Lab roundup: ValiRx., Fujitsu. Cherwell. OBN, Atmonia, Uniogen, EU

Life sciences membership organisation OBN (UK) is inviting R&D companies, professionals and investors from across the life sciences industry to attend BioTrinity 2023 at 155 Bishopsgate, London from 25-26 April. Features include presentations from R&D companies at series A stage across oncology; neuroscience; microbiome; inflammatory, rare and infectious diseases; medtech; and cell and gene therapy, Also, panel discussions on regulatory, investment and exit trends, green science and ESG, together with sponsor exhibitions. The conference is expected draw an audience of over 700 delegates. 

Belgium’s Cerba Research clinical trial laboratory service provider has announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the China based lab provider Teddy Clinical Research Laboratory as a prelude to discussion on the creation of a Joint Venture.

Nottingham-based life science company focused on early-stage cancer therapeutics and women's health, ValiRx, announced three senior appointments to its newly incorporated subsidiary company, Inaphaea BioLabs. Dr Andrew Carnegie becomes Head of Strategic Commercial Development, Melissa Barr is appointed Lead Scientist, and Dr Dominic Lowen is Senior Scientist. Located in MediCity Nottingham, Inaphaea will offer a pre-clinical and drug discovery testing services to academic, biotech and pharmaceutical researchers, as the foundation of its parent company’s translational Contract Research Organisation strategy. 

Cleanroom microbiology solutions specialist for the pharmaceutical, healthcare and related industries, Cherwell has published the findings of an investigative report it says suggests prepared media plate choice can affect microbial air sampling accuracy. Following the latest EU GMP Annex 1 revision, accuracy in air sampling and cleanroom monitoring has become still more vital for the manufacture of sterile medicinal products. Manufacturers must demonstrate environmental monitoring (EM) procedures comply with the new standards.

The European Commission has granted marketing authorisation in the European Union for darolutamide, an oral androgen receptor inhibitor (ARi), plus androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in combination with docetaxel, for the treatment of patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC). Darolutamide is already approved under the brand name Nubeqa® for the treatment of patients with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC), at high risk of developing metastatic disease. Approval follows positive results from the Phase III ARASENS trial, which demonstrated that darolutamide plus ADT in combination with docetaxel significantly reduced the risk of death by nearly one third compared to ADT with docetaxel, in patients with mHSPC. Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in almost all northern and western European countries.

Pistoia Alliance has launched the Pistoia Alliance Pharma Innovation Council. Led by Alliance President Dr Becky Upton, it includes 13 next-generation leaders from large global pharmaceutical companies. The body will explore common challenges at a grassroots level and seed ideas for new pre-competitive projects aligned with the Alliance’s strategic themes: Emerging sciences and Technology, Improving the Efficiency and Effectiveness of R&D, and Empowering the Patient. The Pharma Innovation Council aims to produce one new project idea per theme. Common industry challenges that emerged at the first meeting of the Council include the automation of data analysis, enabling the Lab of the Future, and the development of industry standards to enable collaboration. New projects will sit alongside the Alliance’s current portfolio of projects, now overseen by Dr Hall, which includes the IDMP Ontology Project, DataFAIRy Bioassay Annotation Project and Diversity & Inclusion in STEM Leadership program.

Innovative proteomic and glycomic research solutions pioneer the US Vector Laboratories, today announced the acquisitions of click chemistry linkers and labelling reagents manufacturer Click Chemistry Tools and fluorescent probes and dyes firm Fluoroprobes, expanding Vector Laboratories’ capabilities to serve partners in biopharma and life sciences. “Vector Laboratories is excited about these acquisitions because it's the first to contribute to our long-term strategic vision of accelerating the pace of protein detection innovation,” says CEO of Vector Laboratories Lisa V Sellers. Highlighted in the 2022 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, click chemistry references chemical reactions used to rapidly, specifically and efficiently join molecular building blocks to form new compounds. It is now used globally to explore cells and track biological processes.

Fujitsu and Icelandic start-up Atmonia ehf. report they are successfully developing a high-speed technology for quantum chemical simulations – part of their joint research into catalysts for sustainable production of ammonia,. They duo state that combining the technology with Fujitsu AI technology for scientific discovery more than halved the search time for an efficient catalyst material that synthesises ammonia from water, air, and electricity at ambient temperatures and pressures. The two companies carried out various quantum chemical calculations using Fujitsu supercomputing resources based on simulation data for ammonia synthesis owned by Atmonia. Vast amounts of data derived from these calculations, including the structure of atomic configurations and the types and ratios of chemical elements that compose catalyst materials, were used to train an AI simulation model that can rapidly identify catalyst candidates. Fujitsu's AI technology for scientific discovery was also used to identify trends in the properties of materials suitable as ammonia synthesis catalysts based on causal relationships among more than 10,000 candidates, helping to narrow down catalyst candidate data. 

Finnish firm Uniogen is developing a “fast and cost-effective” diagnostic test for detecting ovarian cancer in blood samples. Earlier detection makes it possible to begin treatment earlier to improve treatment outcomes and help allocate scarce resources says the company. “The test is based on long-term research conducted at the University of Turku which led to the discovery that the glycosylation of markers changes in cancer patients, and by measuring this, it is possible to better distinguish cancer patients from healthy patients or patients with benign gynaecological problems. We have succeeded in developing a globally unique and easy test for measuring these modified sugar components. We are currently working with international partners to find clinical evidence of the functionality of the assay through a more extensive patient study, and later on the test will be commercialised,” said Business Director, Oncology Leena Kokko.