In August 2019, 187 industry professionals responded to our survey on Analytics, Manufacturing & Supply Chain in cell and gene therapies. Dan Stanton, Editor of BioProcess Insider, analysed the results:
“When asked where the next big success and/or approval will lie in the cell and gene therapy industry, 47% ticked the “gene therapy” box. This may be slightly misleading as several gene therapies have already been commercialized, the latest being AveXis/Novartis’ Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec) priced at $2.1 million, and while we are still in the early days of the industry.
A quarter checked Solid Tumor treatment, which makes more sense as the CAR-Ts available and about to breakthrough are all focusing blood cancers. But more interesting is the written responses, with several stating allogeneic immunotherapies will be the next big thing in cell therapies.”
Download the Cell and Gene Therapy Supply Chain, Analytics and Manufacturing Report.
In June 2019, we asked 124 professionals working in peptides and oligonucleotides where they saw the industry going in the future in our State of the Industry survey. A large part of the survey focused on new technologies, which hold promising ways to innovate the discovery and delivery of these advanced medicines. CRISPR was seen as the technology with the biggest potential to transform drug development in this field in the next three years, followed by nanotechnology.
Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and mRNA made up the rest of the top four technologies.
Respondents were asked about the major advancements they expected to see in the next five years in each of the different areas. As the chart to the right shows, responses were varied, though common themes began to emerge. Delivery is a particularly important challenge facing those working on oligos, peptides and therapeutics, and one that the industry clearly hopes and expects to be improved on in 2020.
Download the full State of Oligo, Peptide, mRNA and CRISPR Therapeutics Report here.
Emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, next generation sequencing and display systems are changing the way antibodies are being engineered at a rapid rate. At the same time, novel approaches to identifying targets and delivering antibodies are improving therapeutic effectiveness.
In August 2019 we conducted a survey of industry professionals on how they are working with these emerging technologies today and how that will change in 2020. 211 professionals responded, representing pharma and biotech (52%), academia (28%), CDMOs, and CROs (9%), and service providers and consultancies (6%) from North America (46%), Europe (34%) and Asia (14%).
When asked on a scale of 1-10 how likely it is that their company will increase its use of either bioinformatics and computational tools or AI and machine learning in the next two years, the most common response for both was 10 (as the chart left shows).
Taking an average score out of 10 for each of the different technologies, bioinformatics and computational tools was the more popular, averaging 7.44 / 10, compared to 5.64 / 10 for AI and machine learning. However, with both relatively high, it is clear that technology is likely to play a central role in antibody engineering in the immediate future.
Download the full Emerging Technologies and Novel Approaches in Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics report here.
As with any new field of research, there is a lot of excitement around the potential of human microbiome therapeutics, but also a lot of uncertainty. In June 2019 we conducted a survey of microbiome therapeutics professionals around the world, revealing unique insights into how the future landscape looks around emerging technologies, manufacturing and commercialization.
The future of microbiome therapeutics is exciting yet still unclear. Everyone in the industry has different views on where the research will begin to focus and where the next advances will come. Indeed, when asked about where the next major advancement in microbiome therapeutics would be, respondents were split between diseases beyond the gut (42%) and understanding the mechanism of action (42%).
Digging deeper into diseases beyond the gut, the areas that respondents saw the most potential for growth away from gastrointestinal (26%), were autoimmune disorders (28%).
The balance of excitement and uncertainty around the area was reflected perfectly when respondents were asked how likely it was that in the next two years their company will submit a marketing application for a microbiome therapeutic product currently in their pipeline. Answers were split, with 42% saying it was ‘Unlikely’ or ‘Very Unlikely’ and 44% saying it was ‘Likely’ or ‘Very Likely’.
No microbiome therapeutic has achieved marketing approval yet, and respondents were split in what they think the first one will be. The most common prediction was a probiotic, followed by a Fecal Micobiota Transplant (FMT), c. difficile treatment and an acne product.
Whatever the first approval turns out to be, 2020 is set to be an important year for the field of human microbiome therapeutics.
Download The Future Landscape of Microbiome Therapeutics report here.
