This week's life sciences industry news includes items on a research collaboration focused on supporting people with autism, the launch of a new drug distribution partnership, a pending acquisition, and more.
Here is the roundup:
Bancroft and Drexel University
The South Jersey nonprofit has formed a research partnership with the Philadelphia university's A.J. Drexel Autism Institute aimed at improving the lives of people living with autism.
The collaboration — which already landed its first research grant — unites Bancroft, a Cherry Hill-based provider of specialized services for individuals with autism, intellectual or developmental disabilities, and those in need of neurological rehabilitation, with the A.J. Drexel Institute, which was founded by Drexel University 10 years ago as the first autism research center in the country to focus on public health research in autism.
The Autism Science Foundation awarded a $35,000 grant to researchers from Bancroft and Drexel to examine the relationship between self-injurious behavior and medical conditions in people with profound autism.
Giacomo Vivanti, an associate professor at Drexel and leader of the early detection and Intervention research program at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, will serve as principal investigator for the grant he co-wrote with Tracy Kettering from Bancroft.
The study will also assess the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of new ways to create successful health care visits for people with profound autism.
“This project is critical because it focuses on a neglected population within the autism spectrum, those who have medical conditions but often have limited access to medical care” said Vivanti. “By engaging with this population, examining their needs, and testing new ways to address them, we will learn new strategies to improve their well-being.”
Kettering echoed those sentiments saying she believes the project will improve the lives of people with profound autism. “For this population," Kettering said, "basic medical care can be out of reach for a variety of reasons causing behaviors that could be prevented if underlying needs were met. [We] would like to change that.”
The researchers hope to leverage the one-year grant to secure more grant money for further autism research.
AmerisourceBergen
The Conshohocken-based wholesale pharmaceutical distribution and services company has started serving as Civica Inc.’s exclusive distribution partner.
Civica is the nonprofit generic pharmaceutical company created by hospital systems and philanthropies in 2018 to reduce and prevent chronic drug shortages in hospitals — and the "unpredictable price spikes" that often accompany them.
Philadelphia-area members of Civica include ChristianaCare based in Wilmington; St. Luke’s University Health Network, whose hospitals include its Upper Bucks Campus in Milford Township; and Trinity Health, parent company for Newtown Square-based Trinity Healthcare Mid-Atlantic.
Independence Blue Cross in Philadelphia and Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey were among 18 Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurers that invested $55 million in Civica in 2020.
AmerisourceBergen (NYSE: ABC) entered into a distribution agreement with Civica in November 2022, with services being rolled out in phases throughout the first half of 2023.
“Together, we will ensure providers across the United States receive the medications they need, when and where they need them, for essential patient care,” said Ned McCoy, CEO of Civica.
Matt Glucksmann, president of health systems and government services at AmerisourceBergen, said the goal of the partnership is to make essential generic medications more accessible to providers and patients.
Colorcon
The Harleysville-based supplier of pharmaceutical technologies and products has entered into an agreement to buy Airnov Healthcare Packaging of France.
Financial terms of the deal are being kept confidential.
The transaction is subject to French Works Council review and other regulatory approvals. The deal, according to Colorcon, could close during the first quarter of 2023.
Airnov, which is owned by the private equity firm Arsenal Capital Partners, provides health care industries with controlled atmosphere packaging — such as canisters, packets and specially designed plastic bottles containing oxygen barrier materials — to protect products from moisture and oxygen. The company has manufacturing facilities in the United States, France, China and India and employs about 700 people.
Simon Tasker, CEO of Colorcon, said Airnov's business is complementary to Colorcon's portfolio of products and support services to the pharmaceutical, nutritional, and animal health industries worldwide. He also said the acquisition, if finalized, would "provide synergies in terms of technical, customer and regulatory support to accelerate our customers' product development and commercialization."
Colorcon, which has about 1,300 employees, specializes in the design and technical support of advanced coating systems, modified release technologies and functional inactive substances for pharmaceutical products.
Quick Hits
Berwyn-based Annovis Bio (NYSE: ANVS) said it has filed a patent application, titled "Treatment of mental illness via administration of buntanetap and analogues," that extends the breadth of the company's platform from neurodegenerative to neuropsychiatric indications. Annovis is developing buntanetap initially as a treatment for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, but the patent application shows the company believes its therapy may also have applications in disorders including autism, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia. … Ocugen Inc. (NASDAQ: OCGN) of Exton appointed Quan A. Vu as the company's chief business officer. Vu, previously chief operating officer at 180 Life Sciences of Palo Alto, California, will be responsible for securing new business development partnerships including in/out licensing opportunities. … Plymouth Meeting-based Inovio (NASDAQ: INO) reported positive results from a Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating INO-4201, a DNA vaccine candidate, as a booster for the Ebola vaccine Ervebo.
