Drug Discovery & Pharmaceuticals


New Kits to Support Drug Development and Candidate Optimisation Launched


Hypha Discovery Limited, a leading microbial biotechnology company specialising in biocatalytic solutions for pharmaceutical and agricultural R&D companies, has launched its new line of PolyCYPs® kits. These provide scientists with a scalable, easy-to-use, oxidative catalytic technology to help meet regulatory safety testing requirements and for optimisation of drug leads prior to selection of the development candidate.


The PolyCYPs® platform is the vision of CSO Jonathan Steele who, together with fellow scientists at Hypha Discovery and Professor John Ward at University College London – supported by funding from Innovate UK – has leveraged Hypha’s proven microbial biotransformation technology to create the PolyCYPs® range. The platform enables the synthesis of cytochrome P450 (CYP) derived human and other mammalian metabolites, as well as novel hydroxylated derivatives. The diverse enzymes in the kit have been cloned from a selection of Hypha’s most effective biotransforming strains and have been proven to catalyse a variety of oxidation reactions.


PolyCYPs® kits are designed for two key applications. The kits synthesise CYP-derived metabolites of pharmaceutical drugs and agrochemical compounds to enable their identification and biological testing. In addition, the kits provide medicinal chemists with a tool to make arrays of polar derivatives in isolatable yields for identification and bioassay. These new polar derivatives can have advantages such as improved drug distribution, metabolism and excretion properties, as well as increased solubility and potency, and could ultimately increase the number of viable new chemical entities in development pipelines. Scalability is a key feature of PolyCYPs®with resupply of specific enzymes in the form of freeze-dried powders. Alternatively, outsourced screening and/or large scale production and purification is available at Hypha. The kits are provided in an easy-to-use format containing everything needed to conduct reactions – the user simply needs to add water.


Liam Evans, CEO of Hypha Discovery, said, “PolyCYPs® is an exciting evolution of Hypha’s leading biotransformation expertise. Supplying our clients with the means to quickly produce metabolites that are otherwise difficult to identify and synthesise satisfies an unmet technical need. This cutting-edge product is the result of four years of collaboration with Professor John Ward of University College London to whom we are very grateful, as we are to Innovate UK for their significant financial support. We predict strong growth in sales of this product line based on the positive feedback from our customers.”


More information online: https://ilmt.co/PL/2GjD 48179pr@reply-direct.com Water Activity Analyser for Pharmaceutical Applications


Labcell Ltd has introduced the latest Series 4TE instrument. It is an accurate, quick, simple and cost-effective way in which pharmaceutical companies can gain valuable information about gels, powders, pastes and tablets.


The AquaLab Series 4TE makes accurate measurements of the water activity in active ingredients, excipients and formulations. Water activity measurements are essential when following due course and process as part of GMP (good manufacturing practice) because water activity has a significant bearing on product stability, as well as the handleability of materials in production and packaging equipment.


AquaLab Series 4TE is a precise yet easy-to-use instrument which enables lab-quality measurements of water activity to be made in the production environment. It is suitable for use by formulation and research and development teams, as well as those working on new packaging designs.


A feature of the AquaLab Series 4TE is temperature equilibration allowing users to set the sample temperature to anything from 15 to 50ºC; the analyser then maintains that temperature throughout the test. The instrument has a measurement range of 0.030 to 1.000 aw, an accuracy of +/-0.003 aw and a repeatability of +/-0.001 aw.


Users in the pharmaceutical industry will appreciate the way in which the AquaLab Series 4TE handles data with a strong emphasis on traceability. Data is captured on the instrument and cannot easily be deleted; it can also be downloaded to a computer for archiving and more detailed analysis. Up to 8,000 data points can be stored securely on the AquaLab and the date, time and operator is logged for every measurement and calibration.


Labcell also supplies the AquaLab Series 4TEV which is identical to the Series 4TE in most respects yet benefits from an additional hygroscopic polymer capacitance sensor for analysing samples containing volatiles. Users can switch between this sensor and the standard dewpoint sensor via the instrument’s front panel menu. Accuracy with the volatiles sensor is +/-0.015 aw.


Labcell Ltd is the sole UK distributor for the AquaLab Series 4TE water activity analyser and has extensive experience supplying this instrument and its predecessors to blue-chip pharmaceutical companies. Detailed information can be downloaded directly from Labcell’s website at www.labcell.com.


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Extended CRISPR Screening Service to Primary Human T Cells Announced


Horizon Discovery Group plc, a global leader in gene editing and gene modulation technologies, has announced the extension of its CRISPR Screening Service to include ex vivo T lymphocytes. The service extension meets the requirements of immunology-based research in drug discovery, enabling new gene targets to be identified in biologically and potentially therapeutically relevant settings.


CRISPR screens in primary T lymphocytes have proved challenging, owing to complex issues around the introduction of the screening components and Cas9 in particular. Horizon has adapted its established CRISPRko (knockout) platform to address these issues and to deliver a robust screening platform in human T lymphocytes, which will enable complex biological processes, novel targets and more effective drug therapies to be investigated in a therapeutically relevant cell type.


Horizon has added CRISPRko screens in ex vivo T lymphocytes to its established CRISPR screening formats – CRISPRko, CRISPRi (interference) and CRISPRa (activation) – in cancer cell lines. The Company’s extension of its CRISPRko Screening Service strengthens its existing immuno-oncology platform and reinforces its commitment to supporting researchers working in this rapidly growing field of research.


Terry Pizzie, Chief Executive Officer, Horizon Discovery Group, commented: “The successful demonstration of primary human T cells in Horizon’s CRISPR screening platforms is a breakthrough format for our clients working in the immuno-oncology space; enabling them to find gene targets and potential therapeutic avenues in an immediately biologically relevant setting rather than having to work through surrogate cell lines. We expect that this approach will allow our customers to save considerable time and resources in downstream validation, helping them to get therapeutics to the clinic faster.”


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