Daiichi Sankyo announced on May 28 that it had entered an agreement with Syneos Health to form a coalition dedicated to bringing new cancer therapies to patients in a safe and effective manner.
Daiichi Sankyo announced on May 28 that it had entered an agreement with Syneos Health to form a coalition dedicated to bringing new cancer therapies to patients in a safe and effective manner.
Daiichi Sankyo is focused on the creation and supply of pharmaceutical therapies to serve unmet medical needs, while Syneos Health uses the latest technologies to speed up the delivery of critical therapies to patients.
“High unmet patient need and rapid scientific discovery in the oncology space are driving the need for a faster and more predictable approach to clinical development,” said Paul Colvin, President, Syneos Health Clinical Solutions. “We’re pleased to collaborate with an innovative company like Daiichi Sankyo, using our unique outsourced product development model to improve clinical trial performance for their advanced oncology portfolio.”
Under this new agreement, Syneos Health will provide strategic and operational solutions for three lead Daiichi Sankyo DXd antibody drug conjugates (ADCs): DS-1062, U3-1402 and DS-8201 (also known as Enhertu). The combined knowledge from Daiichi Sankyo and Syneos Health will also provide a more robust understanding of how patients are cared for and how clinical investigations can best be embedded in a clinic setting.
“We quickly recognized that our three flagship ADCs have transformative potential that our in-house structure and current CRO engagements could not deliver as fast as we feel obligated to for patients,” said Marielle Cohard Radice, Global Head of Development Operations, Daiichi Sankyo. “The ‘one-team and patient-first’ philosophy we have built with Syneos Health will enable evaluation of our development candidates in more therapeutic settings, more swiftly and more effectively.”
This is one of many collaborations that were reported in May 2020. Avrobio Inc. and Magenta Therapeutics also announced a research and clinical collaboration at the beginning of the month to evaluate the potential use of MGTA-117, a targeted antibody-drug conjugate.
“This agreement with Magenta springs from our strategic focus on maintaining technology leadership in gene therapy,” said Geoff MacKay, Avrobio’s president and CEO. “Avrobio has always led by investing early in technological innovations that further the field of lentiviral gene therapy, such as Plato, our proprietary platform designed to optimize the safety, potency and durability of our investigational lentiviral gene therapies. We’re continually assessing new technologies that could be complementary to our Plato platform to sustain our cutting-edge advantage and continue to evolve Plato’s capabilities.”
Novasep and Lysogene also revealed a collaboration effort at the end of May, dedicated to the development and manufacturing of LYS-GM101, an AAVrh10-based gene therapy drug candidate for the treatment of GM1 gangliosidosis.
“We, at Novasep, are delighted to pursue and extend our partnership with Lysogene,” said Cedric Volanti, Novasep’s President of Biopharma Solutions. “Novasep will bring its expertise and mobilize its production capacities to first help Lysogene in the clinical development of its innovative gene therapy treatment for GM1 gangliosidosis; and secondly, to shorten the transition to a commercial product manufacturing by ensuring a smooth process transfer to our commercial manufacturing facility.”
While Novasep is focused on providing cost-effective, sustainable manufacturing solutions for the life sciences industries, Lysogene is focused on the treatment of orphan diseases of the central nervous system through its gene therapies. This latest collaboration will help consolidate their long-standing partnership, which was initiated with the development and manufacturing of Lysogene’s lead gene therapy product, LYS-SAF302.
