Guest blog | Repositive | Two opportunities for biopharmas to enhance their preclinical cancer research at AACR 2019

Two opportunities for biopharmas to enhance their preclinical cancer research at AACR 2019

A recent meta-analysis of clinical trials put the success rate for therapies in cancer indications progressing from first-in-human to approval at just 3.4%. That means a staggering 96.6% of cancer therapies fail during the clinical stages of drug development. In this blog post we discuss one of the key issues hindering preclinical cancer drug development and explore the latest initiatives that are helping to advance new cancer treatments to the clinic.

One of the fundamental challenges that translational oncology researchers working in preclinical drug development currently face is finding the right preclinical cancer models for their projects. As cancer drug development accelerates towards precision medicine, there is now an increasing need for biopharmas to source cancer models with specific molecular and genomic characteristics, which can more accurately predict clinical outcomes. But with such a large variety of model types and technologies available worldwide and no standardisation of model data between providers, it has previously been difficult to find and compare cancer models from different Contract Research Organisations (CROs). So how can researchers ensure they are using the best available model for their research?

Over the last few years, innovative marketplaces have been created to help overcome this fragmentation and provide biopharma researchers with inventories of preclinical cancer models from providers across the globe. PDX Finder, for example, is an online platform cataloguing patient-derived xenografts models and their associated data from different suppliers. Meanwhile, Ximbio offers a portfolio of research reagents and supplies for biotech and pharma companies, including hybridomas, cell lines and mouse models. The world’s largest inventory of preclinical cancer models, known as the Cancer Models Platform, enables biopharma researcher to easily search and compare over 4,500 preclinical models in one single location from specialist providers around the world, thanks to the standardised model metadata. In addition, tailored cancer model search services are now available where oncology and bioinformatics experts are on hand to further support translational oncology researchers in finding their next model. Through personalised search services, experts can work with biopharmas to refine their model requirements and find a list of providers with models that match their specifications – all in complete confidence. By using a tailored search service, such as the Cancer Models Scout service, search times can be reduced from months down to an average of just a few weeks. This not only ensures that researchers working in biotech and pharma can get started on their projects much quicker, saving both time and money, but it crucially helps to accelerate the development of precision cancer therapies to the clinic for the benefit of patients.

If you’re interested to learn how Repositive’s Cancer Models Scout service can source your next preclinical cancer model in an average of just 2 weeks, come along to our booth at AACR 2019 (booth #4628) where we’ll be showcasing the scale and variety of models that we can search confidentially on your behalf via an interactive app.

As part of our commitment to enhancing the field of translational oncology, we’re also hosting an informal roundtable discussion at AACR 2019 titled: When first-line therapy fails: current challenges modelling metastasis & recurrence. Biopharma researchers and model providers working in the field can register for the event here.

Author: Repositive Team

Contact email address: [email protected]