John Montana

So, who exactly is Avacta, and why should you care? Well, #AVCT is a British biotech company that’s spearheading innovations in cancer treatment. They’ve got two main divisions: Therapeutics, where they’re developing next-generation cancer drugs, and Diagnostics, which helps healthcare professionals with advanced testing tools. But it’s really their Therapeutics Division that’s turning heads, especially with their novel cancer treatment approach, aiming to target tumours more precisely than ever before. https://lnkd.in/ecvZ-mwX

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Rapid, detailed cell analysis technology soon ready to assess the difference it can make to process insights and timelines

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DNA sequencing has been crucial in deepening our comprehension of organisms' genetic composition, enabling the diagnosis of genetic disorders, and setting the stage for customized therapies. In a recent conversation with Nava Whiteford, currently working as consultant at 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗟𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱, we covered key subjects such as the progress of DNA sequencing, its role in personalized medicine, the anticipated advancements in DNA sequencing technology, and the obstacles and strategies for overcoming them. Read more here https://lnkd.in/gnjm6JXD #lbs #lbs24 #londonbiotechnologyshow #biotechnology #innovation #bioinformatics #medtech #agriculture #bioengineering #innovation #lifesciences #bioenergy #genetics

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🌟 Exciting Updates from EMBT 50th Annual Meeting Congress! 🌟 🚀 We had the opportunity to showcase our revolutionary Hub-and-Spoke Model for efficiently delivering cell therapies to patients, led by Jesus Fernandez Sojo. As leaders in cord blood banking, transplantation, and the incorporation of CART technology from the industry, we're proud to highlight some key aspects of our model: 1. Centralization and Coordination: Our Hub-and-Spoke Model allows us to standardize the quality of all our products across Catalonia, ensuring consistency and excellence in patient care. 2. Cutting-Edge Technology: By investing in automation, we maintain a high level of product safety, leveraging the latest advancements to safeguard patient well-being. 3. Expanded Transplant Activity: We're thrilled to report our capacity to support a high volume of transplant activities, extending our services to hospitals beyond Catalonia, even across Spain. 4. Academic Advanced Therapies:From mesenchymal therapies to TILs (Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes) and VSTs (Virus-Specific T Cells), we offer a diverse range of advanced therapies to hospitals in Catalonia, empowering clinicians with innovative treatment options. 5. Concordia Program: Our Hub-and-Spoke Model serves as a benchmark nationwide through the Concordia Program, showcasing our leadership as one of Europe's foremost cord blood banks. 6. Cord Blood Donation 2.0:Introducing our groundbreaking Cord Blood Donation 2.0 program, enabling the provision of novel treatments with cord blood hematopoietic cells, plasma, and platelets. 7. Cellular Therapy Research: We're driving innovation with research initiatives like the development of immunopotent stem cell lines by Belén Alvarez Palomo and the optimization of bioprocesses in cellular therapy by Joaquim Vives, paving the way for groundbreaking treatments. Thanks to: The EBMT Novartis Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies Fact-Netcord, CAT, Jacie. Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau Barcelona Children's Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge Clinica Mutua de Terrassa Hospital Universitari de Girona Dr. Josep Trueta - Atenció Primària ICS Girona Hospital Universitari Joan XXIII Catalan Institute of Oncology

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Calling all vendors... your first event of 2025 could be in the bag! 🙌 ⭐ RESEARCH & INNOVATION 2025 Big molecules to big data…thinking BIG to drive innovation  📍 Royal Society of Medicine, London, 10 – 11 March 2025 View the floorplan & book a booth here ✅ https://lnkd.in/eFYAwEpe Day 1 - Big molecules – that term can encompass a wide variety of molecular types and actually molecular sizes. Arpan Desai and Marijn Vlaming, track chairs explain that the presentations are designed to drawing learning points from both the successes and the challenges across the different classes of therapeutic agents. For example, in the early days of developing therapeutic antibodies and getting them approved, some of the challenges seems impossible yet it was achieved through developing new technologies and approaches to generate the data needed. With the proliferation of new modalities it’s important that we learn from those that already have achieved approval. With this in mind, the ‘Big technology for big molecules’ track is looking at compound design, manufacturing routes, formulations and delivery platform and new analyses for safety, efficacy and biomarkers. While ‘Big molecules for big problems’ is focusing on how these new modalities open up intractable disease targets looking at genomic medicines, protein-based medicines and more. Day 2 - Big data can mean different things to different people, so Thierry Dorval and Sara Imarisio, track chairs, explained their vision for the presentations at Research and Innovation 2025. During the morning a range of speakers will explore how the use of large data sets is changing drug discovery. AI and machine learning can be employed to support multiple steps but the morning session is looking a de novo design of new drug candidates of all modalities, from both the combinatorial chemistry aspect to using existing in vitro data to select compounds with better pharmacological properties. Afternoon speakers will discuss how data-driven approaches, such as biomarker discovery and patient stratification, are enabling the development of next-generation treatments in neurodegenerative diseases. By integrating insights from various data sources, researchers aim to identify individuals who are most likely to benefit from innovative therapies, bridging the gap between research and patient outcomes. Scientific exhibition space and talk time is available! Plus the Breakthrough Zone will be open for young companies at R&I 2025. For more information, to have a conversation about opportunities or to request a quote email [email protected] Sarah Brockbank Roger Clark

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Cytomos raises £5m to advance scalable cell-analysis tech for drug discovery New investment enables the scale-up of Celledonia platform to transform biologics development and manufacturing. #biotech

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This latest episode was inspired by the upcoming biosecurity regulations in the USA. I did some research on the topic to provide information regarding China, USA, UK and the EU. I hope you will find it interesting. #clinicalresearch #genomicdata #biosecurity

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The Oxford Drug Design team had a fantastic day at the Life Science Nation (LSN) RESI Europe 2024 Conference in Barcelona yesterday. 🔬 Our CEO, Dr Alan D. Roth was invited to present our pioneering AI drug discovery platform, SynthAI, as part of the Innovators Pitch Challenge. SynthAI employs a proprietary generative approach, utilising deep reinforcement learning integrated with our proprietary databases to generate only molecules with the desired activity that can be made, and made economically. This in turn leads to a streamlined therapeutic discovery process impacting patient lives faster. It was a pleasure connecting with investors in the sector, including Invivo Partners and Korion Life Sciences. 🚀 We’re actively seeking Series A investment to drive our next phase of growth. Our platform has already delivered in vivo proof of concept for a first-in-class approach against cancer, and we have ambitious plans for the efficient discovery of new drugs that this investment will support. For more on our company or investment opportunities visit 👉 https://lnkd.in/dEptKXh #cancerresearch #angelinvesting #drugdiscovery #investment #venturecapital

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Congratulations, Mestag Therapeutics! The Cambridge-based biotech shared in a £12 million Innovate UK grant to advance nextgen immunotherapies for cancer, securing £1.5m of the total UK allocation. Harnessing new insights into fibroblast-immune interactions, Mestag is using the award to accelerate the development of its MST-0300 antibody. MST-0300 is a first-in-class bispecific antibody designed to induce TLS in solid tumours in a highly specific and localised fashion. The presence of TLS in tumours has recently emerged as being strongly correlated with improved outcomes for cancer patients across multiple tumour types. #mabs https://lnkd.in/dTBkp-7C

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Join Matthew Hewitt's presentation, “Fast technology coupled with deliberate regulatory: How can the field adapt new guidance to meet therapeutic demand?” CAR-TCR Summit Series As the number of CGT market approvals accelerates, Matt will discuss challenges in manufacturing and address how working collaboratively with partners and regulators aids in tackling the pain points of therapeutic development and clinical trial design. Don't miss this insightful session on regulatory guidance. https://okt.to/KTZMwk #cartcr #cgtdevelopment #celltherapy

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📢🔬Just announced: Exa-cel becomes the UK’s first CRISPR-based therapy to be made available on the NHS. Today, NICE has issued final draft guidance recommending exa-cel, also known as Casgevy, should be funded for patients between the ages of 12 and 35 with transfusion-dependent beta thalassaemia (TDT) – an inherited condition that affects red blood cells, which are used to carry oxygen around the body. Prior to this decision, the only curative treatment available to people with beta-thalassaemia was a donor stem cell transplant - but not all patients have a suitable donor available. Exa-cel can now provide a ‘functional cure’ for people unable to have a stem cell transplant by introducing genetically modified, healthy red blood cells into eligible patients. Whilst this is fantastic news for patients with thalassemia, we’re still awaiting a decision from NICE around the use of Exa-cel for patients with sickle cell, as Yasmin Sheikh, head of policy and public affairs at Anthony Nolan notes: “We hope this game-changing therapy will also be funded for people with sickle cell, where it also has huge promise and is desperately needed. The sickle cell community has been waiting for many months now for NICE and the manufacturer of Casgevy, Vertex, to come to an agreement over bringing this therapy to the NHS for people with sickle cell.” Find out more about the approval of Exa-cel for thalassemia: https://lnkd.in/eVk5bdAe

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▶️ New blog: Accessing the Skills for Successful Drug Discovery, by Graeme Wilkinson, Head of Virtual R&D at MDC. This article explores the skills that are required for successful drug discovery and how they can be efficiently brought together, by accessing the right people externally in parallel with developing the abilities in your internal team. 🔗 https://hubs.li/Q02Fw1sJ0 #AccessingSkills #MDCConnects #DrugDiscovery

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In Drug Development & Delivery's recent special feature report on outsourcing #formulation development and #manufacturing, Abzena's Head of Formulation, Dr Gary Watts, discusses our customer-centric approach that supports complex biologics and ADCs throughout their entire lifecycle. From #preformulation and generation of formulations for toxicology and first-in-human (FIH) trials through to clinical in-use studies, formulation optimization, robust­ness, and device interaction studies, we streamline and de-risk the development path for our customers. Gary shares, "Broadly speaking, Abzena applies two approaches to formulation studies: First-in-Clinic approach, which is a streamlined methodology focused on enabling the cus­tomer to obtain FIH results in the shortest time possible; and a Best-in-Clinic ap­proach, focused on providing a superior product format to the competitors, often applied after Phase 1." Click here to access the full report and learn more about our unique two-pronged approach: https://lnkd.in/gp88BJQF #CDMO #CRO #drugdevelopment #biologics #ADCs

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This week at the BioIndustry Association (BIA)'s bioProcessUK 2024 event, Stephen Ward, Chief Technology Officer at the CGT Catapult, joined an panel discussion on #sustainable manufacturing. The panel provided expert insights into the future of cell and gene therapy and the need for manufacturing to align with commercial goals. Learn more about upcoming events we are involved in: https://ow.ly/6KH950Ub5Sf #bioProcessUK #BIA #CellandGene

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📢 Why public-private partnerships are crucial for UK clinical trials 📢 NWEH welcomes comments from the Minister for Science Lord Vallance speaking yesterday (7 November) at the Financial Times Global Pharma and Biotech Summit in London, stating that Labour seek closer ties with commercial clinical industry to ignite innovation. NWEH is a Manchester based pioneer in clinical trial technologies, using transformative solutions and expertise to streamline clinical trial management, for trials that are smarter, faster and truer-to-life. Our expertise and technology have been long recognised resulting in our recently announced pilot that will test a new model for safely and securely finding participants for clinical trials, using the Medicine and Healthcare product Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) data services. This initiative aims to improve the speed, scale, inclusivity and representativeness of participants found for novel clinical trials. If successful, the new model could result in enhanced innovation and efficiencies in medical research, improving public access to clinical trials to support the discovery and validation of advanced approaches to treatment and be expanded across the UK. Discover more about the NWEH pilot here https://lnkd.in/enxVevw9 #ClinicalTrials #Innovation #Healthcare #LifeSciences #MHRA #CPRD #ClinicalResearch #Pharma #Pharmaceutical #DiscoverMore #DeliverBetter https://lnkd.in/e9mEjM5y

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Two months after ELRIG UK Drug Discovery, it’s great to see the conversations and insights continuing! At the event, we shared updates on our SITESEEKER screening platform, identifying novel druggable sites across the human proteome to advance future therapies. If you didn’t get the chance to stop by, check out our poster, “Uncovering New Pathways for Targeted Protein Degradation", highlighting SITESEEKER’s ability to target E3 ligases with small molecules for effective protein degradation. Read our poster on News Medical: https://lnkd.in/eAEnS_f6 #TPD #DegraderTherapeutics #ProteinDegradation

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