Biodesix and Immodulon have announced a joint venture into biomarker research. The partnership will focus on the analysis of the circulating proteome of advanced pancreatic cancer patients treated with IMM-101 using the Biodesix Diagnostic Cortex machine learning platform.
The Biodesix proprietary machine learning platform “builds on recent advances in the artificial intelligence field to uncover clinically relevant and elaborate biomarker patterns and relationships.” This In turn enables personalised approaches to therapy selection and a better understanding of complex diseases like cancer. IMM-101 is Immodulon’s investigational immunotherapeutic candidate under development for various tumour types, including advanced pancreatic cancer.
Dr Jaap Kampinga, Immodulon’s CEO, said that in the IMAGE I randomised clinical trial, metastatic pancreatic cancer patients receiving IMM-101 and gemcitabine benefitted from a “59% increase in median overall survival compared to those receiving gemcitabine alone.”
He continued, “There was considerable variability, as is typical in pancreatic cancer, with some patients surviving much longer than others. From this collaboration and by utilising the Biodesix Diagnostic Cortex in identifying blood-based proteomic biomarkers, we hope to facilitate selection of those patients most likely to respond to IMM-101. This could improve the efficiency of treatment and patient care, and accelerate our clinical trial programmes.”
Immodulon recently appointed Thomas O. Kleen as chief scientific officer of the Company.
By: Anna Smith
Source: Pharma Times
CureVac and the University of Texas’s MD Anderson Cancer Center have announced a co-development and licensing agreement to develop novel messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)-based cancer vaccines. The strategic collaboration will focus on the development of differentiated cancer vaccine candidates in selected haematological and solid tumour indications with high unmet medical needs.
FUJIFILM Corporation is planning to invest $1.2 billion to expand the planned FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, US. This news follows the organisation’s announcement of a $2 billion investment in the facility in March 2021. This additional financial boost totals the investment to over $3.2 billion, FUJIFILM confirmed.
Sanofi’s global restructuring and downsizing is now fully underway, with layoffs stretching to the company’s Belgian offices. Belgian newspaper De Tijd reports that 67 employees have been laid off at a site in Ghent and 32 jobs are on the chopping block at Sanofi’s Belgium HQ in Diegem.
