On January 5, 2022 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO), the world leader in serving science, and PeproTech, Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of recombinant proteins, reported that Thermo Fisher completed its acquisition of PeproTech on December 30, 2021 for a total cash purchase price of approximately $1.85 billion (Press release, Thermo Fisher Scientific, JAN 5, 2022, View Source,-a-Leader-in-Recombinant-Proteins [SID1234598302]).

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Based in Cranbury, New Jersey, PeproTech is a privately held provider of bioscience reagents known as recombinant proteins, including cytokines and growth factors. Recombinant proteins are used in the development and manufacturing of cell and gene therapies as well as in broader cell culture applications, especially for use in cellular research models. PeproTech’s recombinant proteins portfolio complements Thermo Fisher’s cell culture media products and will enable Thermo Fisher to provide customers significant benefits through an integrated offering.

"PeproTech will be an excellent strategic fit within our biosciences business and will allow us to even better serve our pharma and biotech customers by adding new capabilities to our existing offering," said Marc N. Casper, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific. "In combination with our proprietary bioprocessing and cell culture technologies, this complementary transaction positions us to partner with our customers to drive the evolution of the fast-growing market for cell and gene therapies. By leveraging our commercial reach, we will be able to efficiently grow the PeproTech business and generate attractive financial results all while furthering our Mission to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer."

Casper added, "With more than three decades of experience across a broad range of applications for drug development and therapeutic products, the PeproTech team has built long-standing customer relationships in pharma and biotech and life sciences research. We look forward to welcoming their incredibly talented team to Thermo Fisher."

Bob Goldman, president and co-founder of PeproTech, commented, "We are pleased to join Thermo Fisher given their team’s outstanding industry leadership and shared commitment to develop innovative therapies that improve patient outcomes. PeproTech’s reputation for unparalleled product consistency and quality directly aligns with that of Thermo Fisher’s, and we look forward to building on our success as part of the world leader in serving science."

PeproTech will become part of the biosciences business within Thermo Fisher and will be integrated into the Life Sciences Solutions Segment.

On January 5, 2022 Cyclenium Pharma, Inc. ("Cyclenium"), an emerging pharmaceutical company specializing in the discovery and development of novel therapeutic agents based on their proprietary macrocyclic chemistry, and Vuja De Sciences, Inc. ("Vuja De"), a biotechnology startup dedicated to discovering therapies that target the unique vulnerability of undetected disseminated tumor cells before they can cause deadly metastatic cancer recurrence, reported the signing of a drug discovery collaboration agreement (Press release, Cyclenium, JAN 5, 2022, View Source [SID1234598300]). The companies will screen and optimize lead candidates to advance treatments uniquely suited for preventing cancer metastatic recurrence, the biggest unmet need in oncology.

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The collaboration will exploit Vuja De’s proprietary anti-metastatic progression in vitro and ex vivo drug discovery screening platform and Cyclenium’s proprietary QUEST Library of next generation synthetic small-molecule macrocycles and associated optimization expertise to identify clinical candidates effective against dormant disseminated tumor cells for the prevention of metastatic cancer recurrence. Vuja De will be responsible for all screening efforts, while Cyclenium will be responsible for all medicinal chemistry efforts to generate new optimized macrocyclic compounds by employing its unique CMRT Technology.

"We are very excited about entering this collaboration with Vuja De," stated Helmut Thomas, Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Scientific Officer of Cyclenium. "We are confident that our CMRT Technology and proven success in the macrocycle area combined with the innovative anti-metastatic progression platform and excellent research team at Vuja De will enable the discovery and development of novel macrocyclic therapeutic agents to effectively control metastatic progression."

"We highly appreciate Cyclenium’s expertise in the macrocycle area and their technology platform that is based on over 20 years of pioneering experience in small molecule macrocyclic chemistry," said David Warshawsky, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Vuja De. "We are very pleased to work with Cyclenium on identifying and developing novel game-changing drug candidates that prevent metastatic recurrence, the most urgent need of most cancer patients," he added.

On January 5, 2022 Polaris Quantum Biotech (POLARISqb), a NC-based quantum computing drug design company, and PhoreMost Limited, a UK-based biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing drugs against intractable disease targets, reported a collaboration to study oncology targets currently considered undruggable (Press release, PhoreMost, JAN 5, 2022, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/polarisqb-and-phoremost-announce-a-multi-target-collaboration-to-investigate-next-generation-cancer-therapies-301454055.html [SID1234598299]).

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Under the terms of the agreement, the POLARISqb Tachyon quantum computing platform will be used to scan billions of molecules from a large chemical space, to find novel molecular drugs, based on the information obtained from PhoreMost’s SITESEEKER phenotypic screening platform. Together, this partnership aims to discover and develop the next generation of oncology therapies.

PhoreMost’s novel target-identification platform, SITESEEKER, rapidly identifies unexpected or "cryptic" druggable sites across the entire genome, within targets previously considered undruggable, using the inherent shape diversity and disease functionality of PROTEINi (protein interference) protein-fragment libraries in live cells. POLARISqb has built the first ever drug discovery platform using a quantum computer, Tachyon, which has the potential to drastically shorten the drug discovery process. By utilizing the increased power of quantum computers, POLARISqb is able to perform combinatorial optimizations in minutes that would take classical supercomputers months or even years to complete, leading to reduced drug development timelines and more efficient research.

"This collaboration is a significant milestone for POLARISqb," said Dr. Shahar Keinan, POLARISqb CEO. "Quantum Computing technology is coming of age, allowing us to revolutionize drug discovery timelines and budgets, while improving the overall profile of the designed drugs.. The experience and speed of PhoreMost’s technology is a great match to POLARISqb and we are excited to work together."

Dr Chris Torrance, CEO, PhoreMost, commented: "This partnership represents the ultimate ambition for any collaboration between biology and technology, where the full diversity of newly identified druggable disease targets generated by biological PROTEINi shape-libraries can now be married to the most logical and rapid method of finding small-molecule drugs to them. This best-in-class intersection of biotech and AI is going to be an exciting and transformative milestone for the entire pharmaceutical industry."

On January 5, 2022 Bio-Techne (NASDAQ: TECH), a global life sciences company providing innovative tools and bioactive reagents for the research and clinical diagnostic communities, and Akoya Biosciences, Inc., (NASDAQ: AKYA), The Spatial Biology Company, reported a partnership to develop the first single-cell, spatial multiomics workflow for comprehensive, unbiased analysis of tissue samples (Press release, Bio-Techne, JAN 5, 2022, View Source [SID1234598298]).

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Through this agreement, the partners will bring to the market an automated, spatial multiomics workflow that can perform rapid, in situ analysis of multiple analytes, at single cell resolution, across whole slides. Akoya’s PhenoCycler-Fusion System, due to launch in early January 2022, will run the company’s well-established protein imaging assays in addition to automating Advanced Cell Diagnostics’, a Bio-Techne brand, proven and highly cited RNAScope HiPlex v2 assay for RNA imaging. The partnership exemplifies the commitment of both companies to offer researchers greater access to innovative and open access solutions for spatial biology applications.

RNA and protein expression offer complementary insights into cell states and phenotypes. Combining the PhenoCycler-Fusion workflow with the RNAScope HiPlex v2 assay has the potential to accelerate scientific understanding of human health and complex diseases like cancer. Spatial multiomics approaches can also unlock new biomarker diagnostic signatures, enabling better stratification of patients and ultimately improving treatment outcomes.

Backed by over 4,500 peer-reviewed publications, RNAScope Assays are an established standard for spatial RNA imaging. Under the terms of the agreement, Bio-Techne and Akoya will develop and co-market protocols to enable automated workflows for running RNAScope assays on Akoya’s spatial phenotyping systems.

This new combined workflow complements Akoya’s spatial transcriptomics capabilities, currently under development, serving as an important validation tool for deep spatial phenotyping applications.

"We are excited to partner with Akoya to accelerate multiomic spatial phenotyping in translational and clinical disease research," said Kim Kelderman, President of Bio-Techne’s Diagnostics and Genomics Segment. "Akoya’s established leadership in spatial phenotyping automation and multiplex protein biomarker imaging is uniquely complementary to Bio-Techne’s proven expertise in specific and sensitive multiplex RNA detection in cells and tissues. Enabling Akoya’s large and rapidly growing installed base with an automated HiPlex RNAScope workflow provides a uniquely powerful solution to advance discovery research and diagnostic assay development across a wide range of diseases."

"The life sciences market has long needed an approach that provides an unbiased, multiomics view of tissue biology and architecture, which is critical for understanding complex mechanisms of disease and response to therapy," said Brian McKelligon, Chief Executive Officer of Akoya Biosciences. "The partnership with Bio-Techne, which revolutionized RNA in situ hybridization methods, can further empower researchers with the spatial tools and technologies required to ignite innovation, and break barriers to advance discovery of new biomarkers and improve treatment options."

On January 5, 2022 Bausch Health Companies Inc. (NYSE/TSX: BHC) reported that Joseph C. Papa, chairman and chief executive officer, is scheduled to participate at the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. ET (Press release, Bausch Health, JAN 5, 2022, View Source [SID1234598297]).

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A live webcast and audio archive of the event will be available on the Investor Relations page of the Bausch Health Companies Inc. website at: View Source