HSCs, which are adult stem cells that regenerate all types of blood cells throughout a person’s lifespan. HSCs have been used for the cura- published its findings, another group published an almost identical set of results, giving Commissiong confidence that they were on the right track. “From there, another important issue needed to be resolved,” Commissiong realized. “In order to use astrocytes as a tool for discovering the neurotrophic factors responsible for the protection we were seeing, we needed a stable source of astrocytes capable of being used in a systematic screening process over and over again. It was here that I reached into some of my early research experience to engineer some proprietary methods to immortalize the astrocytes we were using to generate the initial results in order to turn them into stable cell lines that could be used for neurotrophic factor discovery.” In the current study, the aim was to evaluate the efficacy of protecting visual acuity by a single intravitreal injection of MANF in the rd10/rd10 genetic mouse model of RP. These animals carry a spontaneous missense point mutation in Pde6b (cGMP phosphodiesterase 6B, rod receptor, beta polypeptide). Mutations in this gene are found in human autosomal recessive RP. Visual acuity was determined by measuring the spatial frequency threshold by optokinetic tracking. This method allows for a non-invasive assessment of visual acuity in rodents and higher species, including humans. A single intravitreal administration of MANF after the onset of retinal degeneration on day 31 resulted in a statistically significant protective effect on visual acuity on day 38 and day 45, as compared to vehicle-treated animals. This is the first observation of MANF providing a functional benefit on vision in a model of RP. These data complement previously announced effects of MANF on preserving retinal morphology in RP models. The “While hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has proven curative potential, a significant need remains to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with the procedure, including the risk of T cell-mediated complications such as viral infections, graft vs. host disease and delayed immune reconstitution.” Dr. Christian Weyer, president and CEO of Fate Therapeutics tive procedure called hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation represents a potentially life-saving treatment option for children and adults afflicted with hematologic malignancies. The number of procedures performed has increased steadily over the past two decades. Currently, about Amarantus recently announced positive effects of mesencephalic-astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor for the protection from vision loss in an animal model of retinitis pigmentosa. experiments were conducted at a leading ophthalmology contract research laboratory. “Our results are the first observation of protection of vision in an RP model by MANF, and add a seminal functional visual acuity readout to the initial morphological protection findings reported from the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute,” said Dr. David A. Lowe, president and CEO of NeuroAssets and member of the Amarantus board of directors. “These data further support our focus on ophthalmic orphan indications, as exemplified by our recent application to the FDA for orphan designation in RP.” The company expects to receive a response in the near future. “These promising data provide a compelling basis to continue the further development of MANF in RP towards first-in-man studies,” said Commissiong. “We will contin60,000 HSCT procedures are performed on a worldwide annual basis. The company’s product candidate, PROHEMA, is a pharmacologically modulated HSC therapeutic derived from umbilical cord blood. It has human proof of concept for PROHEMA in the clinical setting by demonstrating enhanced and durable engraftment of HSCs within the bone marrow. The company is advancing PROHEMA in Phase 2 clinical development for hematologic malignancies. It is also engaged in the development of pharmacologically optimized HSC therapeutics for the treatment of LSDs, where HSCs have the ability to migrate to and engraft within the central nervous system. PROHEMA is produced through a proprietary, two-hour, ex-vivo programming process using a small-molecule modulator (FT1050) that promotes rapid and supraphysiologic activation of genes involved in the homing, proliferation and survival of HSCs, which are key biological properties necessary for durable engraftment and hematopoietic reconstitution. Fate Herapeutics’ satellite stem cell (SSC) modulation platform focuses on the in-vivo pharmacologic activation of SSCs, which are adult stem cells that regenerate muscle throughout a person’s lifespan. The company has identified Wnt7a as a natural promoter of SSCs to drive muscle regeneration, and it is focused on developing Wnt7a analogs for the treatment of muscu- ue moving forward with a strategic development plan focused initially on orphan ocular diseases, where we see tremendous potential for MANF. We are hopeful to develop better treatments for patients suffering from diseases that lead to blindness due to an array of medical conditions. Ultimately, we believe proof of concept for MANF in human studies in ocular diseases will support MANF development in other therapeutic areas where significant compelling preclinical efficacy data has been published and confirmed by independent groups, as well as the company’s own datasets. We firmly believe MANF has blockbuster potential in ophthalmology, neurology, cardiology and metabolic disorders, including diabetes.” RP is a group of inherited diseases involving retinal degeneration. The cell-rich retina lines the back inside wall of the eye and is responsible for capturing images from the visual field. People with RP experience a gradual decline in their vision because photoreceptor cells (rods and cones) die. Symptoms include a progressive degeneration of peripheral and night vision as well as the degeneration in color perception and central vision; night blindness is one of the earliest and most frequent symptoms of RP. RP is typically diagnosed in adolescents and young adults. The rate of progression and degree of visual loss varies from patient to patient, with most people with RP becoming legally blind by age 40. There are approximately 100,000 patients in the United States, 100,000 patients in Europe and 50,000 patients in Japan diagnosed with RP, qualifying it as an orphan indication. There are currently no approved treatments in the market. It is estimated that RP is a multibillion-dollar market opportunity. ■ EDITCONNECT: E011515 lar dystrophies. Wnts comprise a range of 19 secreted proteins known to play a key physiological role in developmental and regenerative processes. “While hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has proven curative potential, a significant need remains to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with the procedure, including the risk of T cell-mediated complications such as viral infections, graft vs. host disease and delayed immune reconstitution,” explains Dr. Christian Weyer, president and CEO of Fate Therapeutics. Weyer joined Fate Therapeutics after a 12-year tenure with Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., where he most recently served as senior vice president of research and development until the completion of Amylin’s acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in August 2012. “We are excited that our ex-vivo programming platform has identified a combination of small-molecule modulators that promote the supra-physiologic activation of genes implicated in the cell cycle, immune tolerance and antiviral properties of T cells, as well as in the survival, proliferation and engraftment potential of CD34+ cells,” Weyer adds. “We believe these findings form a compelling scientific basis to support the clinical evaluation of ex-vivo programmed mobilized peripheral blood in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for the treatment of hematologic malignancies.” ■ EDITCONNECT: E011513 F C I r y b l M Y CM MY CY W I n b d CMY K V PRECLINICAL For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com Pictured here is Roswell Park Cancer Institute’s main clinical facility. The organization recently published studies with Cleveland BioLabs detailing the efficacy of CBL0137 in pancreatic cancer, alone and combined with gemcitabine. CREDIT: ROSWELL PARK CANCER INSTITUTE tumor cells than for normal cells.” The team studied CBL0137 as both a monotherapy and a combiMedical Center and Buffalo Bionation therapy with gemcitabine labs, LLC. using patient-derived PDA xenoCBL0137’s mechanism of grafts and PANC-1 orthotopic action consists of the modulatumors. The compound was found tion of several important sigto be efficacious in mouse models naling pathways involved in the of PDA and to enhance the effect pathogenesis of PDA through of gemcitabine by causing a sigthe inhibition of the chromatin “Gemcitabine nificant delay in tumor relapse folremodeling complex, known targets quickly lowing treatment completion. It is as FACT (Facilitates chromatin proliferating tumor cells, thought that the combined results transcription), which is fre- because it’s a arise from CBL0137 targeting canquently overexpressed in several compound which cer stem cells while also modulatdifferent tumor types. FACT-pos- inhibits DNA ing the expression of genes affecting itive tumors are associated with synthesis. gemcitabine sensitivity. an aggressive malignant pheno- CBL0137 targets “We believe there are several type—that is, a high-grade, met- cancer stem cells, are mechanisms involved in combined astatic disease with worse over- which believed to be toxicity,” says Gurova. “Gemcitabine all survival outcomes. As noted slowly on Cleveland BioLabs’ website, proliferating … so targets quickly proliferating tumor “The interaction of CBL0137 when we combine cells, because it’s a compound which with FACT complex results in them together, we inhibits DNA synthesis. CBL0137 targets cancer stem cells, which are simultaneous NF-kB suppres- are kind of believed to be slowly proliferating … sion, Heat Shock Factor 1 sup- targeting both populations of so when we combine them together, pression and p53 activation. This cells: quickly we are kind of targeting both popumodulation of three key cellular proliferating bulk lations of cells: quickly proliferating pathways causes suppression of tumor cells and slowly bulk tumor cells and slowly prolifcancer cell growth.” erating cancer stem cells. Plus there “The DNA in our cells is proliferating quite long; each chromosome cancer stem cells,” are additional mechanisms involved says Dr. Katerina which just make cells more sensitive is around more than one yard, Gurova, assistant to gemcitabine.” and its length can be packed to professor of “As of today, CBL0137 has been be quite compact to fit into the oncology in the shown efficacious in practically any nucleus of our cells and also to Department of cancer model tested. And we covbe well organized. So there are Cell Stress ered many dozens of in-vivo models special protein complexes which Biology at Park of cancer, including all major canhelp to pack this DNA,” explains Roswell Cancer Institute. cers and many cancers that belong Dr. Katerina Gurova, assistant professor of oncology in the Department of to more rare categories, meaning that we Cell Stress Biology at Roswell Park Cancer are not restricted to just one or two types of Institute. “FACT was considered to have this cancer. As Katerina mentioned, the expresbasic housekeeping-like function because sion of FACT is observed in cancer stem cells, people usually studied it in some unicel- again meaning that practically any type of lular organisms or in models using tumor cancer should be considered as a potential cells, but when we looked more carefully, we target for treatment with CBL0137,” says Dr. found that FACT is present mostly in tumor Andrei Gudkov, senior vice president of basic cells, and in a very limited amount of normal science at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and cells. And it’s quite understandable, because chief scientific officer of Cleveland BioLabs. “These data reinforce our growing base probably this packaging and unpackaging of INDIGO_DDN_Ad_2014.04.29.pdf 4/30/2014 1:16:10 PM of evidence regarding the potentially broad DNA is more critical for 1quickly proliferating CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 CREDIT: ROSWELL PARK CANCER INSTITUTE FACT JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 19 efficacy of Curaxin CBL0137’s mechanism of action. The data shared in this publication and the known role of FACT in the pathogenesis of PDA and viability of cancer stem cells support our consideration of pancreatic cancer as a potential indication for Phase 2 development of CBL0137,” he added. Gudkov notes that hematological malignancies and brain tumors are also indications they are considering as they advance CBL0137, as the compound has proven capable of passing through the blood-brain barrier. CBL0137 is undergoing two Phase 1 clinical trials. In the United States, Curaxin CBL0137 is being evaluated in patients with metastatic or unresectable advanced solid cancers and lymphomas in multiple centers, including Roswell Park Cancer Institute. A Phase 1 study investigating the oral administration of the compound in patients with advanced solid tumors that are resistant or refractory to current standard treatment is also underway. “Pancreatic cancer is a very challenging disease that is highly resistant to conventional chemotherapy. CBL0137 has been shown to be effective in preclinical pancreatic cancer models, including gemcitabine-resistant tumors. The agent seems to target pancreatic cancer stem cells and survival pathways, thus rendering this a very promising treatment for this disease,” said Wen Wee Ma, associate professor of oncology in the Department of Medicine at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and principal investigator for the intravenous trial of CBL0137. Pancreatic cancer stands as the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, with the highest mortality rate of all major cancers: according to the American Cancer Society, 94 percent of pancreatic cancer patients will die within five years of diagnosis. ■ EDITCONNECT: E011514 For the largest selection of nuclear receptors, there’s only one name you need to know. C INDIGO Biosciences has the largest portfolio of human and nonhuman nuclear receptors available. INDIGO gives you the accurate results and fast turnaround you need. Our on-demand screening services and easy-to-analyze data reports bring the industry experts to your team. Or, bring the power of INDIGO into your lab with INDIGO Nuclear Receptor Assay Kits. M Y CM MY CY When you need the ideal research partner for nuclear receptor screening, the name to know is INDIGO. INDIGO Biosciences is the only contract research organization focused exclusively on nuclear receptor research, offering a full range of nuclear receptor screening services, including both human and nonhuman nuclear receptor assays, functional assays and custom assay development. With INDIGO at your service, you can expect fast, accurate results, every time. CMY K Visit our website for a complete list of products and services. www.indigobiosciences.com [email protected] 814.234.1919 W P E 20 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening Walter E. Washington Convention Center Washington, D.C. Feb. 7-11, 2015 n Step out along Innovation AveNEW WASHINGTON, D.C.—Innovation AveNEW has become something of “a traditional highlight” of the annual SLAS Conference and Exhibition, according to the SLAS. Through this program, SLAS provides startup companies with exposure and prestige by granting complimentary exhibit space and in-kind support that enables the company’s participation at the SLAS annual meeting. Innovation AveNEW participants are selected by a committee of SLAS volunteers that judges applicants based on a set of criteria that includes the impact of the technology, commercial viability and potential impact on the field of laboratory automation and technology. SLAS congratulates the following eight companies from four different countries that will represent Innovation AveNEW at SLAS2015: Ceres Nanosciences in Manassas, Va., is a privately held lifesciences company engaged in the research, development and commercialization of innovative sample preparation products based on its proprietary Nanotrap technology, which captures, enriches and preserves analytes/biomarkers. Creoptix in Wadenswil, Switzerland, goes for “high-sensitivity meets label-free by offering best-in-class biosensor devices for the most demanding applications in life-sciences research and drug discovery.” Electrospinning in Oxfordshire, U.K, was launched in 2010 to develop products utilizing the world-class electrospinning platform at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire. InnoCyte in Stuttgart, Germany, has developed a technology that standardizes, automates, accelerates and therefore significantly simplifies and reduces the cost of producing biological cells. Microscopy Innovations in Marshfield, Wis., is a life-sciences tools company founded in 2007 to create novel products for microscopy laboratories. SiTOOLS in Bavaria, Germany, provides novel tools for RNA interference around siPOOLs, which are complex pools of accurately defined siRNAs, which show efficient and robust target gene knockdown to reduce off-target effects and deliver clean and reliable phenotypic data. StackWave in Louisville, Ky., comprises a team of software developers skilled in biotech and pharmaceutical software systems integration. Telos Scientific in San Diego bridges the gap between science and engineering to make laboratory automation user-friendly, highly functional and bottom-line productive. SLAS invites you to stop by Innovation AveNEW in the SLAS2015 Exhibition to visit with these companies and see the technologies that earned them this important distinction. n n SLAS GOES EAST Washington, D.C., will host ‘what’s new in lab automation and screening’ for the SLAS2015 meeting BY LLOYD DUNLAP WASHINGTON, D.C.—This year marks a significant milestone for the annual meeting of the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS), as SLAS2015 gets ready to convene Feb. 7-11 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. “This meeting marks the first time SLAS will hold our annual meeting in D.C.,” notes Tom Manning, the organization’s director of marketing communications. Formed only four years ago by the merger of the Society for Biomolecular Sciences (SBS) and the Association for Laboratory Automation (ALA), the organization has quickly become the launching pad for what’s new in lab automation and screening. “We are excited about D.C. for a number of reasons,” Manning states, and lists off a few: “The location is easily accessible for much of the U.S. and is within driving distance for many East Coast residents. Furthermore, the D.C. location should enable more government scientists—often constrained by travel and training expenses—to participate in SLAS2015.” In 2014, SLAS, headquartered near Chicago, set in motion a multiyear rotation between San Diego (even-number SLAS2015 will feature a an extensive products and services exhibition with more than 300 leading, multinational providers. Interactive exhibits, knowledgeable product experts and vendor-led education enhance the attendee experience. years) and D.C. (odd-number years) as the host city for the society’s flagship annual event. San Diego readily attracts the biotechnology community, notes SLAS President Daniel Sipes, who represents that community in his “day job” with the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, where he is the director of advanced automation technologies. In addition to government types, Sipes adds that Big Pharma and European representatives are likely to find the East Coast location convenient. Sipes notes that since the merger of the SBS and the ALA four years ago to form SLAS, the annual meeting has been structured with three pillars: education, exhibits and community. Many attendees, he observes, come principally for one of the three, particularly the exhibits, but post-event surveys have indicated all three aspects rate highly with attendees. In terms of “education,” which we at DDNews tend to focus on in these show previews, SLAS2015 will feature 140 podium presentations across seven educational tracks, which are: Assay Development and Screening, Automation and High-Throughput Technologies, Bioanalytical Techniques, Biomarker Discovery and Applications, Drug Target Strategies, Micro- and Nanotechnologies and, finally, Informatics. Manning notes that especially highprofile podium presentations (and authors) scheduled for SLAS2015 include the 10 finalists for the annual SLAS Innovation Award: Droplet Microfluidics for HighThroughput Analysis and Sensing by Prof. Robert Kennedy, University of Michigan Digital Microfluidic Immunocytochemistry in Single Cells (DISC) by Prof. Aaron Wheeler, University of Toronto ■■ ■■ Innovation AveNEW is an area of the SLAS annual meeting exhibitions dedicated to new and emerging start-ups. Eight companies from four countries will be represented on Innovation AveNEW at SLAS2015. SLAS CONTINUED ON PAGE 22 SLAS2015 22 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com SLAS Keynote addresses at SLAS2015 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20 An Automated Open Platform for Exclusion-based Sample Preparation: Getting More Information from Limited Patient Samples by David J. Guckenberger, University of Wisconsin, Madison Droplet-Based Three-Dimensional Cell Migration Assay with Flow Cytometry-Based Automated Analysis by Dr. Marie-Elena Brett, University of Minnesota Novel Acoustic Loading of a Mass Spectrometer—Towards Next-Generation High-Throughput MS Screening by Dr. Jonathan Wingfield, AstraZeneca, Discovery Sciences Automation of Droplet Manipulation Using Electrowetting on Film by Dr. Thomas D. Perroud, eFluidics Annotating Biological Activities of Compounds by High-content Pathway Profiling Assays by Dr. Sergei S. Makarov, ATTAGENE The Simoa HD-1 Analyzer: A Fully automated, Multiplexed Immunoanalyzer with Single Molecule Sensitivity by Dr. David C. Duffy, Quanterix Corp. Zero Background in Homogeneous Proximity Assays Using Thermofluorimetric Analysis (TFA) for Quantitation of Attomole Protein Levels in Serum by Dr. Joonyul Kim, Auburn University Bioinspired Spleen-on-a-chip for Sepsis Therapy by Dr. Joo Hun Kang, Wyss Institute/Harvard University Interested parties can see presentation and session details for the items above and others, as well as the latest version of the scientific program, on the SLAS2015 Event Scheduler at www.eventscribe. com/2015/SLAS2015/ Special Sessions are also a highlight of the scientific program, Manning notes. “Three unique Special Sessions have been curated especially for SLAS2015,” he observes. “Each of these includes multiple presenta■■ ■■ With a theme of focusing on leveraging science to advance the health of humankind, the keynote addresses at SLAS2015 will cover issues that range from biomimetic micro systems that feature “organ-on-a-chip” technology to global health issues. ■■ SLAS2015 will feature a robust lineup of education, including 142 podium presentations across seven tracks ■■ ■■ MONDAY, FEB. 9, 9 A.M. Donald E. Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. ■■ tions focused on the broader theme of the session. Special Sessions at SLAS2015 include: European Government/Foundation Drug Discovery Collaboration; The Commercialization of New Technologies: From Ideas to Reality (presented by the SLAS Journal of Laboratory Automation); and An Evening with NIH, which will be moderated by Chris Austin, director of the National Center for the Advancement of Translational Sciences.” Keynote presenters include Dr. Donald Ingber, Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology, professor of bioengineering and founding director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, who will address SLAS2015 on Monday, Feb. 9, as well as NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins on Wednesday, Feb. 11, and Laurie Garrett, author and CREDIT: DESTINATION DC ■■ Poster presentations complement the technical education at SLAS2015. The Walter E. Washington Convention Center, a 2.3 million-square-foot conventions and meetings facility, is equipped to handle events of all sizes, from small groups and break-out meetings to events for 500 to 42,000 attendees. noted authority on global health issues on Wednesday night. And then there is the “exhibit” part of the three pillars of SLAS meetings, which Manning calls “another highlight.” “We expect more than 300 exhibiting companies,” he says. “In addition to traditional booths, many companies are also delivering Exhibitor Tutorials, thereby adding to the technical education SLAS2015 attendees are eligible to receive. The exhibit hall will also host our traditional SLAS Innovation AveNEW, which is a segment of the show floor featuring eight start-up companies from around the globe with especially notable technologies. As Innovation AveNEW participants, these companies received complimentary exhibit space and other in-kind support as part of SLAS’ mission to nurture scientific technology innovation.” “Intelligent Network Building is another cornerstone of this annual event,” Manning notes, bringing in the third pillar of “community,” which often revolves around meals, receptions and other events that facilitate attendee interaction. “A highlight of our networking lineup is the Tuesday evening event at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum,” he states. The Career Connections offerings have also been enhanced for SLAS2015. This programming includes career-focused workshops, the opportunity for individual resume review, interview training, a job board and mentoring opportunities with professional scientists and researchers local to D.C. Similarly, a robust lineup of education and networking for students and early career professionals is also on tap. n EDITCONNECT: E011528 CREDIT: SAM OGDEN ■■ Founding director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital and professor of bioengineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Dr. Donald Ingber is a founder of the emerging field of biologically inspired engineering, and at the Wyss Institute, he oversees a multifaceted effort to identify the mechanisms that living organisms use to self-assemble from molecules and cells and to apply these design principles to develop advanced materials and devices for healthcare and to improve sustainability. He has made major contributions to mechanobiology, tissue engineering, tumor angiogenesis, systems biology and nanobiotechnology. He has authored more than 375 publications and 85 patents, and has received numerous honors, including the Holst Medal, Pritzker Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society, Rous-Whipple Award from the American Society for Investigative Pathology, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of In Vitro Biology and the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Innovator Award. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 11, 8:30 A.M. Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D. Director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) As the head of the NIH, Dr. Francis S. Collins oversees the work of the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world, spanning the spectrum from basic to clinical research. Collins is a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the international Human Genome Project, which culminated in April 2003 with the completion of a finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book. He served as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH from 1993 to 2008. Before coming to the NIH, Dr. Collins was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of Michigan. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2007 and received the National Medal of Science in 2009. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 11, 3:45 P.M. Laurie Garrett Author, journalist and authority on global health issues Laurie Garrett is one of America’s leading commentators on global health issues. She is the only person to win the three P’s of journalism: The Pulitzer Prize, the Peabody Award and the Polk Award. She is a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and is the bestselling author of The Coming Plague and Betrayal of Trust. She has written for Foreign Affairs, Esquire and The Washington Post, and has appeared frequently on television shows, such as “Nightline,” “Charlie Rose” and “Oprah.” Garrett also served as a script consultant to Contagion, the film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Matt Damon. Garrett is a former president and now a member of the National Association of Science Writers, and has been awarded three honorary PhDs. Garrett’s long-awaited third book, now in stores, is called I Heard the Sirens Scream: How Americans Responded to the 9/11 and Anthrax Attacks. n SLAS2015 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com Special Sessions at SLAS2015 SLAS2015 will feature a series of special sessions, each comprised of multiple presentations dedicated to especially timely and relevant topical areas. European Government/ Foundation Drug Discovery Initiatives MONDAY, FEB. 9, 10:30 A.M. TO 12:30 P.M. ■■ ■■ Moving Research Innovations to the Market (Presenter: Alicia Löffler, Innovation and New Ventures Office, Northwestern University) Opportunities and Challenges in Life Sciences R&D (Presenter: Jeremy Caldwell, Third Rock Ventures) ■■ Minding the Gaps in Biomedical Technology Translation (Presenter: Megan Frisk, Science Translational Medicine/AAAS) JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 23 An Evening with NIH MONDAY, FEB. 9, 6:30 P.M. TO 8:30 P.M. Join Chris Austin, director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, as he chairs a special evening event focused on the array of programs, services and capabilities of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and how to best navigate the organization. Presentations include: ■■ Facilitated Translation Within Session Chair: Steven Rees, AstraZeneca European governmental and charity agencies are enabling the translation of academic discovery into health benefits of economic value by funding the creation of several novel models and approaches to drug discovery. These initiatives have included the development of new compound libraries, the establishment of academic screening centers and the formation of innovative partnerships with industry. Speakers in this special session explore the interaction of these initiatives with academia and pharma, and describe the anticipated benefit of these programs in terms of bringing novel projects into the clinic. Presentations include: ■■ ■■ ■■ Chemical Biology Consortium Sweden—Deliveries Including Scientific Highlights After Five Years (Presenter: Annika Jenmalm Jensen, Chemical Biology Consortium) EU-OPENSCREEN: Chemical Tools for the Life Sciences (Presenter: Philip Gribbon, ScreeningPort Hamburg) The European Lead Factory: Game Changing for Innovative Medicine (Presenter: Steven van Helden, Pivot Park Screening Centre) Opening “The Box of Delights”— Accessing Pharma to Enhance Academic Drug Discovery: (Presenter: Justin Bryans, MRC Technology) The Commercialization of Laboratory Technologies: From Ideas to Reality MONDAY, FEB. 9, 3 P.M. TO 5 P.M. Presented by the Journal of Laboratory Automation Session Chairs: Dean Ho, University of California, Los Angeles and Edward Chow, National University of Singapore Topics covered in this session include the process of commercialization and challenges that, when overcome, catalyze the ability to transition a product or technology from benchtop innovation to lasting commercial impact. Presentations include: ■■ Creativity Beyond the Science: Innovative Ways to Commercialize an Idea in the Global Industry (Presenter: Katherine Wang, BRIM Technology) © 2015 PerkinElmer, Inc. 400285_09. All trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of PerkinElmer, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. ■■ SPEED OR SENSITIVITY? THE ANSWER IS YES When analyzing complex cell models, you don’t want to compromise on your imaging technologies. And that’s what the Opera Phenix™ High Content Screening System is all about. Building on over a decade of experience with confocal high-throughput HCS, the system's new confocal Synchrony™ Optics deliver the speed to image millions of cells per hour in up to four colors – simultaneously – without compromising sensitivity. So you can obtain more accurate phenotypic information. Opera Phenix: More physiological relevance. No compromise. www.perkinelmer.com/YES NCATS’ TRND and BrIDGs Programs (Presenter: Nora Yang, NIH) ■■ ■■ ■■ NIH-Industry Partnership to Discover New Therapeutic Uses for Existing Molecules (Presenter: Christine Colvis, NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences SBIR and STTR Programs: Valuable Resources for Small Businesses (Presenter: Lili Portilla, NIH) NCI Experimental Therapeutics Program (Presenter: Barbara Mroczkowski, NIH) n SLAS2015 24 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com T OUTED AS “one of the select few highly discreet, automated employment programs that brings together its online professional services with its respected career center and development sessions at the annual meeting,” SLAS invites attendees to take advantage of SLAS Career Connections offerings, which include free career development workshops. One of these workshops is “Mock Interviews: Preparation and Practice for Getting the Jobs You Want” by Dr. Daniel J. Eustace, a professor at the University of Connecticut. Held Tuesday, Feb. 10, from 7 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. (breakfast will be served), this interactive workshop invites audience members to play active roles participating in, providing feedback for and perhaps coaching how to manage different kinds of interview scenarios. All attendees should bring their current resumes to the workshop and be prepared to actively participate. Attendees will learn by doing, by watching others interview, by discussing alternate approaches and by internalizing how one would perform if they were in the situation. In addition, Prof. Eustace provides one-on-one and group career counseling sessions by appointment at the SLAS Member Center Monday, Feb. 9, and Tuesday, Feb. 10. Contact Mary Geismann at [email protected] to schedule your appointment. The other three of the four career development workshops are being presented by Dr. Joanne Kamens, executive director of Addgene, who will cover networking, choosing a lab and transitioning from academia to industry. “Not Networking 101—Building Relationships for Success,” will be held Monday, Feb. 9, from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. (breakfast will be served). As described by SLAS: Networking has gotten a really bad name these days. I take your card, you take my card and then we don’t call each other. This workshop is designed to reintroduce you to how strong professional relationships can be necessary for most people to succeed in their careers. It will provide practical tools for meeting people and for nurturing new and established connections. Kamens will conduct “Smooth transitions—Top 10 List: Things Scientists Ask About Finding an Industry Job” on Monday, Feb. 9, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and attendees are asked to bring a box lunch if they need one. SLAS says of this workshop: These days, staying in academia is really the “alternative” career for scientists. The majority of young scientists will not end up in a traditional academic research position. This presentation will give attendees some criteria to consider in deciding if embarking on an industry science career is right for you, and then will provide concrete tools and resources for preparing for this transition. The third of Kamens’ presentation is “How to Choose Your Next Lab” on Tuesday, Feb. 10, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., again with the suggestion to bring a box lunch. As for the SLAS take on this workshop: For some reasons, grad students and post-docs don’t seem to see a lab choice as a major career decision. Nothing could be farther from the truth. You will spend four to seven years working for one person in a small group—don’t you think this is worth a little prework to make sure it will be a good fit and get you close to where you want to go in the future? This presentation will give you practical tips for what to look for and how to find it when choosing a new lab for your research. A must-hear for all young scientists. n CREDIT: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE SLAS Career Connections The Washington Monument celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2010. The architectural design for the towering structure was chosen in 1836, but the cornerstone wasn’t laid until 1848, and then the Civil War put everything on hold—it wasn’t until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took over that the structure was finally completed in 1884 and then dedicated on Feb. 21, 1885. Networking opportunities for every lifestyle Attendees at SLAS2015 represent “a unique nexus of diverse interests that Receptions in the Exhibition of our global community. SLAS2015 Tuesday Night Celebration Enjoy an out-of-this-world buffet, select wines, domestic beers and soft drinks ■■ Experience interstellar travel in one of several flight simulators. ■■ Explore all museum exhibits ■■ Watch the 30-minute movie, “To Space and Back,” in the museum’s planetarium theater ■■ Connect with your fellow scientific professionals Blast Off at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Sponsored by Hamilton Company Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Fasten your seat belts, put your networking goals in an upright position and feel free to move about the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Meet, greet and celebrate the right stuff at one of the Top 10 Coolest Museums in Washington, D.C., as SLAS continues its tradition of presenting a memorable final evening fete to commemorate this annual gathering The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum maintains the world’s largest and most significant collection of aviation and space artifacts, including the 1903 Wright Flyer, Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia and a lunar rock you can touch, but not toss. Complimentary and continuous shuttle bus service is provided between the Marriott Marquis and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum from 6:45 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. (10 minute travel time). All Refresh and refuel with complimentary beer, wine, soft drinks and snack buffets. Sunday, 5:30 p.m.to 7:00 p.m. Monday, 5:30 p.m.to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, 5:00 p.m.to 6:00 p.m. ■■ CREDIT: DESTINATION DC fosters the limitless potential of global collaboration,” says the SLAS website, adding, “The value of time spent in world-class educational sessions at SLAS2015 is rivaled by time spent meeting speakers, exhibitors and other conference participants.” The menu of social activities offers a broad array of opportunities for attendees to get to know each other and continue conversations that could lead—who knows?—to the next Nobel Prize. guests must have an SLAS2015 badge and be 21 or older. Where Everybody Knows Your Name: The SLAS2015 Corner Bars Wear your SLAS2015 badge to these nearby hot spots, then kick back and enjoy exclusive SLAS-only discounts on eats and drinks. Baby Wale 10 percent off all food and drinks. Adjacent to the Marriott Marquis, the Baby Wale offers tasty and creative small plates, entrees and a complete bar menu. Location: 1124 9th St. NW (Closed Sunday, Feb. 9) City Tap House 10 percent off all drinks. In the same block as the Renaissance, the City Tap House offers a full bar headlined with craft brews from around the world, brick-oven pizzas and elevated pub fare (Discounts do not apply to food). Location: 901 9th Street NW Metrorail provides safe, clean, reliable transit service for more than 700,000 customers a day throughout the Washington, D.C. area. On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! Start your Monday morning with a brisk run or walk along with your friends from Promega and Gilson. This 4.2 mi/6.8 km Sunrise Run takes you past the U.S. Capitol, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and White House. Runners and walkers depart from the Marriot Marquis lobby at 6:30 a.m. sharp. (The Sunrise Run presented by Promega and Gilson is an optional event, not an official SLAS2015 function.) Students and Early Career Professionals: Ready, Aim, Roll! After exhibits close Sunday, students and early-career professionals are invited to roll over to the nearby Lucky Strike for bowling, networking and cajoling. Get to know others who, like you, will drive the world’s next wave of scientific innovation. Enjoy glow-in-the-dark lanes, a stateof-the-art sound system and tournament-quality billiard tables. SLAS picks up the tab for bowling lane rentals, bowling shoes, light bites and soft drinks. A cash bar is available for those 21 and older. Home Away From Home: The Global Village Visitors from outside the U.S. have a designated rendezvous point in the SLAS2015 Exhibit Hall’s Global Village. Meet others from your part of the world, meet the leaders who serve on the SLAS Asia Council and SLAS Europe Council and meet members of the SLAS professional team. n For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 25 CLINICAL TRIALS BRIEFS Trial duration on the rise in oncology CHICAGO—KMR Group recently reported that the duration of oncology trials has increased steadily within the last 10 years. The group investigated cycle time trends for more than 4,100 oncology trials across 32 companies, with study duration defined as the interval from protocol approval to database lock. Within the last decade, oncology cycle times have risen in both Phase 2 and 3 trials; Phase 2 oncology trials now take approximately one year longer than trials held a decade ago, while Phase 3 trials are taking almost five years, one-and-a-half years longer than trials conducted in 2003 to 2005. The increase can be attributed partially to cancer-specific considerations, such as increasing protocol complexity and longer treatment periods; Linda Martin of KMR Group noted that “the enrollment and treatment processes have expanded by almost six months each (treatment duration nearly doubled since 2003-2005).” Traumeel-Zeel therapy provides osteoarthritis pain relief MANCHESTER, N.H.—A recent study has found that co-administration of Traumeel (Tr14) and Zeel (Ze14) intra-articular (IA) injections represents a safe, effective treatment for moderate-to-severe pain associated with knee osteoarthritis versus IA placebo. The lead investigator was Dr. Carlos J. Lozada, professor of clinical medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Randomized patients with moderate-to-severe chronic knee osteoarthritis received three weekly IA injections of either Tr14 and Ze14 or saline, with a primary efficacy variable of change in knee pain from baseline to end-of-study. By day 15, patients receiving the Tr14-Ze14 combination treatment saw significant reductions in pain, and secondary endpoints were directionally consistent. IN THIS SECTION M&A activity/CNS Otsuka to acquire Avanir for $3.5 billion���������������������������������������� 25 Cost reduction/Engagement On ‘cloud 9’ with new mobile health app��������������������������� 25 Multiple sclerosis Targeting MS at its root (GENEURO from cover)��������������������������� 29 Oncology Alion taps MPI for companion diagnostic����������������������� 26 Nanomed tech shows mettle��������������������25 Pfizer, Merck KGaA pair on immune-oncology����������������������������������� 28 Trial duration on the rise in oncology����� 25 Osteoarthritis Traumeel-Zeel therapy provides osteoarthritis pain relief������������������������� 25 Otsuka to acquire Avanir for $3.5 billion Chemical entity AVP-786 for Alzheimer’s, soon to enter Phase 3 trials, is a major draw for Otsuka BY JEFFREY BOULEY TOKYO—Early December saw the announce- ment that Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. would acquire Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $17 per share in cash, which values Avanir at approximately $3.5 billion. Otsuka noted that Avanir’s pipeline includes programs in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, migraine and other central nervous system (CNS) indications, and made a point of highlighting a promising new chemical entity, AVP-786, which has a target indication for agitation associated with Alzheimer’s disease and which is preparing to enter Phase 3 clinical trials. Avanir is a biopharmaceutical company specializing in CNS diseases that was founded in 1988. It now employs approximately 500 people and developed and launched Nuedexta (dextromethorphan hydrobromide/quinidine sulfate) capsules in the United States As it faces patent expiry for Abilify in the United States soon, Japan-based Otsuka Pharmaceutical is looking to buy U.S.-based Avanir for about $3.5 billion, drawn to the biopharma in large part because of an Alzheimer’s-related drug entering Phase 3 trials and a marketed therapy for pseudobulbar affect called Nuedexta. in February 2011 as the world’s first and only approved treatment for the neurologic disease pseudobulbar affect (PBA). Sales of Nuedexta in the 12-month period from July 2013 through June 2014 were $94 million, a 50-percent increase over the prior-year period, Otsuka notes. Nuedexta, having been created to treat the under-recognized neurologic disease PBA, is one of “three distinct values” Otsuka cited as On ‘cloud 9’ with new mobile health app Medidata, GSK evaluate impact of cloud-based tech on engagement, data quality and efficiencies in clinical trials BY LORI LESKO es linked to smartphones and cloudbased technologies on patients in clinical trials. The method development project trial run with GSK was deemed a success, Medidata announced Nov. 6. Furthermore, the combined effort demonstrates the capacity TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY NEW YORK—Aimed at offering high-tech solutions toward faster, more reliable diagnoses and treatments in the future, life-sciences company Medidata Solutions joined hands with global pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to evaluate the impact of mobile health (mHealth) devic- MOBILE CONTINUED ON PAGE 27 “We were thrilled with the way the system was able to collect and send a huge amount of data,” notes Kara Dennis, Medidata chief of staff, of the joint project with GSK to evaluate the impact of mobile health devices linked to smartphones and cloud-based technologies on patients in clinical trials. reasons for acquiring the Southern California biopharma, the second being the late-stage investigational compound AVP-786 and the third being Avanir’s clinical development and commercial expertise in neurologic diseases, which are said to complement Otsuka’s capabilities in psychiatric diseases. “These will accelerate Otsuka’s existing expansion strategy in the neurologic area, AVANIR CONTINUED ON PAGE 26 Nanomed tech shows mettle BIND presents positive Phase 2 results for nanomedicine platform in NSCLC at AACR annual symposium BY LLOYD DUNLAP BARCELONA, Spain—BIND Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage nanomedicine platform company developing targeted and programmable therapeutics called Accurins, has presented positive results from its ongoing Phase 2 study of BIND-014 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), demonstrating it has met the primary objective in the once every three weeks (Q3W) arm as measured by overall response rate. The data demonstrate that BIND-014 is well tolerated with clinically meaningful antitu- BIND Therapeutics recently mor activity at a lower dose presented positive results than conventional docetaxel in from its ongoing Phase 2 patients with advanced or meta- study of BIND-014 in nonsmall cell lung cancer. static NSCLC. BIND-014 also demonstrates promising antitumor activity in patients with tumors expressing KRAS mutations (mutated Kirsten ras oncogene homolog). KRAS mutations in NSCLC BIND CONTINUED ON PAGE 28 CLINICAL TRIALS 26 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com Alion taps MPI for companion diagnostic Diagnostic would identify patients likely to respond to undisclosed ion channel inhibitor cancer treatment BY ZACK ANCHORS BELMONT, Calif.—Alion Pharmaceuticals is tapping the Medical Prognosis Institute (MPI) to develop a companion diagnostic that will identify patients likely to respond to a new cancer treatment. MPI, a Danish pharmacodiagnostic company, will devel- “Our platform draws on millions of data points from diverse groups of tumor types to predict which forms of cancer might respond to a treatment. It provides valuable guidance in terms of where to direct drug development.” Peter Buhl Jensen, CEO of Medical Prognosis Institute AVANIR CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 widening the overall CNS portfolio, inclusive of the psychiatric and neurologic areas, supporting both short-and medium-term growth,” Otsuka noted of the acquisition. “As we bring together Otsuka’s experience and business track record in the area of mental illnesses with Avanir’s strengths in neurologic diseases, we believe that we can evolve into a truly global CNS pharmaceutical company,” according to Taro Iwamoto, Otsuka’s president and representative director. “Avanir’s creativity and proven execution on drug discovery and development for largely unexplored medical indications, typified by PBA, represents a hand-in-glove fit with Otsuka’s culture. We admire and respect Avanir’s innovative vision and execution and want to continue to grow together.” Though not yet an approved and marketed op a predictive test that will help Alion select patients for clinical trials of one of several ion channel inhibitors the firm is developing for the treatment of certain cancers. Alion has not disclosed which of its ion channel inhibitors MPI’s diagnostic test will be geared toward. MPI, which has an office in Scottsdale, Ariz., develops companion diagnostics to support the development of cancer therapeutics. Its DRP platform is used by drug development teams to identify which patients will respond to a drug and which indications of the drug are most likely to be most successful. The platform, which combines gene expression profiling with systems biology analytics, has the potential to significantly increase the probability of successful Phase 3 drug development. MPI reports the DRP can be used in all cancer types and was patented for more than 60 anticancer drugs in the United States in 2013. “Our platform draws on millions of data points from diverse groups of tumor types to predict which forms of cancer might respond to a treatment,” Peter Buhl Jensen, CEO of MPI, tells DDNews. “It provides valuable guidance in terms of where to direct drug development.” Alion is a pharmaceutical company focused on developing a pipeline of ion channel inhibitors and integral membrane proteins to treat cancer and central nervous TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY therapeutic, AVP-786 is a strong draw, Iwamoto has noted, because as many as half of patients with Alzheimer’s disease experience agitation, which can manifest as verbal abuse, confusion and aggression. Dementia-related behavioral symptoms, agitation among them, not only make the disease more distressing to the people suffering from it, but they also increase burdens on family and other caregivers—these behavioral disturbances also have been associated with more rapid cognitive decline and institutionalization. Avanir has continued to advance a clinical program for the treatment of agitation in Alzheimer’s disease, a complication which currently lacks any effective and safe treatment, Otsuka notes. Avanir presented Phase 2 proof-of-concept trial results at the American Neurological Association annual meeting in October 2014, and the company expects to meet with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in early 2015 to discuss advancement of the program. “Avanir’s creativity and proven execution on drug discovery and development for largely unexplored medical indications, typified by PBA, represents a hand-in-glove fit with Otsuka’s culture. We admire and respect Avanir’s innovative vision and execution and want to continue to grow together.” Taro Iwamoto, president and representative director of Otsuka “This project underscores Alion’s commitment to the development of precision cancer drugs by employing cutting-edge companion diagnostics to identify and enroll the right patients in order to conduct successful clinical trials with patients that will actually benefit.” Allan Bates, CEO of Alion system disorders. Ion channels regulate specific stages of cancer, and researchers have found that blocking activity in ion channels can impair the growth of some tumors. Alion’s proprietary techniques can be used to identify small molecules that modulate specific ligand and voltage-gated ion channels. Alion will use MPI’s drug predictor platform to identify which general types of cancers its ion channel inhibitor has the most potential to treat effectively. DRP may then be used to select and enroll likely responder patients in a Phase 1 trial for the drug. “This project underscores Alion’s commitment to the development of precision cancer drugs by employing cutting-edge companion diagnostics to identify and enroll the right patients in order to conduct successful clinical trials with patients that will actually benefit,” said Alion CEO Allan Bates. MPI co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Steen Knudsen said that he is “confident that the DRP biomarker to be developed for Alion’s lead ion channel inhibitor will enable the identification and selection of Otsuka and Avanir are looking to pair the former’s strengths in mental illness therapeutics with the latter’s expertise in neurologic treatments. Otuska has also cited its respect for Avanir’s “creativity and proof through execution” with regard to Nuedexta, noting that Avanir successfully took on the challenge to create, develop and commercialize a drug in a new disease category for which no approved treatment existed, an approach and level of creativity described as “remarkably consistent with Otsuka’s.” “I am extremely excited to see these two organizations come together to create a leading CNS company. Otsuka is a clear leader in psychiatry and Avanir in neurology; together, I believe our organizations will be able to more rapidly develop and commercialize needed medications to potentially help millions of patients around the world,” said Keith A. Katkin, president and CEO of Avanir. He and his company also noted in their news release about the acquisition that Otsuka “has created numerous innovation seeds through its horizontal alliances in the CNS field with other companies: Lundbeck and likely responding patients for the drug, and we look forward to confirming this as the Phase 1 trial unfolds.” Jensen tells DDNews that the agreement demonstrates the potential of its diagnostic platform to steamline and improve the drug development process while minimizing risks. “Partnerships like this provide MPI another chance to demonstrate proof of concept in screening patients,” he notes. “Working with Alion will allow us to advance a new paradigm in cancer drug development by using our diagnostic platform to select a targeted population of patients most likely to respond to this drug based on their tumor biology.” Jensen also adds that while large pharmaceutical companies have developed their own diagnostic systems, few have been as thoroughly tested as MPI’s. “ I think that our platform has real value for Big Pharma companies because it is a system that has been validated thoroughly,” he says. Financial terms of the agreement between Alion and MPI have not been publicly disclosed. n EDITCONNECT: E011519 BMS on psychiatric therapies, and IBM and Proteus Digital Health on digital solutions for patients, their families, healthcare providers and other caregivers.” The timing of the Avanir deal, some market watchers suggest, may have a lot to do with heading off a tumble over the edge of a patent cliff in April 2015, when Otsuka’s U.S. patent for the drug Abilify—used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression—expires and the company has to face generic competition. Avanir offers at least one path toward bolstering the pipeline with patent-protected products. Otsuka also bought U.S.-based oncology therapeutics company Astex Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2013 for about $886 million, presumably also in part to beef up the pipeline before Abilify lost patent protection. The acquisition has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. The closing of the tender offer will be subject to the tender of a majority of Avanir’s shares outstanding and certain other customary closing conditions, including expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015. Upon close of the transaction, Avanir will continue to operate under its current structure as an independent subsidiary of Otsuka America Inc. Avanir will partner with Otsuka in the United States to further enhance its development and commercialization efforts in CNS-related disorders. n EDITCONNECT: E011516 MOBILE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 for technology to accelerate innovation in drug development and makes a strong case for cross-industry collaboration between technology and life sciences, Medidata stated. The joint pilot project was administered at GSK’s Human Performance Lab where, over a five-day period, six participants wore two devices: the Vital Connect’s HealthPatch MD, placed on the chest, and ActiGraph’s wGT3XBT Monitor, placed on the wrist. The devices continuously measured vital signs, electrocardiogram data and activity levels. Such devices can also potentially monitor stress levels, diabetes signs, sleep patterns and more. A mobile app on a smartphone, given to all participants, was read by the Medidata Patient Cloud, for patient-reported outcomes offered as part of Medidata’s technology platform. The Medidata Clinical Cloud captured all the data, mapping mobile health data to CLINICAL TRIALS of secure and analysis-ready data. Medidata intends to use the technology infrastructure developed for this initiative as a model to enable new Phase 1 through Phase 4 mHealth clinical trials, which the company will be supporting for clients over the coming months. The collaborative project with GSK demonstrated that mHealth technologies have the power to comprehensively collect large volumes of objective data that is reliable, secure and analysis-ready and that provides real-time, continuous insight into the wellbeing of patients, according to the company. Medidata collected more than 18 million data points on activity and vital signs per participant per day. All of the data collected was audited and is compliant with FDA regulations. Additionally, the effort indicated that mobile devices can support the long-term goal of lessening the burden on patients participating in studies by streamlining routine procedures, eliminating unnecessary ones “Working with GSK on this initiative has provided us with an exciting opportunity to show how technology can be used to enhance patient engagement and accelerate the pace of innovation in drug development. We gathered data on an unprecedented scale. This is an extraordinary level of in-life, real-time patient instrumentation for clinical trials, which will create new disciplines and new opportunities for life-science companies.” Glen de Vries, president of Medidata the clinical record. Speaking on the collaboration with GSK, Kara Dennis, Medidata chief of staff, tells DDNews: “We were thrilled with the way the system was able to collect and send a huge amount of data.” As chief of staff, Dennis oversees Medidata’s priority strategic initiatives to advance clinical trials and accelerate internal efforts. Medidata’s cloud-based program has “tremendous potential for providing a better level of insight in clinical studies than ever before, tracking the progression of diseases and being an accurate predictor of adverse events,” Dennis says. Medidata’s program is “a very promising, very important development in clinical research.” “We plan to pursue follow-up trials,” Dennis adds. “There is still work to be done.” Pairing mobile health and cloud-based technologies streamlines the data collection, management and analysis process, as well as reduces site visits. Other key benefits of combining these technologies include streamlined routine procedures and realtime, continuous insight into large volumes and reducing visits to clinical trial sites. “Working with GSK on this initiative has provided us with an exciting opportunity to show how technology can be used to enhance patient engagement and accelerate the pace of innovation in drug development,” said Glen de Vries, Medidata’s president. “We gathered data on an unprecedented scale. This is an extraordinary level of in-life, real-time patient instrumentation for clinical trials, which will JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 27 CREDIT: MEDIDATA For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com A mobile app on a smartphone is read by the Medidata Patient Cloud for patient-reported outcomes offered as part of Medidata’s technology platform. breakthroughs over time will help to alleviate any concerns about regulatory compliance and data quality, much like the early days of the Internet and electronic data capture.” Medidata is a global provider of cloud-based solutions for clinical research in life sciences, aiming to transform clinical development through its advanced applications and intelligent data analytics. The Medidata Clinical Cloud is intended to increase productivity and quality for the clinical testing of medical treatments, from study design and planning through execution, management and reporting. Vital Connect is a Silicon Valley-based company founded in 2011 with the goal of developing the newest generation of technologies that help address some of the most challenging healthcare issues in the world today. Vital Connect creates wireless, wearable biosensors that are small, powerful and capable of capturing clinical-grade biometric measurements in a continuous, configurable and unobtrusive manner. n create new disciplines and new opportunities for life-science companies.” “Seamlessly integrating data from HealthPatch MD into clinical records through the Medidata Clinical Cloud opens up new possibilities to measure biometrics from heart rate to skin temperature,” added Dr. Nersi Nazari, Vital Connect’s chairman and CEO. “The availability of continuous, clinical-grade health data provides important opportunities to analyze results in real time to quickly identify potential safety concerns and adjust a trial based on preliminary evidence.” Medidata’s data science team is working with GSK to leverage the data from the project and turn it into insight that can be used to conduct faster and more patient-centric clinical research. “When it comes to mHealth, there is one aspect everyone agrees on: the technology is here now,” de Vries stated. “Breakthroughs in mHealth adoption can come from clear demonstrations of using mobile devices in a compliant, effective and safe way. We believe these EDITCONNECT: E011517 APRIL 18-22, 2015 PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION CENTER PHILADELPHIA, PA Join us in Philadelphia for the most comprehensive cancer research meeting in the world... the AACR Annual Meeting 2015! Connect with the international cancer research community to foster new collaborations, learn about cutting-edge advances, and obtain feedback on your research. This must-attend meeting covers every aspect of cancer – from epidemiology, molecular biology, and clinical studies to prevention, survivorship, and patient advocacy. The Vital Connect’s HealthPatch MD is placed on the chest to measure vital signs, electrocardiogram data and activity levels. Register Today! 1409109J_15AM_ad_DDNews_7x4.875_1.indd 1 We look forward to welcoming you to our hometown of Philadelphia, PA! WWW.AACR.ORG 12/22/14 10:41 AM CLINICAL TRIALS 28 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com Pfizer, Merck KGaA pair on immune-oncology Potential $2-billion deal aimed at developing and commercializing investigational antiPD-L1 antibody NEW YORK—Pfizer Inc. announced Nov. 17 that it had entered into an agreement with Germany’s Merck KGaA (which is not affiliated with U.S.-based Merck & Co.) to jointly develop and commercialize MSB0010718C, an investigational anti-PD-L1 antibody currently in development by Merck KGaA as a potential treatment for multiple types of cancer. The companies will explore the therapeutic potential of this novel anti-PD-L1 antibody as a single agent as well as in various combinations with Pfizer’s and Merck KGaA’s broad portfolio of approved and investigational oncology therapies. Under the terms of the agreement, Merck KGaA will receive an upfront payment of $850 million and is eligible to receive regulatory and commercial milestone payments up to approximately $2 billion. Both companies will jointly fund all development and commercialization costs, and all revenues BIND CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 are generally associated with poor response to currently available drug therapy regimens, including docetaxel. An additional signal was observed in patients with squamous cell carcinomas, a major NSCLC subtype poorly served by existing available therapies. These data were presented at the 26th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Barcelona, Spain. “We believe the activity and tolerability of BIND-014 demonstrated in this study suggest meaningful differentiation from the historical docetaxel experience, in both the broader NSCLC patient population and in two important groups of patients with high unmet medical need,” said Dr. Hagop Youssoufian, BIND’s chief medical officer. “Furthermore, as the first product candidate from our Medicinal Nanoengineering platform to enter the clinic, we believe that the increased efficacy and reduced toxicity at a lower dose compared to historical docetaxel experience suggests that Accurins are successful in targeting the therapeutic payload to the tumor. Based on these positive results, we plan to conduct additional global, multicenter Phase 2 studies to confirm and expand the dataset on BIND-014 and to define an expeditious regulatory path for BIND-014.” “Data from this open-label study suggest the potential for BIND014 superiority over docetaxel in Merck KGaA (pictured here) and Pfizer will explore the therapeutic potential of MSB0010718C, a novel anti-PD-L1 antibody, as a single agent as well as in various combinations with both companies’ oncology therapies. obtained from selling any anti-PDL1 or anti-PD-1 products generated from this collaboration will be shared equally. The pair will be building on an ongoing Phase 1 program that has treated more than 550 patients, and they will collaborate on up to 20 high-priority immuno-oncology clinical development programs expected to commence in 2015. These clinical development programs include up to six trials in Phase 2 or 3 that could be pivotal for potential product registrations. “This global alliance enables the treatment of NSCLC patients,” said Dr. Ronald B. Natale, medical director of the Clinical Lung Cancer Program at the Women’s Guild Lung Institute and investigator for the Phase 2 trial of BIND-014 in NSCLC. “Furthermore, BIND-014 demonstrated intriguing activity in patients with KRAS-mutated lung cancers, a group of patients who have historically been unresponsive to standard treatment with docetaxel. This initial experience with BIND-014 provides a glimpse into a new way to selectively target NSCLC tumors, an area of cancer with high unmet need.” BIND plans to initiate global, multicenter Phase 2 studies of BIND-014 in patients with KRAS mutant NSCLC and in patients with NSCLC of squamous histology who have progressed on prior therapy. These studies aim to assess overall survival and additional endpoints to position BIND-014 for subsequent registration studies. The Q3W dosing arm of the open-label, multicenter, Phase 2 study discussed in Barcelona enrolled 40 patients with advanced metastatic NSCLC who were treated with 60 mg/m2 of BIND-014 on day one of a 21-day cycle· Five patients (13 percent) achieved a partial response with a median duration of response of 5.2 months and median progressionfree survival (PFS) of 2.7 months. There was one unconfirmed partial response that was not included in the analysis per RECIST v1.1. Nine patients were enrolled with a con- Pfizer and Merck KGaA to join forces and combine complementary strengths with the goal of meeting the needs of patients with multiple types of cancer,” said Albert Bourla, group president of Pfizer’s Vaccines, Oncology and Consumer Healthcare Businesses. “Immuno-oncology is a top priority for Pfizer. Combining this promising anti-PD-L1 antibody with Pfizer’s extensive portfolio of small molecules and antibodies provides an opportunity to potentially broaden the use of immunotherapy for patients with cancer and rapidly expand our oncology business. In addition, this alliance enables us to significantly accelerate the timeframe of our development programs and move into the first wave of potential immuno-oncology-based treatment regimens.” “Collaborating globally with Pfizer will allow us to benefit from the strengths and capabilities of both companies in immuno-oncology, further accelerating this promising asset in the race to address the needs of cancer patients across multiple tumor types,” added Belén Garijo, president and CEO of Merck’s biopharmaceutical division, Merck Serono. “On top of that, the global alliance will enable Merck to gain an early entry into the U.S. oncology market as well as to strengthen our existing oncology business in several other important global markets.” According to Dr. Mikael Dolsten, president of Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development, “Early results for Merck KGaA’s PD-L1 in patient trials are impressive and consistent with the results seen with the class of PD-1 and PD-L1 antibodies. This promising foundation of research will form the basis of multiple registration trials.” Separate from the PD-L1 pro- Nanomedicine and nanotechnology in general are an increasingly active segment in life-sciences overall and therapeutics specifically. BIND Therapeutics, for one, is a clinical-stage nanomedicine platform company developing targeted and programmable therapeutics called Accurins. firmed KRAS mutation, and two of those nine experienced an objective response (22 percent); median PFS in patients with KRAS mutant tumors was 2.7 months. In patients with squamous cell carcinoma there were no confirmed objective responses; however, median PFS in patients with squamous cell carcinoma was 2.8 months. Prolonged (more than four cycles) disease control was also noted in six of nine (66 percent) patients with squamous histology. Preliminary median overall survival was 6.2 months for all patients treated, 9.6 months in patients with KRAS mutant tumors and 11.1 months in patients with squamous cell carcinoma. Twenty-one of 40 patients received four or more cycles of therapy, attesting to the tolerability of BIND-014. Consistent with previous results, neutropenia, anemia, neuropathy and alopecia, commonly observed with docetaxel, were significantly reduced with BIND-014. Based on the promising results of the Q3W arm and the more patient-friendly once every three weeks dosing schedule, combined grams, Pfizer and Merck KGaA will also combine resources and expertise to advance Pfizer’s anti-PD-1 antibody into Phase 1 trials. The parties have also agreed to co-promote Pfizer’s Xalkori in the United States and several other key markets. Zacks Investment Research analysts wrote that they are “encouraged” by the collaboration and added that the agreement should help Merck KGaA’s Merck Serono division to remain on track with its “Fit for 2018” program, which was initiated in 2011. The Zacks investor note also cited that in June 2014, Merck KGaA signed an agreement with MorphoSys AG for discovery and development work related to therapeutic antibodies against undisclosed immune checkpoints. “We believe that the agreement with Pfizer will leverage Merck KGaA’s immuno-oncology pipeline and accelerate the timelines involved with the development programs. Moreover, this alliance should facilitate Merck KGaA’s entry into the U.S. oncology market apart from boosting the company’s existing oncology business in other markets,” noted Zacks in its analysis. n with the absence of a confirmed partial response in the first 22 patients enrolled on the Q1W schedule, the company will not continue enrollment on the weekly dosing schedule. BIND-014, a targeted polymeric nanoparticle, represents the first Accurin nanomedicine from BIND’s Medicinal Nanoengineering platform to reach the clinic. BIND014 targets prostate-specific membrane antigen, a target expressed on prostate cancer cells and the blood vessels of many types of nonprostate solid tumors, and contains docetaxel, a clinically validated and widely used anticancer agent. In preclinical cancer models, BIND014 was shown to increase accumulation of docetaxel at the site of disease, which translated to marked improvements in antitumor activity and tolerability. In clinical studies conducted to date, BIND-014 has been shown to be generally welltolerated and displayed antitumor activity at low doses and in tumors where conventional docetaxel has minimal activity. Accurins are BIND’s targeted and programmable therapeutics, which are designed utilizing BIND’s medicinal nanoengineering platform. BIND has demonstrated in preclinical studies that Accurins can improve tumor growth suppression, achieve higher concentrations of the payload in tumors compared to conventional delivery, and have pharmacokinetics and tolerability differentiated from their therapeutic payloads. n EDITCONNECT: E011518 CLINICAL TRIALS For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com GENEURO CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 addition to royalties on future sales. Servier will also have the option to take an equity stake in GeNeuro as a minority shareholder in the next 12 months. “This agreement is an ideal way to develop GeNeuro’s technology and deliver its full value for patients and stakeholders,” says Jesús MartinGarcia, GeNeuro’s chairman. “With all further development costs in MS funded by our partner, GeNeuro has a clear path forward with a manageable geographic focus on two of the world’s major markets.” Unlike current treatments for MS, which focus on reducing the frequency of relapses, GeNeuro’s drug holds the potential to stop progression of the disease altogether. Most current treatments target the patient’s immune system, an approach that has limited effectiveness at slowing the progress of the disease and that can leave patients with an increased risk of infections and cancers. GNbAC1 instead targets MSRV-ENv, a protein that appears to be closely tied to the root causes of the disorder. MSRV-ENv is expressed in all active lesions of MS patients, and it both induces inflammation and blocks the remyelination process, which provides a protective mechanism for neurons. “Targeting this causal factor has the potential to stop disease progression,” Curtin says. “By blocking the MSRV-ENv target, the drug could act on the inflammatory and neurodegenerative components of all forms of MS.” GNbAC1 could also be particularly well suited to treat the progressive forms of MS for which there is currently no approved treatment. About 40 percent of MS patients experience these forms of the disease, which are characterized by symptoms worsening over time. Current treatments only address the relapsing-remitting forms of MS. GeNeuro’s initial studies of GNbAC1 have revealed an attractive safety profile. An open-label extension of a Phase 2a safety study in 10 MS patients resulted in stability of brain lesions by MRI from baseline to 12 months, overall clinical stability and no signs of immunogenicity. Researchers also found a statistically significant decline of MSRV biomarkers in the blood during treatment. “This study, as well as a Phase 1 study in healthy individuals, showed that GNbAC1 was safe,” says Curtin. “These results are very promising.” The Phase 2b trial of GNbAC1 that will be funded by Servier is expected to begin by the middle of 2015 and produce data by the end of 2017. This trial will involve 200 to 250 patients with a relapsingremitting form of MS. The global market for MS treat- ments currently sees $12 billion to $13 billion in annual sales, and GeNeuro estimates it will increase by 50 percent in the next 10 years. Although there is substantial competition, GNbAC1’s potential efficacy for progressive forms of MS and its attractive safety profile could help it stand out. “There is still a large unmet medical need and ample space for innovative treatments acting on the progression of the disease and allowing safe, long-term treatment,” explains JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 29 “This agreement is an ideal way to develop GeNeuro’s technology and deliver its full value for patients and stakeholders. With all further development costs in MS funded by our partner, GeNeuro has a clear path forward with a manageable geographic focus on two of the world’s major markets.” Jesús Martin-Garcia, GeNeuro chairman Curtin. “GNbAC1 should fulfill these requirements.” GeNeuro was created in 2006 at Eclosion, the Geneva life-sci- ences accelerator, as a spin-off of Institut Mérieux. The company is primarily focused on the development of GNbAC1 as a treatment for MS. Olivier Laureau, president of Servier, says GeNuero makes an especially well-suited partner for his company. “Not only will this new strategic alliance allow Servier to enrich its portfolio in a disease with a huge unmet medical need, but we are especially proud to count as partner a company that was spun off from Institut Mérieux, a French institution internationally recognized for its excellence in research.” n EDITCONNECT: E011501 www.ddncancer.com CANCER RESEARCH NEWS A website for the latest oncology news, trends and resources ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Top cancer-related news and opinion stories Archive of all of DDNews cancer-related news stories Interviews with key oncology leaders Links to various companies, research centers and organizations involved in the field of oncology and much more! 30 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com DIAGNOSTICS Illumina, Sequenom resolve patent disputes SAN DIEGO—Illumina Inc. and Sequenom Inc. have reached an agreement that will settle all pending infringement claims and other disputes between Sequenom and Verinata Health Inc. The companies will pool the intellectual property directed to noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) they own and have in-licensed, including patents that remain the focus of ongoing interference proceedings. Per the agreement, Illumina will have exclusive worldwide rights to use the pooled IP to develop and sell in-vitro diagnostic kits for NIPT and license third-party labs that want to develop and market their own NIPT tests under the pooled patents. Sequenom and Illumina both have rights to use all pooled patents to develop and sell their own NIPT and will share revenue from the patent pool, with Illumina paying Sequenom a royalty on sales of in-vitro diagnostic kits for NIPT. Illumina will pay Sequenom $50 million up front, as well as ongoing commitments for payments to Sequenom from the patent pool structure through 2020. Investments support Sequenta MRD test SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—Sequenta Inc. has announced that Celgene Corp. and others have made equity investments in the company. The funding will support Sequenta’s incorporation of the ClonoSIGHT minimal residual disease (MRD) test into clinical trials of medicines being developed for various blood cancers as well as development of clinical diagnostics based on the company’s LymphoSIGHT platform. “Celgene’s investment in Sequenta, along with the other strategic investors, will further support adoption of our powerful minimal residual disease detection and quantification technology as the emerging standard for response assessment and disease monitoring in clinical trials of medicines for blood cancers, as well as the development of new applications of our LymphoSIGHT platform,” said Tom Willis, CEO of Sequenta. IN THIS SECTION Antibiotics A good attitude toward Longitude.......... 30 Litigation/Patents Illumina, Sequenom resolve patent disputes........................... 30 M&A activity/Prenatal/ DNA testing A harmonious transaction....................... 30 Oncology Investments support Sequenta MRD test................................. 30 myChoice CDx becomes TESARO’s choice..................................... 32 Rheumatology/Arthritis Achieving good arthritis predictions....... 31 A good attitude toward Longitude CPA Global to support Longitude Prize 2014, which seeks to improve the antibiotic landscape BY KELSEY KAUSTINEN ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Antibiotic resistance rep- resents a global challenge, and in the United Kingdom, that issue is the target of Longitude Prize 2014, an international challenge with the goal of finding a fast, accurate, easy-to-use and cost-effective test for bacterial infections, which will allow health professionals to give patients the right antibiotics at the right time. And stepping up to support this initiative is CPA Global, which provides intellectual property management services and software. CPA Global’s support comes in the form of a detailed patent landscape study, which the company will undertake through Landon IP, its specialist patent research subsidiary. The results will provide the Longitude Prize judging panel with a benchmark against which it can compare submissions in terms of originality and claimed speed, accuracy and ease of use. The study will also indicate the types of organizations active in this arena and what A portrait of Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, created by celebrity portrait artist Nathan Wyburn using 25,800 capsules. The work was commissioned to mark the opening of the 2014 Longitude Prize. biotics are needed and, if they are, which ones to use. This is vitally important as the incorrect use and overuse of antibiotics is a major con- countries they hail from. “We are proud to be supporting Longitude Prize 2014 and the search for a transformative point-of-care test that will identify when anti- PRIZE CONTINUED ON PAGE 31 A harmonious transaction Roche acquires Ariosa Diagnostics, gains noninvasive Harmony Prenatal Test BY KELSEY KAUSTINEN BASEL, Switzerland—Roche capped off 2014 by expanding its testing services footprint with the acquisition of privately held Ariosa Diagnostics Inc., a molecular diagnostics testing service provider that offers a highly targeted and accurate noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) service through its CLIA laboratory. Though no financial details were disclosed, the transaction was expected to close in December 2014. Ariosa’s portfolio features its proprietary Harmony Prenatal Test, a blood test performed as early as 10 weeks into pregnancy to assess a fetus’ risk of Down syndrome and other genetic abnormalities. The test evaluates fetal cell-free DNA found in maternal blood and specifically determines the risk of trisomies 13, 18 and 21, which indicate an extra chromosome in the fetus that could result in severe genetic conditions. The test has been validated to CLIA requirements and supported by clinical studies in more than CREDIT: ARIOSA DIAGNOSTICS BRIEFS “Cell-free DNA technology allows one to have a direct view into the assessment and monitoring of disease through a simple standard blood draw. This can avoid invasive testing, which often carries with it cost and complications,” says Dr. Ken Song, CEO of Ariosa Diagnostics. 22,000 women, and reportedly has a falsepositive result of less than 0.1 percent. “The noninvasive prenatal testing market with cell-free DNA has represented one of the fastest-growing segments in the diagnostics industry,” says Dr. Ken Song, CEO of Ariosa. “For Ariosa’s Harmony Prenatal Test, testing volume has grown from approximately 30,000 women in 2012 to over 200,000 women in 2014. Penetration of the NIPT market is still in its infancy, as the use of NIPT in the global general pregnancy population is just beginning to emerge.” While the companies haven’t worked together before, both were impressed with each other. Dan Zabrowski, head of Roche Tissue Diagnostics and Roche Sequencing Unit, reports that upon deciding to enter the NIPT market, Roche identified Ariosa as the best partner. For his part, Song says “Roche’s global leadership in in-vitro diagnostics and their focus on innovation made them a natural partner for Ariosa, especially as we look to broaden access for the Harmony Prenatal Test via a kit strategy.” “We’re seeing a paradigm shift in prenatal screening towards noninvasive cell-free DNA technology where we can identify the risk of aneuploidies with a high degree of accuracy over traditional screening methods,” Song adds. “Cell-free DNA technology allows one to have a direct view into the assessment and monitoring of disease through a simple NIPT CONTINUED ON PAGE 32 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com DIAGNOSTICS JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 31 Crescendo’s Vectra DA is a better predictor of joint damage in RA patients BY LLOYD DUNLAP SALT LAKE CITY—Crescendo Bioscience, a wholly owned subsidiary of Myriad Genetics Inc., has presented new data that show Vectra DA is a better predictor of radiographic progression over two years than other tests used to assess the risk of joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), such as C-reactive protein (CRP). The oral presentation was featured at the 2014 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Annual Meeting in Boston. Myriad acquired Crescendo in Feb. 2014 as part of its three-part growth strategy focused on oncology, a diversified product portfolio and expansion internationally, notes Ron Rogers, Myriad’s executive vice president of corporate communications. The study included 143 patients with RA who had received a stable treatment and were enrolled in the Brigham and Women’s Rheumatoid Arthritis Sequential Study (BRASS) “In this study of U.S. patients, Vectra DA was a strong predictor of joint damage over two years, compared with other tests. These data build on prior studies demonstrating that Vectra DA can assess risk for joint damage and complement other measures of disease activity.” Dr. Eric Sasso, vice president of medical and scientific affairs at Crescendo Bioscience PRIZE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 30 tributor to the rise of antibiotic resistance. We hope that the Longitude Prize challenge will be a catalyst for further—and urgent—innovation in developing solutions that address this major worldwide problem,” CPA Global’s CEO, Tim Griffiths, said in a press release. The Longitude Prize, which is run by Nesta and supported by Innovate UK (the new name for the Technology Strategy Board) as a funding partner, began accepting entries on Nov. 18. Competitors for the Longitude Prize have up to five years to find a solution, and regular submission deadlines have been established, after which entries will be reviewed, with potential winning solutions submitted to the Longitude Committee. The Committee can select the winner at any point during the five-year period of the challenge, and the Longitude Prize website lists Dec. 31, 2019, as the closing date. Longitude Prize 2014 has a £10 million (approximately $15.6 million) prize fund. British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the initiative at G8 2013. The Prize commemorates the 300th anniversary of the Longitude Act of 1714, in which Britain’s government challenged scientists to find registry in the United States. Patients were evaluated at their initial visit in the BRASS registry for the Vectra DA score and conventional measures of disease activity, including CRP, DAS28-CRP, CDAI, SDAI and RAPID3, and provided X-rays of hands and wrists at approximately the initial visit and two years later. These data were used to assess the relationship between disease activity and the amount of subsequent new joint damage seen on X-rays (radiographic progression). Results showed that Vectra DA was the best independent predictor of disease progression over two years compared with standard measures based on the exam or patient-reported outcome. The odds ratio for predicting progression was highest for Vectra DA and lowest for RAPID3. Among patients with a low CRP at baseline, defined as <1 mg/dL, radiographic progression was observed in 34.8 percent of patients with a high Vectra DA score versus 8.1 percent of patients with a low/moderate Vectra DA score, providing further evidence that Vectra DA provides information for predicting joint damage that is not provided by CRP. “In this study of U.S. patients, Vectra DA was a strong predictor of joint damage over two years, compared with other tests,” said Dr. Eric Sasso, vice president of medical and scientific affairs at Crescendo Bioscience. “These data build on prior studies demonstrating that Vectra DA can assess risk for joint damage and complement other measures of disease activity.” Sasso notes that a low score (less than 30) would indicate low, infrequent damage, where a moderate score of between 30 and 44 on the continuum and 44 or higher indicated a heightened risk profile. Another study featured at ACR provided an analysis of radiographic progression in patients with early RA from the Swedish Farmacotherapy (SWEFOT) clinical trial. The Vectra DA test was used to evaluate 220 patients for progression from baseline to year one and from baseline to year two. In addition, progression from year one to year CREDIT: MYRIAD GENETICS Achieving good arthritis predictions New clinical data show Myriad acquired Crescendo in Feb. 2014 as part of its three-part growth strategy focused on oncology, a diversified product portfolio and expansion internationally, notes Ron Rogers, Myriad’s executive vice president of corporate communications. two was evaluated for 133 patients who had inadequate initial responses to methotrexate and were treated from month three with the addition of a TNF inhibitor or with triple therapy using methotrexate, sulfasalazine and hydroxychloroquine. Among patients with a high Vectra DA score at baseline, 25 percent of those with a high Vectra DA score at month three showed rapid radiographic progression during the first year, and 35 percent of those with a high Vectra DA score at one year showed rapid radiographic progression between year one to year two. By contrast, for patients whose high baseline Vectra DA score declined to low after three months or one year of treatment, only 6 percent and 4 percent showed rapid radiographic progression between year one to year two. Moreover, for patients who had a moderate Vectra DA score at baseline and achieved a low Vectra DA score at three months, none showed rapid radiographic progression during the first year. “In this study, a high Vectra DA score was associated with markedly increased risk for joint damage, and a low Vectra DA score was associated with low risk for subsequent joint damage,” said Sasso. “These findings suggest how Vectra DA may be used to objectively assess disease activity following initiation of therapy to help manage the patient’s disease.” Vectra DA is reportedly the only multibiomarker blood test for RA disease activity that integrates the concentrations of 12 serum proteins associated with RA disease activity into a single objective score, on a scale of one to 100, to help physicians make more informed treatment decisions. Vectra DA testing is performed at the Crescendo Bioscience CLIAcertified facility, and test results are reported to the physician five to seven days from shipping of the specimen to Crescendo. Physicians can receive test results via standard mail, by fax or via the private web portal, VectraView. Crescendo Bioscience, located in South San Francisco, Calif., is a molecular diagnostics company dedicated to developing and commercializing quantitative blood tests for RA and other autoimmune diseases. Crescendo Bioscience develops quantitative, objective, reproducible blood tests to provide rheumatologists with deeper clinical insight to help enable more effective management of patients with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. In other news, parent company Myriad Genetics recently announced that it has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for BRACAnalysis CDx to be used as the only companion diagnostic in conjunction with AstraZeneca’s Lynparza (olaparib). Lynparza is the first poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor for patients with germline mutations in BRCA1/2 advanced ovarian cancer who have had three or more lines of chemotherapy. BRACAnalysis CDx is Myriad’s first FDA-approved companion diagnostic for use with a novel PARP inhibitor. n EDITCONNECT: E011522 “We are proud to be supporting Longitude Prize 2014 and the search for a transformative point-of-care test that will identify when antibiotics are needed and, if they are, which ones to use. This is vitally important as the incorrect use and overuse of antibiotics is a major contributor to the rise of antibiotic resistance. We hope that the Longitude Prize challenge will be a catalyst for further—and urgent—innovation in developing solutions that address this major worldwide problem.” –Tim Griffiths, CEO of CPA Global a method for pinpointing a ship’s location at sea by knowing its longitude, one of the greatest scientific challenges of that century. Antibiotic resistance was chosen by the British public as the focus for Longitude Prize 2014 because, according to the Wellcome Trust, no new class of antibiotics has reached the market in 25 years. “Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest global health challenges of our time, which, if not addressed, could cost millions of lives around the world,” explained Geoff Mulgan, chief executive of Nesta and Longitude Prize committee member. “Our hope is that the combination of the prize and greater awareness of the problem will fuel a dramatic acceleration in the search for solutions, many of which may be surprising and come from unexpected sources. We are grateful for the support from CPA Global. The patent landscape study will be a very valuable benchmarking tool for the judging panel when considering submissions.” An August feature on Nesta’s website shared the results of a survey of more than 1,000 general physicians for Longitude Prize, revealing the need for easy, accessible diagnostic tools. Seventy percent of the survey participants said they prescribe antibiotics when they aren’t sure if a patient is suffering from a viral or bacterial infection, and 24 percent said they prescribe them due to a lack of easy-to-use diagnostic tools. Additionally, 28 percent of the general physicians revealed that they prescribe antibiotics “several times a week” even when they aren’t positive they’re medically necessary, with 90 percent reporting that they feel pressure from patients to prescribe the antibiotics. More than 50 million antibacterial items were dispensed to the community in the United Kingdom last year. n EDITCONNECT: E011520 DIAGNOSTICS myChoice CDx becomes TESARO’s choice TESARO directors select Myriad Genetics’ companion diagnostic for treating resistant ovarian cancer BY LORI LESKO BARCELONA, Spain—With the ancient Goth- ic Quarter looming near the site of the hightech 26th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, Myriad Genetics announced biopharmaceutical company TESARO will use Myriad’s myChoice HRD companion diagnostic (CDx) to identify tumor tissue with a deficiency in homologous recombination—good news for the future of patients suffering from a resistant form of ovarian cancer. Under the terms of the agreement, Waltham, Mass.-based TESARO will utilize Myriad’s test to enrich the target population for potential responders to niraparib, while Myriad provides the testing services and pursues the necessary regulatory approvals in support of TESARO’s development of niraparib Myriad Genetics recently announced that biopharma TESARO will use Myriad’s myChoice HRD as a therapy used for treating ovarian cancer. companion diagnostic to identify tumor tissue with a deficiency in homologous recombination. In addition, Dr. Paul Haluska, Jr., associate platinum-based therapies or PARP (poly-ADP companion diagnostic to pair a tumor type with the targeted activity of a specific mediprofessor of oncology at the Mayo Clinic, pre- ribose polymerase) inhibitors.” “Companion diagnostic collaborations with cine,” Lanchbury said. “Prior studies have sented new data before the Barcelona sympoinnovative partners are integral to shown that only a subset of patients will sium, demonstrating that Myriad’s our long-term research strategy, respond to PARP inhibitors. HRD is the most myChoice HRD (homologous and we place a high value on all of comprehensive test to identify those patients recombination deficiency) score pharmaceutical company collabo- who might respond to treatment.” is predictive of niraparib sensitivMyriad estimates the global market for an rations,” Rogers explains. “Addiity in patient-derived xenograft tionally, we’re committed to being HRD test could exceed $3 billion as oncolomodels of ovarian cancer. a leader in personalized medicine gists move toward personalized medicine and The companies have not disclosed for cancer patients. In the case of targeted therapies. the financial terms of the deal. “As an innovation-focused company, we are TESARO, our goal is to combine Mary Lynne Hedley, president and chief operating officer of “Data have shown our strengths to better understand leading the way in developing breakthrough the underlying biology of cancer— companion diagnostics that have the potenTESARO, stated in a news release, that patients who and to drive the development of tial to create significant value for patients and “Myriad’s myChoice HRD diag- respond to PARP physicians,” Lanchbury said. “We also strive anti-cancer therapies.” nostic test identifies the inherent inhibitors often “We currently are partnering to be the research partner of choice.” biology of the tumor and differ- have tumors with Companion diagnostics continue to be entiates tumors with homologous certain DNA repair with more than 20 pharmaceutideficiencies—such cal companies,” he adds. “Our col- developed to identify patients most likely to repair deficiencies from those as BRCA laborations include DNA sequenc- benefit from specific treatments and “hold without such deficiencies. Nirapa- mutations—and rib sensitivity in patient-derived who may be more ing, RNA analysis, proteomics and tremendous promise in the treatment of disin some instances we combine all eases such as rheumatoid arthritis and other xenograft models is associated likely to respond autoimmune disorders, cancer and diabetes,” three of these technologies.” with HRD status as defined by the to treatment with niraparib,” says Myriad is “committed to being according to Myriad. myChoice HRD test.” CEO In the recent study showing the CDx’s utila leader in companion diagnostics “TESARO is developing nirapa- TESARO Lonnie Moulder. that help target or tailor a treat- ity, patient-derived xenografts were created rib for several tumor types, and we have two Phase 3 trials ongoing in patients ment plan for patients,” Rogers says. “Studies from more than 100 high-grade serious ovarwith ovarian cancer and breast cancer,” TESA- are underway, and last month we announced ian cancer tumor samples, Myriad reported. HRD testing was performed on each samRO CEO Lonnie Moulder tells DDNews. “Data an expansion of our research collaboration ple using myChoice HRD to define HRD have shown that patients who respond to with TESARO.” Jerry Lanchbury, chief scientific officer at status, detect BRCA 1 and 2 mutations and PARP inhibitors often have tumors with certain DNA repair deficiencies—such as BRCA Myriad, stated in a news release about that identify hypermethylation of BRCA genes. mutations—and who may be more likely to deal that “We are excited to be expanding our Approximately half of these models were collaboration with TESARO as we strongly HRD-positive and are being evaluated for respond to treatment with niraparib.” While TESARO “is responsible for all believe new diagnostics such as myChoice sensitivity to niraparib in vivo. Preliminary data from treated models indiaspects of niraparib development, Myriad HRD, combined with targeted therapies will be responsible for development of the such as niraparib, have the potential to sig- cate all models that responded to niraparib treatment had an HRD score above the prediagnostic test,” he adds. “We believe that nificantly improve patient care.” Myriad’s myChoice HRD CDx “utilizes determined cutoff value, and included both niraparib has the potential to be a meaningful advancement in the treatment of patients with three proprietary measures to assess the BRCA mutant and BRCA wild-type tumors. ovarian cancer, breast cancer and potentially genomic scar associated with the loss of Evaluation of niraparib sensitivity across the other tumors, such as small cell lung cancer.” DNA repair, and has been shown in multiple full set of selected models is ongoing. Niraparib is an orally active and potent Ron Rogers, executive vice president of clinical studies to be the most comprehensive corporate communications at Myriad, spoke predictor of tumor response to DNA damag- PARP, inhibitor. A Phase 1/2 monotherapy to DDNews about DNA-damaging agents and ing agents such as niraparib,” Lanchbury said. study of niraparib has been completed in Myriad first announced a collaboration more than 100 patients with advanced the importance of strategic collaborations with TESARO last year, on March 24, stating solid tumors. Two Phase 3 trials are curthat set the stage for new discoveries. “DNA-damaging agents target and inter- that TESARO would use Myriad’s novel HRD rently ongoing to evaluate a single oral rupt the DNA pathway in tumor cells, which test to identify tumor types that may respond dose of niraparib as a maintenance therapy result in the tumor cells dying,” Rogers said. to its investigational PARP inhibitor, nirapa- for patients with ovarian cancer and as a treatment for patients with BRCA-positive “Patients who have tumors that lack the abil- rib, then in Phase 3 clinical development. “The biology of cancer is complex, and breast cancer. n ity to repair the DNA may be more likely to respond to DNA-damaging agents like the increasingly the goal of oncology is to use a EDITCONNECT: E011523 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com NIPT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 30 standard blood draw. This can avoid invasive testing, which often carries with it cost and complications.” Zabrowski shares Song’s outlook on this technology, noting that “We believe cell-free DNA technology is going to be a game-changer, not only in NIPT but in other disease areas such as cancer, transplant and infectious disease … We think that for us, cellfree DNA technology is an important strategic imperative for Roche to lead in this area.” CREDIT: ROCHE 32 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 “We believe cell-free DNA technology is going to be a game-changer, not only in NIPT but in other disease areas such as cancer, transplant and infectious disease … We think that for us, cell-free DNA technology is an important strategic imperative for Roche to lead in this area,” says Dan Zabrowski, head of Roche Tissue Diagnostics and Roche Sequencing Unit. He says that going off of analyst estimates, it’s fair to say the NIPT market “has the potential to be a multibilliondollar market,” adding that though the market is currently focused on highrisk pregnancies, “we believe that with Ariosa we can expand access to an NIPT test that would make it affordable for women who have moderateto low-risk pregnancies.” Following the close of the transaction, Zabrowski says Roche will retain Ariosa’s employees and current site in San Jose, Calif. “We think Ken Song and his management team are excellent. We’re really excited that we’re going to be able to retain everybody at Ariosa, and they’ll continue to be an important part of our strategy going forward,” he tells DDNews. “We remain committed to developing an integrated portfolio that provides our customers with a complete solution for the generation, analysis and management of genomics data, and for us to achieve that, we’re investing internally in potential breakthrough technologies as well as seeking the most innovative technologies externally, as evidenced by the announcements we’ve made this year with the acquisition of Genia, our collaboration with Stratos, the acquisition of Ariosa and the acquisition of Bina.” n EDITCONNECT: E011521 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 33 BUSINESS & GOVERNMENT POLICY BRIEFS Orphan drug designation for pancreatic cancer candidate CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—The FDA has granted MM-141 orphan drug designation for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported recently. This designation grants Merrimack seven-year marketing exclusivity for MM-141 should the drug receive FDA approval. A Phase 2 study investigating MM-141 combined with nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine in frontline pancreatic cancer is expected to start next year. Dr. Ulrik Nielsen, Merrimack’s chief scientific officer and co-founder, said, “We look forward to advancing the clinical development of MM-141 as we believe that it has the potential to significantly inhibit tumor survival signaling and address pathways of therapeutic resistance in this indication.” Galena expands patent portfolio for GALE-401 PORTLAND, Ore.— Galena Biopharma Inc. announced receipt of a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a patent application for GALE-401 composition of matter, a controlled-release formulation of anagrelide for use in reducing platelet counts in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms. The claims encompass controlled-release formulations of GALE-401 in a broad range of unit dosage forms, articles of manufacture containing GALE-401 and methods of reducing platelet counts in patients with a variety of diseases by administering GALE401, and the patent, when issued, expires in 2029. “This composition of matter patent is an important component in the building of our patent family for GALE-401 ... Our controlled-release version of anagrelide may offer treatment benefits for patients [who] may not be tolerating the currently available immediate-release version,” said Dr. Mark W. Schwartz, Galena’s president and CEO. MedImmune boosts cancer Patent Docs capacities with Definiens deal Copyright by Kevin Noonan Acquisition brings with it Tissue Phenomics, an imaging technology for biomarker identification law threats to U.S. drug innovation BY KELSEY KAUSTINEN LONDON—In its latest move to strengthen its oncology position, MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, has acquired privately held Definiens, a data-analysis firm with corporate headquarters in München, Germany, and American headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif. Per the agreement, MedImmune will acquire 100 percent of Definiens’ shares for an initial consideration of $150 million and will also make additional, predetermined milestone payments. The transaction was expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2014. Among Definiens’ portfolio is Tissue Phenomics, an imaging and data-analysis technology that can dramatically improve the identification of biomarkers in tumor tisCANCER CONTINUED ON PAGE 34 to win FDA marketing approval by submitting bioequivalence studies. The case that had reached the Supreme DELAY CONTINUED ON PAGE 35 PATENT CONTINUED ON PAGE 36 Looking to strengthen its oncology position, MedImmune (the headquarters of which is pictured here) will acquire 100 percent of Definiens’ shares for an initial consideration of $150 million and will also make additional, predetermined milestone payments. PAY TO DELAY? Ranbaxy and AstraZeneca win jury victory in test of what antitrust limits may be placed on reverse payment deals BY ILENE SCHNEIDER IN THIS SECTION Copyright law/Innovation Patent Docs: Copyright law threats to U.S. drug innovation��������������������������� 33 Litigation/Antitrust Pay to delay?........................................... 33 M&A activity MedImmune boosts cancer capacities with Definiens deal................................. 33 Merck to pay $8.4 billion for Cubist (CUBIST from cover)................................ 36 Oncology/Orphan drugs Orphan drug designation for pancreatic cancer candidate................... 33 Patent activity Galena expands patent portfolio for GALE-401........................................... 33 Tools and technology On the cutting edge................................. 34 BOSTON—A Massachusetts jury has found that an agreement between AstraZeneca, the global biopharmaceutical giant, and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., a generics drugmaker, to delay the introduction of a generic version of AstraZeneca’s heartburn drug Nexium was not anticompetitive. The verdict, reached Dec. 5 in federal court in Boston, is the first time a jury has decided such a case since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2013 that “so-called pay-fordelay settlements may run afoul of antitrust laws,” according to the New York Times—in other words, whether the Hatch-Waxman Act settlements could be challenged under federal antitrust law. The Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, usually referred to as the Hatch-Waxman Act, was designed to promote generics while leaving intact a financial incentive for research and development. It allows generics O NE OF THE POWERS OF Congress conferred by the Constitution is to grant copyright and patent protection; these powers are enumerated in the same part of Article I, specifically in Section 8, Clause 8: To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. This coincidence of these powers has raised questions of whether development of the law in one area can affect the law in the other; Kevin Noonan, for example, with partner, regard to concepts McDonnell such as exhaustion Boehnen and extraterritori- Hulbert & ality. Both of these Berghoff LLP issues arose in the copyright case of Kirtsaeng v John Wiley & Sons decided by the U.S. Supreme Court last term; while the immediate effect of this decision on patent law was unclear, recent developments may make the case very relevant and very dangerous for continued pharmaceutical innovation. Briefly, the case involved a copyright infringement action brought by Wiley against a Thailand national, Supap Kirtsaeng, who was studying in the United States and arranged to have copies of textbooks sold in Thailand sent to him by his relatives for resale in the United States. Because Wiley (like many U.S. publishers) sells the same textbook at a much lower price in countries like Thailand than they cost in the States, Kirtsaeng was able to sell the books sent to him from abroad on eBay, ultimately making $1.2 million A jury decision recently found that an agreement between AstraZeneca (R&D activities of which are pictured here) and generic drugmaker Ranbaxy to delay the introduction of a generic version of AstraZeneca’s heartburn drug Nexium was not anticompetitive. BUSINESS & GOVERNMENT POLICY 34 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com A roundup of instrumentation, software and other tools and technology news A BY JEFFREY BOULEY S WE LOOK AT SOME of the interesting technologies available to improve the work of life-sciences researchers and lab staff, we will see some “walkers” (no, not the kind from “The Walking Dead,” thankfully), computational chemistry software, biologics de-risking and sequencing analysis. TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY Microscopic “walkers” find their way across cell surfaces CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—In a case of technology that could provide a way to deliver probes or drugs to cell structures without outside guidance, a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) led by Alfredo Alexander-Katz, the Walter Henry Gale Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, has CANCER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33 sue. Tissue Phenomics is based on Definiens’ proprietary Cognition Network Technology, which was developed by Prof. Gerd Binnig, the 1986 Nobel Laureate in Physics, and helps mine information from cancer tissue samples by measuring the identity, locations and relationships between the different components of the tumor microenvironment. The company received Frost & Sullivan’s 2013 Global Company of the Year for Tissue Diagnostics and Pathology Imaging Solutions award. “Definiens’ Tissue Phenomics approach marks a significant step toward closing the gap between MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca (the headquarters of which is pictured here), has acquired privately held Definiens, a dataanalysis firm with corporate headquarters in München, Germany, and American headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif. demonstrated a new target-finding mechanism. The new system allows microscopic devices to autonomously find their way to areas of a cell surface, for example, just by detecting an increase in surface friction in places where more cell receptors are concentrated. “The idea was to find out if we could create a synthetic, active system that could sense gradients in biological receptors,” Alexander-Katz explains. “Currently, we don’t know of anything that can do that.” Cells have a way of locating areas that bear a specific kind of chemical signature—a process called chemotaxis. That’s the method used by white blood cells, for example, to locate regions where pathogens are attacking body cells. The new system uses a pair of linked particles with magnetic properties. In the presence of a genomics and patient outcomes,” Thomas Heydler, CEO of Definiens, commented in a statement. “We look forward to joining the MedImmune team as Tissue Phenomics is of particular importance for personalized medicine in immuno-oncology. Definiens’ unique ability to extract information from tissue images enables us to find novel markers for patient stratification by correlating tissue information with clinical outcomes. Together, MedImmune and Definiens can bring tailored treatments to patients faster.” There are a number of reasons for this deal, says Ed Bradley, a senior vice president at MedImmune and head of iMED (Innovative magnetic field, the paired particles begin to tumble across a surface, with first one particle and then the other making contact—in effect, “walking” across the surface. So far, the work has been carried out on a model cell surface, on a functionalized microscope slide, but the effect should work similarly with living cells, Alexander-Katz says. The team’s goal now is to demonstrate the ability of the microscopic walkers to find their way toward concentrations of receptors in actual living tissue. The method could potentially have a variety of applications, Alexander-Katz says. For example, it could be developed as a method of locating tumor cells within the body by identifying their surface texture, perhaps in combination with other characteristics. Nagoya University institute licenses Cresset’s computational chemistry software CAMBRIDGE, U.K.—Cresset, innovative provider of computational chemistry software and services, CREDIT: JOHN PHELAN ON THE CUTTING EDGE MIT researchers have developed a new system that allows microscopic devices to autonomously find their way to areas of a cell surface. announced in late fall 2014 that Nagoya University’s Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM), located in Nagoya, Japan, has licensed Cresset’s Forge, a computational chemistry suite for understanding SAR and molecular design. “The focal point of ITbM is to develop transformative bio-molecules that will be key to solving urgent problems at the interface of chemistry and biology,” says Associate Prof. Ayato Sato, head of the Research Promotion Division and the chief coordinator of the ITbM Chemical Library Center. “We are confident that licensing Cresset’s software will accelerate our research to find candidates of transformative bio-molecules.” Chugai licenses EpiVax platform to de-risk biologics PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. recently signed an agreement with Rhode Islandbased biotechnology company EpiVax Inc. to incorporate EpiVax’s ISPRI (Interactive Protein Screening and Reengineering Interface) immunogenicity screening and EDGE CONTINUED ON PAGE 36 One of the assets that will be gained by MedImmune (a facility of which is pictured here) by acquiring Definiens is Tissue Phenomics, an imaging and data-analysis technology that can dramatically improve the identification of biomarkers in tumor tissue. Medicines and Early Development). For one, MedImmune has worked with Definiens for years, in multiple therapeutic areas and across both biologics and small molecules, he explains. Definiens’ technology was also an important factor. A major feature, however, was the volume of work MedImmune’s portfolio was generating, Bradley explains. “Their technology enables the very precise characterization of change of immunologic biomarkers in patients’ tumors as therapy is progressing, and the ability to get that data really will help us guide a lot of decisions we make about identifying exactly the right combinations of agents to use,” Bradley tells DDNews. “Our portfolio is really based on identifying the best, most active combinations of immunotherapies to use in patient care, and so we were finding that we were doing more and more of this translational work with Definiens and in just looking forward over the next couple of years realized that we could completely occupy all of the capacities that they have, and so the acquisition really made a lot of sense.” Oncology is a core therapeutic area for AstraZeneca and MedImmune, making the technological support Definiens can offer of significant value for pipeline development. Bradley says he considers cancer immunotherapy to have the potential to become “the core of effective cancer therapeutic regimens moving forward, primarily because an effective immune response lasts a lifetime and it has the greatest possibility in resulting in very, very durable response.” He considers it particularly central to AstraZeneca given the company’s small molecules and MedImmune’s immunotherapeutics, which together, Bradley says, offer “an enormous amount of synergistic potential, therapeutic potential.” In a press release detailing the completion of the acquisition, Definiens noted that the deal “will help to accelerate further clinical programs through precise predictive and prognostic biomarker testing. It is believed that using biomarkers to select patients for clinical trials could potentially shorten clinical timelines and increase response rates. As a result, the technology will serve as an important tool in the advancement of the most promising combination therapies across AstraZeneca’s combined small-molecule and biologics pipeline, around 80 percent of which currently has a personalized healthcare approach.” “It’s extremely important to understand the biology of the immune response to cancer and to understand the pharmacologic/ pharmacodynamic effect that you’re having by using these immune checkpoint modulators in patients,” Bradley tells DDNews. “And the Definiens technology enables you, in a small number of patients in a very accurate way, to see exactly what biological, pharmacodynamic effect you’re having, so this is central to the strategy of having a very strong translational core for all of the programs we have.” Following the completion of this deal, Bradley says Definiens will retain its employees and continue operating its business with third-party customers on a contractual basis. n EDITCONNECT: E011524 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com DELAY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33 Court was filed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which maintains that “reverse payments” cost drug buyers as much as $3.5 billion a year—the agency noted that in 2012 alone, 40 such reverse payment deals were struck. The pharma industry not only disputes the $3.5-billion number and argues deals like these are legal, but also largely maintains that such deals allow lower-cost generic drugs to reach consumers faster than if patent litigation cases are filed and drag on. Plaintiffs, who included drug wholesalers and insurers, claimed that generic Nexium could have been on the market as long as six years ago. They also argued that Ranbaxy could have begun selling a generic version “at risk,” resulting in a cheaper version being available earlier. Venable LLP, led by partner J. Douglas Baldridge, represented Ranbaxy in the suit in Federal District Court in Boston. Ranbaxy and AstraZeneca challenged a 2008 settlement of a patent lawsuit that stalled sales of a cheaper version of Nexium in the United States until AstraZeneca’s patents expired last May. The legal firm, which includes 600 attorneys in six offices and specializes in antitrust litigation, described the suit as “the first test of what limits may be placed on reverse payment deals among drugmakers to protect steady streams of revenue on popular drugs.” The Venable team for the sixweek trial consisted of partners J. Douglas Baldridge, Lisa Jose Fales and Danielle R. Foley, associates Vincent Verrocchio, Paul Feinstein, Sarah Choi and Molly Cusson with Marta Markowska and Jeanne Mooney. Led by Douglas Baldridge, the Venable trial team emphasized the fact that even though the date for generic entry had come and gone, no generic received even tentative approval from the FDA for another similar drug. Baldridge pointed to the fact that the jury clearly agreed with the defendants’ argument dismissing the idea that “but for so-called ‘illegal’ payments by the defendants, the plaintiffs could have entered the market at an earlier date. Clearly that did not occur,” Baldridge said. “The system worked. The jury understood the facts of the case and were not swayed by wishful thinking on the part of the plaintiffs,” he said in his closing arguments. “The drug buyer groups were living in a fantasy world during the trial. No company could have produced generic Nexium sooner because none of the generics makers had FDA approval.” Ranbaxy had said in an earlier court filing that, “The buyers failed to show they were actually harmed by the deal between the companies,” relying instead upon BUSINESS & GOVERNMENT POLICY “strained opinions of experts who each proffer a version of what could have or would have happened in a hypothetical world that has no connection to the evidence.” Fales, another of the Venable team, believes that the case was successful for Ranbaxy, because “The legal system worked, and the jury got it. The jurors understood that there was a lack of causation in the plaintiff’s case. We also had a cohesive legal team that helped the jurors to separate the wheat from the chaff.” Fales explained that given the length and complexity of the case, the fact that it was essentially deliberated in a day by the jurors proves that reality trumped the hypothetical case posited by the plaintiffs. “The jurors understood the complicated legal and technical issues of how the Hatch-Waxman legislation works, how business works and how drug companies operate,” she concluded. n EDITCONNECT: E011525 JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 35 In a suit recently decided in federal court in Boston, Ranbaxy and AstraZeneca (the headquarters of which is pictured here) challenged a 2008 settlement of a patent lawsuit that stalled sales of a cheaper version of Nexium in the United States until AstraZeneca’s patents expired last May. THE BRIDGE FROM DISCOVERY TO ... Research & Development Preclinical Clinical Trials Diagnostics Business & Government Policy For the pharma, biotech and lifesciences professional, understanding the complex process that results in new marketed therapeutics is an on-going challenge. In DDNews, you get insightful reporting and analysis of each stage in the pipeline—in print and online—from a staff of experienced life-science journalists. It’s an information resource you can’t find anywhere else. Let’s start a dialog Are there important issues, research areas or technologies you would like to read more about in DDNews? Let us know at Twitter (@DDNewsOnline) or friend us on Facebook. Published by Old River Publications LLC, 19035 Old Detroit Road, Rocky River, OH USA 44116 ■ Ph: 440-331-6600 | Fax: 440-331-7563 36 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 PATENT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33 in revenues. Although Wiley prevailed in the lower courts, the Supreme Court reversed, on the grounds that the “first sale doctrine” permitted resale of legally obtained copyrighted works without obtaining the copyright owner’s permission, and that U.S. copyright law, and the notice on the textbooks purchased in Thailand that they were only authorized for sale outside the U.S., did not mandate a different outcome. (Not unexpectedly, Wiley increased the cost of its textbooks sold abroad after this decision.) This case has clear implications for branded drugs, which are often sold outside the U.S. for less than the same drugs costs at home; at least some of these cost differences are the result of foreign governments imposing price caps and otherwise regulating the cost of branded drugs. This is not a phenomenon limited to developing or Third World countries: many European countries having a nationalized healthcare system also have varying levels of cost controls for branded drugs, along with regimes for generic versions of these drugs after expiration of some term of exclusivity for the branded versions. And many countries, such as Brazil, China, India, Russia and Thailand, have relied upon international treaty provisions (such as the Doha Declaration under the auspices of the World Trade Organization) to provide government-subsidized generic versions of branded drugs at prices much lower than the prevailing price in Western countries. These differences in costs have not affected U.S. prices because, unlike textbooks, branded drugs cannot CUBIST CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 it can have the greatest impact in addressing significant unmet medical needs while delivering the greatest value to customers and society. “Cubist is a global leader in antibiotics and has built a strong portfolio of both marketed and late-stage pipeline medicines,” according to Kenneth C. Frazier, chairman and CEO of Merck. “Combining this expertise with Merck’s strong capabilities and global reach will enable us to create a stronger position in hospital acute care while addressing critical areas of unmet medical need, such as antibiotic resistance.” Merck has strategically focused on acute care within the larger hospital setting as a top priority because of the significant unmet need and the unique opportunities for Merck to improve patient care and manage costs in this setting with its in-line portfolio, promising BUSINESS & GOVERNMENT POLICY be reimported into the U.S. under FDA regulations and U.S. law. That may be changing, however, in view of a New York Times report recently on bipartisan efforts to reduce drug prices by permitting reimportation. The Times reports, in an article by Elisabeth Rosenthal, that Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is planning to revive a prior bill that would permit reimportation from Canada, a country whose national health service regulates the price of branded and generic drugs. She is supported in these efforts by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and undoubtedly other senators will join in the effort. The impetus for action now, according to Rosenthal, is not that branded drug prices are high (although there is certainly concern about the price of some drugs, particularly biologic drugs directed towards intractable diseases like cancer); rather, it is the rising price of generic drugs that has raised concerns. A panel of the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) investigated the issue, hearing from Prof. Stephen Schondelmeyer of the University of Minnesota, Dr. Aaron Kesselheim of the Harvard Medical School and Rob Frankil, who testified on behalf of the National Community Pharmacists Association who had requested congressional action. (Three generic drug company executives declined the panel’s invitation to testify, according to the Times report.) The testimony included reports of generic drug costs increasing by about 8,000 percent (i.e., 80-fold, for doxycycline) and over 300 percent for 10 other generic drugs. These increases are recent (over the past few months), and the pipeline and its customer capabilities, the company reports. Cubist’s antibiotic Cubicin, the only approved once-a-day therapy for both S. aureus bacteremia and complicated skin and skin structure infections, has been used to treat more than two million patients and continues to be an important therapy in the acute-care environment. Cubist’s in-line and late-stage pipeline of anti-infective medicines, including Zerbaxa, which is pending approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is expected to enhance Merck’s hospital acute-care business in a variety of therapeutic areas, including Gram-positive and Gram-negative multidrug-resistant infections. “Combining with Merck is an exciting opportunity to accelerate Cubist’s established leadership in antibiotics and deliver significant, certain and immediate value to shareholders,” said Michael Bonney, CEO of Cubist, when the deal was announced. “We have a deep causes attributed to the increases range from shortages in active pharmaceutical ingredient supplies, manufacturing problems and consolidation of drug companies by mergers and acquisitions. As can be expected, the Senate panel heard calls for greater government regulation and application of drug rebate requirements to Medicare and Medicaid to apply to generic drugs, just as they now apply to branded drugs. More troubling in the long term is the solution proposed by Senator Klobuchar, allowing importation from Canada; Maine is already permitting its residents to purchase some drugs from Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, in contravention of U.S. law. The crisis in the cost of generic drugs has made this solution particularly attractive, because paradoxically, the cost of a generic version of a drug in the United States can be higher than the cost of the branded drug in Canada. The Times article illustrated this situation for digoxin, where a 90-day supply of the generic drug costs $187 in New York while the same amount of the branded version, sold as Lanoxin, costs $24.30 in Canada. The comparisons are similar for an inflammatory bowel disease drug ($1,625 for the generic in the U.S., $155.70 for the branded version in Canada) and the cholesterol drug Pravachol ($230 U.S. generic/$31.50 branded Canadian). With these differential costs, plans permitting branded drug reimportation have begun to have political force, reinforced by the aging of the population where more people will be covered by Medicare and costs to the government will rise accordingly. If successful, these efforts will create a situation akin to the consequences of the Kirtsaeng case For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com in the copyright arena. Here, however, innovator drug companies will not have the option, exercised by Wiley, of increasing prices abroad to make reimportation less economically attractive. The prevalence of ANDA litigation in the U.S. over the past 30 years is one indication of the importance of exclusivity, and the attendant profits that result from exclusivity, to pharmaceutical innovation. Should those profits decrease significantly, the return on investment (ROI) for innovator drugs will fall, and the calculus of investment that supports new drug development will be affected unpredictably (but not positively; the unpredictability resides in how much the ROI will change and how that will affect investment decisions). A common criticism aimed at branded drugmakers is the frequency with which they develop “me too” and next-generation versions of already-marketed drugs rather than create innovative new treatments and therapies. The same uncertainties in drug development that make such behavior sound economically also impact the decision to develop new drugs, and policies that reduce ROI for such new drugs (which bear the greatest economic risk) are unlikely to promote innovation. n EDITCONNECT: E011526 Kevin Noonan is a partner with the law firm McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP and represents biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies on a myriad of issues. A former molecular biologist, he is also the founding author of the Patent Docs weblog, http://patentdocs. typepad.com/. “Cubist is a global leader in antibiotics and has built a strong portfolio of both marketed and late-stage pipeline medicines,” says Kenneth C. Frazier, chairman and CEO of Merck. “Combining this expertise with Merck’s strong capabilities and global reach will enable us to create a stronger position in hospital acute care while addressing critical areas of unmet medical need, such as antibiotic resistance.” respect for Merck, and it is clear that they share our commitment to addressing the growing, global problem we are facing in combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria.” Merck isn’t alone among large pharmas in looking at antibiotics with a new eye in the face of rising antibiotic-resistant disease rates, but some think the company may be overreaching with this acquisition deal. As noted in coverage by the New York Times, immediate investor response was to wipe away some $8 billion—almost the entire purchase price—from Merck’s market capitalization, in part because a legal decision in Cubist vs. Hospira in the U.S. District Court in Delaware could force Cubist to face generic competition for Cubicin in the United States as early as the middle of 2016 rather than 2020. Although the Times noted this was probably an overreaction on the part of investors, because even a worst-case scenario probably means foregone Cubicin revenue would not likely exceed $3 billion, it shows that many don’t have the same level of faith in the deal as Merck does. As Leerink Research notes, the district court ruling was in favor of Hospira on all but one of five patents that Hospira had said were infringed by Cubist. “Barring a rapid appeal over- EDGE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 34 deimmunization technology into Chugai’s drug development toolbox. Researchers at Chugai will utilize the cloud-based in-silico ISPRI in conjunction with OptiMatrix, a tool for deimmunizing biologics, to screen and re-engineer therapeutic proteins for potential immunogenicity and deimmunize immune-dominant epitopes, known as clusters. Dr. Tomoyuki Igawa, group manager of the Discovery Research Department at Chugai, said that “Integration of ISPRI into the Chugai’s antibody engineering and optimization platform will reduce the immunogenicity risk and increase the likelihood of successful clinical development for important, human life-saving biologics.” Software selected to automate and standardize NGS data analysis TOKYO—Genedata, a provider of software solutions for drug discovery and life-sciences research, recently announced that Takara Bio Inc., a global biotech, has chosen Genedata Expressionist for Genomic Profiling as its key software platform for nextgeneration sequencing (NGS) data. The platform will be integrated with in-house and third-party data analysis tools and databases, providing a single integrated environment for fully automated multi-omics data processing and comprehensive data management. “We are committed to deliver innovative services and highestquality data to our customers. Genedata helps us to continue to deliver on our promise by providing a software platform which automates and manages NGS data analysis workflows for all relevant applications,” noted Masanari Kitagawa, executive officer of Takara Bio. n EDITCONNECT: E011527 turning the judge’s ruling on at least one of the four patents, we would expect several generics to be introduced in late-2016, assuming Cubicin receives pediatric exclusivity,” wrote Seamus Fernandez and Aneesh Kapur of Leerink. “In a press release commenting on the decision, [Cubist] specifically noted that ‘the transaction with Merck is unaffected.’” Leerink noted that Cubist expects a rapid appeal, and the firm’s note about the deal indicates that “This decision clearly increases the importance of selling the strategic importance” of the deal with Cubist. The Leerink analysts also expect increased scrutiny of Cubist’s Zerbaxa launch in the United States and Europe. Overall, they note, Merck’s price for Cubist looks to be between $2 billion and $3 billion too high, adding: “This is a very tough start to a relatively sound strategic deal in our view.” n EDITCONNECT: E011502 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com AWARDS & HONORS JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 37 Awards & Honors EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands— The IntelliCap electronic oral drug delivery technology, created by Medimetrics, recently won the European High-Tech Innovation Award from Accenture, a global management consultancy. The IntelliCap system was introduced into the market in 2011, and as Medimetrics explains, an increasing number of pharmaceutical companies are using this tool in the early-stage development and lifecycle management of drugs. As the company puts it, “This unique, interactive device enables personalization of medications and treatments, empowering scientists to establish quickly the effective medication dose and delivery requirements. This reduces the risk of failure in expensive, latestage clinical trials due to lack of safety or efficacy.” An early example of IntelliCap’s use is in the field of women’s health, where Dutch company LiGalli is integrating the technology into a novel vaginal drug delivery system that enables new therapies. In another example, IntelliCap technology has allowed for a means of sampling and mapping content from the small intestine to identify its microbiological composition in a noninvasive way which, among other things, can provide novel insights into how therapeutic agents might react in the gut and affect patients’ health. “The spirit of the award was to recognize the potential of the IntelliCap technology. Its ability to adapt and personalize during delivery will help usher in an era of smart pharmaceuticals to the benefit of patients,” said Olaf Weiner, CEO of Medimetrics. n CREDIT: MEDIMETRICS IntelliCap oral drug delivery system wins European innovation award Illustrated here is a cross-section of the IntelliCap electronic oral drug delivery technology. Magid Abou-Gharbia wins Dr. Trey Westbrook Grand Hamdan award recognized by TAMEST for innovation in medicine PHILADELPHIA—Mid-December saw the chair of molecular and human HOUSTON—Baylor College of genetics at Baylor. “Leveraging Medicine researcher Dr. Thomthese innovations, he identias “Trey” Westbrook has been fied unique molecular vulnernamed The Academy of Mediabilities in human cancer that cine, Engineering & Science of have culminated in new theraTexas’ (TAMEST) 2015 Edith pies for breast cancer patients.” and Peter O’Donnell Award Some of Westbrook’s most winner in medicine, an honor recent work identified new given annually to one scientist genes that drive triple negative in the state for outstanding Dr. Thomas Westbrook, Baylor breast cancer, an aggressive and innovation in medicine. difficult to treat form of the disWestbrook, an associate pro- College of Medicine ease with little understanding fessor of molecular and human genetics and of biochemistry and molecu- of the molecular and genetic mechanisms lar biology at Baylor, has made significant that lead to its development. This work has contributions to medicine by using novel led directly to new therapies for patients technology developed in his lab to discov- with triple negative breast cancer that are being tested at Baylor and elsewhere. er new genes that contribute to cancer. Initiated in 2006, the O’Donnell Awards “Dr. Westbrook is a recognized leader in cancer genetics. He developed trans- are named in honor of Edith and Peter formative RNA interference screening O’Donnell, who are among the state’s technologies that have broadly impacted staunchest advocates for excellence in scibiomedical research nationally and inter- entific advancement and science, technolnationally,” said Dr. Brendan Lee, interim ogy, engineering and medical education. n announcement that Temple University’s Dr. Magid Abou-Gharbia has won the Grand Hamdan International Award in Drug Discovery. Abou-Gharbia—who is Temple’s Laura H. Carnell Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, associate dean for research and director of the Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research in the university’s School of Pharmacy—won the award in recognition for his outstanding contributions and pioneering work in medicinal chemistry and the discovery of several drugs, including the anticancer drug Torisel, as well as the antidepressants Effexor and Pristiq. His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, presented the award at the Dubai International Conference for Medical Sciences. Abou-Gharbia delivered the keynote lecture there on the discovery of innovative small molecules therapeutics on Dec. 15. “Dr. Gharbia is a highly esteemed and internationally renowned scientist whose many outstanding contributions in research and innovations in drug discovery are changing the world,” said Temple University Provost Hai-Lung Dai. “This award is a great honor and a significant milestone, befitting the stature of Magid Abou-Gharbia.” During his nearly 30 years at Wyeth Laboratories, Abou-Gharbia had a career underscored by numerous scientific achievements. His novel approach to drug discovery and new modes of therapy enabled him to identify new drugs, and his marketed drug discoveries include Mylotarg, Torisel and Bosulif for the treatment of cancer, and drugs for other important diseases such as osteoporosis (Conbriza), depression (Effexor, Pristique), insomnia (Sonata) and bacterial infections (Tygacil). As the director of the Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research at the Temple University School of Pharmacy since 2008, Abou-Gharbia has continued his pursuit of new discoveries with a strong focus on medicinal chemistry. Abou-Gharbia manages several labs and collaborative relationships with other universities and corporations. Since joining Temple, the Moudler Center has seen a tremendous growth in research collaboration and discovery. It currently has 14 patent applications, over a dozen research papers, millions of dollars in grants and collaborative agreements with organizations that give the Moulder Center access to stateof-the-art-technology. n SQZ Biotech awarded grand prize from MassChallenge BOSTON—SQZ Biotech was recent- ly awarded a $100,000 grand prize in MassChallenge’s 2014 startup competition. The company was founded to commercialize CellSqueeze, an innovative platform that reportedly enables virtually any material to enter a cell with unprecedented efficiency. This capability has many applications in biomedical research and drug development, including studying disease mecha- nisms, identifying novel drugs and engineering cell function for therapeutic use. The company was selected from a pool of 26 top startups, which were chosen from 1,650 applicants globally. In addition, Boeing and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, or CASIS, awarded SQZ Biotech the CASIS-Boeing Prize for Technology in Space, a more than $200,000 prize, and will facilitate the use of SQZ Biotech’s CellSqueeze technology on the International Space Station. SQZ Biotech’s scientists will study CellSqueeze in the unique microgravity environment offered by the station. Many diseases and disorders result from dysfunction at the cellular level; however, studying them has proven challenging as it is currently difficult to understand and manipulate cells’ internal biological mechanisms. SQZ Biotech describes its CellSqueeze platform as “a microfluidic chip that enables the delivery of virtually any material into almost any cell type, including primary human-derived cells, in order to address challenges with traditional intracellular delivery technologies.” SQZ Biotech’s chips contain 75 parallel fluidic channels, each of which has at least one region where the channel diameter is smaller than the diameter of a cell. Cells flowing through these channels experience a “squeeze” as they travel through the narrow point. The mechanical stress opens temporary holes in the cell membrane, exposing the cytoplasm, which allows the cell to take up molecules in the surrounding environment. Cells repair themselves shortly thereafter. n PRODUCTS & SERVICES 38 DDNEWS | | JANUARY 2015 For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com ADVERTISER ’S INDEX AACR Conference .................................................27 www.aacr.org Bridging in-vitro and in-vivo screening: acumen Cellista TTP Labtech Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. ..................................40 www.bio-rad.com TTP Labtech’s acumen Cellista has played a pivotal role in the miniaturization and optimization of physiologically relevant cell-based 2D and 3D assays to make them amenable for the screening of high-impact compound libraries. Learn more from an NCATS case study at our SLAS workshop “Evaluating Cancer Drug Candidates Using High-Throughput 3D Cell Culture Models” on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 12:30 p.m. in Room 159AB during the SLAS 4th Annual Conference & Exhibition. https://discover.ttplabtech.com/2015SLAS-landing-pages_acumenworkshop-LP.html SEE US AT SLAS BOOTH 1329 iAutomate—Lab automation made easy Celebrating 25 years Automated liquid handling BMG LABTECH Gilson In its 25th anniversary year, BMG LABTECH will showcase its latest innovations in microplate reading technology. The CLARIOstar with new Atmospheric Control Unit offers filterlike performance with advanced LVF Monochromators that provides increased sensitivity and flexibility. The PHERAstar FS is the ultimate microplate reader for high-throughput screening, combining the highest sensitivity with the fastest read times. www.bmglabtech.com SEE US AT SLAS BOOTH 929 PIPETMAX can help you maximize reproducibility of your biological sample prep. Manual sample preparation can be inefficient, complex and time consuming. This leads to increased training requirements, preparation time, procedural errors and operational costs. The Gilson PIPETMAX is an easyto-use, automated liquid-handling platform that can mitigate these problems with automated sample preparation solutions. www.pipetmax.com SEE US AT SLAS BOOTH 1307 Thermo Scientific Take the smart approach to laboratory automation configuration with Thermo Scientific iAutomate. Completely free to use, this intuitive online tool can help you to easily plan and design a laboratory automation project that suits your specific workflow requirements. Laboratory automation configuration doesn’t have to be complicated. www.thermoscientific.com/iautomate SEE US AT SLAS BOOTH 423 Opera Phenix High Content Screening System PerkinElmer The Opera Phenix High Content Screening System from PerkinElmer enables high-throughput phenotypic screening and analysis of complex cellular models, such as microtissues and stem cells, at high speed and sensitivity. The system’s innovative Synchrony Optics let you generate richer information through extremely sensitive confocal imaging and at higher throughput than ever through simultaneous acquisition, without the issue of crosstalk—for more speed and more sensitivity, no compromise. www.perkinelmer.com/OperaPhenix SEE US AT SLAS BOOTH 523 & 537 INTEGRA focus on liquid handling at SLAS 2015 BMG LABTECH GmbH............................................5 www.bmglabtech.com Cambridge Healthtech Institute ........................17 www.healthtech.com Cisbio US, Inc. .........................................................7 www.htrf.com Gilson, Inc.................................................................3 www.gilson.com INDIGO Biosciences ............................................19 www.indigobiosciences.com Offenberger & White, Inc......................................2 www.offwhite.com PerkinElmer ...........................................................23 www.perkinelmer.com TTP Labtech Ltd.....................................................13 www.ttplabtech.com Thermo Fisher Scientific .....................................21 www.thermoscientific.com INTEGRA Biosciences INDIGO expands the largest industry-leading portfolio of nuclear receptors At SLAS 2015, product specialists from INTEGRA will be on hand to demonstrate and answer questions on the company’s popular range of productivity-enhancing liquid-handling products. Handheld pipetting requires practice to achieve steady, reproducible pipetting results. The VIAFLO ASSIST is an innovative device that, in combination with a VIAFLO II electronic handheld pipette, enables the pipette’s protocols to be performed automatically. www.integra-bioscience.com SEE US AT SLAS BOOTH # 1227 INDIGO is a leader in innovative products and services that improve the speed, cost and risks involved in the drug discovery process. INDIGO’S newest nuclear receptor products and services include ERRg, AhR and NFkB, which complement a comprehensive panel of products and services currently offered by INDIGO. For a complete list, visit our website, and be sure to KNOW INDIGO. www.indigobiosciences.com [email protected] INDIGO Biosciences Inc. Low-profile, 96-well deep-well plate Porvair Sciences Combining an affordable price with uncompromising high quality, Porvair low-profile, 96-well deep-well plates are precisely manufactured to comply with ANSI/SLAS dimensional standards, ensuring complete compatibility with all automated sample handling systems, microplate readers and washers. Complementing the low-profile plate, Porvair also offers a matching antievaporation cap mat, manufactured from thermoplastic elastomer, to ensure the long-term integrity of your stored samples. www.porvair-sciences.com Horizon launches gene-engineered bioproduction cell line with flexible licensing model Horizon Discovery Seahorse Bioscience ships XFp Extracellular Flux Analyzers to first 50 customers Seahorse Bioscience Seahorse Bioscience, the industry leader in metabolic analyzers and assay kits for measuring real-time cell metabolism, has announced that the XFp Extracellular Flux Analyzer is now shipping. U.S. customers include the University of North Carolina, National Institutes of Health, Stanford University and Alexion Pharmaceuticals. European customers include the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, Universitatsklinikum Muenster in Germany and KU Leuven in Belgium. The easy-to-use, compact and affordable XFp Analyzer is the most recent addition to the Seahorse line of metabolic analyzers. www.seahorsebio.com Highly efficient neuro transfection reagent AMSBIO Highly versatile single-tube code reader Micronic The Tracxer Code Reader TS201 MINI is high-speed storage tube codereading at its best. Attractively designed to enhance your lab space, the Tracxer TS201 MINI is truly versatile—it reads 1D rack barcodes, 1D barcoded tubes and 2D Data Matrix coded tubes (in 96-, 48- and 24-well formats), all in less than a second. www.micronic.com AMSBIO announces DNA-In Neuro, a new-generation transfection reagent developed specifically for maximum nucleic acid delivery into neurons, typically achieving a twofold or greater improvement in efficiency over currently available competing reagents. DNA-In Neuro Transfection Reagent offers researchers a cost-effective, robust and easy-to-use DNA delivery solution for transfecting freshly isolated and cryopreserved neurons. DNA-In Neuro Transfection Reagent reproducibly transfects neurons and neural stem cells at optimal efficiency with exceptionally low toxicity to support uncompromised post-transfection assays. www.amsbio.com Horizon Discovery has shipped its first commercially available engineered CHO cell line for use in manufacturing of therapeutic antibodies. Horizon’s innovative licensing model brings these cutting-edge bioproduction cells within reach of companies of all sizes, reducing timelines and costs associated with the development of large-molecule drugs (biotherapeutics). This latest development is the first step in Horizon’s strategy toward building a comprehensive Good Manufacturing Practice bioproduction cell line platform. www.horizondiscovery.com BioTek introduces second-generation Cytation imaging reader BioTek Instruments Inc. Cytation 5 is a modular, upgradable multimode reader that combines automated digital microscopy and conventional microplate detection. Cytation 5 includes both filter- and monochromator-based detection; the microscopy module provides up to 60x magnification in fluorescence, brightfield, H&E and phase contrast. Incubation to 65°C, shaking and Gen5 software are standard. www.biotek.com Q&A:Q&A Lois Byra of Alliance Life Sciences Consulting Group For more information, visit www.DDN-News.com JANUARY 2015 | | DDNEWS 39 Taking a look at contracting and pricing L DDNews: Describe how formulary codes work and why and how they can be problematic. BY LLOYD DUNLAP OIS BYRA IS VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTRACTING, strategy and compliance with Alliance Life Sciences Consulting Group. With more than 15 years of experience in the life-sciences industry, she has developed and implemented solutions that deliver operational efficiencies across the organization. Leveraging her IT background and business acumen in the commercial and government contracting space allows her to advise clients on appropriate solutions to their business problems. DDNews asked Byra to help clarify compliance issues as they now stand. DDNews: How would you define or describe the managed markets division of a pharmaceutical manufacturer? DDNews: What exactly are rebate payments and what role do they play in the overall system? Lois Byra: The managed markets division of Byra: a pharmaceutical manufacturer is comprised of groups that are involved in ensuring the commercial access of a product, including national and regional sales teams, marketing, and contract operations teams. Managed markets divisions contract with various entities in order to ensure that products are commercially available to patients through reimbursements to wholesalers, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), managed care organizations (MCOs), group purchasing organizations (GPOs) and government programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid—just Rebate payments describe the flow of cash from the manufacturer to any customer that is contractually or legally eligible for a reimbursement on a pharmaceutical product. The managed care rebate payments are calculated in the revenue management system based on data provided by MCOs or PBMs, the contracts configured within the system that determine the eligible rebate percentages and the wholesaler acquisition cost (WAC) of a particular drug. A rebate percentage, for example, can be based on the formulary tier of a product on a health plan—meaning that those products on a more advantageous tier Lois Byra, Alliance Life Sciences Consulting Group DDNews: How important are Medicaid contracts? Byra: Medicaid contracts and rebates, while administered separately from other reimbursement mechanisms, are heavily dependent upon other areas of a manufacturer’s business. The rebates given to the states on Medicaid contracts are determined by government pricing calculations, which are in turn derived from aggregated commercial sales data. While participation is voluntary, the terms of the agreement are standardized across all manufacturers. Involvement in the Medicaid program also mandates an agreement with the Section 340B Drug Pricing Program and the Federal Like prior legislation, the Affordable Care Act poses new stipulations for the program, and therefore changes to how the contracts must be managed. New segments of the population are covered based on changes to the minimum percentage threshold of the federal poverty level required for eligibility. Many states manage this by submitting rebates under “Medicaid extension” contracts, which must be handled in tandem by manufacturers along with the original contracts. to name a few. Specifically, in the “Silos to Synergy” white paper, we are focusing on those that deal with reimbursements to PBMs and MCOs. DDNews: How do contact management, rebate processing and government pricing teams interact? Who does what? Byra: Contract management teams negotiate the contracts between the manufacturer and the wholesalers, GPOs, MCOs and PBMs. The rebate processing group calculates the reimbursement these customers are eligible for based on the negotiated contracts. The government pricing team then utilizes certain data from the manufacturer’s direct and indirect sales, as well as the rebate payments, to play a part in determining price points required for provision to the government. receive a higher rebate percentage—or by the market share achieved during a certain period in a particular therapeutic class. In the case of wholesaler and/or GPO fees, although contract structures vary, rebate percentages are usually calculated based on variables of direct and/or indirect sales, and WAC or contract price. DDNews: Please describe the importance of MCOs and PBMs in the overall revenue management system. Byra: Within the revenue management system, MCOs and PBMs are customers that are eligible for managed care rebates. These customers all have unique contracts with the manufacturer, and it is crucial that the revenue management system is configured based on their contracts. Improper or inefficient setup can lead to incorrect rebate payments or late fees. For some customers, formulary codes are embedded in the utilization file that is provided to the manufacturer by the MCO or PBM. These files are submitted in a set format that is predetermined in the contract and encompasses all of the necessary information the manufacturer needs in order to calculate the rebate payment. For those contracts with multiple formulary tiers, and therefore different rebate percentages, a formulary code provides a unique field within the data that the system can be set up to read to determine the proper formulary for that particular transaction. In the event that the customer does not submit a formulary code within the utilization files, most revenue management systems have ways of configuring a setup within the system based on another field in the data. This, however, can become problematic in the event that a health plan shifts tiers from one period to the next. At times, the management of these formularies within the system is extremely cumbersome and requires significant upkeep. A formulary code within the utilization file removes the need for this maintenance. Byra: Supply Schedule. Concurrently, the entities reimbursed under these government programs must maintain mutual exclusivity from those covered under the Medicaid program and its extensions. Unlike managed care, where rebates are provided to customers as purchase-based incentives, Medicaid rebates serve the purpose of lowering the net costs for program administration within each state, thereby allowing the drugs to be provided at a bare minimum of expense to the covered individual. As such, the manufacturer does not see much profit from Medicaid utilization. Rather, the program allows a manufacturer’s drugs more ubiquity through access to a wider area of care settings and formularies. Choosing not to participate limits the overall extent of the manufacturer’s portfolio. DDNews: What impact, if any, will the Affordable Care Act have on pharmaceutical manufacturers and the role played by Alliance Life Sciences Consulting Group and others? Byra: While Medicaid contract terms cannot be negotiated between the government and the manufacturer, the guiding regulations have evolved throughout the years, from OBRA ‘90 and ‘93 to the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Like prior legislation, the Affordable Care Act poses new stipulations for the program, and therefore changes to how the contracts must be managed. New segments of the population are covered based on changes to the minimum percentage threshold of the federal poverty level required for eligibility. Many states manage this by submitting rebates under “Medicaid extension” contracts, which must be handled in tandem by manufacturers along with the original contracts. The act also required that utilization through Medicaid MCOs be submitted quarterly to manufacturers in addition to traditional Medicaid feefor-service rebates, increasing the amount of time and resources required to process invoices. Significant changes were effected for calculations of and regarding the average manufacturer price (AMP), on which Medicaid rebate levels are partially based. Most critically, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed two distinct methodologies for AMP calculation based on sales in retail and non-retail classes of trade. However, the defining line for exclusion or inclusion within these categories is not spelled out with absolute precision. Furthermore, as of now, the rule is only “proposed” and a final one is still in the making. This lack of specificity leaves room for interpretation as manufacturers try to establish best practices regarding these calculations, which Alliance Life Sciences helps to implement. n EDITCONNECT: E011529 DDNEWS (USPS 024-504) is published monthly by Old River Publications LLC, 19035 Old Detroit Road, Suite 203, Rocky River, OH 44116; 440-331-6600. Periodical postage paid at Cleveland, Ohio and additional mailing offices. Publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material or prices quoted in the magazine. Contributors are responsible for proprietary classified information. ©2015 by Old River Publications. All rights reserved. Reproduction, in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher is expressly prohibited. Back issues, when available, cost $7 each within the past 12 months; $12 each prior to the past 12 months. Back orders must be paid in advance by check. 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