The Drug Discovery World Podcast: Recent Episodes
Drug Discovery World (DDW)
Here at Drug Discovery World (DDW) we've been publishing articles written by leading experts in the Drug Discovery, Pharmaceutical, and BioPharmaceutical industries for over 20 years.
DDW has grown as a quarterly business review of drug discovery and development, and now we've created this podcast to allow you to listen to our articles on the go.
In our journal and this podcast, we cover topics surrounding: drug discovery; drug development; business; chemistry; enabling technologies; informatics; personalised medicine; screening; therapeutics, and much more.
For the podcast we have selected recent, relevant and popular scientific articles, so that you can listen to all of the best content from Drug Discovery World. We hope you enjoy.
The latest episode of the DDW 'In Conversation With' series is available to listen to below.
This week, Bruno Quinney speaks to Reuben Dawkins, CEO of Link Biologics, a company developing protein biologics to treat inflammatory and degenerative conditions. Link is currently developing treatments for Dry Eye Disease and Wet AMD.
Bruno chats to Reuben about why Link chose to target Dry Eye Disease with its pioneering approach, how the company saw an opportunity to compete with current treatments for Wet AMD, and whether the science behind Link's protein biologics could be used beyond ophthalmology.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, a nanoparticle vaccine showed potential to protect from a 'tripledemic'. Elsewhere, could 'magic mushrooms' treat anorexia?
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, experts warned patients were being denied access to personalised cancer care. Cancer research was a theme elsewhere, with findings emerging from studies into a CAR T-cell therapy, lung cancer and breast cancer.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW 'In Conversation With' series is available to listen to below.
This week, Bruno Quinney speaks to Suzanne Caruso, President of Strategic Intelligence and Clinical & Regulatory at Norstella. Norstella supports drug developers looking to take their treatments from pipeline to patients, finding solutions to complexities in the drug development timeline. One of these solutions is AI.
Suzanne discusses what it means for a company to be 'AI-native', how the combination of AI and Real World Data is transforming clinical development, and how AI is enabling companies to get treatments to patients faster.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, researchers uncovered clues explaining risks of heart disease, lung disease, Covid-19 and cancer. Elsewhere, find out what is included in the latest issue of DDW.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, results showed the new Wegovy pill could help patients lose 17% of their body weight. Elsewhere, advances were made in both cancer treatment and cancer research.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW 'In Conversation With' series is available to listen to below.
This week, Bruno Quinney speaks to Vincent Marion, Scientific Founder and President of AdipoPharma. AdipoPharma is a biotech leveraging research on insulin resistance and adipose tissue biology, developing a new treatment for metabolic diseases.
Vincent discusses what makes AdipoPharma's lead asset different from GLP-1s, why findings into fat tissue dysfunction have been less explored in drug development, and how AdipoPharma is competing in an industry where GLP-1s are becoming increasingly accessible.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, new research showed anti-IL-1β drugs could prevent lung cancer. Elsewhere, the UK is set to benefit from specialised blood tests and funding for early-career researchers.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, a cancer drug demonstrated it could reduce tumours by as much as 55%. Elsewhere, AI was a recurrent theme in both clinical trials and drug development.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW 'In Conversation With' series is available to listen to below.
This week, Bruno Quinney speaks to Terry Connolly and Shinta Cheng from K36 Therapeutics. K36 is a company developing first-in-class cancer therapeutics and their current lead asset is a treatment for multiple myeloma patients.
Bruno speaks to Terry and Shinta about how their NSD2 inhibitors can treat cancer, how their approach compares to other biotechs, and why K36's science could be applied to other therapeutic areas.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, a UK group accelerated efforts to develop a vaccine for Ebolavirus. Elsewhere, significant findings in colorectal and brain cancer could shape future cancer treatments.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, a report showed patients in Europe face barriers to patient access. Elsewhere, Wellcome prizes are facilitating research in both tropical disease and mental health.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW 'In Conversation With' series is available to listen to now.
This week, Bruno Quinney speaks to Dr Juliana Maynard, Head of Translational Imaging at Medicines Discovery Catapult. MDC recently announced a partnership with the UK National Nuclear Lab, and Maynard's work is at the forefront of advances being made in radiopharmaceuticals.
Bruno speaks to Juliana about investment in the radiopharmaceuticals industry, why radiopharmaceuticals are an exciting approach in the cancer treatment space, and what it would mean for patients if the UK becomes a radiopharma leader.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, research uncovered new treatment pathways for hard to treat breast cancers. Elsewhere, therapies given the green light could combat type 2 diabetes and generalised myasthenia gravis.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, the FDA advanced an initiative to implement real-time clinical trials. Elsewhere, UCB made headlines through an acquisition and its cancer research venture.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW 'In Conversation With' series is available to listen to below.
This week, Bruno Quinney speaks to Anthony Johnson and Matthew Fyfe from Outrun Therapeutics. Outrun is a biotech specialising in protein stabilisation, an approach being applied to treat HPV+ head and neck cancer.
But what does protein stabilisation mean in practice? And what impact could the approach have for cancer patients?
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, the UK made headlines for both the investment it has attracted and the clinical trial reforms it rolled out. Elsewhere, the world's first antimalarial drug for newborns could soon address a critical unmet need.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, an obesity drug proved it could improve liver health independent of weight loss. Elsewhere, Lilly was back in the news for both its type 2 diabetes drug and the company's latest acquisition.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW 'In Conversation With' series is available to listen to below.
This week, Bruno Quinney speaks to Angus Sinclair, Chief Scientific Officer at LabGenius Therapeutics. LabGenius is a biotech using AI and robotics to design new cancer therapies, and in vivo efficacy data reveals the company's novel T-cell engager shows complete tumour elimination in mice.
Bruno talks to Angus about what T-cell engagers actually are, how AI is driving the company's approach, and why non-intuitive protein design is emerging within immuno-oncology drug development.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, key breakthroughs emerged in cancer research. Elsewhere, regulatory reforms have accelerated clinical trial set up in the UK.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, researchers discovered how genetic mutations cause a previously unknown recessive condition. Elsewhere, Eli Lilly made the headlines for both an approved drug and a drug collaboration.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW 'In Conversation With' series is available to listen to below.
This week, Bruno Quinney speaks to Robert Albarano and Kristina Capiak from Arthur D Little, who have experience maximising commercial success of drug discovery portfolios and securing FDA designations.
Bruno spoke to Robert and Kristina about the challenges of the regulatory landscape, the global implications of faster FDA approvals, and whether personalised medicines are set to become a key area for investment.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, there were crucial developments in neuroscience drug discovery. Elsewhere, a new treatment for platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian cancer has been approved in the US.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW Narrated Podcast. The episode covers two articles written for DDW Volume 25, Issue 2, Spring 2024.
The first article is called 'Why more work is needed to fight antimicrobial resistance'. In the article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong speaks to Professor Janet Hemingway CBE about current efforts in tackling antimicrobial resistance.
The second article is called 'The future outlook for mRNA therapies'. In the piece, Reece Armstrong explores the potential opportunities for mRNA-based therapies. You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates the key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, a study found obesity could be treated in other ways than through drugs suppressing appetite. Elsewhere, prostate cancer was a central theme in cancer research.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates the key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, a cancer enzyme discovery provided clues for potential new treatments. Elsewhere, how can your recycled plastic bottles be made into Parkinson's drugs?
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, research on the brain proved a popular theme, unlocking insights into Alzheimer's, dementia and cancer. Elsewhere, a genetic target could provide new routes to breast cancer treatment.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, figures showed the number of women in biotech leadership has stalled. Elsewhere, could your diet make cancer therapy more effective?
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW 'In Conversation With' series is available to listen to below.
This week, Bruno Quinney speaks to Amir Hefni, CEO of Resolution Therapeutics. Resolution specialises in developing therapies for inflammatory and fibrotic diseases and is currently progressing a treatment for end-stage liver disease through clinical trial.
Bruno spoke to Amir about how Resolution's therapy is addressing a critical unmet need and how long it could be before we see it available to patients.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, more effective treatments were found for both HIV and chronic wounds. Elsewhere, €40,000 is up for grabs in prostate cancer research.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, researchers found an unexpected drug could help treat depression. Elsewhere, a new company is set to advance a cerebral palsy therapy.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, researchers made a key discovery into cancer survival. Elsewhere, a global research effort into kidney disease is underway.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, innovative therapies showed the way to more effective cancer treatments. Elsewhere, how can brain function be improved in Alzheimer's patients?
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW podcast is available to listen to below.
This week, Bruno Quinney speaks to DDW Editor Reece Armstrong and Senior Digital Content Editor Diana Turner to look ahead to the world of drug discovery, pharma and biotech in 2026.
They explore why AI will continue to dominate in 2026, why obesity and breast cancer will attract investor attention, and how drug discovery will look to resolve the challenges of clinical trials.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week's discoveries into Parkinson's disease, allergies and common cancers could shape drug development. Elsewhere, why is the UK leading Europe's biotech market?
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, an innovative therapy showed encouraging results in tackling melanoma. Elsewhere, why is a former American football player getting involved with a biopharmaceutical company?
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, new research in women's health uncovered significant findings related to endometriosis and ovarian cancer. Elsewhere, can ageing be reversed?
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW Narrated Podcast. The episode covers two articles written for DDW Volume 25, Issue 2, Spring 2024.
The first article is called 'Machine learning: developing next generation antibody therapeutics'. Ben Holland, CTO and Co-Founder of Antiverse, discusses how artificial intelligence and machine learning are benefitting antibody discovery and design.
The second article is called 'The next generation of AI'. In the piece, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong speaks to Sean McClain, Founder & CEO of Absci, about the rise of generative AI in life sciences.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, a new report found breast cancer was the world's most studied disease for the fifth year running. That same report predicted obesity to break into the top five, with weight loss a key theme across other headlines last week.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, a research team found that a hidden molecular switch fuels obesity. Elsewhere, AI-generated antibodies have been tolerated by human immune cells.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, innovative treatments showed potential to treat neurodegenerative diseases, allergies and arthritis. Elsewhere, a study showed China is becoming the dominant force in the biotech sector.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, a trade agreement between the UK and the US promised to support the life sciences industry and secure access to drugs. Elsewhere, novel therapies could break new ground in treating neurodegenerative diseases.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, gene therapies provided solutions for complex conditions, most notably in Hunter syndrome but also in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Elsewhere, research showed antibody-drug conjugate precision therapy could prevent breast cancer.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Bruno Quinney talks to Dr Mrinal Kammili, Head of Translational and Clinical Research at Syngene International. They explore advances in translational science, the challenges of the field, and how India is becoming the next clinical research destination.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, research into bacterial species and diseases broke new ground. Elsewhere, vaccines could offer groundbreaking solutions to cervical and lung cancer.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, groundbreaking research showed the Covid-19 mRNA vaccine could boost cancer response. Elsewhere, the theme of UK investment dominated other headlines.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW Narrated Podcast, called "How new scientific approaches are accelerating R&D". The episode covers two articles written for DDW Volume 25, Issue 1, Winter 2023/24.
The first article is called 'Accelerating recombinant protein vaccine discovery'. In the article, Jian He, Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) Head at WuXi Vaccines, explains why vaccination responses need to be rapid, efficacious and cost-effective if they are to outpace new viral threats emerging across the globe. The second article is called 'How 3D biology is informing drug discovery'. In the piece, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong looks at the advantages and opportunities 3D cell cultures, organoids and stem cells are bringing to drug discovery teams.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week's leading story came from a positive development in biopharma, with top companies reporting market growth in Q3 of 2025. Elsewhere, new research could help combat yellow fever and weight loss, while £500,000 was awarded to a biotech company to develop a DMD therapy.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week's top story came from women's health, as Bayer paved the way for a new approach to treat hot flashes due to menopause. Elsewhere, an anti-obesity medication has health benefits beyond weight loss and Alector discontinued its dementia drug.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, Galapagos announced plans to shelve its cell therapy business and hundreds of employees are set to lose their jobs. Elsewhere, pharma firms are offering discounts to US patients and a new AI model shed light on how to improve immunotherapy.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, new research showed drug therapies could prevent hereditary diseases. Elsewhere, there were major developments in cancer research and gene therapy could help combat hearing loss.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled "Overcoming barriers to patient access", which covers two articles written for DDW Volume 25 – Issue 1, Winter 2023/24. They are called: "Scaling up: The need for human cells to give better access to cell therapies" and "Decentralised identities: Blockchain based informed consent."
In the first article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong speaks to Kathryn Golden, SVP Technical Operations and Manufacturing at bit.bio. They discuss novel technologies, and methods to manufacture human cells for therapies so more patients can access these treatments.
In the second article, industry experts explain how blockchain can fundamentally enhance clinical trials.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW's Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the previous week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry news.
Last week, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three scientists for their discovery on regulatory T cells. Elsewhere, AI use continues to rise in pharma and biotech, while CAR-T therapy has been used for the first time to treat ulcerative colitis.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
DDW’s Bruno Quinney narrates key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates. This week’s news is led by the agreement by Genmab to acquire Merus, an announcement which could have important ramifications in cancer research. Scientists have also made breakthroughs in pancreatic cancer, as well as in the understanding of Covid ‘brain fog’.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Thibaud Portal, Founder and COO of Alys Pharmaceuticals, a biotech launched in 2024 with a landmark $100 million seed round. The conversation explores the vision behind founding Alys, the role of strategic collaborations with leading scientists, and the rationale for building a diversified dermatology pipeline spanning atopic dermatitis, systemic mastocytosis, and rare conditions such as Cold Urticaria.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In this week’s news, results from a clinical trial offer hope for the first time that Huntington's disease can be slowed. Elsewhere, new synthetic kidneys could be 'revolutionary' tools for kidney disease research, and pharma giant Merck has partnered with technology company Siemens to develop AI projects.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights Podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Bruno Quinney narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In this week's news, AstraZeneca has halted its £200 million research investment in the UK. Elsewhere, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has fast-tracked a gene therapy, CAR-T therapy could be an effective cancer treatment, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has updated its thresholds for ultra-rare disease drugs.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Emma Johnson, CEO of Essential Pharma, about the company’s move into clinical development, with the acquisition of Renaissance Pharma’s immunotherapy asset in development for the treatment of high-risk neuroblastoma in children.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Joel Stanley, CEO of Ajna Biosciences. We explore the promise and challenges of botanical drugs, focusing on Ajna Biosciences’ approach to developing therapeutics derived from plants such as cannabinoids and psychedelics. Joel reflects on his experience co-founding Charlotte’s Web during the early medical cannabis movement and how that shaped his perspective on botanical drug development.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The news this week has emphasised the importance of shared knowledge and expertise to the development of new drugs, whether that is through research collaboration agreements or mergers and acquisitions, with a number of new deals across different therapy areas.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Strategies and challenges in therapeutic development and lab practice”, which covers three articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 4, Fall 2023. They are called: “The inner workings of antibiotics”, “Targeting advances in immunotherapies”, and “The considerations for building sustainable labs in pharma”.
In the first article, Dr Luke Clifton, Instrument Scientist at ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, explains the molecular mechanism behind antibiotics.
In the second article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong speaks to Christian Leisner, Chief Executive Officer of antibody therapeutics’ developer CDR-Life about methods to increase access to antigens and improving immunotherapy treatments.
In the third article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong speaks to Will Fogden, UK Development Manager, Kadans Science Partner, about sustainable efforts in pharma and the considerations industry needs to take into account when developing sustainable buildings.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week has seen some incredible advances in immunotherapy, including the development of a therapy that combines natural killer and CAR-T cells, and an off-the-shelf cancer vaccine that could revolutionise treatment for patients with one of the most common cancer-driving mutations.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In the week that the US Department of Health and Human Services cancelled multiple contracts investigating mRNA vaccines, a number of other clinical trials have made the headlines.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Steve Ruston, CEO of Persica Pharmaceuticals. Ruston has been CEO since the company was founded and has been a key player in developing Persica’s non-opioid, one-off treatment. In this episode, we discuss the shift toward treating bacterial causes of chronic low back pain, the use of MRI biomarkers in trials, the evolving role of non-opioid therapies amid the opioid crisis, and how Persica’s scientific insights and early trial success could drive renewed investment in a historically challenging field.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
With the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) taking place this week in Toronto, Canada, there have been a number of updates in the neuroscience drug discovery field.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Following the recent news that the FDA rejected Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical’s gene therapy due to manufacturing concerns, manufacturing has dominated the headlines this week, particularly significant investment in facilities in the US, and new guidelines to speed up CGT production in the UK.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Thijs Spoor, CEO of the radiopharma company Perspective Therapeutics. The conversation covers how Perspective is advancing alpha-emitting radiopharmaceuticals to transform cancer treatment, with Spoor discussing the scientific, regulatory, and commercial challenges shaping the future of personalised oncology.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week’s news highlights reflect the incredible levels of innovation and investment, but also the hurdles to overcome, in developing gene therapies – breakthrough treatments in many genetic diseases that can bring their own unique challenges in terms of manufacturing, delivery and safety risks.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Innovative applications of AI in drug discovery”, which covers two articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 4, Fall 2023. They are called: “Decoding diseases: The AI renaissance in clinical trials” and “Advancing antibody discovery with AI”.
In the first article, Deepika Khedekar, Associate Centralized Clinical Lead at IQVIA, explains how artificial intelligence could make clinical trials more accurate, accessible and standardised.
In the second article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong, speaks to Kashif Sadiq, Founder of DenovAI Biotech about the importance of computational methods in this field.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week our news highlights focus on the drug discovery in the European Union, including some new regulatory approvals from the European Commission, advancements from Netherlands-based argenx, a new PhD programme in Estonia, and Switzerland’s evolution as a deep tech leader.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In significant news this week, the FDA in the US has removed red tape that limits which centres could give CAR-T therapy, in a move to improve access to the therapies. The round-up this time focuses on other developments in cell and gene therapies (CGT) including two high profile acquisitions.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled "UK Spotlight: Innovation and discovery”, which covers three articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 4, Fall 2023. They are called: “Where is the drug discovery expertise happening in the UK?”, “From the top: Dr Martin Main, Medicines Discovery Catapult”, and “Meet the Researcher: Molly Stevens, Oxford University and Imperial”.
In the first article, I highlight the research taking place and where this is happening in the UK, a long-established hub for drug discovery expertise worldwide.
In the second article, I spoke with Dr Martin Main, Chief Scientific Officer, Medicines Discovery Catapult, in the From the Top series.
In the third article, I spoke with Molly Stevens, John Black Professor at Oxford University and Research Director for Biomedical Materials at Imperial College London, as part of the Meet the Researcher series.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
As we announce the DDW ‘Creating cures’ programme at SLAS2026, the week’s news highlights emphasise the importance of advanced technologies to the success of drug discovery, including digital control arms for clinical studies, nanobody-based imaging, and new applications for artificial intelligence (AI).
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Professor Jonathan Kagan, a Harvard immunology professor and director of Basic Research at Boston Children’s Hospital. He’s also the founder of Corner Therapeutics, a biotech startup launched this year with $54 million in funding to develop revolutionary vaccines designed to tackle a virtually unlimited range of diseases, including cancer, HIV, and Covid.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In the same week DDW shared expert insights from the 2025 ASCO annual meeting, there have been several significant developments in oncology drug discovery, including new therapy options for some difficult to treat cancers.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week’s round-up highlights the vital role of genetics in drug discovery, including new data for an Alzheimer’s gene therapy, the discovery of a genetic target for rejuvenation therapies, and a 13-year follow up on haemophilia gene therapy patients.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Innovative uses for biomarkers in drug discovery”, which covers three articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 4, Fall 2023. They are called: “Advances in neuroscience drug discovery”, “Putting human data at the centre of drug discovery”, and “The era of precision neuroscience”.
In the first article, Lu Rahman looks at neuroscience drug discovery – advances and challenges – and how breakthroughs in this field are helping address areas of unmet need.
In the second article, James Peach, Co-Founder and CEO of Human Centric Drug Discovery (HCDD), an Oxford University spin-out improving neurology drug discovery by bringing more human data to the process, shares insight with me.
In the third article, Dr Steve Gardner, CEO of the computational biology company PrecisionLife, explores the challenges of achieving precision medicine in complex CNS conditions and explains how new precision neuroscience approaches are benefitting pharmaceutical companies who are again investing in the field to develop better treatments for neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
With conference season in full swing and the speakers announced for DDW’s Turning Science into Business Symposium in November, our news round-up shines a light on the importance of these in-person events for sharing and discovering the latest drug discovery breakthroughs.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Dr Emil Lou, Professor of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Minnesota. They discuss the promising results of a recent clinical trial he led focused on gastrointestinal cancers, the potential impact of continued clinical success on the future of these hard-to-treat cancers, and the key challenges that must be addressed to sustain progress. Dr Lou also explores the evolving role of multiplexed gene editing in tackling immunosuppressive or heterogeneous solid tumours, the complexities of forging academia-industry partnerships to support early-phase innovation, and the scientific breakthroughs he believes will shape the next five years in cancer research.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
News stories of note for this week include a major deal signed between Eli Lilly and Rznomics in the field of RNA-editing therapies, and a potential quality-of-life breakthrough for patients with Parkinson’s.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Innovative uses for biomarkers in drug discovery”, which covers two articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 4, Fall 2023. They are called: “How biomarkers can help discover new treatments for women’s health” and “Could NfL accelerate drug development for neurodegenerative diseases?”
In the first article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong speaks to Dr Steve Gardner, Co-Founder and CEO of PrecisionLife about work the company is doing to improve our understanding of endometriosis.
In the second article, Professor Andy Whiting and Dr Tony Lockett discuss how specific levels of a protein could be used to advance drug development in neurodegenerative diseases.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Our news highlights this week focus on drug discovery for metabolic diseases, with a number of developments in treatments for obesity, liver disease, and diabetes.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Phil L'Huillier, CEO of Scancell. Following the company’s recent partnership with the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, enabling fast-tracked access for melanoma patients, we discuss how Scancell is addressing the scientific, clinical, and logistical challenges of developing therapeutic cancer vaccines—from overcoming tumour heterogeneity and improving immune response to leveraging national infrastructure like the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad to enable broader, more inclusive trial access.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Our news highlights this time focus on two major regulatory agencies, in a week that saw the European Commission (EC) launch a new fund designed to tempt US researchers to EU countries, and the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) roll out extensive new AI systems.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Cutting-edge tools shaping early-stage drug discovery”, which covers three articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 4, Fall 2023. They are called: “The use-case for NGS”, “Are organ-chips the future of preclinical research?” and “What spatial biology can tell us about disease and drug discovery”.
In the first article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong speaks to Dr Darrell Green, Lecturer in RNA Biology, Biomedical Research Centre, Norwich Medical School University of East Anglia, about his work using next generation sequencing (NGS) and the areas the technology is impacting within drug discovery and development.
In the second article, Diana Spencer catches up with Lorna Ewart, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Emulate, about the rise of organ-on-a-chip technology.
In the third article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong speaks to Benedikt Nilges, Head of Technology and Data Analytics at OMAPiX about spatial biology’s use in drug discovery and bettering our understanding of disease.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Our highlights this week demonstrate a variety of approaches to cancer treatment, including a BTK inhibitor, macrophage checkpoint inhibitor, and antibody-drug conjugates, at various stages of development.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Dimitrios Goundis, CEO of Kither Biotech. Kither is a Phase I, soon to be Phase II, Italian biotech focused on respiratory diseases such as cystic fibrosis. This episode explores how emerging biotech strategies are advancing treatments for respiratory diseases like cystic fibrosis, with a focus on targeted drug delivery, clinical trial progression, and the evolving biotech landscape in Europe.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
With the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting taking place from 25-30 April, the DDW news desk has been inundated with the latest advances in cancer drug discovery, so here are a few highlights. Check out our round-up for the event for more updates.
You can listen here, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “An overview on the impact of synthetic biology”, which covers two articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 3, Summer 2023. They are called: “Synthetic biology: Impacting drug discovery” and “Synthetic biology: Innovating in drug discovery”
In the first article, Mark Kotter, Founder and CEO of bit.bio, talks with Reece Armstrong about different approaches to synthetic biology and its applications in programming stem cells into mature, functional human cells for drug discovery and the creation of next generation.
In the second article, Reece Armstrong examines recent activity within the synthetic biology sector and highlights some of the key advancements and innovation.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
With Eli Lilly so far winning the race to bring an oral GLP-1 drug to market, having announced positive topline results from a Phase III trial, this week our news highlights focus on clinical studies.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Where are scientists making waves in drug discovery?”, which covers three articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 3, Summer 2023. They are called: “How pharma is targeting advances in Alzheimer’s treatments”, “The start-up disrupting the field of women’s reproductive health” and “India: Why is the country ramping up drug discovery research?”
Cognition Therapeutics recently completed the enrolment of its Phase II SEQUEL trial for patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease. The focus of the trial is to test Cognition Therapeutics’ experimental drug, CT1812 for patients with dementia with Lewy Bodies and dry age-related macular degeneration. In the first article, Reece Armstrong speaks to Lisa Ricciardi, CEO of Cognition Therapeutics, to learn about what the company hopes to achieve with CT1812.
In the second article, DDW’s Diana Spencer speaks to Alok Javali, CSO of dawn-bio, a new addition to BioInnovation Institute’s (BII) Venture Lab acceleration programme, about the lack of innovation in women’s reproductive health and the company’s plans to fill the vacuum.
In the third article, I take a deeper look into why India is ramping up drug discovery research, and explores the country’s innovation hubs of interest.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In a week of financial uncertainty for the industry, our round-up focuses on the power of partnership to accelerate drug discovery, from the prevention of respiratory infections, to mapping gene activity in inflammatory bowel disease.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Innovation enabled by new drug discovery technologies”, which covers two articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 3, Summer 2023. They are called: “Accelerating biotherapy and personalised medicine with long DNA” and “The microbiome in precision medicine”.
In the first article, Matt Hill, Founder and CEO of Elegen writes about the importance of innovation in DNA synthesis to address critical bottlenecks in biotherapy development.
In the second article, Katie Gillette, Senior Project Leader, Eliza French, Analyst, and Graham Friedman, Analyst, DeciBio, provide an industry overview of the role of the microbiome in precision medicine, and its interplay with research tools, diagnostics, and therapeutic development.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Innovation enabled by new drug discovery technologies”, which covers three articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 3, Summer 2023. They are called: “Sitting down with… Neil Dhawan”, “Meet the researcher: Giusy Di Conza, iOnctura” and “From the Top: Adele Hannigan, Antibody Analytics”.
In the first article, Reece Armstrong speaks to Neil Dhawan, the Co-founder and CEO of Totus Medicines about the company’s approach to drug discovery using fundamental technologies in chemistry, biology and artificial intelligence (AI).
In the second article, Megan Thomas looked at a day in the life of Giusy Di Conza, Head of Research at iOnctura.
In the third article, Megan Thomas shines a spotlight on Adele Hannigan, CBO for Antibody Analytics, which has since been rebranded as RoukenBio.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Innovation enabled by new drug discovery technologies”, which covers two articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 3, Summer 2023. They are called: “Finding the North Star of therapeutic antibodies” and “Which diseases will benefit from therapeutic antibody development?”
In the first article, Katie Abouzahr is the Vice President, Autoantibody Portfolio and Maternal Fetal Disease Area Leader at the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. She speaks with Megan Thomas about the future for Janssen’s investigational medicine nipocalimab and antibody therapeutics at large.
In the second article, DDW’s Megan Thomas looks at how different diseases will benefit from the success of therapeutic antibodies.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Weight loss drugs have been making the news this week. As we come to the end of Women’s History Month, two of the covered studies focus on women’s health, specifically the role of weight loss drugs in treating endometriosis and why women have worse side effects from these therapeutics.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Innovation enabled by new drug discovery technologies”, which covers two articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 3, Summer 2023. They are called: “CRISPR breakthroughs: New solutions for common diseases” and “Re-assessing the risks of drug-induced arrhythmias during drug discovery”.
In the first article, Rolf Turk, Senior Manager, Genomics Medicine at Integrated DNA Technologies, examines how CRISPR is being used to enhance cancer therapies.
In the second article, Dr Mark Treherne, Dr Jack Scannell and Dr Richard Saumarez answer the question: Can potentially lethal arrhythmias induced by novel drugs be better predicted by using more relevant and sophisticated electrophysiological screening methods?
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week the DDW news round-up takes a look at developments in cancer research, including AZ’s acquisition of EsoBiotec, positive trial results for an allogeneic T-cell therapy, and a new drug target for glioblastoma.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Critical tools that support drug discovery and development”, which covers two articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 3, Summer 2023. They are called: “You think you need an ELN… but are you asking the right questions?” and “Big data: Charting a new path to drug discovery and development”.
In the first article, Matt Clifford, Director of Research and Innovation Strategy at IDBS, discusses the questions that need to be asked if you’re considering an ELN.
In the second article, Tim Lowery, President of JSR Life Sciences, asks whether artificial intelligence can do for life sciences what it has done in other sectors and whether these tools can keep up with the complexities of human biology.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Clinical trials of all stages have dominated the DDW news section this week. All the stories represent a significant step forward for drug discovery, either due to the innovative nature of the therapies being studied, or the unique methods employed in the trial.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “The revolutionary impact of understanding genomics”, which covers two articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 3, Summer 2023. They are called: “Open science, genomics, and the quiet revolution in our approach to pharma” and “Junk DNA: How the dark genome is changing RNA therapies”.
In the first article, Evan Floden, CEO of Seqera Labs, examines how data sharing platforms are impacting cancer and genomics research.
In the second article, Samir Ounzain, CEO & Co-Founder of HAYA Therapeutics, looks at how a better understanding of our DNA can lead to increased activity for RNA therapeutics.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Our news round-up this week focuses on start-ups, the innovative fledgling companies that are coming through and sparking new life into various areas of drug discovery.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Where are the global epicentres of drug discovery innovation?”, which covers two articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 2, Spring 2023 of DDW. They are called: Where are the hottest drug discovery hubs in the US? and Global start-ups: where is the innovation?
In the first article, I take a snapshot of the US biotech market and some of the ongoing research coming out of the US.
In the second, DDW editors take a look at some key global activity taking place around the world for drug discovery and life sciences start-ups.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
It’s been a mixed bag of news for gene therapies this week, ranging from huge successes in treating sight impairment, cystic fibrosis and hearing loss, to the quick sale of a previously successful gene therapy developer.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Following the news of cuts to medical research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), this week we focus on some positive drug discovery news from North America, including FDA priority review for a number of innovative therapeutics and a new US centre for rare disease research.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In this podcast we speak to experts from Lonza and Oxford Nanopore about their collaboration to bring direct mRNA sequencing (including N1-Methyl-pseudouridine) to a regulated environment and establish the new gold standard in sequencing technology.
We discuss how nanopore sequencing will be used to perform unbiased identity testing while enabling the simultaneous analyses of multiple critical quality attributes such as integrity (mRNA length and poly-A tail length) and capping.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Love is in their air this Valentine’s Day as this week’s news round-up celebrates the importance of collaboration in life sciences, whether that’s in the sharing of data, technology, or expertise.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “The continued evidence of AI’s drug discovery value”, which covers two articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 2, Spring 2023 of DDW. They are called: “How generative AI could improve drug discovery” and “Can artificial intelligence help craft new medicines?”
Absci is a generative artificial intelligence (AI) drug creation company with goals of bringing better biologics to patients more quickly. In the first article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong speaks to Sean McClain, the Founder and CEO of Absci about how generative AI is being used within drug discovery and the company’s work in the antibodies sector.
In the second article, Professor Sonika Bhatnagar explores how artificial intelligence is enabling drug discovery at rates never seen before.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Following World Cancer Day on 4 February, the news round-up this week focuses on new approaches to the treatment of cancer, including radiopharmaceuticals, programmable cell depletion and preventative vaccines.
You can listen here, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify or Google Play.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In the same week that Phesi revealed that breast cancer is the most studied disease for the fourth year in a row, we have seen a number of breakthroughs in the treatment of solid tumours, both in the early preclinical and later clinical stages of research.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week we have seen a number of positive announcements related to the early clinical and preclinical development of immunotherapies, including an islet cell therapy for diabetes, an antibody-drug conjugate and a CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma, and a peptide-drug conjugate and a vaccine for head and neck cancers.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to and watch below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Our news round-up at the end of last year focused on drug discovery investment, so it is positive to see that this has also started strong in 2025, with a number of new acquisitions, research partnership agreements and financings to kick off the new year.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Where are the global breakthroughs, opportunities and developments in cancer research?”, which covers three articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 2, Spring 2023 of DDW. They are called: “Global breakthroughs in cancer drug discovery”, “The Achilles’ heel of cancer”, and “Immunotherapy is here to stay”.
At the time of writing in the first article, AstraZeneca UK had appointed David Brocklehurst as Head of Oncology in the UK. I spoke with him about how AstraZeneca is innovating to displace chemotherapy and research areas of significance.
In the second article, Genoscience Pharma’s Philippe Halfon and Eric Raymond share their expertise on targeting the recycling of unsustainable production of palmitoylated cancer-associated proteins.
In the third article, I spoke with Frédéric Triebel, the French immunologist/oncologist who is best known for his 1990 discovery of the LAG-3 immune control mechanism. Triebel shares insights from his career, expands on his experience with the company he founded, Immutep, and comments on the future of immuno-oncology.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Innovative approaches to improving drug discovery”, which covers three articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 2, Spring 2023 of DDW. They are called: Post-Covid cognitive impairment: a new target for drug development?, Sitting Down With Dr Harren Jhoti, Astex Pharmaceuticals, and The Nobel Prize winning power of click chemistry.
In the first article, Dr Paula Moran, Dr Kiri Granger, Dr J Mark Treherne, and Dr Jenny Barnett explore the effects of long Covid symptoms and what the opportunities are for drug developers working to treat post-Covid cognitive impairment.
In the second article, Dr Harren Jhoti speaks to Diana Spencer after receiving his OBE, about his career, the UK life sciences sector, fragment-based drug discovery and what the future holds for the industry.
In the third article, José Mejía Oneto, PhD, Founder and CEO at Shasqi, discusses the potential of chemistry to engineer biology to improve the effectiveness of human therapeutics and revolutionise the treatment of disease.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to and watch below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
As we approach the end of 2024, it’s great to see that investment in drug discovery is still going strong, with an impressive $300 million raised by AI-focused company SandboxAQ and another significant financing by Ottimo Pharma.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
It’s been a big week for cell and gene therapies (CGTs) as the first in vivo BCMA CAR-T candidate reaches the clinic and a new discovery could lead to a gene therapy that reverses a significant cause of stillbirth and premature delivery.
You can listen here, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This episode of the DDW narrated podcast series is titled “New ways to treat cancer”, which covers three articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 2, Spring 2023 of DDW. They are called: “3D Genomics and targeted cancer therapies”, “Democratising proteomics for cancer and beyond”, and Meet the Researcher: John Maher”
In the first article, Anthony Schmitt, PhD, Senior Vice President, Science at Arima Genomics, discusses the applications of 3D genomics in cancer research.
In the second article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong speaks to Nautilus Co-Founder and Chief Scientist Parag Mallick, about the company’s recent collaboration which aims to uncover the proteins that could be behind a rare and fatal childhood cancer.
In the third article, John Maher, Leucid Bio, told me about his work and offers valuable advice to others in this field.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week’s leading news stories all shine a light on innovation within drug discovery, including a potential ‘best-in-industry’ weight loss drug, a gold-based compound that shrinks tumours by 82%, and a second-generation CAR-T therapy.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This episode of the DDW narrated podcast series is titled “The far-reaching impact of drug discovery technology”, which covers three articles written for Volume 24 – Issue 2, Spring 2023 of DDW. They are called: “Accelerating time to market through digitalisation”, “Why digital biomarkers will power tomorrow’s Alzheimer’s therapies”, and “The path to improved safety of gene-based products”.
In the first article, Sascha Fischer Business Development Manager for Automation at Genedata looks at three critical digitalisation components that enable end-to-end lab automation, improve the return on investment (ROI) on instrumentation investments and streamline time-to-market.
In the second article, Rivka Kreitman, CIO of NeuraLight explores the landscape of therapies for Alzheimer’s and explains why digital biomarkers are key to combatting the disease.
In the third article, Kerstin Pohl, Senior Global Marketing Manager, Gene Therapy & Nucleic Acid at SCIEX, looks at the application of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for analysing host cell proteins.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week’s leading news stories all feature early-stage clinical trials, including a short interfering RNA for cardiovascular disease, a new type of drug for type 2 diabetes, a gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a T cell therapy for hepatitis B, and a monoclonal antibody to prevent respiratory syncytial virus.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled ‘Exciting start-ups and developments in drug discovery’, which covers two articles written for DDW Volume 24 – Issue 1, Winter 2022/2023. They are called: ‘What Lithuania offers life sciences start-ups’ and ‘Avoiding detection – the cancer cells evading the body’s natural defence’.
In the first article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong takes a look at Lithuania’s life sciences sector and what it means for start-ups operating in the country.
In the second article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong explores recent research looking into why cancer cells are so effective at avoiding the body’s immune system.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to and watch below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week’s most exciting news stories all represent innovative solutions to the treatment of disease, proving that ‘thinking outside the box’ can by the key to success in drug discovery.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
With the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2024 taking place in Houston recently, there have been a number of recent announcements regarding the clinical advancement of immunocytokines, METTL3 inhibitors, cancer vaccines, CAR-T therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of cancer.
You can listen here, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week DDW has reported on significant investment in the development of treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, but also gene therapies for CNS disorders and radioligand-based therapies for cancer.
You can listen here, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In a week that saw a second monoclonal antibody rejected by UK regulator NICE, antibodies have been high on the news agenda. More positively, a new indication for Fasenra was approved in the EU, researchers found an antibody platform could overcome the challenges of treating mutating viruses, and monoclonal antibodies showed promise in lung cancer and immunoglobulin A nephropathy.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled "How to streamline regulatory approval", which covers two articles written for Volume 24 – Issue 1, Winter 2022/2023 of DDW. They are called: Quicker time to regulatory submission through improved data management and The three key stages to a successful specialty drug launch.
In the first article, Ken Forman, Senior Director of Product Strategy, IDBS explains how robust digital workflows can reduce errors and time to compile data leading to greater transparency, faster reporting and help biopharmaceutical companies reach regulatory submission faster.
In the second article, Craig Caceci, Managing Director at Terebellum, offers guidance to pharmaceutical companies that are in the position to take their drugs to market.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
With a presidential election just round the corner in the US and a new UK budget on the way, financial support for life sciences is high on the agenda, so the news round-up this week focuses on investment in drug discovery, by private investors, governments and charities.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with CEO of Oxeia, Dr Michael Wyand, where we talk about Oxeia’s work; the unmet critical need for concussion drug therapies; the challenges facing them, including in clinical trials and investment; the potential market for concussion drugs, and more.
You can now, and find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
As we are halfway through Breast Cancer Awareness Month, our news highlights this week focus on studies that could advance the treatment of cancer in the future, including a new understanding of cancer drug resistance, and novel therapeutics like radioimmunotherapy, RBM39 degraders and peptide-drug conjugates.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Recently, the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting took place, so the headlines have been dominated by the latest discoveries related to the brain and the central nervous system, including significant findings related to GLP-1 agonists and an advanced theory of bipolar disorder.
If these are of interest, don’t forget to register for DDW’s Neuroscience Showcase on 24 October.
You can listen here, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available.
The publication of DDW’s latest eBook on immunotherapy has coincided with some interesting developments in this therapy area, particularly monoclonal antibodies, including two new regulatory approvals.
You can listen here, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week we have seen a number of developments related to cell therapies, particularly CAR-T cell therapies, beyond their traditional use in haematological malignancies.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “How technology is impacting drug discovery”, which covers two articles written for Volume 24 – Issue 1, Winter 2022/2023 of DDW. They are called: Immunotherapy offers survival extension for brain tumour patients and The evolution of assays for immuno-oncology research.
The first article looks into why data from a Phase III clinical trial offers promise for patients with a deadly form of brain cancer.
The second article shares insight from Dr Shailendra Singh, Founder and CEO of Cellomatics Biosciences.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week, DDW has opened registrations for its webinar ‘The latest advancements driving neuroscience drug discovery research’, so our news highlights focus on developments in neuroscience, including a novel drug that has been shown to reduce neuronal death, and a potential disease-modifying treatment for dementia.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Dr Friso Postma, Vice President of AI Drug Discovery at BioXcel Therapeutics.
Thanks to BioXcel's AI platform, the company was able to repurpose previous drugs to obtain FDA approval for its acute treatment for agitation associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, IGALMI, in April 2022, which was the first drug development success that involved the actual use of AI.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
With the release of clinical study results that led some media titles to ask if semaglutide could be a ‘fountain of youth’, this week our news highlights focus on clinical trials at a variety of different stages.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
With the launch of an international clinical trial investigating BioNTech’s mRNA lung cancer vaccine announced this week, our news highlights focus on clinical trials, including studies of a monoclonal antibody and small molecule GLP-1 agonist for obesity, and a muscarinic M4 selective agonist for schizophrenia.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
It’s been a busy week for medical regulatory agencies, with a number of key decisions made on therapies for graft-versus-host-disease, neuroendocrine carcinoma, haemophilia B, lymphoma and non-small cell lung cancer.
You can listen here, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled "How technology is impacting drug discovery", which covers two articles written for Volume 24 – Issue 1, Winter 2022/2023 of DDW. They are called: AI is critical to solving new complexities in drug discovery and The push towards lab automation in biopharma.
In the first article, Andrew Radin, Chief Executive Officer of Aria Pharmaceuticals, on the critical use of artificial intelligence in solving some of drug discovery’s most new and complex challenges.
In the second article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong speaks to Peter Walters, Director Advanced Therapies, CRB, and Grace Linton, Director Process Architecture, CRB about automation within laboratory settings and its effect on the pharmaceutical industry.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The chosen news highlights this week all feature advances in drug development in oncology indications and reflect the breadth of therapeutic approaches to cancer treatment.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The news highlights this week all centre around significant US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory decisions, including new approvals for drugs for solid tumours, hepatitis B and glioma.
You can listen here, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
GLP-1 receptor agonists have dominated the headlines this week, with data revealed on new potential beneficial effects of treatment with semaglutide and dual receptor agonists like pemvidutide.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled "Innovation drivers and opportunities for drug discovery", which covers three articles written Volume 24 – Issue 1, Winter 2022/2023 of DDW.
They are called:
- Optimising AAV capsid purification through improved analytics
- How transcriptomics is driving drug discovery
- Scandinavia: Insight into opportunities for drug discovery
In the first article, Svea Cheeseman from Refeyn explains why better efficiency is needed to advance the production of viral vectors for use in gene therapies.
In the second article, Dr Stephen Barat, Senior Vice President and Therapeutics Division Head at HTG Molecular Diagnostics tells DDW how transcriptomics is driving drug discovery and precision medicines.
In the third article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong explores the Scandinavian drug discovery sector and speaks to key players about Sweden’s place in the market.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
There have been some interesting developments in neuroscience this week. Perhaps most note-worthy, shingles vaccines Shingrix has been shown to reduce the risk of dementia by 17%, and TikoMed’s ALS drug caused a long-term slowing of ALS progression in a Phase II trial.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “How to utilise clinical trials in drug discovery” which covers five articles written for Volume 24 – Issue 1, Winter 2022/2023 of DDW.
They are called:
- The promise and growth of cell and gene therapies
- No sign of stopping: The rise of cell and gene therapy
- Expert view: What's next for cell and gene therapy?
- Understanding the future roadmaps of cell and gene therapy
- Under the microscope: Zoning in on the CGT sector
In the first article, DDW's Megan Thomas comments on the state of the CGT industry.
In the second, Ryan Leahy, a science communication expert in cell and gene therapy, at Phacilitate, says there is a lot to celebrate but also much to assess, question and challenge in this sector.
In the third, DDW's Megan Thomas explores the global innovations in cell and gene therapy and what opportunities and challenges are emerging and can therapies get to market faster.
In the fourth, DDW's Megan Thomas caught up with George White, General Manager, Product Management, Cell & Gene Therapy at Cytiva, to learn more about the company’s insight into the CGT market.
In the fifth and final article, IB Communications’ CEO Michelle Boxall explains why there are two sides to the cell and gene therapy coin.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The chosen news stories this week all feature therapies that could have significant impact on the future treatment of cancer, particularly haematological malignancies, but also solid tumours.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Clinical trial news has caught our attention this week. Despite the revelation from Phesi that a third of clinical trials fail at Phase II, DDW has reported positive human trial updates on therapeutics for myasthenia gravis, non-small cell lung cancer, Marburg virus, and Parkinson’s disease.
You can find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “How to utilise clinical trials in drug discovery” which covers two articles written for Volume 24 – Issue 1, Winter 2022/2023 of DDW.
They are called: The ‘dark matter’ behind cancer and Could this ‘Goldilocks’ drug be a non-toxic way to treat breast cancer?
In the first article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong looks into recent research which may explain why cancers can become more aggressive.
In the second article, Armstrong covers news of a drug which could be used to treat triple-negative breast cancer with less side effects.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The last few days have seen some interesting developments related to gene editing, including the discovery of a new mechanism for genetic programming and evidence in favour of redosing CRISPR-based therapies, as well as significant investment and new indications for gene therapies.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week has seen some exciting advances in neuroscience drug discovery, including Phase II clinical trials for two potentially game-changing treatments, a synapse-regenerating drug for Alzheimer’s and a gene therapy for Parkinson’s, as well as the launch of DDW’s latest In Focus report.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “How to utilise clinical trials in drug discovery” which covers three articles written for Volume 24 – Issue 1, Winter 2022/2023 of DDW.
They are called: Medicinal cannabis: Why more clinical trials and better access is needed, What are the opportunities for decentralised clinical trials?, and Choosing the right site solution for clinical trials.
In the first article, Michael Sassano, CEO at SOMAÍ Pharmaceuticals looks at what’s needed throughout Europe to help increase access to medicinal cannabis and the current state of pharmaceutical research in this area.
In the second article, Tom Brazier, Director, Decentralised Clinical Solutions, mdgroup and Stephanie Larimer, Q² Solutions discuss the opportunities for decentralised clinical trials and how common pitfalls can be avoided through communications and streamlined working.
In the third article, Independent Medical Writer Leonie Onslow explores the challenges of traditional clinical trial models and how to improve recruitment and retention.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
It’s been another busy week in the world of cell therapy, with the first use of CAR-T therapy for stiff-person syndrome, a study debunking the risk of secondary cancers from CAR-T and a number of cell therapy research findings revealed at EHA2024.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Why drug repurposing is so significant for drug discovery” which covers three written for Volume 24 – Issue 1, Winter 2022/2023 of DDW.
They are called: AI use in repurposing drugs for Covid-19 and RRx-001: Jack of all trades, master of…many.
In the first article, Imran Haque, VP Data Science at Recursion, describes the journey of the AI platform that predicted the efficacy of repurposed drugs for Covid-19
In the second article, Bryan Oronsky, Chief Development Officer at EpicentRx, discusses how one drug sourced from the defense and aerospace industry, could have many potential disese targets.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
With a lead story on the restoration of congenital hearing loss following gene therapy, the news highlights selection this week focuses on cell and gene therapies (CGT) and genetics, particularly some key progress in relation to CAR-T therapies.
You can listen to the DDW podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
With the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting concluding this week, the headline news has all focused on breakthrough cancer research shared at the event.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The selected news highlights this week report breakthrough findings from early phase research and development, mainly preclinical studies and Phase I clinical trials, including a drug that can prevent sepsis deaths, a microbiome based immuno-oncology candidate, and a plant-based therapy for diarrhoea.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “The future climate and landscape for drug discovery” which covers three written for Volume 24 – Issue 1, Winter 2022/2023 of DDW.
They are called: Pharma’s important climate and What will the 2023 drug discovery landscape look like?
In the first article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong comments of the impact of climate change in the drug discovery sector.
In the second article, DDW Multimedia Editor Megan Thomas observes the 2023 drug discovery landscape, speaking to industry experts and looking at the foundations of 2022 on which 2023 will lean.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
From a weight loss drug that prevents heart attacks and a gene therapy that restores hearing, to a vaccine that can treat viruses that don’t exist yet, our chosen news stories this week all represent potential breakthroughs in their respective fields.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Tien Lee, CEO of Aardvark Therapeutics, a San Diego-based biotech company in Phase II studies of its drug, ARD-101, a type 2 bitter taste receptor (TAS2R) which is taken orally and remains in the human gut unlike GLP-1 which is systemic.
The drug targets receptors in the gut where it triggers cholecystokinin (CCK), a GI system peptide hormone responsible for stimulating the digestion of fat and protein. CCK stimulates pancreatic secretion and gallbladder contraction, regulation of gastric emptying, and sends a signal to the brain that one has had enough to eat.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
A leading news story this week has been the announcement of positive Phase II results of a head and neck cancer trial, but there have been a number of other interesting clinical result announcements. These include the discovery of molecular doorways that could be used to help deliver drugs into the brain to treat neurological disorders, a plant-based medication which may be an effective therapy to help patients stop vaping, immune B cells which could be used to develop cancer targeting immunotherapies, and positive top-line results in Phase II/III study in schizophrenia patients.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The ongoing innovation and development in the drug discovery sector relies on a number of moving parts, one of which is financial support and backing. Whether it is successful seed funding or dedicated investment, this money enables scientists to produce top-quality research which will in turn result in discoveries and drugs that help tackle disease and areas of unmet need. Here are five financial success stories that made headlines this week.
You can find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The ongoing innovation and development in the drug discovery sector relies on a number of moving parts, one of which is financial support and backing. Whether it is successful seed funding or dedicated investment, this money enables scientists to produce top-quality research which will in turn result in discoveries and drugs that help tackle disease and areas of unmet need. Here are five financial success stories that made headlines this week.
You can find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Steve Worland, CEO of eFFECTOR. eFFECTOR is a company targeting three distinct targets central to the eIF4F translation initiation complex: MNK, eIF4A and eIF4E. Each of these targets regulates distinct sets of genes in cancer and immune cells.
Dr Worland has significant experience as a scientist and C-suite level executive/entrepreneur, and today speaks about how Selective Translation Regulator Inhibitors (STRIs) are unique to other cancer treatments, the future of the industry as well as the significance of pharma collaboration in the development process.
You can find the Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The leading news story this week has been the launch of a new clinical trial in the UK for a melanoma personalised mRNA cancer vaccine, but there have been a number of other interesting developments in cancer drug discovery. These include the detection of new targets for skin cancer treatment, the benefits of vitamin D for cancer prevention, an extended approval in the EU for a CAR-T myeloma therapy and the discovery of an unusual source of targeted treatments.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “A look behind the scenes of the drug discovery industry” which covers three written for Volume 23 – Issue 4, Fall 2022 of DDW.
They are called: Going paperless – the move to electronic lab notebooks, New horizon for cancer innovation, and A personal touch: the role of bioprinting in drug discovery.
In the first article, Barry Bunin, PhD, CEO of Collaborative Drug Discovery explores the rise of electronic lab notebooks and why researchers should be transitioning to digital methods of recording data.
In the second article, Reece Armstrong sits down with Cancer Research Horizons’ Chief Business Officer, Tony Hickson and CEO of its Therapeutics division, Hamish Ryder, to learn about the organisation’s goals.
In the third article, DDW Editor, Reece Armstrong, sits down with Brinter CEO Tomi Kalpio to learn about the company’s approach to bioprinting and how it can be used throughout drug discovery.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The headline news this week all concerns clinical trials for new drugs that could have a significant impact on future patient treatment, including trials testing therapeutics for ALS, cystic fibrosis, gonorrhoea, TB and Parkinson’s.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The cancer research news has been coming thick and fast from the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego this week, so this round-up focuses on drug discovery in oncology.
You can to The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In another busy week for drug discovery and development, we have seen the FDA approval of a monoclonal antibody for emergency use in Covid-19, the launch of trials into innovative new treatments for urea cycle disorders and alcohol use disorder, and a significant acquisition for Novo Nordisk, as well as the discovery of a new way to target dormant cancer cells.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Flow cytometry for drug discovery research” which covers three written for Volume 23 – Issue 4, Fall 2022 of DDW.
They are called: Flow cytometry technologies and cancer associated fibroblasts and Leveraging flow cytometry in drug discovery.
In the first article, Dr Amber Miller, Flow Cytometry Scientist, Fortis Life Sciences, says flow cytometry techniques can help our understanding of cancer associated fibroblasts but there is still work to be done.
In the second article, Dr Miguel A Tam, and Dr Kenta Yamamoto, BioLegend, examine the evolution, trends and best practices for smooth and efficient workflows for flow cytometry.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Following the recent AD/PD 2024 conference, which took place on 5-9 March in Lisbon, Portugal, there have been a number of key announcements regarding investigational therapies for neurological disorders, particularly Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Ahmed Mousa, CEO of Vicore Pharma. Vicore Pharma is exploring the potential of a new class of drug candidates, angiotensin II type 2 receptor agonists (ATRAGs), and here Mousa provides DDW with an overview of the company’s unique approach, its challenges, its opportunities, and its context in the scientific community.
You can listen here, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
It was antibodies hitting the headlines this week, with the discovery of antibodies with potential against a new influenza target, the launch of a Phase I trial to investigate a novel type of bispecific antibody, and the announcement that the FDA will delay approval of donanemab to hold a meeting of the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled: What trends will speed up the journey from clinic to bedside? It covers three articles written for Volume 23 – Issue 4, Fall 2022 of DDW.
They are called: Sitting down with… PharmEnable, Is single-cell gene expression the next trend in next generation sequencing? and Preparing for new-era drug modalities with technology.
In the first article, Reece Armstrong speaks to Natalia Mateu, Co-Founder, Jelena Aleksic, Co-Founder and Peter Curran, Chemoinformatics Scientist, about utilising 3D chemistry and AI to get small molecule therapies from the clinic to the bedside.
In the second article, we hear from Dr Dina Finan, PhD, Product Manager at 10x Genomics and Dr Nick Downey, PhD, NGS Collaborations Lead at Integrated DNA Technologies.
In the third article, Samsung Biologics’ Senior Vice President, James Park, explores the opportunities emerging for CDMOs to support mRNA developers as they explore new therapeutic areas for patients.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In a breakthrough for advanced therapies, this week saw the FDA approve the first ever cell therapy for solid tumour cancers, but there were other significant developments in the cell and gene therapy space.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Quin Wills, Co-founder and CSO of Ochre Bio, a company whose scientists are working in collaboration with AI to unlock the potential of complex human liver data. Ochre's lab in Oxford takes different types of human cells from donor livers, which they combine to build components of the liver from scratch. These ‘bottom up’ models allow them to flexibly study the metabolic, cell death, inflammation, fibrosis, and neoplastic processes that occur throughout the liver disease trajectory. They are, in effect, trying to do the clinical trial before the clinical trial.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week our news highlights focus on skin conditions, with positive updates on hidradenitis suppurativa, systemic sclerosis, wound-healing, and other dermatological conditions like atopic dermatitis and vitiligo.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
For this year’s SLAS2024 conference in Boston (which takes place 3-7 February), DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2024 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series.
This is episode five, Solving the diagnostic odyssey with multi-omics. Catherine Brownstein is an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the Assistant Director of the Molecular Genetics Core Facility at Boston Children's Hospital. Her current work focuses on advancing the fields of genome sequencing and analysis, with an emphasis on identifying complex structural variation. She spoke with me on how genomics can advance drug discovery and development.
For this year’s SLAS2024 conference in Boston (which takes place 3-7 February), DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2024 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series.
This is episode four, The building blocks of AI success stories. Dr Mike Tarselli, Chief Scientific & Knowledge Officer at TetraScience, was Scientific Director of SLAS until 2020, and will be chairing his first event this year. He shares his insight with me in this episode.
For this year’s SLAS2024 conference in Boston (which takes place 3-7 February), DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2024 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series.
This is episode three, Connecting academia, industry and the public. Erin Welsh, PhD, is a disease ecologist and epidemiologist now working full-time as a science communicator. Erin Allmann Updyke, MD, PhD is an epidemiologist and disease ecologist currently in a medical residency programme to complete her training. Together, they make up This Podcast Will Kill You. Ahead of being a keynote speaker at SLAS 2024, Welsh shares insight with DDW.
For this year’s SLAS2024 conference in Boston (which takes place 3-7 February), DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2024 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series.
This is episode two, Where is the Ignite Theater tech leading us? At this year's SLAS event, DDW has curated a track taking place in the Ignite Theater, sponsored by Integra Biosciences and Hamamatsu Corporation. It will explore technologies being used for drug discovery and how they get from lab to patient.
For this year’s SLAS2024 conference in Boston (which takes place 3-7 February), DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2024 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series.
This is episode one, called, “A welcome to SLAS 2024”, which includes two comment pieces. Thomas wrote the first one, “The journey from lab to patient”, which focuses on the theme of the track curated by DDW taking place in the Ignite Theater at SLAS 2024.
The second is from SLAS Director of Marketing & Communications, Jill Hronek, called “Innovation at every turn: Hello SLAS2024”, in which Hronek shares her enthusiasm for the opportunities, products, technologies and stories that this event brings together.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In the same week that it was revealed that breast cancer was the most studied disease area in 2023 for the third year running, there were a number of promising developments in the treatment of colorectal, pancreatic and lung cancer and leukaemia.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Dr Lynn Kirkpatrick, CEO of Ensysce Biosciences. As we all know, the opioid epidemic is one of the biggest issues in the United States today. As of late, it has been cracked down on to prevent overdosing and abuse of opioids, but it still leaves patients with a need for pain medication. Currently, Ensynsce Biosciences is headed into Phase III clinical trials with a drug that improves the care and safety of patients by preventing the possibility of both abuse and overdose of prescription drugs. Today, CEO Dr Kirkpatrick talks about how they are developing this safer option to opioid pain killers, and how it prevents abuse and overdose.
You can listen here, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
With seasonal illnesses running amok in the western hemisphere at the moment, it is perhaps not surprising that this week’s news highlights focus on viruses and immunity.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled: Why is Europe a drug discovery epicentre? It covers three articles written for Volume 23 – Issue 4, Fall 2022 of DDW.
They are called: European drug discovery and development success stories, Basel: A centre for ground-breaking oncology, and On the European CGT landscape, zebras and the future of medicine.
In the first article, Lu Rahman highlights some of the key players as, at the time of writing, we were starting to look beyond the pandemic, asking which areas of Europe’s drug discovery community we should be taking note of.
In the second article, Dr Stephan Emmerth and Paul Eschmann, Basel Area Business & Innovation, explain the benefits of being based in Basel – the talent pool, global players, academic institutions and investors, for example.
In the third article, Megan Thomas reflects on the cell and gene therapy landscape in Europe following Advanced Therapies Europe 2022.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week has seen a number of significant discoveries by researchers in academic institutions, in some cases in partnership with industry, emphasising the important role universities play in early-stage drug discovery. Perhaps most importantly, a new antibiotic was found that targets a Gram-negative pathogen, mRNA was used as an effective therapy for a rare liver disease, and a common immune cell was found to attack cancer.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Revolutionary technology for drug discovery and development” which covers three written for Volume 23 – Issue 4, Fall 2022 of DDW.
They are called: mRNA technology may hold the future for a cytomegalovirus vaccine; Predictive diagnostics: closing the precision medicine gap; and FAIR Game: making data work harder in the race to market.
In the first article, Allison August, M.D., Vice President, Clinical Development, Infectious Diseases at Moderna examines the data on cytomegalovirus (CMV), why attempts at vaccines for CMV have so far proved elusive and the emerging options to address this unmet need.
In the second article, Jarret Glasscock, PhD, CEO of Cofactor Genomics explains how diagnostics are emerging as the key to ensuring the right patients get matched to the right therapy, at the right time.
In the third article, Dr Christof Gänzler, Product Marketing Biology at PerkinElmer Informatics, shares insight on making data work harder in the race to market.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The start of 2024 has seen quite a bit of regulatory activity, with the UK MHRA’s launch of a new procedure for assessing drugs, along with significant regulatory approvals for therapeutics for cytomegalovirus, melanoma, amyloidosis and multiple sclerosis.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Manfred Ruediger, CEO of Ariceum Therapeutics. Ariceum Therapeutics is focused on developing novel targeted radiopharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer. 2023 was a pivotal year for the company from a strategic perspective, including a €22.75 million Series A extension in April 2023, a strategic research collaboration with UCB in May 2023, and the acquisition of Theragnostics in June 2023. It was also named Winner of Deal of the Year
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
There have been some ground-breaking advances in women’s health this week, with new treatments for hot flushes and pregnancy sickness, and a discovery that could aid in development of treatments for secondary breast cancer. In other news, the FDA approved a promising antibody-drug conjugate for bladder cancer and trial results demonstrated that psilocybin could reduce depression symptoms in cancer patients.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, titled “Where is the latest innovation in neuroscience?” which covers three written for Volume 23 – Issue 4, Fall 2022 of DDW. They are called: "Taking a new approach to tackle neurodegenerative diseases", " The rise of digital biomarkers in neuroscience drug development", and "Keeping technology at the front of neuroscience research".
In the first article, William Erhardt, President, Head of Development & Operations of biotech Oligomerix, tells Lu Rahman about the company’s differentiated approach to developing disease-modifying therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases.
In the second article, Dr J Mark Treherne, Dr Jenny Barnett and Dr Paula Moran answer the question of whether an expansion in the use of effective digital biomarkers will help improve the productivity of drug development in neuroscience.
In the third article, David Gray, CSO of Inscopix talks to Lu Rahman about the company’s understanding of the neuroscience market and its quest to improve technologies for neuroscientists to enable multimodal research.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Our news highlights this week focus on haematology, thanks in part to a number of key announcements at the 65th American Society for Hematology meeting (ASH) Annual Meeting, including real-world evidence on the use of CAR-T therapies in blood cancers and new data for myeloma and lymphoma treatments.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest sponsored DDW Sitting Down With podcast features Charles Powell, CEO of Aurora Microplates, discussing how the microplate has evolved to keep up with changing trends within research and development.
The microplate is a seemingly simple tool, yet it has a crucial role to play in ensuring accurate data throughout the drug discovery process. Powell will explain how the materials and manufacturing process of a microplate can impact chemical reactions in the lab and ultimately define the consistency of the scientific results.
Listen now.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The news highlights this week are mostly focused around neuroscience, with new guiding principles and a drug repurposing fund launched for motor neuron disease research, a new drug target found for early-onset dementia, and a possibly game-changing schizophrenia drug entering human trials.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The key drug discovery news this week focuses on experimental approaches to the treatment of some of the most challenging diseases, including a mathematical model that can simulate Alzheimer’s progression and using CRISPR gene editing to ‘shred’ tumours.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, 'Outside the box thinking for drug discovery success', which covers three written for Volume 23 – Issue 4, Fall 2022 of DDW. They are called: Stanford researchers construct the most complete synthetic microbiome, Highs and lows of drug repurposing, and Unlocking the potential of mucoadhesive drug delivery.
In the first article, Rebecca McClellan, Scientific Program Manager, Research, Development & Communications, explains how scientists are learning more about the connections between the microbiome and human health to potentially develop first-in-class microbiome therapies.
In the second article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong explores the rise of drug repurposing and the benefits and disadvantages it brings to drug discovery and development.
In the third article, Ashley Rein, Global Market Manager for Topical Drug Delivery at Lubrizol Life Science Health (LLS Health), explains how by using mucoadhesive drug delivery, developers can bring novel drugs to market and maximise the efficacy of pre-existing APIs.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, “Drug discovery trends: From regulation to embracing AI", which covers two articles written for Volume 23 – Issue 4, Fall 2022 of DDW. They are called: From the Editor: Law and order and How AI in pharma can live up to the hype.
In the first article, DDW Editor Reece Armstrong comments on the post-Covid industry landscape. In the second article, Ben Folwell, Principal Consultant at Citeline, maps out how AI, swarm learning and open access to clinical data could revolutionise drug discovery.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The breaking news this week was certainly the first regulatory approval for Casgevy, not only the first gene therapy approved for sickle cell disease, but also the first therapy to use CRISPR gene editing. However, there were a number of other breakthroughs announced in the cell and gene therapy field.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
With the first DDW Turning Science into Business Summit taking place next week on the theme of Cancer Research, this dynamic area of drug discovery is this week's round-up focus again. Most significantly, this week has seen the UK approval of a new indication for anastrozole in the prevention of breast cancer and a number of significant findings in the field of immunotherapy announced at SITC 2023.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Isaac Klein, Chief Scientific Officer of Dewpoint Therapeutics. Klein is a physician-scientist and medical oncologist. Throughout his career, Klein has sought to deploy novel biology and technology to better understand human disease and guide therapeutic development. He has extensively studied the intersection of condensate science, cell biology and patho-physiology with the goal of unlocking the potential of new science to deliver life-changing medicines for patients.
In this episode, Klein shares insight from his career, Dewpoint’s pipeline, how to solve biological mysteries and the value of partnership.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The news highlights this week feature a variety of exciting clinical trial results and launches that are examining therapies for much-needed disease areas, new drug approvals and even a space mission with a pharma twist.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The news highlights this week feature a variety of treatment approaches, from cell therapy and antibody-drug conjugate to autotaxin inhibitor and arenaviral vaccine, all entering early in-human clinical trials to treat a range of diseases.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, “Important therapies for the future of immunotherapy", which covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 3 – Summer 2022 of DDW. They are called “Improving quality control for CAR T cell therapies”, and “The importance of LAG-3 to the future of immunotherapy”.
The first article includes insight from Mark White, Associate Director of Biopharma Product Marketing at Bio-Rad and Marwan Alsarraj, Biopharma Segment Manager, Digital Biology Group. The second article is an interview between Lu Rahman and Frederic Triebel, CSO, Immutep, who also discovered LAG-3.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
To celebrate DDW’s first Turning Science into Business Summit on ‘Cancer research opportunities and advances’, the news round-up this week highlights the latest developments in oncology drug discovery.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, “Drug discovery success stories", which covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 3 – Summer 2022 of DDW. They are called “Global pharma start-up success stories”, and “Excitement at rectal cancer immunotherapy breakthrough”.
In the first article, Lu Rahman selects some interesting global start-ups pushing the boundaries in drug discovery, from AI to £D deep-learning research to biologics.
In the second article, we explore a groundbreaking ‘immuno-ablative’ neo- adjuvant immunotherapy clinical trial that Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) has reported has having had a 100% complete response rate in MMRd locally advanced rectal cancer.
The latest sponsored DDW Sitting Down With podcast features Professor Jonathan Blackburn, Chief Scientific Officer of Sengenics, who discusses the advantages of functional protein microarrays, challenges to overcome for biomarker discovery, Sengenics’ new i-Ome Discovery chip, and more.
As CSO, Professor Blackburn heads the R&D and product development strategy. He invented the patented Sengenics K-REX technology, holds more than 30 technology patents, and has published more than 130 peer reviewed papers, plus 9 book chapters. He serves on several committees, including the FNIH Steering Committees for Cancer and Inflammation & Immunity, and the Council of the Human Proteome Organization (HUPO).
Listen now.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The buzz with week has been around Phase I trials, with new therapies for lung cancer, geographic atrophy, Parkinson’s, sarcopenia and long Covid demonstrating positive early results or entering clinical trials for the first time.
You can find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Dr Jude Samulski, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at AskBio. Dr. Samulski’s graduate work demonstrated the first substrate for adeno-associated viruses (AAV) as a viral vector and culminated in the first US patent involving non-AAV genes inserted into AAV.
Dr Samulski’s discoveries in AAV played a profound role in shaping the evolution of the gene therapy field. His work remains a key component of every FDA-approved AAV therapeutic and will remain central to future advances. Dr Samulski has advanced therapeutics into human clinical trials for haemophilia, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, giant axonal neuropathy, Pompe disease and heart failure. He holds more than 200 patents related to AAV technology. He co-founded AskBio in 2001 and in October 2020, Bayer acquired AskBio for $4 billion.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In celebration of the Nobel Prize for Medicine going to two of the early proponents of mRNA technology for creating therapeutics, Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, this week our round-up highlights the importance of genetics, genomics and gene editing in drug discovery.
You can find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest sponsored DDW Sitting Down With podcast features Ruth Roberts and Michael Morton, co-founders of ApconiX, and Dr Kimberly Rockley, ApconiX, who discuss novel alternative methods and the impact of the FDA Modernisation Act 2.0 in relation to seizure liability as well as talking about the importance of evaluating seizure liability.
The speakers outline how new research supports the refinement and replacement of the use of animals in safety testing, and how new assays could save time and money in drug discovery.
Listen now.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Immunotherapy has taken centre stage this week, with several announcements relating to regulatory approval, investment and research results for antibody and CAR-T therapies, perhaps most significantly, encouraging early-stage data for the first in vivo CAR-T therapy.
You can find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
Today’s episode is titled, “Overcoming different barriers in drug discovery", which covers three articles written for Volume 23, Issue 3 – Summer 2022 of DDW. They are called “Addressing the challenge of salt forms in drug discovery”, “A different approach: reimagining biology”, and “Women in Discovery: championing female leaders across drug discovery”.
In the first article, you will hear from Andrievs Auseklis Auzin, Developer, Molport, Latvia. In the second article, you will hear from three key members of the Evonetix team. In the third article, you will hear from SciPro’s Jessica Woodgate and Molly Edwards.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
As we approach another autumn/winter season in the northern hemisphere, Covid-19 vaccines are once again making the headlines, but in the last week we have also reported on vaccine trials for a number of other conditions, including Nipah virus, rabies and lung cancer.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this episode, Megan Thomas is in conversation with Shelley Ackerman, a biological engineer turned immunologist with a passion for drug discovery and development. She has been honoured as one of MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35 (2021), STAT Wunderkind (2021), and San Francisco Business Times' Women Who Lead in Life Sciences, The Next Generation of Life Sciences Researchers (2022), and today she speaks about the work being carried out at Bolt BioTherapeutics, where she is the Director & Program Team Lead.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week we have seen the vital importance of collaboration to the successful development and discovery of novel therapeutics, exemplified by the new deal agreed by the UK and EU to admit the UK back into Horizon Europe, the largest collaborative research programme in the world.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
Today’s episode is titled, “How is mass spectrometry advancing drug discovery?", which covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 3 – Summer 2022 of DDW. They are called “Native mass spectrometry: Drug discovery’s new kid on the block”, and “Addressing the developability gap in pharma”.
In the first article, you will hear from Id-leer Liko, klee-tos Sokratous & Miguel Silva at OMass Therapeutics.
In the second article, you will hear from Susan Darling, Senior Director, CE and Biopharma, SCIEX and Todd Stawicki, Senior Global Marketing Manager, Biopharma, SCIEX.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week’s headline news features a stem-cell derived Parkinson’s therapy, a monoclonal antibody for head and neck cancer, an estrogen receptor degrader for breast cancer, a mitochondrial activator for long Covid, and the world’s first AI-designed bispecific T cell engager – reflecting the breadth of innovative approaches to disease being employed by researchers across the globe.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The headline news this week reflects the high level of interest and investment in neuroscience drug discovery, particularly neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s; including positive clinical trial results for new immunotherapy and biotherapeutic candidates, and hopes that existing medications could slow the progression of dementia.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, “What lies in the future for genomics and big data?", which covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 3 – Summer 2022 of DDW. They are called “US biotech: Focus on positive growth and innovation”, and “Sitting down with Calidi Biotherapeutics”.
In the first article, DDW’s Lu Rahman takes a snapshot of the US biotech market and how its successes are having a positive effect on its UK counterpart.
In the second article, Dr Boris Minev, President of Medical and Scientific Affairs at Calidi Biotherapeutics speaks to DDW’s Reece Armstrong about the company’s approach to treating cancer.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Diana Spencer's chosen news stories this week all discuss pre-clinical research studies that could have a huge impact on our therapeutic approach to several hard-to-treat diseases, helping to overcome drug-resistance and make treatments more targeted in the future.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The news headlines this week reflect the level of interest in cell & gene therapies (CGT) in the sector, particularly CAR-T, but also the importance of research collaborations to bring these therapies to patients. Traditionally successful in treating blood cancers, it is positive to see companies pursuing CAR-T as an option for solid tumours, a potential new market for these treatments.
In theIn Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this latest episode, DDW’s Megan Thomas is in conversation with Dr Bruce Bloom, Chief Collaboration Officer at Healx, a biotechnology company using AI drug discovery to develop new treatments for rare diseases, as well as the founder of Cures Within Reach, a global non-profit driving new treatments to patients through repurposing research.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The pace of innovation in cancer drug discovery showed no signs of slowing this week, with several pretty momentous discoveries boosting research in the sector. These include the creation of a compound that can block the spread of cancer and the discovery that PARP inhibitors could be effective in a new group of patients.
Today’s episode is titled, “What lies in the future for genomics and big data?", which covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 3 – Summer 2022 of DDW. They are called “What’s the next step in big data and AI?” and “Why a recent advancement is a giant leap for human genomics”.
In the first article, Troy Groetken of intellectual property and technology law firm McAndrews, Held & Malloy tells Lu Rahman how pharma companies can take this data from where it currently stands (drug design and development) to a more clinical level.
In the second article, Dr Oyvind Dahle and Michael Pontrelli from Foley & Lardner LLP, talk about the first complete, gapless sequence of a human genome, which was published on 1 April 2022 in a special issue of the journal Science.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
To coincide with the publication of the DDW eBook ‘Antibody discovery: Breakthroughs accelerating therapeutic antibodies’, our news highlights this week all focus on antibodies, particularly the recommendation by the EU’s CHMP for two bispecific antibodies that treat multiple myeloma and lymphoma.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The most impactful drug discovery news this week is all linked with scientific research data. Analysts Phesi revealed that a third of clinical development programmes are cancelled during Phase II, and there were significant trial results for drugs for head and neck cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. In other research highlights, scientists were able to identify genes associated with long Covid for the first time, while a Stanford University probe found that neuroscience research data had been falsified.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, “A business case for drug discovery", which covers three articles written for Volume 23, Issue 3 – Summer 2022 of DDW. They are called “A deal in the making”, “Why project management holds the key to efficient drug development”, and “Transcending expectations for cell & gene therapy development”.
In the first article, Drug Discovery World Editor Reece Armstrong looks at how a number of deals in pharma have sparked excitement in the industry.
In the second article, Ian Hollingsworth, Associate Director of product development at Boyds, the global drug development consultancy, explains the benefits to the drug development lifecycle of building strong partnerships with external consultants, and when and how to get the best from them.
In the third article, David Lewandowski, Business Director of Cell & Gene Therapy at Azenta Life Sciences, explains how efficient sample management can help to work efficiently and bring therapies to market faster.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Despite the bad news for the UK life sciences industry this week that international investment dropped nearly 50% in 2022, both private and public funding activity has continued apace in the wider drug discovery sector.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In theIn Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this latest episode, DDW's Megan Thomas is in conversation with Dr Martin Main, Chief Scientific Officer at Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC), and Dr Nicola Heron, Chief Strategy Officer at MDC.
MDC is part of the Catapult Network established by Innovate UK and has a vision to reshape drug discovery for the benefit of patients by transforming great UK science into better treatments through partnership. Dr Main and Dr Heron share what MDC is doing to bridge the gaps in drug discovery.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
It’s been a fascinating week in drug discovery, as AstraZeneca announced that its Phase III trial of datopotamab deruxtecan did not meet its second primary endpoint and saw an 8% drop in its stock market value as a result.
In other headline news, the FDA approved the first cellular therapy for type 1 diabetes which could allow some patients to become insulin-independent, and a new study linked severe Covid-19 outcomes with high levels of antibiotics use.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, “Immunotherapy, avelumab and protecting the immunocompromised", which covers three articles written for Volume 23, Issue 3 – Summer 2022 of DDW. They are called “Mice with humanised immune systems advance cell-based immunotherapy”, “The avelumab story and what it means for urothelial carcinoma”, and “Immunocompromised are ‘forgotten’ when it comes to viral protection”.
In the first article, you will hear from Courtney Ferrebee, PhD, Field Applications Scientist, Taconic Biosciences.
In the second article, Lu Rahman speaks to Dr Stuart Hill, Medical Director for Merck, about the development of the avelumab and what this means for the treatment of bladder cancer.
In the third article, Dr. Jeffery Stein, CEO of Cidara and an expert in viral diseases, talks about the drug-Fc conjugate (DFCs), a new class of immunotherapeutic antivirals.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week we have heard about a number of studies that demonstrate an inventive solution to an old problem, either through the use of an original approach or new, advanced technology. Whether it be a monoclonal antibody to treat peanut allergy, or using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify influenza drug targets, each discovery reflects the level of scientific innovation and diversity of approaches being employed in drug development today.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, “Reaching new heights with drug discovery". It covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 2 – Spring 2022 of DDW. They are called “High-throughput technologies: Reaching for the stars” and “A different future is possible with the right data”.
In the first article, Megan Thomas spoke with CEO of Droplet Genomics, Juozas Nainys, to find out why he likens its work to space discovery.
In the second article, Megan Thomas spoke with Head of Discovery Research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology, Philip Gribbon, about the importance and lasting impact of good quality data.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) have been making the news this week. Particularly noteworthy have been the announcement of the FDA’s approval of the first gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and a caution from the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) against the implementation of strict new clinical assessment rules in the EU.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, “Challenges and tactics for transformative drug development". It covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 2 – Spring 2022 of DDW. They are called “Balancing speed and quality in CLD for faster drug development”, and “Sitting down with BridgeBio Pharma”.
In the first article, Soojin Han, Chief Technical Lead and a Head of R&D at Samsung Biologics America, examines the challenges, tactics, and best partnering practices in cell line development (CLD). She emphasises the need to ensure a balance between shortening commercial CLD timelines, increasing efficiencies and maintaining product quality.
In the second article, Michael Henderson, MD, Chief Business Officer of BridgeBio Pharma, tells Lu Rahman about the company’s pursuit of transformative medicines to treat genetic diseases.
In the third article, FRAME Education and Outreach Manager Amy Beale discusses how current legislative and regulatory requirements for animal research could be strengthened to help prevent animal experiments and accelerate change. She also considers the factors influencing the lack of change within animal research.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Regulatory approvals and industry guidelines are key to the continued development and discovery of drugs, which is a common theme throughout this week’s news highlights, including an FDA approval for Pfizer, a NICE recommendation for AstraZeneca UK, and an update to the HER2 Breast Cancer Testing Guidelines.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
At the American Association of Cancer Research’s Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, which took place in April 2023, DDW's Megan Thomas met with industry experts to learn more about their research and careers in the field of cancer research, who you will hear from across three episodes of the DDW Events Podcast series.
This is the third and final episode of the series, in which Thomas speaks with Vito Palombella, Chief Scientific Officer at Surface Oncology. Previously, she spoke with Dennis Brown, Chief Scientific Officer at Kintara Therapeutics, and Andreas Bader, Chief Scientific Officer at Triumvira Immonologics.
At the American Association of Cancer Research’s Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, which took place in April 2023, DDW's Megan Thomas met with industry experts to learn more about their research and careers in the field of cancer research, who you will hear from across three episodes of the DDW Events Podcast series.
In this second episode of the series, Thomas speaks with Andreas Bader, Chief Scientific Officer at Triumvira Immunologics. Previously, she spoke with Dennis Brown, Chief Scientific Officer at Kintara Therapeutics.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
There has been some interesting news related to clinical trials this week, with the announcement that the FDA has published draft guidance to modernise the design and conduct of studies, and the failure of Bellerophon Therapeutics’ Phase III study in fibrotic Interstitial Lung Disease.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In the In Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this latest episode, DDW's Megan Thomas is in conversation with Dr Pierre Eftehkari, the Chief Sceitnific Officer of Inoviem Scientific.
With more than 15 years of experience in drug development, Dr Eftekhari has gained an in-depth understanding of the pharmaceutical industry and its needs. He focuses on enhancing genetically guided personalised medicine with the goal of providing safer and more effective therapies that are accessible to everyone. In this episode, Dr Eftekhari shares his insight into the future of drug development.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
With National Cancer Research Month coming to an end in May and the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting currently taking place in Chicago from 2-6 June, it’s been another busy week for cancer drug development news.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, “Innovating now to reinvent the future of drug discovery”. It covers three articles written for Volume 23, Issue 2 – Spring 2022 of DDW. They are called “Predictive biomarkers in the age of spatial biology”, “Exploiting the microbiome to drive nature – inspired innovation”, and “Animal research: reinventing the norm”.
In the first article, Ori Zelichov MD, VP Clinical Development at Nucleai, shares insight on the relationship between predictive biomarkers and spatial biology.
In the second article, Dr Sven Sewitz, Director of Biodata Innovation at Eagle Genomics, talks about the need for more effective data and process management to get the best from microbiome data.
In the third article, FRAME Education and Outreach Manager Amy Beale discusses how current legislative and regulatory requirements for animal research could be strengthened to help prevent animal experiments and accelerate change. She also considers the factors influencing the lack of change within animal research.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The theme of DDW's news review this week is money. Although Clarivate has reported a recent drop in investment in the industry, it is good to see companies raising money through funding rounds and investing in new facilities, as well as government support coming through to boost research in areas of urgent need.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “What’s at the forefront of innovation?” It covers three articles written for the for Volume 23, Issue 2 – Spring 2022 of DDW. They are called “Can animal genomics help find therapies for human disease?”, “Understanding and innovating in immunology”, and “Cell and gene therapies: Opportunities for innovation”.
In the first article, Lu Rahman spoke to Ashley Zehnder, CEO of Fauna Bio, a biotech harnessing the power of comparative and functional animal genomics to find better therapies for human disease, including neurologic, metabolic, fibrotic and cardiovascular disorders.
In the second article, Chiedzo Mpofu, Vice President, Global Medical Affairs Head, Immunology, at AbbVie, talks to Lu Rahman about our understanding of auto-immune disease and how AbbVie is continuing to innovate in this field.
In the third article, Dr. Deborah Phippard, Chief Scientific Officer of Precision for Medicine and Anshul Mangal, President & General Counsel of Project Farma, share insight on CGTs.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
It was recently Clinical Trials Day and DDW have reported on the launch of a number of new Phase I trials. In-human studies have been initiated to test treatments for Parkinson’s disease, radioactive contamination, Dravet Syndrome, influenza and inflammatory diseases.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In theIn Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this latest episode, DDW's Megan Thomas is in conversation with Dr Michael Pace, Global & Strategic Feasibility Expert at Rho.
Leveraging historical trial databases has become commonplace in assessing the feasibility of trials in therapeutic areas with a large breadth of clinical development history. In the future, clinical trials are going to come down to the patient level, similar to how therapies are moving toward personalisation based on biomarkers, genetics and more. EHR data also has a key role to play in designing future clinical trials. In this episode, Dr Pace discusses how precision medicine is already starting to influence standards in clinical trial design.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
DDW's Diana Spencer has selected five stand-out news headlines this week, which all relate to immunotherapy or immunomodulatory therapies for cancer, particularly advances in our understanding of how other factors in the body, i.e., vitamin D levels and the gut microbiome, can impact the patient’s response to treatment.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Each of our top five stories this week exemplify the scientific curiosity that fuels the drug discovery sector, ultimately leading to better treatments for patients. The stories cover the efforts by research teams to discover innovative novel drugs for geographic atrophy, HIV, lung cancer, anxiety and diabetes.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW narrated podcast, “The impact of technology on drug discovery”. It covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 2 – Spring 2022 of DDW. They are called “Talking Tech” and “Rejuvenation biotech: Can this company make age a thing of the past?”
With Covid-19 taking so much of the drug discovery and development’s focus over the last two years, it has been easy to overlook other areas within the sector that deserve our attention. So in the first article, Lu Rahman highlights the technology that will play a valuable role in the industry.
Kizoo Technology Capital has a clear aim – to develop drugs that abate or cure age-related diseases. In the second article, Lu Rahman spoke to owner, Michael Greve, to find out more about this exciting work that aims to make age-related therapies affordable for everyone.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In theIn Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this latest episode, DDW's Megan Thomas is in conversation with Kate Kelland, author of Disease X: The 100 Days Mission to End Pandemics,which explores the emergence of the novel coronavirus and the crisis it caused.
In this episode, Kelland shares what she means by the 'next pandemic', the lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic, and the role of global health organisations and pharma companies going forward.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The news stories dominating the headlines this week have been the breaking developments in cancer drug discovery announced at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, which was held in Florida, US from 14-19 April.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest sponsored DDW Sitting Down With podcast features Steve Wedge, Chief Scientific Officer of Cancer Research Horizons and Mike Waring, Head of Academic Medicinal Chemistry at Cancer Research Horizons.
They discuss the work Cancer Research Horizons is conducting at its site in Newcastle University; how Cancer Research Horizons operates within its academic/industry interface; how Newcastle University acts as an integrated academic partner; and some of the technical expertise and hit finding strategies being developed by the organisation.
In the latest sponsored DDW Sitting Down With podcast Professor Ruth Roberts, Co-Founder ApconiX and Claire Sadler, Project Toxicologist, discuss the benefits of carrying out a target safety assessment (TSA) during drug discovery and development whenever a biological target is going to be modulated.
The speakers outline how TSAs can be used throughout the drug discovery and development pathway and offer examples of best practice and potential next steps.
Listen now.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The headlines this week have revealed a high level of clinical trial activity taking place internationally. In just the last few days, new clinical trials in colorectal cancer, osteoarthritis, and brain cancer have been launched, and positive early-stage results have been reported from ongoing trials in heart failure and solid tumours.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “Data integrity and the value of the cloud”. It covers two articles written for the exclusive DDW & SLAS2022 supplement published in Volume 23, Issue 1 – Winter 2021/22 of DDW. They are called “The concept of data integrity” and “Remote working: when the cloud meets the lab”.
In the first article, Sophia Ktori outlines the importance of data integrity in labs at every stage of product development and manufacturing on behalf of SiLA.
In the second article, Toby Blackburn, who runs business development and strategy at Emerald Cloud Lab (ECL) shares insight into is main responsibility to help clients, and the industry, understand the technology, how it can benefit them, and what the future lab looks like.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
As March draws to a close, this week’s key announcements have demonstrated the breadth of international approaches to tackling cancer, with vaccines, proenzymes, immunotherapies and antibody-based treatments all currently under investigation around the world.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “Painting a picture of the lab of the future”. It covers two articles written for the exclusive DDW & SLAS2022 supplement published in Volume 23, Issue 1 – Winter 2021/22 of DDW. They are called “Perspective: education and lab automation” and “The lab of the future is now”.
In the first article, Joshua Kangas, an educator in the Computational Biology Department of Carnegie Mellon University who is helping to shape the minds of future lab specialists, told me what he believes the lab of the future will look like.
In the second article, Daniel Rines, Senior Director at Strateos, shared how his role, artificial intelligence (AI), the work of Strateos and the Covid-19 pandemic have impacted the future of the lab.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week we have seen a number of developments in the treatment of solid tumours hitting the headlines. Pennsylvania researchers may have found a way to boost CAR-T therapy in these tumours, previously only successful in blood cancers, which could have huge implications for cancer treatment. There have also been positive trial results announced in prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer and breast cancer.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In the news this week, we have covered a number of early-stage studies that could lead to potentially huge breakthroughs in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, Long Covid, bacterial diseases, bone cancer, and autoimmune conditions.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “Mass spectrometry and CRISPR are pillars of drug discovery”. It covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 1 – Winter 2021/22 of DDW. They are called “How ASMS offers more than seeing what sticks” and “CRISPR screening in the third dimension”.
In the first article, Dr. Zack Gurard-Levin, Chief Scientific Officer at SAMDI Tech, breaks down three critical components to consider to ensure a successful affinity selection mass spectrometry (ASMS) drug discovery programme.
In the second article, Rosie Bryan & Carlos le Sage from Horizon Discovery, explain how CRISPR-Cas9 technology has become a gold standard for functional genomics.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
Perhaps most interestingly this week, after previous caution over in vivo gene therapy trials, the FDA has given the go ahead to Intellia Therapeutics to study NTLA-2002 in hereditary angioedema (HAE).
There have been several other announcements related to clinical trials in the last few days, including positive data from trials in severe influenza and biliary tract cancer, the launch of a study into an ADC treatment for solid tumours, and a new research partnership with the mission to improve clinical trial design.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In theIn Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this latest episode, DDW's Megan Thomas is in conversation with Dr Simon Fricker, who just last year was made Chief Development Officer of PepperBio to support the company’s next phase of growth and guide the strategic expansion of Pepper’s oncology pipeline.
Over the course of his career, including eight years as a distinguished scientific fellow at Genzyme/Sanofi, Dr. Fricker worked on three approved drugs: Paraplatin, Fosrenol, and Mozobil. Dr. Fricker was a founder of Canadian biopharma company AnorMED, acquired by Genzyme, and awarded the Queen’s Award for Technology for his participation in the development of the anticancer drug Paraplatin.
As well as providing extensive coverage of the SLAS2023 meeting in San Diego and Rare Disease Day, DDW has also reported on a number of developments in cancer drug discovery this week. Most notably, a 20-year mystery regarding the ‘dark matter’ of the genome has been solved and researchers have announced preclinical success in treating ovarian cancer with CAR-T therapy.
You can listen below, or find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
The latest sponsored DDW Sitting Down With podcast features Dr Michael Morton, Director and Co-founder, ApconiX, and Dr Kimberly Rockley of ApconiX who discuss the benefits of early ion channel screening. The podcast covers the hERG ion channel and its importance in cardiac safety screening in drug discovery.
Morton and Rockley outline the options available, the advantages of these approaches and how the results of hERG should and could be used to inform the drug discovery pathway.
Listen now.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Our news highlights this week focus on research into vaccines, with good news for the treatment or prevention of various challenging conditions, including Covid-19, Strep A and HIV. Particularly interesting is the announcement that a new class of Covid-19 booster has outperformed approved vaccines in a head-to-head trial.
Ahead of this year’s SLAS2023 conference in San Diego (which takes place 25 February – 1 March) DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2023 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series.
This is the final episode and the fifth in the series for the SLAS2023 edition of the DDW Events podcast. It is called, Harnessing the power of data science and AI in life sciences. Abbey Vangeloff is the Director of Business Development, Life Sciences, at Yahara Software. She will be chairing a session at SLAS2023. DDW's Megan Thomas caught up with Vangeloff to learn why AI and data science are so important for the future of the sector.
Ahead of this year’s SLAS2023 conference in San Diego (which takes place 25 February – 1 March) DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2023 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series.
This is episode four, How machine learning and lab automation are changing the future of protein therapeutics. In this article, Kristen Hopson, Vice President of Preclinical Discovery and Development at Generate Biomedicines, and Yup Liu, Associate Director, HTS at Generate Biomedicines, reflect on the impact of AI, ML cloud computing, and advances in laboratory automation and high-throughput screening (HTS) on life science research.
Ahead of this year’s SLAS2023 conference in San Diego (which takes place 25 February – 1 March) DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2023 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series.
This is episode three, Connecting lab automation to decision-making. In this episode, we hear from Ashwin Pillai, a Test Engineer 3 in HTS & Assay Development at Ginkgo Bioworks, a company whose mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ahead of his presentation in the Automation Technologies Track at SLAS2023, Pillai shared insight on data and how we can connect lab automation to decisions.
Ahead of this year’s SLAS2023 conference in San Diego (which takes place 25 February – 1 March) DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2023 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series.
This is episode two, Acquiring deeper insights and acceleration with AI. At IBM Research, a group of scientists and researchers from around the globe is working to support the power of the scientific method to invent what’s next for IBM, its clients, and the world. Joshua Smith, from the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, spoke with me about AI, and the acceleration and discovery of therapeutics and biomarkers.
Ahead of this year’s SLAS2023 conference in San Diego (which takes place 25 February – 1 March) DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates articles from the DDW SLAS2023 supplement as part of the DDW Events podcast series.
This is episode one, A Welcome to SLAS 2023, which includes two comment pieces. Thomas wrote the first one, We have the building blocks: Onto the building, which focuses on the theme of Innovation Accelerated for SLAS2023. The second is from SLAS Director of Marketing & Communications, Jill Hronek, entitled SLAS2023 is ready for you, in which Hronek shares her enthusiasm for the opportunities, products, technologies and stories that this event brings together.
The latest sponsored DDW Sitting Down With podcast features Simon Bungers, CEO, Labforward and explains why the promises of big data, AI and ML are only illusions if the integration puzzle isn’t solved.
Among the topics Lu Rahman, Publishing Director, DDW discusses with Bungers are connectivity and interoperability in the lab – connecting data, devices and researchers. They also look at the lab of the future and AI and ML – are we paying enough attention to the connectivity aspect?
Tune in to also hear Bungers’ reflections on Labforward’s partnership with Tecan connecting hardware and software into a workflow and how a seamless flow between systems and data was achieved during that process.
Listen now.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
As 4 February was World Cancer Day, this week’s update focused on developments in the field of oncology. Drugs for lung cancer, lymphoma and breast cancer have received regulatory approvals, an investment boost will allow the development of a novel approach to treating tumours, and a new global commission will seek to improve access to personalised therapies.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast. It covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 1 – Winter 2021/22 of DDW. They are called “Why synthetic biology is the next big thing for biopharma” and “Collaborative spirit helps drive innovation”.
'Can synthetic biology save us?’ and ‘Synthetic biology can benefit us all’, are just some of the headlines this emerging scientific field has recently elicited. In the first article, Lu Rahman speaks to Dr Emily Leproust, Founder and CEO of Twist Biopharma, about the potential that synthetic biology holds within the drug discovery sector.
In the second article, Dr David Walt, a professor at Harvard Medical School who runs labs at both Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, shares his thoughts on the drug discovery industry and what the pandemic has taught us about lab automation. This featured in this issue’s SLAS 2022 supplement.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Cell and gene therapies have been making the news this week, as we launch our very own guide to global innovation in CGT with the Winter issue of DDW, as well as an exciting new virtual event on the same topic.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “CRO’s and targeted protein degradation offer an exciting future”. It covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 1 – Winter 2021/22 of DDW. They are called “CROs: Drug discovery expertise on hand” and “Why the emergence of targeted protein degradation is so exciting”.
In the first article, Lu Rahman asks Laura Hinton, Operations Director at Gentronix, to offer some insight into the contract research organisation (CRO) market and how Gentronix is making its presence known in this sector.
In the second article, Lu Rahman finds out more about a new translational research centre which was established last year to bolster the University of Dundee’s drug discovery position. The Centre for Targeted Protein Degradation (CeTPD) would allow Professor Alessio Ciulli and colleagues to expand their pioneering work in an area that has attracted billions of pounds of investment.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Clinical trials have led our news section this week, with positive results announced from several Phase I and II studies. There was good news from Alto Neuroscience, everImmune, Avacta and Abionyx, though unfortunately things are not looking so rosy for Janssen’s HIV vaccine candidate.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “A deep dive into the future of ophthalmology”. It covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 1 – Winter 2021/22 of DDW. They are called “Innovation, investment and commitment: Genentech’s approach to the future of ophthalmology” and “Innovative delivery of sustained ophthalmic steroids for high unmet needs in diabetic macular edema”.
Jeff Willis, MD, PhD is a Senior Medical Director and retina specialist at Genentech. In the first article, he talks to Lu Rahman about some of the company’s work developing medicine for eye disease and offers insight into the ophthalmology field today.
In the second article, Professor Sobha Sivaprasad, Professor of Retinal Clinical Studies, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, and Consultant Ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital, UK discusses unmet needs in DME therapeutics and how they could be addressed by sustained release ophthalmic steroids administered with novel suprachoroidal drug delivery methods.
You can find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
In theIn Conversation With series, a part of the free DDW podcast, DDW speaks with members of the drug discovery industry about their work and how it helps turn science into business.
In this latest episode, DDW’s Megan Thomas is in conversation with two experts when it comes to clinical trials. First up is Livia Ng, CEO and Founder of Neuroute. At just 24 years old, Ng is working on critical challenges in clinical trials, specifically in planning and recruitment, and has been building innovative solutions designed to benefit patients and researchers – with a focus on efficiency, transparency and diversity in clinical development.
Thereafter, Thomas spoke with CEO of Trialbee, Matt Walz. Walz was recently selected in the 2022 PharmaVoice 100 for the company's innovative work in the space, and speaks about how real world data can help to boost diversity rates in clinical trials.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Once again, research partnerships and licence agreements have dominated the news this week, as drug discovery companies seek new ways to combine their expertise to address unmet medical needs.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The drug discovery industry has hit the ground running in 2023 with some big announcements in the first week, particularly in cancer research, where there has been good news in pancreatic, urothelial and uveal cancers.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “Finding the right cancer drug with high-content screening”. It covers an article by the same name written for Volume 23, Issue 1 – Winter 2021/22 of DDW.
In the article, Lassi Paavolainen, Principal Investigator at the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), Vilja Pietiäinen, Adjunct Professor in Cell and Molecular Biology, and Amanda Jones, Life Science Research Strategy Leader at PerkinElmer explain how functional precision medicine using ex vivo drug testing and HCS on patient-derived 3D cancer cell cultures shows promise for improving individual’s treatment journey.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The focus has been on immunotherapy and genetics this week, with exciting developments in the treatment of multiple myeloma, atopic dermatitis, Alzheimer’s, late-stage melanoma and acute myeloid leukaemia.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “Is genomic data the new frontier in drug discovery?”. It covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 1 – Winter 2021/22 of DDW. They are called “Genomics boosts understanding of Covid-19 severity and susceptibility” and “Rare variant contribution to human disease”.
The Covid-19 Host Genetics Initiative carried out one of the largest genome-wide association studies ever. In the first article, Dr Hamdi Mbarek, Lead Analyst of the Qatari dataset, explains how the initiative improved knowledge of host-genetic determinants of Covid-19 infection and severity.
In the second article, Slavé Petrovski and Andrew Harper, from the Centre for Genomics Research at AstraZeneca, outline the implications and insight offered by the recent publication of an AstraZeneca-authored paper “Rare variant contribution to human disease in 281,104 UK Biobank exomes”.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
‘Teamwork makes the dream work’ this week, with the launch of new partnerships to further the development of precision drugs in neurodevelopmental disorders, lung cancer and rare paediatric diseases. The benefits of collaboration have also been seen in the announcement of positive trial data for Jardiance, a type 2 diabetes treatment created by an alliance between Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly, while various research groups team up to bring us closer to a HIV vaccine.
The latest DDW Sitting Down With sponsored podcast features Dr. John Couse, Vice President of Scientific Services at Taconic Biosciences who discusses how the microbiome is transforming drug discovery and what this means for pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
Couse offers detailed insight into the microbiome and outlines its role in shaping preclinical research.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
The industry has seen breakthroughs announced in malaria treatment, epilepsy and major depressive disorders. The NHS in England has fast tracked another cancer drug, and, in Covid-19 news, researchers have emphatically proven that prednisolone should not be prescribed for olfactory disorders.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Gene therapies have made the headlines over the last week, with treatments for rare AADC deficiency, lung cancer and haemophilia B given the go ahead from regulators. The week has also seen the first immunomodulatory treatment for type 1 diabetes approved in the US and a possible breakthrough in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “Complex problems require complex solutions”. It covers two articles written for Volume 23, Issue 1 – Winter 2021/22 of DDW. They are called “How quantum computing can benefit drug discovery” and “Sitting down with Dr Michael Hayden from Prilenia Therapeutics”.
In the first article, Brad Loren, Matthew Marrone, and Christopher Singer, of intellectual property and technology law firm McAndrews, Held & Malloy, speak about quantum computing and its benefits to drug discovery. In the second article, CEO of Prilenia Therapeutics, Dr Michael tells Lu Rahman why he has dedicated his career to advancing research into Huntington’s Disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week started with World Diabetes Day on 14 November and concluded with the start of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, which aims to improve education and understanding of the growing issue of antimicrobial resistance. There were also exciting developments in the field of oncology, with researchers identifying potential new drug targets, new ways to predict treatments outcomes in the lab, and positive trial results for a new cell therapy.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “The next steps in the fight against cancer”. It covers two articles written for Volume 22, Issue 4 – Fall 2021 of DDW. They are called “Accelerating research: the path forward for treating rare cancers” and “Inside combination immunotherapies for cancer”.
RareCan is a new company based in the UK. Its aim is to accelerate research into rare cancers. However, finding suitable patients willing to take part in research and trials of new drugs is difficult, which impacts the discovery process. In the first article, Professor Andy Hall, Founding Director and Chief Scientific Officer at RareCan talks to DDW’s Megan Thomas.
Combination immunotherapies are one of the most exciting advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP) being developed, with incredible potential for treating cancer, says Panagiotis Parsonidis, a molecular biologist and lead researcher at RGCC. DDW speaks to him about VAXO-Q-RE developments, a combination immunotherapy that will soon enter clinical trials.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week we learned the shocking statistic that a third of scientific researchers have, or know a close colleague who has, experienced abuse after posting research online. It wasn’t all bad news, however, as top pharma CEOs committed to reducing the industry’s carbon emissions and a new treatment for Graft vs Host Disease could be on the horizon. The drug discovery community also gained new insights into the inner workings of a new class of cancer drugs and how monkeypox adapts to evade treatments.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available to listen to below. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This week we learned the shocking statistic that a third of scientific researchers have, or know a close colleague who has, experienced abuse after posting research online. It wasn’t all bad news, however, as top pharma CEOs committed to reducing the industry’s carbon emissions and a new treatment for Graft vs Host Disease could be on the horizon. The drug discovery community also gained new insights into the inner workings of a new class of cancer drugs and how monkeypox adapts to evade treatments.
In this latest episode of theIn Conversation With series, DDW’s Megan Thomas speaks with Dr Mark Varney, the Chief Scientific Officer at PsychoGenics, who discusses both his and the company’s work on CNS drug discovery in more detail.
PsychoGenics has taken a novel approach to CNS drug discovery, as its phenotypic approach can deliver treatments that work via novel, unknown or multiple mechanisms. Phenotypic screening has accurately predicted better therapeutic activity with fewer side effects for CNS disorders, leading to the identification of some of the most efficacious drug candidates. PsychoGenics’ phenotypic drug discovery significantly reduces the time and cost to reaching approved Investigational New Drug (IND) status, resulting in the identification of a viable drug candidate from a few hundred analogs tested in lead optimisation in just over a year.
In this latest episode of theIn Conversation With series, DDW’s Megan Thomas speaks with Dr Mark Varney, the Chief Scientific Officer at PsychoGenics, who discusses both his and the company’s work on CNS drug discovery in more detail.
PsychoGenics has taken a novel approach to CNS drug discovery, as its phenotypic approach can deliver treatments that work via novel, unknown or multiple mechanisms. Phenotypic screening has accurately predicted better therapeutic activity with fewer side effects for CNS disorders, leading to the identification of some of the most efficacious drug candidates. PsychoGenics’ phenotypic drug discovery significantly reduces the time and cost to reaching approved Investigational New Drug (IND) status, resulting in the identification of a viable drug candidate from a few hundred analogs tested in lead optimisation in just over a year.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available for download. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In a week that saw magic mushrooms making the headlines in the UK, we also reported on exciting potential new therapies for geographic atrophy and malaria prevention. Meanwhile, the quest to understand Covid-19 continues, as study findings reveal how the virus affects the brain and the effectiveness of vaccines in those with compromised immunity.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available for download. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
In a week that saw magic mushrooms making the headlines in the UK, we also reported on exciting potential new therapies for geographic atrophy and malaria prevention. Meanwhile, the quest to understand Covid-19 continues, as study findings reveal how the virus affects the brain and the effectiveness of vaccines in those with compromised immunity.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available for download. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
Over the last seven days we’ve seen discoveries that could lead to new treatments for Covid-19, pancreatic cancer and Epstein-Barr virus, as well as the launch of the UK’s largest health research programme and the innovative application of a Nobel prize-winning chemistry technique.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “The role of animals in the future of drug discovery”. It covers two articles written for Volume 22, Issue 4 – Fall 2021 of DDW, narrated by DDW Multimedia Editor Megan Thomas. They are called “How an animal model provider can save your resources” and “Hype or hope – microphysiological systems?”
In the first article, John Couse, PhD, Vice President, Scientific Services, Taconic Biosciences, explains how focussing on best practices for animal models can reduce a project’s timeline, budget, and total number of animals used.
In the second article, Dr Tomasz Kostrzewski, Director of Biology at CN Bio Innovations, examines MPS in drug discovery as part of a preclinical toolbox.
The latest DDW Sitting Down With sponsored podcast features Yuning Chen, Senior R&D Manager at Sino Biological.
Recombinant DNA is a field in which Sino Biological has extensive expertise – the company boasts several platforms to use recombinant DNA technology for the manufacturing of a variety of proteins and antibodies to expedite the process of novel drug identification and validation, for example.
Chen talks with DDW Publishing Director Lu Rahman about the origins, importance and possible applications of recombinant DNA technology in drug discovery – as well as the opportunities it creates for drug discovery research.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available for download. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This round-up was compiled by DDW’s Diana Spencer. Amid continued concern about antibiotic resistance, the headline news this week was the discovery of a new antibiotic that could be effective against some of the most treatment-resistant pathogens. However, there was also controversy as researchers faced a backlash from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for their study which created a hybrid version of Covid-19.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available for download. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This round-up was compiled by DDW’s Diana Spencer. Amid continued concern about antibiotic resistance, the headline news this week was the discovery of a new antibiotic that could be effective against some of the most treatment-resistant pathogens. However, there was also controversy as researchers faced a backlash from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for their study which created a hybrid version of Covid-19.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, which covers three articles written for Volume 22, Issue 4 – Fall 2021 of DDW, narrated by DDW Multimedia Editor Megan Thomas.
They are called “The potential of small molecules and biologics for new therapeutics”, “AE reporting turnarounds and the translation issue” and “Why we are on the cusp of a golden age of medicine”.
Dr Seth Lederman is a physician-scientist, entrepreneur, and CEO of Tonix Pharmaceuticals. In the first article, he talks to Lu Rahman about Tonix Pharmaceuticals’ mission to research and manufacture small molecules and biologics for the treatment of CNS and immunological conditions.
In the second article, Kathleen O’Brien of Amplexor Life Sciences lays out a blueprint for centralising global AE reporting.
In the third article, Panna Sharma, the President and CEO of Lantern Pharma, a clinical-stage oncology biotech using AI and genomics to innovate the rescue, revitalisation, and development of precision cancer therapeutics, spoke to Lu Rahman about this biotech and explains why he believes AI is about to change the drug development landscape.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, which covers three articles written for Volume 22, Issue 4 – Fall 2021 of DDW, narrated by DDW Multimedia Editor Megan Thomas.
They are called “The potential of small molecules and biologics for new therapeutics”, “AE reporting turnarounds and the translation issue” and “Why we are on the cusp of a golden age of medicine”.
Dr Seth Lederman is a physician-scientist, entrepreneur, and CEO of Tonix Pharmaceuticals. In the first article, he talks to Lu Rahman about Tonix Pharmaceuticals’ mission to research and manufacture small molecules and biologics for the treatment of CNS and immunological conditions.
In the second article, Kathleen O’Brien of Amplexor Life Sciences lays out a blueprint for centralising global AE reporting.
In the third article, Panna Sharma, the President and CEO of Lantern Pharma, a clinical-stage oncology biotech using AI and genomics to innovate the rescue, revitalisation, and development of precision cancer therapeutics, spoke to Lu Rahman about this biotech and explains why he believes AI is about to change the drug development landscape.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available for download. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This round-up was compiled by DDW’s Diana Spencer and reflects the vital importance of collaboration, partnership and support within this industry. Partnerships have been forged and renewed to shed light on neuropsychiatric disorders, oncology and cystic fibrosis. Meanwhile, Ochre Bio successfully raised $30 million to advance its pipeline of RNA therapies for liver disease, and researchers found that combining CRISPR gene editing with Spherical Nucleic Acids could expand the potential of the technology.
The latest episode of the DDW Highlights podcast is now available for download. DDW’s Megan Thomas narrates five key stories of the week to keep DDW subscribers up-to-date on the latest industry updates.
This round-up was compiled by DDW’s Diana Spencer and reflects the vital importance of collaboration, partnership and support within this industry. Partnerships have been forged and renewed to shed light on neuropsychiatric disorders, oncology and cystic fibrosis. Meanwhile, Ochre Bio successfully raised $30 million to advance its pipeline of RNA therapies for liver disease, and researchers found that combining CRISPR gene editing with Spherical Nucleic Acids could expand the potential of the technology.
In this first episode of the In Conversation with DDW series, Jessica Grossman, Chief ExecutiveOfficer at IgGenix, Derek Croote, Chief Technical Officer at IgGenix, Anne Hammerstein, Product Manager at SPT Labtech and Megan Thomas, Multimedia Editor at DDW discuss IgGenix's automation journey, the benefits of automation in generalfor drug discovery and the benefit of miniaturised workflows.
In this first episode of the In Conversation with DDW series, Jessica Grossman, Chief ExecutiveOfficer at IgGenix, Derek Croote, Chief Technical Officer at IgGenix, Anne Hammerstein, Product Manager at SPT Labtech and Megan Thomas, Multimedia Editor at DDW discuss IgGenix's automation journey, the benefits of automation in generalfor drug discovery and the benefit of miniaturised workflows.
Innovative. Evolving. Developing. Busy. These are just some of the words that come to mindwhen talking about not just the drug discovery sector, but the lives of those working in andaround it. Tune in every Monday for a roundup of industry highlights and updates, narrated by Multimedia Editor Megan Thomas.
This round-up by DDW Digital Content Editor Diana Spencer spotlights new trial results and regulatory approvals shedding light and bringing hope into therapy areas of unmet need. The University of Birmingham and King’s College London have furthered our understanding of difficult to treat cancers, while Janssen has revealed encouraging results in gene therapies for X-linked retinitis pigmentosa. We have also seen the power of social media to make a difference in the FDA approval of a new treatment for ALS and a new hope for patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease.
Innovative. Evolving. Developing. Busy. These are just some of the words that come to mindwhen talking about not just the drug discovery sector, but the lives of those working in andaround it. Tune in every Monday for a roundup of industry highlights and updates, narrated by Multimedia Editor Megan Thomas.
This round-up by DDW Digital Content Editor Diana Spencer spotlights new trial results and regulatory approvals shedding light and bringing hope into therapy areas of unmet need. The University of Birmingham and King’s College London have furthered our understanding of difficult to treat cancers, while Janssen has revealed encouraging results in gene therapies for X-linked retinitis pigmentosa. We have also seen the power of social media to make a difference in the FDA approval of a new treatment for ALS and a new hope for patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “China’s opportunities for global drug discovery breakthroughs”. It covers three articles written for Volume 22, Issue 4 – Fall 2021 of DDW, narrated by DDW Multimedia Editor Megan Thomas. They are called “Is China entering a new phase for drug discovery?”, “Finding drug discovery opportunities in China” and “Why biotech in China offers global opportunities”.
In the first article, DDW Publishing Director Lu Rahman explores the Chinese pharmaceutical landscape and what the new era of drug discovery is starting to look like in the country. In the second article, Dr Henry Li, CSO of Crown Bioscience, examines cycles of innovation in the Chinese life sciences industry and how they provide opportunities for global drug discovery breakthroughs. In the third article, Sy Chyi Yeoh, Director of Business Development at global regulatory service provider ELC Group, explains why the biotech sector in China is worth watching and offers advice for those keen to take advantage.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “China’s opportunities for global drug discovery breakthroughs”. It covers three articles written for Volume 22, Issue 4 – Fall 2021 of DDW, narrated by DDW Multimedia Editor Megan Thomas. They are called “Is China entering a new phase for drug discovery?”, “Finding drug discovery opportunities in China” and “Why biotech in China offers global opportunities”.
In the first article, DDW Publishing Director Lu Rahman explores the Chinese pharmaceutical landscape and what the new era of drug discovery is starting to look like in the country. In the second article, Dr Henry Li, CSO of Crown Bioscience, examines cycles of innovation in the Chinese life sciences industry and how they provide opportunities for global drug discovery breakthroughs. In the third article, Sy Chyi Yeoh, Director of Business Development at global regulatory service provider ELC Group, explains why the biotech sector in China is worth watching and offers advice for those keen to take advantage.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “Revealing the magic of cell therapy”. It covers two narrated articles written for Volume 22, Issue 4 – Fall 2021 of DDW magazine. They are called “The magic of cell therapy” and “Cellular assays to bridge the gap in immunogenicity prediction”.
In the first article, Marjie Hadad talks to cell therapy expert and Kadimastem CEO Asaf Shiloni about the potential of cell therapy. In the second article, Dr. Urmi Roy, Global Product Manager for Flow Cytometry Reagents, Miltenyi Biotec, explains why immunogenicity prediction is a key consideration for therapeutic development.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “Revealing the magic of cell therapy”. It covers two narrated articles written for Volume 22, Issue 4 – Fall 2021 of DDW magazine. They are called “The magic of cell therapy” and “Cellular assays to bridge the gap in immunogenicity prediction”.
In the first article, Marjie Hadad talks to cell therapy expert and Kadimastem CEO Asaf Shiloni about the potential of cell therapy. In the second article, Dr. Urmi Roy, Global Product Manager for Flow Cytometry Reagents, Miltenyi Biotec, explains why immunogenicity prediction is a key consideration for therapeutic development.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “How to improve process while maintaining quality”. It covers two narrated articles written for Volume 22, Issue 4 – Fall 2021 of DDW. They are called “How can the bioprocess industry respond to cost and maintain quality?” and “RNA: a coming-of-age technology for viral vaccines”.
In the first article, Grant Cameron, Director at Clydeworth Consulting, examines the benefits of process intensification and highlights the steps which will improve process productivity, reduce environmental impact and decrease the cost of therapy manufacture while maintaining product quality.
In the second article, Dr Andy Lane, Commercial Director at The Native Antigen Company, discusses the development of a new generation of vaccine platforms that can be rapidly adapted to novel threats on-demand and at low cost.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “Now is the time for the transformation of clinical trials”. It covers two narrated articles written for Volume 22, Issue 4 – Fall 2021 of DDW. They are called “Clinical trials, the pandemic and technology” and “Pharma and the benefits of Real World Data ”.
In the first article, Chris Sigley, CEO of Arkivum, says the transformation of clinical trials demands a transformed approach to trial data. In the second article, Karen Ooms, Executive Vice President and Head of Statistics with Quanticate, argues that analysing data from real-life patients has finally come of age.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “The pursuit of better cancer treatments”. It covers two narrated article written for Volume 22, Issue 3 –Summer 2021 of DDW. They are called “The personal touch: the scientist making an impact in cancer research” and “Biotech’s pursuit of next-generation CAR-T”.
In the first article, Lu Rahman speaks with Martyn Hiscox, uncovering his passion, dedication and the personal reason for developing cell therapy treatments for cancer. In the second article, Pierre-Louis Joffrin from Mogrify examines immunotherapies including an assessment of the next generation of stem cell derived products.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “Mini-library approach delivers an arsenal in drug development pipeline”. It covers a narrated article written for Volume 22, Issue 3 –Summer 2021 of DDW.
In the article, Dr. Naganna Nimishetti, Chief of the Small Molecule Drug Discovery Division (SMDD) and Dr. Dun Yang, CEO/CSO of Anticancer Bioscience, a precision therapeutics company headquartered in Chengdu, China, explain how the company is identifying bioactive hits using libraries of less than 100 compounds.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Playand Apple Podcasts.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “What does gene-based medicine have to offer?”. It covers two narrated articles written for Volume 22, Issue 3 – Summer 2021 of DDW.
The articles are called “Lipidomics in biomedical research: chance and challenges” and “Exploring gene-based medicine’s true potential”.
In the first article, Afrisha Anderson, a Product Manager at Merck KGaA, discusses the opportunities and challenges in lipidomics. In the second article, Christopher Doyle, PhD, Director, IBC Services at WCG, explains why he thinks vaccines for infectious diseases are just the tip of the iceberg when thinking about the promise of gene-based medicines.
Podcast: Is customisation healthcare’s secret weapon?
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “Is customisation healthcare’s secret weapon?”. It covers two narrated articles written for Volume 22, Issue 3 – Summer 2021 of DDW. The articles are called “Optimising vaccine production through customisation” and “Exploring iPSCs for individual and population health applications”.
In the first article, “Optimising vaccine production through customisation”, John Yoshi Shyu, Ph.D. Corning Life Sciences offers an expert view on the topic. In the second article, Brad Hamilton, Founder and Chief Science Officer at GoodCell, examines the potential of induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.
You can also find The Drug Discovery World Podcast on Spotify, Google Play and Apple Podcasts.
This episode covers three narrated articles written for Volume 22, Issue 3 – Summer 2021 and Volume 22, Issue 4 – Fall 2021 of DDW.
The articles are called “The benefits of bioinformatics in genomics sequencing” and “LIMs vs ELNs – what does your lab need?”, for which Part I and Part II were published separately across DDW issues.
Dr Bongcho Kim is the new CEO of Macrogen Europe, a Netherlands-based provider of genomic sequencing services. Dr Kim’s appointment comes at a time of sustained growth for the company, which is benefitting from the rapidly expanding sequencing market. In the first article, he talks to Lu Rahman and explains the important role of bioinformatics in genomics.
The second and third article are in two parts. Researchers often ask whether a LIMS or an ELN is right for them. In this two-part series, Barry Bunin, PhD, CEO at Collaborative Drug Discovery, offers a guide to understanding what a LIMS is, and how it differs from other scientific data management systems.
The latest episode of the free DDW podcast is titled “A comprehensive analysis of European biotech”. It covers three narrated articles written for Volume 22, Issue 3 – Summer 2021 of DDW, read by Megan Thomas.
The articles are “Innovation and opportunity within Europe’s biotech sector”, “Europe’s emerging biotechs: Challenges, opportunities and funding”, and “Why Switzerland continues to punch above its weight as global biotech hub”.
In the first article, Lu Rahman introduces a slice of European biotech expertise. In the second, John Macdonald of ICON examines the European biotech sector’s expertise, opportunities and potential for growth. In the third, Lu Rahman spoke to Michael Altorfer of the Swiss Biotech Association, Jan Lucht of scienceindustries, Claude Joris of BioAlps, and Carole Delauney of swiss
The latest episode of the free DDW podcast is titled“What do we know about lab automation?”. It covers two narrated articles written for Volume 22, Issue 3 – Summer 2021 of DDW, read by Megan Thomas. The articles are “What has 2020 taught us about lab automation?” and “Enhancing drug discovery with laboratory informatics and automation”.
In 2021, the first article looked back on 2020 and Dr Patrick Courtney from SiLA consortium, Burkhard Schaefer from SiLA consortium and ASTM AnIML, and Oliver Peter from Idorsia Pharmaceuticals outlined the importance of automation in the face of global disease.
In the second article, Laura Marozsan, Scientific Marketing Specialist at Thermo Fisher Scientific, outlines the benefits of automation in drug discovery.
The latest DDW Sitting Down With sponsored podcast features Dominque Bröhl and Evert-Jan Uringa, Scientific Program Managers at Taconic Biosciences who discuss how mouse model generation can be accelerated without any loss of quality.
The generation of genetically engineered custom mouse models can be a lengthy process that conflicts with the general time constraints of the drug discovery and development industry. Finding ways to shorten the time to create new mouse models is tempting but carries the risk of trading short timelines for poor quality.
Taconic Biosciences developed the ExpressMODEL® portfolio of products to achieve the industry’s fastest timelines to study cohort without compromising quality, whether embryonic stem cell (ESC), CRISPR, or random integration transgenic (RITg) methodology is used to generate a mouse model.
Listen in to learn how ExpressMODEL® accelerates timelines and which benefits it brings to your drug discovery and development program.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “What can we learn from the genome?”. It covers two narrated articles written for Volume 22, Issue 3 – Summer 2021 of DDW and read aloud by Megan Thomas.
The articles are called “Reproducibility in single cell genomic analysis” and “The road to global pharmacogenomics”.
This episode is titled “From here to there: What lies ahead for drug discovery”, which covers two articles written for Volume 22, Issue 3 – Summer 2021 of DDW. They are called “The complexity of disease biology gives opportunities for drug discovery” and “The human touch: the benefits of real-world evidence”.
In the first article, Steve Gardner, CEO PrecisionLife, examines the lack of return on investment for pharmaceutical R&D and the huge pockets of unmet medical need in common chronic disorders. In the second article, Lu Rahman looks at the growing role of real world evidence and its benefits in the fight against Covid-19.
Medidata technology has helped to bring COVID-19 vaccines and treatments to market in record timelines and the company was the first to have launched a fully end-to-end Decentralised Clinical Trials (DCT) offering.
Decentralised clinical trials, described as the ‘new normal’ and the future of clinical research, harness remote technologies to enable patients to participate in clinical trials from their home or preferred location, decreasing patient burden and offering greater flexibility as well as increasing the reach to patients around the world.
Lisa Moneymaker is the Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations Technologies for Medidata Solutions. She has over 20 years of pharma, biotech, and medical device industry experience, delivering complex systems solutions in support of excellence in clinical trial execution.
Paul O’Donohoe is Senior Director, eCOA Product and Science at Medidata. He is responsible for developing the company's scientific expertise for electronic clinical outcome assessments, and mobile health in clinical trials, and supports internal teams and sponsors around the implementation of industry and regulatory best practices in studies using eCOA.
Listen to this podcast to find out more about why decentralised clinical trials are becoming increasingly significant, how the pandemic has affected the clinical trials space, the importance of the patient experience and what clinical trials will look like in the future.
The latest free-to-listen DDW podcast episode is titled “Therapeutics: Changing the way we treat disease”. It covers two articles written for Volume 22, Issue 2 – Spring 2021 of the Drug Discovery World Magazine and has been narrated by DDW’s Megan Thomas.
These articles are titled: “Avoiding double strand breaks on the CRISPR path to therapeutic discovery” and “The power of precision medicine”.
In the first article, Nicola McCarthy from Horizon Discovery explains: Now a key pillar in the early stages of therapeutics development, the limitations of introducing a DNA double strand break mean that workflows are broadening away from CRISPR–Cas as a gene knockout technology and towards platforms that enable genetic modulation and safer genetic alterations.
In the second article, DDW Editor Lu Rahman looks at the role precision medicine is playing in how we approach the patient and the way we treat disease.
High-throughput screens are a recognised hit-finding process but the use of an integrated discipline approach is key to maximising the output from such a screening methodology. In the first article, Ian Linney and Scott Maidment from Charles River describe the value of integration of medicinal chemistry in this method.
Thanks to continued advances in genetic engineering, investigators often find they can obtain the most relevant mouse model for their research by commissioning the custom generation of a model that best meets their need—whether it’s modelling a disease state, validating a gene target of interest, or testing a drug candidate in vivo. Caroline Horizny from Taconic Biosciences discusses this in the second article.
The articles are called “The new synthesis: How synthetic DNA technology is changing drug discovery” and “In vitro drug interaction data critical in drug repurposing”. The first was written by Dr Tim Brears, CEO of Evonetix and Dr Raquel Sanches-Kuiper, Director of Biology at Evonetix. The second was written by Madison Knapp, Marketing Communications Specialist, and Dr. Brian Ogilvie, Vice President of Scientific Consulting, at SEKISUI XenoTech.
In “The new synthesis: How synthetic DNA technology is changing drug discovery”, Dr Tim Brears and Dr Raquel Sanches-Kuiper explore applications of synthetic DNA in drug discovery and development, the benefits and limitations of current methods, and the opportunities offered by emerging DNA synthesis technologies.
In the wake of Covid-19 interest in repurposing a drug for a different indication to the one it was developed for has been high. In “In vitro drug interaction data critical in drug repurposing”, Madison Knapp and Dr. Brian Ogilvie offer insight into the process.
In the first article, DDW Editor Lu Rahman takes look at some of the latest imaging innovations available and how it can benefit drug target identification and drug discovery research.
In the second, Farah Patell-Socha, PhD, VP Research Products tells Lu Rahman about some of the company’s groundbreaking work in this field and the benefits it is creating for disease modelling and drug discovery.
The latest free-to-listen DDW podcast episode covers two articles written for Volume 22, Issue 2 – Spring 2021 of the Drug Discovery World Magazine, narrated by DDW’s Megan Thomas.
These articles are titled: “Antibody therapeutics: the other race for immunity against SARS-CoV2” and “Synthesising new solutions for small molecule antibodies”.
In the first article, Sophie Lutter, OXGENE, looks at the important role antibody therapeutics have to play and how, as the world has looked for Covid-19 treatments in the last year, their significance has been noted. In the second, Toni Rogers and David Bunka, Aptamer Group discuss how newer antibody alternative technologies are demonstrating significant developments, offering novel solutions to improve success, decrease project timelines and produce innovative low-cost assays to small molecule targets across many sectors.
Among the topics Lu Rahman will be discussing with Wylie will be the key challenges scientists face with biomarker and drug discovery and how high-throughput screening can help alleviate this. High throughput with multiplex is valuable for drug discovery and Wylie will provide insight on this as well offering expert opinion on the future of multiplex immunoassays in drug and biomarker discovery.
Tune in to hear what critical factors Wylie believes researchers should consider when choosing an assay for high-throughput screening, as well as to gain a greater understanding robustness and assay reproducibility. Wylie both outlines the challenges in this field of drug discovery and suggests ways in which these challenges can be overcome.
Listen now.
Bamlanivimab was the first neutralising monoclonal antibody to receive emergency use authorisation from the FDA as a treatment for mild to moderate COVID-19 on 9 November 2020, 94 days after the monoclonal antibody discovery workflow began for the molecule. This achievement, says Eli Lilly, represents the shortest timeline from discovery to public usage for a monoclonal antibody to date. In February 2021, bamlanivimab administered with etesevimab received emergency use authorisation for treatment of recently diagnosed, mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients who are high risk for progression to severe COVID-19.
Jones and Bedinger talk us through the Bamlanivimab story – and how one technology enabled this therapeutic to reach clinic in eight months during the pandemic.
Tune in to find out how Eli Lilly strategised and built multiple collaborations enabling this Covid-19 therapeutic to reach patients in just over eight months, plus details of Carterra’s involvement in the process.
The latest free-to-listen DDW podcast episode is titled “Recipe for success: collaboration in drug discovery”.
It covers three articles: “Why collaboration matters and how to make it a success”; “Platform biotechnologies and the art of collaboration”; and “Cell painting: a vibrant future for phenotypic drug discovery”.
In the first article, Matthew A. Clark, Chief Executive Officer, X-Chem, spoke to Lu Rahman about the company’s experience of collaboration and how it enables innovation, flexibility and problem-solving. In the second, Benedict Cross, Chief Technology Officer at Phoremost, explains that despite its competitive nature, the drug discovery sector has embraced collaboration successfully. In the third article, Dr. Alexander Schreiner, HCS Applications Leader, PerkinElmer and Dr. Martin Daffertshofer, High Content Screening Software Product Manager, PerkinElmer discuss how cell painting is being applied today in drug discovery and the current technical limitations and challenges.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast: “Opportunities to improve drug discovery systems”. It covers two articles written for Volume 22, Issue 1 – Winter 2020/21 of the Drug Discovery World Magazine.
The first article is titled “Precision control of protein release to reconfigure bioprocessing and cell-based assays”, where the authors Dr J. Mark Treherne, Dr Christian Pernstich and Dr Michael Jones examine how the controlled release of proteins will improve the reproducibility of cell-based drug discovery screens.
The second is called “Boosting pharmaceutical research with microbiome data”, where Anthony Finbow, CEO of Eagle Genomics, reports how microbiome-based evidence is set to drive understanding of how drugs interact with human ‘host’ environments, helping devise more targeted treatments and create business opportunities.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “Putting virology back on the map: the fight against Covid-19”. It covers two articles written for Volume 22, Issue 1 – Winter 2020/21 of the Drug Discovery World Magazine.
The first article is a case study titled “New technology in COVID research may accelerate vaccines”, and the second is called “Virus in a well – microplate-based assays for virology research”.
The first covers the technological advancements required to understand the behaviour of the Covid molecule to develop vaccines that will prevent the virus, and arrive at a treatment we can be confident will have the highest level of effectiveness. The second answers fundamental questions: How does a virus enter host cells? How does disease develop? How can hosts be protected? How can symptoms be relieved?
John Couse, Vice President of Scientific Services at Taconic Biosciences discusses the benefits of a robust colony management solution/partner in the drug discovery success; how it can enable companies to scale through resource management and create efficiencies.
Couse has extensive knowledge of colony managements solutions and outlines the benefits they create for drug discovery researchers in terms of boosting efficiencies and achieving savings.
He discusses barriers to uptake and how they can be overcome, as well as how he sees future development of these solutions.
In this podcast Dr. Joanna Hawryluk discusses automating the cell culture workflow and explains the importance of cell culture workflow in the drug discovery process and how it can be improved thanks to technological advances.
Hawryluk talks us through the cell culture workflow and its relevance within the drug discovery process focussing on the areas that hold particular importance for this process.
She also shares her expertise on how important sample preparation is for downstream experimental successoffering insight into ways to improve and standardise the cell culture workflow.
This episode covers two narrated articles written for DDW and is read aloud by Megan Thomas, both of which were published in Volume 22, Issue 1 – Winter 2020/21 of Drug Discovery World.
The first article is titled, “Streamlining gene therapy manufacturing will help products reach more patients”, and was written by Akash Bhattacharya, the Senior Application Scientist at Beckman Coulter Life Sciences.
The second article is titled, “It’s all in the technique: how MS provides information on virus structure and function”, which was written by Andreas Huhmer, Senior Director of Proteomics and Metabolomics at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Digital transformations are having wide-ranging and profound impacts within life sciences, creating both opportunities and challenges. One of those challenges is adopting new software systems to drive the transformations. A team from Novartis Institutes of BioMedical Research (NIBR) recognised the need to ensure a good user experience for their in vivo study support groups. The NIBR team, partnered with technology provider, RockStep Solutions (RSS), to tackle the challenge. In this article, the authors present a case study illustrating a successful collaboration that created software to support complex in vivo workflows. Furthermore, they describe the repeatable 4P process they developed to help pharmaceutical companies and vendors replicate this success.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “Paving the way for optimum drug discovery”. It covers two narrated articles written for Volume 22, Issue 1 – Winter 2020/21
Of DDW and they are read aloud by Megan Thomas. These articles are titled: “In vitro models for assessing drug toxicity: new approaches and development” and “Accelerating assay development optimisation for drug discovery”.
In the first article, Karissa Cottier, PhD Research Scientist, BioIVT, ADME-Tox, examines the ongoing development and advances to ensure drug efficacy and safety.
In the second, Dr. Zack Gurard-Levin, Chief Scientific Officer, SAMDI Tech offers five challenges and solutions for optimal assay development in drug discovery.
Mathur talks about Twist’s antibody expertise, drawing on the company’s experience and looking at the importance of collaboration. The company has created some successful partnerships and she explains what these look like, why they have been fruitful, and how they have enabled Twist to use its capabilities to maximum effect.
Listen now to hear Mathur discuss the company philosophy, how the pandemic has affected the business, its partnership experience and what the future holds for this forward-thinking company.
Aydogdu talks us through how the accurate and quantitative analysis of product purity is a fundamental component of effective development of a biotherapeutic protein. But without consistent techniques and high-quality, reproducible results, it is difficult to precisely assess the product’s efficacy and/or safety, potentially delaying, even jeopardising, its approval. He also reveals how Bio-Techne overcame this issue for a particular customer.
Mälarstig is currently responsible for developing and applying strategies for new drug targets and precision medicine. He has extensive experience working in international academic consortia and public–private partnerships such as the SCALLOP consortium. In this podcast he outlines the role of pQTLs in the drug discovery process and the growing importance of proteogenomics.
In this podcast, hear Mälarstig discuss proteogenomics, an emerging approach that aims to advance basic, translational and clinical research. He will also explain why the drug discovery sector should take an interest in it, what insights can it provide to researchers and the opportunities it is creating for drug discovery companies.
The latest episode of the free DDW podcast, “Precision medicine in the era of artificial intelligence”, covers one narrated article of the same title written for DDW and read aloud by Megan Thomas.
It was written by Dr Lofti Chouchane and Dr Javaid Sheikh. Dr Chouchane is a professor in the departments of genetic medicine, and microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar. Dr Sheikh is the Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar.
The two doctors discuss the value of biobanks, artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as the challenges associated and what’s next for these technologies and processes.
The latest DDW Sitting Down With podcast features Raj Indupuri, CEO of eClinical Solutions and he talks to us about clinical trials.
Listen to find out why Idupuri believes ‘data is the new fuel that will drive human progress’, the effect of Covid-19 on clinical trials and what the sector can learn from the pandemic to make it better prepared for any future similar situations.
This DDW podcast features Dr Hongshan Li, Applications Manager, Sartorius, discussing advances in cell and protein analysis for virology research.
This episode examines virology research - what’s currently happening in the sector and how new advances in technology are helping push forward innovation and drug development. With COVID-19 playing such a significant role in the drug discovery and development industry over the last year, we find out what effect it has had and Dr Li explains how we can take some of the methodologies that have arisen from the pandemic and use them to drive innovation in virology research.
Dr Li provides:
- An overview of current global virology research. Has the need to explore this area of science grown due to the pandemic and if so, where are the opportunities currently for research?
- The pandemic has highlighted the need for more understanding in and knowledge of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs). How has the drug discovery and development sector responded to this and exposed the areas that need to be developed in EIDs?
- Expertise on how to optimise process, get to market faster and more efficiently.
- Insight into Sartorius’ research around coronaviruses and spike proteins as targets for therapeutics.
- Detail about Sartorius and its technologies relevant to this area of research and how this type of technology can help speed up the discovery process.
- A view on the future of virology research - where the areas of opportunity will be looking head and how can the research community prepare itself to be best placed to tackle new emerging threats should they arise?
Dr Li has many years of experience in the development and optimisation of bioassay platforms and is currently focussing on novel assay development.
This narrated article is called “Why flow cytometry in drug discovery is a real life-saver”, in which Roy, Global Product Manager at Miltenyi Biotec, outlines the benefits of flow cytometry, offering case study examples for its use.
Capable of boasting high-throughput, accurate, multiparameter and highly reproducible results, it’s time for drug discovery industries to look again at how flow cytometry can be successfully utilised within challenging processes.
This is the latest episode of the free DDW podcast, titled Vaccine innovation in the age of Covid-19. It covers two narrated articles written for DDW and read aloud by Megan Thomas.
These articles are titled: “Vaccine innovation in the age of Covid-19 & beyond” and “Creating vaccines: Why we should be celebrating the life of the researcher”.
The first narrated article is a discussion between Dr Sanjay Garg and Dr Anis H Khimani about key learnings and best practices during Covid-19 vaccine research and how we can take these forward to pathogens yet unknown.
In the second narrated article, DDW Editor Lu Rahman looks at the story behind the vaccine’s role in the fight against Covid-19 and why we should thank those working to create vaccines.
This DDW Sitting Down With episode features Guy Goldberg, Chief Business Officer of RedHill Biopharma.
In this episode - With vaccines taking centre stage how critical is the part therapeutics have to play in the pandemic? - Goldberg talks us through Covid-19 therapeutics and their role in the pandemic.
Goldberg shares his market insight, the benefits of an orally-administered small molecule tablet for COVID treatment and how the company has maintained its success in the therapeutics market.
Today's episode is titled The potential of metabolomics & COVID-19 Vaccine Development, and covers 2 articles taken from the most recent Fall issue of DDW.
These articles are titled: Why metabolomics has the potential to transform diagnosis and treatment. & COVID-19 Vaccine Development: dethroning evil King Coronovirus
These articles were firstly based on an interview with key members of metabolon, and the second article was written by Laural Barchas, Senior Technical Writer, Takara Bio.
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to: https://www.ddw-online.com
Today's episode is titled: The power of precision and the potential of human tissue chips, and covers 2 articles taken from the most recent issue of DDW.
These articles are titled: The power of precision to keep biologics effective and safe & Why we should be interested in human tissue chips
These articles were written by Dr Mark Lies, Global Business Manager of Capillary Electrophoresis, SCIEX, and Dr. Kacey Ronaldson-Bouchard
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to: https://www.ddw-online.com
Today's episode on the topic of The Business Side of Drug Discovery, covers 3 articles taken from the most recent Fall issue of DDW.
These articles are titled: Building the foundations for post COVID-19 R&D, Opportunity Knocks: Why compound screening libraries are worth the investment, and How to achieve data driven R&D at speed
These articles were written by multiple authors.
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to: https://www.ddw-online.com
Today's episode on the topic of Innovation and Opportunity in Drug Discovery, covers 3 articles taken from the most recent Fall issue of DDW.
These articles are titled: Japanese drug development: Where is the innovation, Where are the opportunities in global drug discovery, and New for Old: The value behind drug repurposing.
These articles were written by Lu Rahman, editor at Drug Discovery World
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to: https://www.ddw-online.com
The Pistoia Alliance has developed a research paper which sets out to consider what the life science, biopharma R&D and healthcare ecosystem might look like in 2030, in particular how the increasing adoption and sophistication of technology will affect companies and patients alike.
This article is the second part of a two-part series based on that paper. Written in retrospect from the world as it is in 2030, it looks at how healthcare has changed in the intervening decade.
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/2030-life-sciences-and-health-in-the-digital-age-part-2-1621-201912/
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/137808/5-2030-life-sciences.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
This article is the first in a two-part series based on The Pistoia Alliance report. Written in retrospect from the world as it is in 2030, it looks at how healthcare has changed in the intervening decade, covering the socio-economic and political evolutions that have happened, the subsequent effects on population health and the innovative technologies which have had the greatest impact.
The intention of this 2030 report is to stimulate debate as to what the future may hold, and to identify the key areas where stakeholders must work together to advance.
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/business/p323286-2030-life-sciences-and-health-in-the-digital-age.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136777/(6)-2030-life-sciences.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Since 2017 we have seen the slow and steady adoption of User Experience (UX) within the life sciences. User Experience is an evidence-based design process that centres on the behaviours and needs of users.
The clear benefits of UX offered in the retail and consumer sectors have been slow to percolate to other more complex sectors such as the life sciences. As the benefits of adoption of UX come to be realised, we see steady and strong growth in the R&D life sciences sector.
By Jacek Ziemski, Simon Fortenbacher, James Hoeksma, Jan Taubert, Roger Attrill, Paula de Matos, Andre Richter and Julie Morrison
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/informatics/p323450-evolution-of-user-experience-for-life-sciences.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/137810/7-evolution-of-user-experiences.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has quietly become one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease in the modern world. If this prevalence is allowed to continue the economic and clinical burden will reach a staggering level.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) consists of a complex combination of liver maladies, ranging from benign hepatic steatosis (fatty liver) to its more aggressive inflammatory manifestation, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). In parallel to soaring rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D), the prevalence of NAFLD is rising rapidly. An estimated 25% of adults worldwide currently have NASH and ~30-59% of these patients will develop NASH.
By Dr Sue Grepper, Dr Radina Kostadinova, Dr Eva Thoma and Professor Armin Wolf
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p323288-evolving-models-for-nash-drug-discovery:-tools-for-stemming-a-silent-epidemic.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136779/(8)-evolving-models.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
This article will describe, with examples, how understanding the likely mechanisms of false positives in advance of screening informs the design of the hit triage, thus increasing the likelihood of discovering optimisable chemical matter and avoiding costly wasting of resource.
We describe the use of a bespoke ‘Robustness Set’ of nuisance compounds and how it can be used in conjunction with adjusting the conditions of the assay. We also present an example where hit identification was initially confounded by the presence of a common pharmaceutically-acceptable salt and will describe how biophysical data was used to characterise the interactions and triage of the hits.
By Dr Philip S. Jones and Dr Stuart P. McElroy
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/screening/p323287-reducing-the-pains-in-high-throughput-screening:-assay-design-as-a-tool-for-maximising-efficiency.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136778/(7)-reducing-the-pains.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 virus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, have fuelled significant shifts in preclinical research across the globe.
Amid the worldwide health emergency created by high infection rates, rapid transmission spread and relatively high mortality rates, researchers are under pressure to understand the disease’s pathogenesis, develop and test investigational therapeutics and explore viable vaccine approaches.
By Dr Megan MacBride
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p323646-the-covid-19-race-how-mouse-models-will-help-researchers-cross-the-finish-line.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/138653/7-the-covid-19-race-how-mouse-models.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), a powerful biophysical technique that can analyse molecular assemblies, is changing the paradigm in structure-based drug design.
As targets become more challenging, solving structures of drug target molecules or biologics becomes increasingly difficult. Cryo-EM empowers drug discovery teams to take advantage of rational drug design for many more major drug target classes, opening a pathway to best-in-class drugs.
Cryo-EM allows the structural analysis of protein complexes flash-frozen in their near native states. One can now directly visualise not just large macromolecules, but also smaller proteins complexes, including membrane proteins. This powerful technique can be used to complement traditional methods, such as X-ray crystallography (XRD) or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for structure-based drug discovery.
By Hans Raaijmakers, Dr Mazdak Radjainia, Dr Hervé-William Remigy, and Aleksandar Stefanovic
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/drug-discovery/p323443-cryo-em-accelerates-drug-discovery-by-delivering-previously-intractable-structural-insights.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/137804/1-cryo-em.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
In this episode, we discuss the oxymoronic proposition of a Virtual Pharmaceutical Company (VPC) and the typical adopted business model, as well as provide examples of such companies currently trying to undertake this adventurous task.
The vagaries and complexities of bringing a therapeutic drug to market through the Drug Discovery and Development (DDD) process are well known and described.
Any company that undertakes such a time-consuming, financially-burdensome, risk-laden task must have access to a myriad of experienced and professional help. The depth and breadth of expertise required includes broad business knowledge, accounting, legal, intellectual property tactics and strategy, scientific discovery, animal models, toxicology, specific disease-domain understanding, regulatory, clinical trials, manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution skills.
By Dr Stephen Naylor and Dr Kirkwood A. Pritchard Jr
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/business/p323009-the-reality-of-virtual-pharmaceutical-companies.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136354/(1)-the-reality-of-virtual.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Mitigation of COVID-19 pandemic requires a combination of effective epidemiological policies and the discovery/development of powerful drugs against the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes this disease.
This two part article series examines the major initiatives being explored at the public policy level to contain the spread of COVID-19 as well as some of the most important innovative collaborative efforts at the research and development front to combat SARS-CoV-2. For a successful outcome, these efforts need a proven and effective organisational model.
By Ibis Sanchez-Serrano and Rathnam Chaguturu
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p323640-race-to-covid-19-cure-the-core-model-for-solving-the-pandemic-crisis-(part-1-&-2).html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/138647/1-race-to-covid-19-cure-(all).pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Mitigation of COVID-19 pandemic requires a combination of effective epidemiological policies and the discovery/development of powerful drugs against the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes this disease.
This 2 part episode series examines the major initiatives being explored at the public policy level to contain the spread of COVID-19 as well as some of the most important innovative collaborative efforts at the research and development front to combat SARS-CoV-2. Part 1 Introduces some top level approaches and steps that have been taken.
By Ibis Sanchez-Serrano and Rathnam Chaguturu
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p323640-race-to-covid-19-cure-the-core-model-for-solving-the-pandemic-crisis-(part-1-&-2).html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/138647/1-race-to-covid-19-cure-(all).pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has highlighted the need for fast and efficient development and production of vaccines for a whole gamut of pathogens, old and new.
Microfluidics technologies can be used to accelerate the vaccine development process in a number of ways, not least in the directed evolution of the strains and host organisms used in the production of vaccines based on recombinant DNA.
In this article we give an overview of the recent fast-moving advances in vaccine production and demonstrate how microfluidics is proving invaluable in the urgent crisis facing the world today.
By Richard Gray
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/enabling-technologies/p323645-creating-vaccines-drop-by-drop.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/138652/6-creating-vaccines.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, international scientists from academia and industry have pooled their expertise and resources to identify candidate compounds that inhibit the activity of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease, in order to develop a clinically effective antiviral.
The aptly named COVID-19 Moonshot aims to accomplish this task more rapidly than has historically been done by crowdsourcing potential inhibitors from chemists around that world. In the span of roughly three months, hundreds of scientists have submitted thousands of potential candidates that are now being screened and checked for viability.
All the data generated by the collective is shared publicly using a database supplied by Collaborative Drug Discovery. This includes the structures of the protease and the hits identified by screening experiments, as well as the experimental protocols used to select compounds for synthesis and testing.
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p323644-the-covid-19-antiviral-race:-we-re-all-in-this-together.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/138651/5-the-covid-19-antiviral-race.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Live-cell imaging has transformed the study of cell behaviour and function. The technique allows researchers to monitor internal cell structures, interactions and processes in real-time, and over time.
In drug discovery, understanding the dynamic processes of cells provides an enhanced picture of drug pharmacology, enabling more reliable predictions of clinical responses earlier in the process.
In this article, we highlight some of the key commercial products helping to drive the adoption of this valuable approach and how it could help improve efficiencies and advance the development of medicines.
By Helen Stewart-Miller and Dr Kate Tointon
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/drug-discovery/p323283-using-live-cell-imaging-systems-to-transform-perspectives-in-drug-discovery.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136774/(3)-using-live-cell-imaging.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
New disease targets frequently emerge in literature, but the thorough target validation required to consider these targets for a drug discovery programme is often lacking.
In pharmacological or genetic perturbation studies using complex biological assays, undesired off-target effects cannot be easily distinguished from the intended mode of action at the desired target. This is especially evident in cancer drug development where it is important to discriminate on-target effects on cell viability from off-target effects resulting in non-specific loss of cellular fitness.
By Dr Anne-Marie Zuurmond, et al.
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/drug-discovery/p323012-fail-earlyfail-fast-a-phenotypic-rescue-approach.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136357/(4)-fail-early.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
This article discusses opportunities, challenges and best practices in leveraging infrastructure excellence and AI to unlock the value of early or inconclusive clinical trial data. The goal... driving stronger biomarker-based insights and decisions and helping to advance new cures and treatment approaches.
As we all know, data is increasingly king in our information-driven world and organisations that learn how to turn mega information into informed strategies are creating true sea changes in their industries. The opportunity to harness the power of data in new and exciting ways is also moving increasingly into life sciences.
By David Wang, Masha Hoffey and Dr Simone Sharma
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/informatics/p323281-unlocking-clinical-trial-data-to-uncover-new-therapeutic-opportunities.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136772/(1)-unlocking-clinical-trial-data.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
The publication of the first human genome sequence more than 15 years ago marked the start of a new era in medicine. In the years since then, researchers have greatly expanded knowledge of gene-disease links and gained a better understanding of the underlying molecular pathways.
The first precision therapies, targeted to specific molecular alterations, are already available. Despite this progress, the lack of diversity in genetic databases limits the potential benefits and markets for these advances. To further grow the field of precision medicine, much more knowledge is needed of the global diversity found in the human genome.
By Sumit Jamuar, Dr Jonathan Picker, Dr Saumya Jamuar, & Dr Yaron Turpaz
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/precision-medicine/p323015-from-human-genome-to-global-genome-why-precision-medicine-must-address-genetic-diversity.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136360/(7)-from-human-genome.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
In light of the high failure rate of compounds when they are subjected to clinical testing, we are seeing a renaissance in phenotypic screening in drug discovery. However, most phenotypic screening is based on the use of cellular assays and here we debate the advantages and disadvantages of single-cell versus 3D multi-cell analyses.
The phenotypic screening of novel drug candidates determines whether a small molecule (or biologic) exerts the desired pharmacology, either in vitro (isolated cells, organoids, tissues) or in vivo. This functional approach is ‘unbiased’ given that the molecular target, and therefore molecular mechanism of action (MMOA), is only determined following lead identification and preclinical optimisation.
By Dr Richard M. Eglen
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/screening/p323285-optimising-phenotypic-screening-single-cell-analysis-versus-3d-multicell-analysis.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136776/(5)-optimising-phenotypic-screening.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
AI could create a streamlined, automated approach to drug discovery, trawling vast datasets to identify targets, find candidate molecules and predict synthesis routes. Getting there will require significant vision, but we are already seeing exciting examples of AI helping direct research and reduce discovery times.
We discuss the short and long term potential of AI in drug discovery.
By Dr Mark Roberts and Dr Sam Genway
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/informatics/p323284-how-artificial-intelligence-is-transforming-drug-design.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136775/(4)-how-artificial-intelligence.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Developing and maintaining cell cultures in a stable and sterile environment is of paramount importance to protect samples and increase overall success of drug discovery pipelines. Cell lines are extremely fragile and susceptible to contamination which can be catastrophic in terms of both time and money.
Therefore, adequate environmental protection must be provided at all times in automation system enclosures. Here we examine what to look out for to ensure safe and successful automated cell line development.
By Jon Newman-Smith
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/enabling-technologies/p323013-safety-first-automating-cell-line-development.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136358/(5)-safety-first-automating-cell-line.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Bioinformatics has played a major role in gene sequencing diagnostics and has been an essential tool to investigate the genetic causes of disease. With the support of new technologies and tools, bioinformatics can play an important part in the support and continued development of precision medicine.
By Mike Furness and John Wise
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/informatics/p323016-application-of-bioinformatics-in-support-of-precision-medicine.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136361/(8)-application-of-bioinformatics.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
In this episode, we examine the use of 3D organoid cell culture systems as applied to cancer research and the development of novel anti-oncologic drugs. Collectively, this transition from 3D spheroid culture to organoid culture allows researchers to generate multiple organ-specific cell types, resulting in cell architectures that more closely resemble the human tissue microenvironment.
Furthermore, researchers are generating organoid cultures that are increasingly complex and more phenotypically relevant and, as a result, optimal models are being established to better understand patient-specific tumour proliferation and invasion patterns.
By Dr Amanda Linkous, Hilary Sherman, Iris Li and Dr Richard M. Eglen
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/drug-discovery/p322919-3d-organoid-cell-culture-optimising-disease-models-for-research-and-drug-discovery.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136065/(5)-three-dimensional-organoid.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
It has become quite evident that the microbiome has the potential to impact drug discovery in vital ways. In addition to impacting study reproducibility and variability, the microbiome may influence drug efficacy or serve as a therapeutic agent.
To capitalise on the microbiome’s potential to improve human health, biotech and pharmaceutical companies are devoting greater resources to microbiome-related initiatives, spurring a spike in investments and collaborations.
Incorporating this potentially disruptive technology into the highly-structured process of drug discovery requires new approaches, thinking and tools.
By Dr Alexander C. Maue
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/drug-discovery/p323282-bitten-by-the-bug-a-flurry-of-investments-fuel-microbiome-drug-discovery.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136773/(2)-bitten-by-the-bug.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Drug discovery is increasingly informed by genomics, which can significantly boost the chances of a novel therapy successfully navigating the lengthy journey from bench to bedside. But despite the rapid proliferation of genomic information, we still have a limited understanding of how specific genes and genetic variations drive tumour growth and therapeutic resistance.
In turn, this limits our ability to identify and validate novel targets that are truly informed by biology and make an impact on disease progression – arguably the most crucial step in the whole drug discovery pathway.
By Dr Menelas Pangalos & Steve Rees et al.
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p322917-from-genotype-to-phenotype:-leveraging-functional-genomics-in-oncology.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136063/(3)-from-genotype-to-phenotype.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Flow cytometry is an invaluable technique for the characterisation of highly heterogeneous cell populations.
Thanks to improvements in throughput, automation and multichannel detection capabilities, recent years have seen its use expand across a wide range of drug discovery applications.
In this article, we look at novel developments in flow cytometer reagent and instrument design, and what these mean for drug discovery.
By Helen Stewart-Miller and Dr Richard Massey
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/drug-discovery/p322918-flow-cytometry-the-advanced-systems-overcoming-drug-discovery-pain-points.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136064/(4)-flow-cytometry.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Despite major investment in the field, few cell therapies have gained regulatory approval with limited commercial success.
The success of therapeutic products is defined by three factors: safety, efficacy and scalability. Achieving these for cell therapy presents new challenges; overcoming transplant rejection (and GvHD in the case of immune cells), producing and culturing functional cells and developing an off-the-shelf therapy with a scalable manufacturing process.
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p323014-cell-therapy-falling-short-of-its-potential.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136359/(6)-cell-therapy.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Drug discovery teams combine specialists with in-depth knowledge from a variety of scientific disciplines. Such diversity in thought worlds poses a challenging exercise in cross-disciplinary collaboration and project coordination.
Based on a longitudinal field study of five projects in a leading pharmaceutical company, we present a framework outlining the conditions for effective cross-disciplinary collaboration in drug discovery teams. We show that knowledge creation in multidisciplinary teams relies on a combination of formal team structures and informal co-ordination practices. Formal team structures set the boundary conditions for cross-disciplinary co-ordination.
By Professor Zeynep Erden, Shiko Ben-Menahem, Georg von Krogh, Andreas Schneider, Guido Koch, and Hans Widmer
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/business/p322924-fostering-multidisciplinary-collaboration-in-drug-discovery.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136068/(8)-fostering-multidisciplinary.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
In this episode, we look at how commercial products and services are facilitating the automation of cell-based assays to advance drug discovery and accelerate the delivery of new medicines to patients.
Cell-based assays are vital tools in modern drug discovery. Live cell cultures that replicate in vivo physiological conditions enable more reliable predictions about the safety and efficacy of drugs. Cellular assays have traditionally been complex and labour-intensive, however, automated technologies are now streamlining workflows as well as improving assay precision.
By Helen Stewart-Miller and Kate Tointon
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/enabling-technologies/p323011-automated-cell-based-assays:-novel-tools-overcome-the-barriers-to-drug-discovery-success.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136356/(3)-automated-cell-based-assays.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
New immunotherapies that integrate innate and adaptive immune responses may increase efficacy against many cancers, and have the potential to expand the range of tumours and patients that can be treated with immunotherapy.
Over the past decade, insights into the molecular mechanisms that cancer cells use to evade T-cells, antibodies/B cells and other adaptive immune defences have revolutionised oncology therapies.
New understandings of how cancer evades innate immune defences – including macrophages, dendritic cells (DC) and Natural Killer (NK) cells – suggest a second, and perhaps even more significant, immunotherapy revolution may be at hand.
Original article by Dr Mark Chao, Dr Ranjana Advani, and Dr Jens Peter Volkmer
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p322916-knocking-out-cancer-with-a-one-two-punch.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136062/(2)-knocking-out-cancer.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
In terms of consistency, repeatability, known errors and sheer volume, there exists perhaps no better collection of data for computer learning than that emerging from automated processes.
Many common lab procedures now run in parallel, miniaturised experiments – DNA synthesis, target screening, organoid culture, genetic analysis, organic reactions, safety assays – which are poised for extensive curation and algorithm development over the next 10 years.
This article briefly outlines each area and offers opinions about how close we are to having artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning (DL) or machine learning (ML) influence each scientific domain.
Original article by Dr Michael A. Tarselli, Dr Yohann Potier and Dr Alan E. Fletcher
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/enabling-technologies/p323010-automating-automation-how-close-are-we-to-artificial-intelligence-impact.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136355/(2)-automating-automation.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Recently there have been attempts by small-to-medium sized pharmaceutical companies to create in-house, integrated platform-DDD (PD3) capabilities. This strategy does not come without risks, but has quietly been implemented to increase drug candidate efficacy/safety and pipeline numbers. In some cases this has resulted in much-vaunted success, as epitomised by the Moderna IPO in late 2018.
Although the complexities of such efforts should not be underestimated, it is clear that the new PD3 business model is being adopted and utilised. We evaluate this new paradigm and discuss the common traits and themes of successful PD3 companies.
Original article by Dr Stephen Naylor and Dr Kirkwood A. Pritchard Jr
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/business/p322922-integrated-platform-drug-discovery-and-development-companies-part-ii:-comparative-analysis.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136066/(6)-integrated-platform.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Recently there has been some attempt to amalgamate platform technologies within start-up and earlystage drug discovery and development companies to increase drug candidate pipeline numbers. This strategy does not come without risks, but has quietly been implemented by a number of platform-drug discovery and development (PD3) companies.
This episode, part 2 explores this issue and use Moderna Therapeutics as our case study to highlight the limitations and potential impact on company valuation of such an integrated approach.
Original article by Dr Urban A. Kiernan and Dr Stephen Naylor
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/business/p322578-emerging-paradigm-of-integrated-platform-drug-discovery-and-development-companies.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/133163/(4)-emerging-paradigm-of-integrated-platform-drug-discovery.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Technology was lauded as the saviour of the drug discovery and development process during the late 1990s. A myriad of independent companies developed and offered ‘innovative’ tools, technologies and platforms to pharmaceutical companies in order to mitigate the time, cost and risk of developing new therapeutic drugs.
However, comparative analysis of FDA-approved New Molecular Entity (NME) and New Therapeutic Biologic (NTB) annual historical numbers announced does not reflect any significant productivity enhancement impact of such efforts.
More recently there has been some attempt to amalgamate platform technologies within start-up and earlystage drug discovery and development (DDD) companies to increase drug candidate pipeline numbers. This strategy does not come without risks, but has quietly been implemented by a number of platform-DDD (PD3) companies.
Original article by Dr Urban A. Kiernan and Dr Stephen Naylor
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/business/p322578-emerging-paradigm-of-integrated-platform-drug-discovery-and-development-companies.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/133163/(4)-emerging-paradigm-of-integrated-platform-drug-discovery.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Drug candidates often fail in the clinic for two reasons: they lack efficacy or possess an adverse toxicity profile. These failures can come at a high cost, especially when drug candidates have already progressed along the development pipeline to clinical trial.
Advances in three-dimensional (3D) cell culture systems are helping address the above challenges and improve the likelihood of success for pipeline assets. From disease modelling and validation of novel targets to screening for safety and efficacy, 3D cell cultures offer the exciting potential for the development of novel medicines and increased productivity.
This episode describes the benefit of 3D cell culture on the drug discovery workflow, with a focus on lead optimisation in which compounds are assessed for their potential metabolic liability and off-target toxicities. The powerful combination of human-induced pluripotent stem cells (HiPSCs) and 3D cell culture systems are also highlighted.
Original article by Dr Richard M. Eglen, Dr Feng Li and Dr Tony Frutos
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/drug-discovery/p322782-optimising-clinical-leads:-increasing-drug-discovery-success-with-3d-cell-culture-systems.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/135185/(3)-optimising-clinical-leads.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Plants are stationary soldiers. Rooted to one spot, they are not able to chase nutrients or flee from herbivores and pathogens. So in addition to the basic metabolites they synthesise for their survival, they produce a diverse array of organic compounds through specialised biochemical pathways to counterattack threats.
Some of these compounds have been found to combat human threats as well, and herbalists have been scouring these palettes of secondary metabolites for their health-promoting properties for centuries.
Modern medicine also incorporates plant compounds. Around 80% of the world’s population already relies on ethnobotanical remedies and plant drugs, such as the antineoplastic Taxol, the antimalarial artemisinin, the analgesic codeine, the antidiabetic allicin, and the cardiac depressant quinidine.
The high cost of new drugs, unpalatable side-effects and microbial resistance are driving a constant and renewed public interest on alternative and complementary medicine. Yet only a small fraction of the vast diversity of plant metabolism has been explored.
Original article by Michelle Vierra, Strategic Marketing Manager at Pacific Biosciences
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/drug-discovery/p322923-mining-plant-genomes-a-modern-approach-to-herbal-healing.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136067/(7)-a-modern-approach.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Once the domain of high-throughput screening (HTS) applications, automated liquid handling systems are now used ubiquitously in drug discovery and have been fundamental in increasing throughput, driving efficiencies and improving standards of accuracy and reproducibility in pharmaceutical and biotechnology workflows.
This roundtable article considers some of the latest advances in liquid handling technology and the impact they are having on drug discovery.
Drug discovery has undergone a revolution over the past two decades, thanks in large part to the widespread adoption of automated liquid handling. Driven by a competitive need to maximise throughput and increase productivity while ensuring the highest levels of accuracy and reproducibility, automated liquid handling systems have been adopted across the entire pharmaceutical and biotechnology pipeline.
Original article by Helen Stewart-Miller and Dr Richard Massey
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/enabling-technologies/p322781-how-advanced-automated-liquid-handling-systems-are-reshaping-drug-discovery.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/135184/(2)-faster-smaller.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
The safety and efficacy of therapeutic drugs still requires improvement. However, the advent of both systems biology and precision medicine has stimulated a rethink on the process of therapeutic drug design and polypharmacology.
More recently, the definition of polypharmacology has morphed to represent therapeutic drugs that have been designed deliberately for multi-targeting that affords beneficial effects to the patient.
This emerging effort has been labelled ‘Systems Pharmacology’ and the products are referred to as multi-target or systems pharmacology drugs.
This episode is part 2 of 2 episodes and goes into more detail on systems pharmacology, going through definitions, combination therapy vs systems pharmacology drugs, implementation and approaches.
Original article by Dr Kirkwood A. Pritchard Jr, Dr Dustin P. Martin and Dr Stephen Naylor
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p322783-perspective-on-systems-pharmacology:-when-multi-targeting-is-advantageous.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/135186/(4)-perspective-on-systems.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
The safety and efficacy of therapeutic drugs still requires improvement. However, the advent of both systems biology and precision medicine has stimulated a rethink on the process of therapeutic drug design and polypharmacology.
More recently, the definition of polypharmacology has morphed to represent therapeutic drugs that have been designed deliberately for multi-targeting that affords beneficial effects to the patient.
This emerging effort has been labelled ‘Systems Pharmacology’ and the products are referred to as multi-target or systems pharmacology drugs.
This episode is part 1 of 2 episodes on the topic of systems pharmacology, and covers human complexity, systems biology and precision medicine.
Original article by Dr Kirkwood A. Pritchard Jr, Dr Dustin P. Martin and Dr Stephen Naylor
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p322783-perspective-on-systems-pharmacology:-when-multi-targeting-is-advantageous.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/135186/(4)-perspective-on-systems.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
2019 got off to a fast start for oncology drug discovery, with numerous mergers, acquisitions and collaborations announced in quick succession.
These ventures provide a window into key trends in oncology research, where investigators are likely to focus their efforts, and the tools and technologies that will enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to turn promise into efficacious therapies.
While the pace of innovation is accelerating, the challenges of increasing competition, pricing pressures and regulatory complexity are squeezing ROI.
In this environment, collaborative efforts will play a pivotal role in advancing oncology drug discovery effectively and efficiently.
Original article by Dr Michael Seiler
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/business/p322915-how-mergers-and-acquisitions-will-drive-oncology-research-in-2019.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/136061/(1)-the-cure-for-going-it-alone.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
This article will discuss some of the potential use cases that Standard for Exchange of Nonclinical Data (SEND), datasets can support. Both to advance translational research across multiple research sites and also to drive efficiencies with research partners including contract research organisations (CROs).
In addition, the authors will explore applications of consolidated, precompetitive data sharing to support cross-industry safety and toxicology applications.
The Pistoia Alliance, brought together a cross-functional life science industry group to review common challenges and opportunities in non-clinical drug development. The group focused their discussion on the challenges and opportunities for leveraging non-clinical datasets in support of translational research. This article provides a summary of their opinions and conclusions.
Original article by Katherine Briggs, et al.,
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/informatics/p322790-beyond-send:-leveraging-non-clinical-data-to-drive-translational-research-forward.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/135189/(7)-beyond-send.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Transdermal Drug Delivery (TDD) is a promising method for drug application that has major advantages over some of the most common routes of drug administration.
In most cases, oral drug delivery is the most common and convenient route of drug administration due to a high rate of patient compliance, cost-effectiveness, portability, ease of production and pre-determined dosage. However, there are limitations with oral drug delivery, such as incomplete delivery due to the unpredictability of gastrointestinal absorption.
Transdermal Drug Delivery on the other hand, involves the non-invasive delivery of medications through the skin surface and when applied can deliver the drug at a predetermined rate across the skin to achieve either a local or systemic effect.
Original article by Dr Mahmoud Ameri and Hayley Lewis
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p322789-the-evolution-of-transdermal-drug-delivery-and-treating-migraine.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/135188/(6)-the-evolution-of-transdermal.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Good Laboratory Practice (GLP), are federal regulations that require implementation of a robust quality management system to ensure the validity, integrity and reliability of non-clinical safety data submitted for regulatory evaluation and approval. US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) GLP regulations were first issued by the US in 1978 (1), and, at that time, safety data was mainly obtained from in vivo animal test systems.
Since then, researchers have continued to develop alternative ways to assess drug safety, and now, good laboratory practice regulations can be applied to all non-clinical laboratory safety studies, including in vitro and ex vivo test systems. In short, GLP-compliant studies require documentation (eg standard operating procedures) and are overseen by quality assurance units that perform process-, facility- and study-based inspections.
In this episode, we provide an overview of which studies require Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) compliance, which do not, and why in some cases the choice is unclear.
Original article by Scott Hickman, Dr Brian Ogilvie and Tim Patterson
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/business/p322791-to-glp-or-not-to-glpthat-is-the-question.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/135190/(8)-to-glp.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Recent technological and scientific developments now make it possible to build human in vitro 3D tissue models and even connected 3D tissue/organ models recapitulating human biology and pathophysiologies with a rapidly-increasing faithfulness.
In this article, we share some of what has been learned over the past 10 years in the 3D cell culture space and provide guidance for those who are just getting started with 3D models and end-point assays.
Original article by Dr Patrick Guye, Dr Eva Thoma and Dr Olivier Frey
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/drug-discovery/p322788-considerations-for-engineering-composabledisease-tunable-3d-human-microtissues-for-drug-discovery.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/135187/(5)-considerations-for-engineering.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Will the automated expansion of organoids help improve the productivity of cancer drug discovery?
Increasingly, complex cell-based assays and tissues are routinely used as part of cancer drug discovery. However, conventional monolayer or suspension cultures can be poorly predictive of the relevant therapeutic effects on a patient’s tumour. As a result, many apparently attractive new drug candidates subsequently fail to meet their primary endpoints in clinical trials.
Tumour-derived organoids have the potential to be more predictive earlier in discovery and thus reduce the high rate of compound attrition in downstream development.
Tumour-derived organoids have typically been produced in small volumes in specialist research laboratories, using labour-intensive manual processes. Production capacity is constrained and there can be significant batch-to-batch variation. Scalable bioprocessing technologies for the expansion of organoids are now emerging to overcome the bottlenecks of these conventional manual processes.
This article will review the challenges and solutions required to expand human cancer organoids to meet the growing demand for the large-scale production of organoids in drug discovery.
Original article by Dr Mark Treherne, Dr Marianne Ellis, Professor Trevor Dale, Dr Luned Badder & Dr Andrew Hollins
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/drug-discovery/p322780-the-growth-of-organoids-in-cancer-drug-discovery.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/135183/(1)-the-growth-of-organoids.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Changing demands in global healthcare over the past 15 years have led to greater complexity and spiralling costs in drug development. The average price tag of taking a new drug from discovery to completion of Phase III clinical trials is now $2.87 billion (1), which means informed decisions need to be made early on about which compounds to pursue.
AstraZeneca’s new R&D framework, termed the ‘5Rs’, has introduced an increased scientific rigour and emphasis on quality, driving an almost five-fold increase in R&D productivity. AstraZeneca has surpassed the industry norm in recent years, moving from a 4% success rate in molecules progressing from candidate nomination to completion of Phase III trials in 2010, to more than 19% in 2017 (2).
In our pursuit for continual improvement, the question now becomes how far can we push an even greater improvement in drug discovery productivity? One approach is by adopting new and evolving preclinical technologies to further improve clinical translation and reduce clinical attrition.
Original article by Dr Lorna Ewart, Dr Richard Goodwin, Dr Stephen E. Fawell, Dr Pernille Hansen, Dr Catherine Priestley, Steve Rees, & Dr Menelas Pangalos
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/summer-2018-teasers/p322382-improving-drug-development-productivity-with-better-predictivity.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/131032/(2)-improving-productivity-with-better-predictivity.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Cellular RNAs play crucial roles during disease progression and represent a diverse and largely untapped class of biomolecules that can be exploited for drug development.
RNA species include messenger RNAs (mRNAs) that are translated into proteins, long non-coding RNAs including transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), and small non-coding RNAs such as micro RNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs).
Exploiting RNA species as therapeutic agents offers new opportunities for drug developers, and the possibility to develop agents against ‘undruggable’ genes and gene products.
Original article by Dr Xiaoqiu Wu and Dr Andrew P. Turnbull
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p322575-current-trends-in-rna-based-therapeutic-development.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/133161/(2)-current-trends-in-rna.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Genetically-engineered animal models (GEMs) are critical tools for drug discovery and development, but intellectual property (IP) concerns can complicate access.
As pharma and biotech increasingly outsource R&D activities to universities, careful scrutiny is required to ensure adherence to IP restrictions on research tools across those collaborative activities. As demonstrated by recent high-profile lawsuits, the stakes are higher than ever for all parties.
Despite improvements to in vitro assays, animal models are a critical part of preclinical drug discovery and development and will remain so for the foreseeable future. In particular, GEMs are specialised reagents with value across R&D stages.
Original article by Dr Megan M. MacBride
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/drug-discovery/p322573-genetically-engineered-models:-the-value-of-precious-gems.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/133162/(3)-genetically-engineered-models.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
The innate ability of antibodies to bind their targets with high affinity and exquisite specificity is leveraged in the discovery of therapeutic antibodies to treat a broad range of diseases including cancer, autoimmune disease and heart disease.
In addition, antibodies are commonly used as companion diagnostics and reagents to support the therapeutic pipeline and to probe antigenic surfaces to inform vaccine design.
This episode reviews the current and emerging label-free biosensor tools that are used to characterise the binding interactions of antibodies in terms of their kinetics, affinities and epitope specificities from early stage screening to the clinic, with emphasis on throughput.
Original article by Dr Yasmina Noubia Abdiche, Chief Scientific Officer at Carterra
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/summer-2018-teasers/p322389-analytical-biophysical-tools-to-accelerate-discovery-of-therapeutic-antibodies.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/131036/(6)-advances-in-analytical-biophysical-tools.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
The mission at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer is to eradicate cancer, which remains a major cause of mortality worldwide. It is the second leading cause of death in the United States and globally, claiming more lives than malaria, HIV/AIDs and tuberculosis combined.
Still, the news about cancer is not all grim, given the incredible advances we have witnessed in cancer treatments over the past several years, highlighted by targeted therapies and novel immunotherapies, including immune checkpoint inhibitors, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy and cancer vaccines.
Despite the recent success, improvements in drug design are of little value for patients if novel therapeutics cannot be advanced from the bench to the bedside both efficiently (minimising the failure rates to keeps costs down) and rapidly (to provide transformative, life-saving medications to as many patients as possible, as soon as possible).
Original article by Dr Phil Jones, VP for Therapeutics Discovery and Head of Drug Discovery for the Institute of Applied Cancer Science at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p322576-therapeutics-discovery-at-md-anderson-making-patients-a-priority-during-drug-development.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/133166/(7)-therapeutics-discovery.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Human stem cells were once viewed primarily as regenerative materials for tissue repair through cell therapies. However, advances in technologies and protocols mean that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are now playing an increasingly important role in disease modelling and human cell-based screening assays. This episode explores what this means for drug discovery.
The pharmaceutical industry’s current issue with attrition in the R&D pipeline is complex and multifaceted. However, few would disagree that one of the biggest factors contributing to the poor rate of success in drug discovery is the lack of reliable and translationally useful disease models.
No matter how carefully studies are designed, animal models and immortalised cell lines cannot reflect the full complexity of human biology and disease mechanisms. While the use of human primary cells or human tissue samples is an attractive alternative for drug screening, these materials can be difficult to obtain, and require additional ethical considerations.
Original article by Abby Edwards and Dr Richard Massey, of Biostrata
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/screening/p322574-unlocking-the-full-potential-of-induced-pluripotent-stem-cells-for-drug-discovery.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/133164/(5)-unlocking-the-full-potential-of-induced-pluripotent-stem-cells.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
The latest data from the Association for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) showed that there are more than 704 regenerative medicine companies worldwide, including cell therapy and gene therapy, and 728 clinical trials under way at the end of the second quarter in 2016.
These types of therapies – cell therapies, gene therapies, tissue engineering and regenerative medicines, usually referred to collectively as ATMPs (Advanced Therapeutic Medicinal Products) – are not a new phenomenon. Blood transfusions, bone marrow transplants and skin grafts, which are well known and well used in modern medicine are all predecessors.
Original article by Keith Thompson, CEO of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p315867-cell-and-gene-therapies-the-emerging-fourth-pillar-of-healthcare-systems.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/114688/cell-and-gene-theapies.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Research in drug discovery and biotechnology increasingly exploits gene editing at industrial scale in order to identify and validate new biological targets for precision medicines.
The discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 systems has fuelled a rapid expansion of gene editing adoption with particular interest in the increasingly prevalent area of functional genomic screening.
As these technologies have matured and evolved, so have the applications to which they are deployed. While early efforts were heavily enriched for studies in cancer biology, the advent of more complex phenotypic analyses, coupled to CRISPR-based discovery efforts, have substantially broadened the impact of these tools to provide discovery opportunities in myriad disease areas with greater power for hit ID and fewer off-target effects than other screening tools.
Original article by Dr Steffen Lawo and Dr Carlos le Sage
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/drug-discovery/p322579-how-phenotypic-crispr-screening-is-revolutionising-drug-discovery.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/133165/(6)-how-phenotypic-crispr.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Cell therapy is poised to play a pivotal role in the development of precision and personalised medicines that will transform healthcare for millions of patients worldwide.
Involving the direct use of whole cells or cellular material in patients, cell therapy is an umbrella term for many subdivisions of biological research, encompassing fields such as stem cell therapy, gene therapy and immunotherapy.
This episode discusses the challenges facing cell therapy research, and how the latest cell culture technologies are delivering enhanced safety capabilities, improved laboratory performance and, ultimately, optimised cell therapy processes.
Original article by Mary Kay Bates
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/summer-2018-teasers/p322397-preserving-cell-integrity-and-viability-to-drive-the-discovery-of-cell-therapies.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/131039/(9)-preserving-cell-integrity-and-viability.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
With more than 1,500 drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the market, the easiest disease targets are already covered.
Today’s scientists are challenged to find new compounds, acting alone or in combination, on intractable targets to treat multi-causal diseases including cancers, metabolic and psychiatric disorders.
The technologies and assays coming to the market enable new avenues in drug discovery creating opportunities to study complex disease mechanisms and find cures.
Original article by Dr Roger Bossé
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/drug-discovery/p322572-the-future-of-drug-discovery-cutting-edge-technologies-meet-traditional-paradigms-in-assay-development.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/133160/(1)-the-future-of-drug-discovery.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
This episode presents a review of the current approaches to data management and application within the drug development and research setting, highlighting major critical challenges and emerging solutions for organisations that are determined to harness big data and machine learning.
Data-driven companies that use integrated and advanced analytics outperform their competitors in every sector outside of the pharmaceutical industry. To compete in an increasingly crowded commercial environment, pharmaceutical and life science companies must gain a greater understanding of the wide-ranging implications of big data and machine learning.
These innovations can be applied effectively to drive drug discovery, power research and ensure a sustainable future.
Original article by Dr Satnam Surae
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/summer-2018-teasers/p322394-data-driven-transformation-in-drug-discovery.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/131038/(8)-data-driven-transformation-in-drug-discovery.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Drug discovery focused on ion-channel proteins began generating great value for pharmaceutical R&D programmes more than 30 years ago, giving rise to medicines still important in the pharmacopeia for treating human disease.
Ion channels are the molecular targets of many kinds of therapeutics, from cardiovascular disorders such as angina and arrhythmias, to metabolic disorders such as Type II diabetes, to neurological disorders including pain and stroke.
Ion channels remain an undeniably valuable type of drug-discovery target. However in the past 10-15 years, researchers’ attempts to expand the number of validated ion-channel drug targets and create new drugs against these have, for the most part, fallen flat.
Original article by Dr Douglas Krafte and Deborah Erickson
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/drug-discovery/p315007-ion-channels-increasingly-enticing-targets-for-drug-discovery.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/113372/ion-channels.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
For many years, immunology and oncology operated as separate disciplines within drug discovery. However, recent advances in immuno-oncology (IO) have demonstrated what can be achieved when the two disciplines join forces in developing novel treatments for patients.
From checkpoint inhibitors to CAR-T cells and model selection designed to reflect more personalised medicine approaches, immuno-oncology is shifting how both immunologists and oncologists approach drug discovery and development.
In this Q&A, Dr Julia Schüler, DVM, Research Director at Charles River, which specialises in oncology, and Dr Louise Brackenbury, Principal Scientist for Cell Biology at Charles River’s newly acquired KWS BioTest, which specialises in immunology, will provide their unique perspectives on the ways in which IO is reshaping the industry.
Original article by Dr Julia Schüler and Dr Louise Brackenbury
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p322098-bringing-immuno-oncology-together:-how-an-immunologist-&-oncologist-collaborate.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/129239/(2)-bringing-io-together.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Discovering and validating novel therapeutic targets to add to the immuno-oncology arsenal will require refined preclinical models that meet the needs for suitability, scalability and clinical relevancy throughout the various phases of target discovery and drug validation.
The use of animal models in oncology has undergone a revolution with the advent of cancer immunotherapy, and has become a powerful tool in understanding the fundamental biology of tumour-immune cell interactions and identifying therapeutic targets.
Immuno-oncology has led to a major shift in the way that researchers approach cancer. For decades, the emphasis was on cytotoxic agents that directly targeted tumour cells.
From this perspective, where the focus was solely on the tumour, drug development relied on in vitro screens or cells engrafted into an immunodeficient animal. In the latter, the host animal might be considered merely a vessel for growing tumours, with little regard for how they interacted.
Original article by Dr Philip Dubé
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p316728-something-oldsomething-newa-marriage-of-technologies-for-immuno-oncology-in-vivo-studies.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/125920/something-oldspring2017.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Commercially available high-content imaging (HCI) systems, introduced in the 1990s, have provided the scientific community with a platform that offers a unique set of tools ideal for advancing high-throughput biological discoveries and therapeutic development.
High-content imaging has made it possible to interrogate specific biological responses on heterotypic populations of cells, sub-populations of cells within a large population, and even within individual single cells. Today, this technology is becoming widespread across many scientific disciplines and has been used in nearly all capacities of biological and biochemical research studies.
The plethora of experimental assays and cell models designed and used to produce HCI data from these sophisticated imaging systems has now grown from simple two-dimensional (2D) monolayer cell culture models to more complex three-dimensional (3D) organotypic cell models or organoids and whole organisms (examples include, Zebrafish and C. elegans) to determine biological outcomes including measuring the phenotypic characteristics in context of the tissue.
Original article by O. Joseph Trask, Dr Daniel V. LaBarbera and Dr Kevin Quick
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/enabling-technologies/p315869-3d-cellular-imaging-advances-and-considerations-for-high-content-screening.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/114685/3d-cellular-imaging-advances-and-considerations-for-high-content-screening.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Antibiotic resistance is at a crossroad. In the world today, deaths in low income countries from Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) are predicted to rise dramatically by 2050. We know how to stop this disaster, and some steps are being taken in the right direction. Will these steps be enough?
Antibiotics for Critical Priority bacterial Pathogens are in the clinical trials stage, but, overall, the pipeline is described by the WHO as inadequate. Combinations of antibiotics and rejuvenation of old antibiotics are appearing in development and have potential alongside new chemical entities and new classes.
Universal access to new antibiotics by both the rich and the poor may be feasible, but universal stewardship will be a difficult problem to solve. Long-term solutions, particularly for antibiotic development by the pharmaceutical industry are proposed in this episode.
Original article by Professor Anthony Coates and Dr Yanmin Hu
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/summer-2018-teasers/p322384-antibiotics-&-antimicrobial-resistance-(amr)-a-global-perspective.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/131033/(3)-antibiotics-and-amr.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Mass spectrometry (MS) has long been a valuable tool for drug discovery, and steady advances in its capabilities and performance have generated powerful insights for the pharmaceutical industry. The latest MS innovations are now helping biotherapeutics developers overcome challenges around sample preparation and large molecule analysis.
The use of mass spectrometry in pharmaceutical discovery and development is rich and varied, spanning a wealth of applications from target discovery, medicinal chemistry, pharmacokinetics and bioanalysis workflows, to name just a few.
Offering the selectivity, specificity and sensitivity required to answer a broad range of analytical questions, mass spectrometry has become one of the most powerful tools in the drug discovery toolbox.
Mass spectrometry is a particularly powerful tool for the discovery and development of biotherapeutics. Today, biotherapeutic products account for a growing proportion of new drug approvals. Increased focus on the development of much larger, more complex therapeutics such as monoclonal antibodies, fusion proteins and antibody-drug conjugates has placed new demands on mass spectrometry.
Original article by Helen Stewart-Miller and Dr Richard Massey
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/summer-2018-teasers/p322386-the-mass-spectrometry-innovations-simplifying-drug-discovery-workflows.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/131034/(4)-the-mass-spectrometry-innovations-simplifying-drug-discovery.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can be used to provide quantitative measurements in the form of imaging biomarkers. These measurements have a number of attractive characteristics: They are non-invasive, can provide organ and lesion localisation of morphology, physiology and metabolism and can be repeated over time.
These characteristics enable monitoring of the biological impact of drugs and can be helpful in patient selection. With appropriate deployment they can assist in go/no-go decision making and in some cases can provide endpoints for late stage trials.
This episode describes the deployment and potential benefit of MRI biomarkers via a number of examples of their use in drug development in different disease areas.
Original article by Dr Geoff J.M. Parker
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/enabling-technologies/p305520-magnetic-resonance-imaging-(mri)-in-drug-development.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/100469/seeing-within-magnetic-resonance-imaging.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
If we have learned anything from scientific research in the last 20 years, it is that finding cures to complex diseases is difficult. Despite the promise of the genomic revolution, disease progression and patient outcomes are still not easily predicted by genetic factors alone.
Part of the explanation for this gap is that agerelated diseases are heavily influenced by changes in cellular metabolism. For example, cancer, the quintessential genetic disease, is being redefined by metabolic abnormalities, endowing tumours with the ability to outcompete normal cells in the tumour microenvironment.
Adding fuel to the fire, there is early evidence that directing the metabolic programming of immune cells may improve the efficacy and durability of immunotherapies that are completely agnostic to cancer’s genetic drivers. Measuring metabolism, either functionally or using metabolomics, provides insight into the dynamics of cellular energetics.
Original article by Dr David Ferrick
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/enabling-technologies/p315008-metabolomics-a-playbook-for-functional-genomics.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/113374/metabolomics-a-playbook-for-functional-genomics.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Regulatory approval of CAR-T cell therapies in 2017 placed the spotlight on immunotherapy approaches that use live cells to attack tumours – a major shift in oncology treatment.
Yet even this groundbreaking therapy has limitations, such as when patients already immuno-depressed from a first-line treatment do not have sufficient T-cells to modify or stimulate.
For this reason, investigators are looking to natural killer cell therapy (NK cell therapy) as the next frontier of immunotherapy for the fight against cancer.
As the evolution of precision medicine continues, NK cell therapy will play an important role in guiding efficacious treatments.
Original article by Dr Azusa Tanaka and Dr Michael Seiler of Taconic Biosciences
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p322104-how-natural-killer-cell-therapy-will-transform-immunotherapy.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/129245/(8)-natural-born-killers-cell-therapy-immunotherapy.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
The staggering clinical trial failure rate of experimental drugs indicates that despite huge investments in novel technologies over the years, productivity gains in the pharmaceutical industry remained elusive. It is therefore generally agreed that the current biopharma model is unsustainable and disruptive approaches are needed to remedy the status quo.
The biopharmaceutical industry is looking towards artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up drug discovery, cut R&D costs, decrease failure rates in drug trials and eventually create improved medicines. At last count (May 2018), there are about 81 Startups and 19 Pharma companies using AI for drug discovery (2).
In part 3 of this series of 3 episodes, we discuss Emergent Intelligence - A new paradigm for drug discovery
Original article by Dr Anton Fliri, Dr Palaniyandi Manivasakam, Dr Shama Kajiji, Dr Gerald Lushington and Dr Rathnam Chaguturu
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/business/p322388-disruptive-approaches-to-accelerate-drug-discovery-and-development-(part-2).html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/131035/(5)-disruptive-approaches-pt-2.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
The staggering failure rate of experimental drugs in clinical trials indicates that despite huge investments in novel technologies, productivity gains in the pharmaceutical industry remain elusive. The pharmaceutical industry is facing a serious innovation deficit.
The current biopharma model is therefore unsustainable and disruptive approaches are needed to remedy the status quo. It is incumbent upon the biomedical research community to harness the collective intelligence of pharma, biotech, academia, governmental agencies, non-profit research foundations and patient advocacy groups to accelerate innovation.
In part 2 of this series of 3 episodes, we discuss the core model.
Original article by Ibis Sanchez-Serrano, Dr Tom Pfeifer and Dr Rathnam Chaguturu
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/business/p322101-disruptive-approaches-to-accelerate-drug-discovery-and-development-(part-1).html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/129242/(5)-disruptive-approaches-to-accelerate-drug-discovery--development.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
The staggering failure rate of experimental drugs in clinical trials indicates that despite huge investments in novel technologies, productivity gains in the pharmaceutical industry remain elusive. The pharmaceutical industry is facing a serious innovation deficit.
The current biopharma model is therefore unsustainable and disruptive approaches are needed to remedy the status quo.
It is incumbent upon the biomedical research community to harness the collective intelligence of pharma, biotech, academia, governmental agencies, non-profit research foundations and patient advocacy groups to accelerate innovation.
In part 1 of this series of 3 episodes, we discuss tools and technologies.
Original article by Ibis Sanchez-Serrano, Dr Tom Pfeifer and Dr Rathnam Chaguturu
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/business/p322101-disruptive-approaches-to-accelerate-drug-discovery-and-development-(part-1).html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/129242/(5)-disruptive-approaches-to-accelerate-drug-discovery--development.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
There is a new phenomenon sweeping the globe (or at least sweeping the imagination of people around the globe). It is the human gut microbiome and the role it may play in the future of human health.
Recent reports have indicated that the human gut microbiome may be implicated in a whole variety of health conditions such as metabolism, obesity, diabetes, immunity and autism. If you can name it, there has probably been something written about the condition and the gut microbiome.
One thing is for certain and that is that the gut microbiome has a role in protecting the human host from disease.
Original article by Lee Jones, who is the Founder, President and CEO of Rebiotix
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/therapeutics/p315010-the-human-micobiomea-new-frontier-in-drug-discovery.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/113376/the-human-microbiome.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com
Microfluidic platforms that harness picodroplet technology (picolitre volume aqueous droplets in stabilised oil emulsions) are unlocking the potential of single cell analysis to enable exciting new discoveries and advances with the potential to transform scientific research, drug development and precision medicine.
These systems compartmentalise single cells and trap their released molecules, enabling tens of millions of novel single cell tests to be performed on each biochip per day.
Our scientific understanding of cellular processes and signalling pathways has historically been informed by analyses of cellular populations, providing a global appreciation of molecular responses to external stimuli. However, this approach is inherently limited as it provides information only regarding the average response of the population and doesn’t account for heterogeneity (1).
Original article by Dr Frank F. Craig
If you'd like to view the original article then follow the link below:
https://www.ddw-online.com/enabling-technologies/p322392-microfluidics-driving-innovation-and-streamlining-single-cell-analysis.html
You can also download the original article pdf here:
https://www.ddw-online.com/media/32/131037/(7)-microfluidics-driving-innovation.pdf
For more information on Drug Discovery World, head to:
https://www.ddw-online.com