Cognate BioServices Strategic Alliance with Akron Biotechnology: May 27, 2015: Further Movement to: "EVOLVE to being LOWEST COST PRODUCER"?
Under the proverbial radar but think this is the first post of above title:
Here's the Press Release:
Press Release | Wed May 27, 2015 10:43am EDT Akron Biotech and Cognate BioServices Announce Strategic Partnership * Reuters is not responsible for the content in this press release. Akron Biotech and Cognate BioServices Announce Strategic Partnership
Cognate BioServices, Inc. and Akron Biotechnology, LLC are pleased to announce a strategic partnership that brings two industry leaders together to provide a more complete package of services to their clients. Cognate is a leader in the provision of cGMP manufacturing services and regulatory support to companies and institutions engaged in the development of regenerative medicine and cell-based products and therapies. Akron Biotech is an innovative supplier of validated reagents, solutions and technologies to the cell therapy industry. Their relationship strengthens both companies and will unify their resources to better serve growing market demands internationally.
Akron Biotech founder and CEO Claudia Zylberberg, PhD, stated, “This partnership is a unique opportunity to integrate the offerings of our two companies to meet the growing needs of the industry by strategically reducing the cost of goods through enabling solutions and procurement of raw materials in a cost-efficient manner for our customers and Cognate clients.”
J. Kelly Ganjei, CEO of Cognate BioServices,(NEW CEO? YES: from LinkedIn:
Resident Entrepreneur, Principal, & CEO of selected portfolio companies Toucan Capital February 2008 – Present (7 years 8 months)Bethesda, MD The venture capital firm, initially focused on early stage regenerative medicine is currently managing a $140M portfolio with companies in various stages of development internationally. Mr. Ganjei serves as senior management and/or CEO of selected investments within the Toucan portfolio. • Revised, created, or provided guidance to existing management on the business plans, operational logistics, and financial strategies for 15 portfolio companies. • Negotiated or assisted in negotiating term sheets, financing and/or license agreements with more than 20 parties in a variety of confidential deal activity in excess of $50MM. • Serve as C-Level management for selected portfolio companies. • Lead multiple additive acquisitions (platform, therapeutic and competitive technology plays) • Actively participate in regulatory and strategy decisions regarding clinical development and commercialization, including, materially drafting and editing regulatory documents ranging from pre-IND submissions up to clinical and commercial stage. • Lead 3 portfolio company exits/deals (two partial partial exits/deals, and one full exit). • Operationally lead company downsizing, virtualization, and several restart/restructures. • Lead restart of contract manufacturing company to significant profitability, developed highly functioning international team of experts, diversified into multiple revenue streams, created solid balance sheet with expanding sales pipeline. • Organize and Manage strategic IP portfolio review and development. Worked with board to define evolving IP strategy of portfolio of >1000 patents and/or patent applications. • Lead significant IT infrastructure developments at the fund and across the portfolio, including consolidation of hardware via virtualization.
)_ added, “We believe that offering a more full service integration with specific key supply chain demands provides us and our clients a competitive advantage in this field. Dr. Zylberberg and her team have built a brand around quality and innovation, two attributes that Cognate requires of itself internally. We are very excited about continuing to expand our collective offerings to our clients in the US and internationally.”
The companies will continue to operate as separate entities, with each company focusing on further developing its core competencies while contemporaneously leveraging each other’s strengths to advance new cell therapy-based treatments from workbench to the clinic. For Cognate’s core, these competencies include cGMP manufacturing, scale up, validation and process development through specialized infrastructure and expertise to support clients through all aspects of cell-based drug development up to and including commercialization. Akron’s core competencies include the production and distribution of validated raw materials and solutions to cell therapy clients, as well as innovating new products and technologies for the regenerative medicine space.
About Akron Biotech
As an ISO certified global supplier, Akron Biotech manufactures ancillary materials and provides novel technologies for cell therapy and regenerative medicine discovery, development, and commercialization, meeting the industry’s quality standards worldwide. Akron Biotech has a strategic focus on delivering biological materials, technologies, and services for the regenerative medicine industry. For more information please visit www.akronbiotech.com.
About Cognate BioServices
Cognate BioServices is a fully-integrated contract bioservices organization providing the highest level of scientific and management expertise. Cognate provides full development and cGMP manufacturing services to companies and institutions engaged in the development of cell-based products. The combination of highly experienced staff, successful track records and cGMP facilities makes Cognate one of the most qualified contract manufacturers of cell-based products in the world today. For more information please visit www.cognatebioservices.com.
Akron Biotechnology, LLC Sonia I. Suarez, 561-750-6120 ssuarez@akronbiotech.com or Cognate BioServices, Inc. Robert E. Margolin, 443-784-2422 rmargolin@cognatebioservices.com
AND THE PRIMER:
About Akron Biotech > Mission & History “Business-as-usual” is not a term we use at Akron. The science behind regenerative medicine is constantly evolving. Mission & History The key to Akron’s commercial strategy is the ability to respond to a dynamic market, by 1) Mapping the relationship between market and product strategy, and 2) Sustaining a competitive edge by meeting shifting drug regulations and customer demands. To maintain a leading industry position, Akron is constantly adapting and responding to customers’ changing needs. At Akron Biotech, we are not simply a reagent distributor. We form a relationship, furnishing clients with comprehensive solutions to meet their specific needs. This means we provide regulation-approved raw materials (USP, EP, and JP grades) and biological reagents, from research grade to GMP grade. Furthermore, our products are supported by expert services that ensure regulatory compliance and a shorter time-to-market. Akron differentiates itself on its quality, consistency, and expertise. We’re well placed to grow significantly in a rapidly expanding market. Akron Biotech was founded in 2006, and is a privately owned company headquartered in South Florida, U.S. Akron has a strategic focus on enabling tools, technologies, and services for the regenerative medicine industry. As a global supplier, Akron manufactures and distributes components and raw materials for cell therapy discovery, development, and commercialization, meeting the industry’s needs worldwide. Our company’s unique business model emphasizes flexibility, quality, and unparalleled service—from research and development through clinical trial, market authorization, and commercial product.
Allows Cognate Bioservices to avail themselves to Akron's IMPRESSIVE and Diverse Scientific Advisory Board:
About Akron Biotech > Scientific Advisory Board Akron's world-class Scientific Advisory Board comprises five key opinion leaders. The Scientific Advisory Board provides expertise and recommendations with respect to all science and technology issues related to Akron’s product and services research and development activities. Scientific Advisory Board Members Joanne Kurtzberg, MD - Duke University Director, DTRI Cell and Tissue Therapies Core Professor of Pediatrics and Pathology Chief, Division of Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Co-Director, Stem Cell Laboratory Director, Carolinas Cord Blood Bank Jerome Harris Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics Joanne Kurtzberg, MD, is an internationally renowned expert in pediatric hematology/oncology, pediatric blood and marrow transplantation, and umbilical cord blood banking. She is director of the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina; director of the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank; co-director of the Stem Cell Laboratory; and chief scientific officer of the Robertson Clinical and Translational Cell Therapy Program. Dr. Kurtzberg earned her MD at New York Medical College, interned at Dartmouth Medical Center, completed her residency at Upstate Medical Center, and obtained a fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology at Duke University Medical Center. She joined the faculty at Duke in 1983 and is currently professor of pathology and the Jerome Harris Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at Duke. Dr. Kurtzberg is known for her pioneering work in umbilical cord blood banking and transplantation, and for her role in developing several anti-leukemia drugs. Her other areas of expertise include the actions of recombinant hematopoietic growth factors, the use of umbilical cord blood in human blood stem cell transplantation, the ex vivo expansion of stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood, and the use of cord blood to correct genetic and acquired brain injuries. Dr. Kurtzberg has published almost 400 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and 30 chapters in textbooks. Since 1988, she has mentored 29 post-doctoral fellows, and has served as laboratory and clinical preceptor to 69 medical students. She serves on a number of scientific advisory boards, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Advisory Council on Blood Stem Cell Transplantation; is a member of several national and international committees; co-chairs the National Marrow Donor Program Cord Blood Committee; and is a board member of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT). Her research focuses on the uses of cord blood treatment of children with malignant diseases, genetic diseases, and brain injury, and on ways to optimize cord blood banking.
Utkan Demirci, PhD - MIT/Harvard Associate Professor at Stanford Unviesrity School of Medicine, Canary Center Early Cancer Detection Dr. Demirci is currently an associate professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, Canary Center Early Cancer Detection. He leads a group of 20+ researchers focusing on micro- and nano-scale technologies. He received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering in 1999 as a James B. Angell Scholar (summa cum laude) from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He received his M.S. degree in 2001 in Electrical Engineering, M.S. degree in Management Science 3-D and Engineering in 2005 and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 2005, all from Stanford University. Dr. Demirci creates technologies to manipulate cells in nanoliter volumes to enable solutions for real world problems in medicine including applications in infectious disease diagnostics and monitoring for global health, cancer early detection, cell encapsulation in nanoliter droplets for cryobiology, and bottom-up tissue engineering. His research interests involve applications of microfluidics and acoustics in medicine, especially: microfluidics for inexpensive, disposable CD4 counts and viral load for HIV in resource-constrained settings for global health problems; 3-D bioprinting and tissue models including 3-D cancer and neural cultures. Dr. Demirci has published over 90 peer reviewed publications in journals including PNAS, Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, Small, Trends in Biotechnology, Chemical Society Reviews and Lab-chip, over 150 conference abstracts and proceedings, 10+ book chapters, and an edited book. His work was highlighted in Wired Magazine, Nature Photonics, Nature Medicine, MIT Technology Review, Reuters Health News, Science Daily, AIP News, BioTechniques, and Biophotonics. His scientific work has been recognized by numerous national and international awards including the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award (2012), and the IEEE-EMBS Early Career Achievement Award (2012). He was selected as one of the world’s top 35 young innovators under the age of 35 (TR-35) by the MIT Technology Review. In 2004, he led a team that won the Stanford University Entrepreneur’s Challenge Competition and Global Start-up Competition in Singapore. His patents have been translated to multiple start-ups including DxNow Inc. and Koek Biotechnology.
Sylvia Daunhert, PhD - University of Miami Chair - Lucille P. Markey Cancer Center, Associate Director – JT MacDonald Biomedical Nanotechnology Institute, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology - Miller School of Medicine at University of Miami Sylvia Daunert, PharmD, MS, PhD is the Lucille P. Markey Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Miller School of Medicine and the Associate Director of the Dr. JT Macdonald Foundation Biomedical Nanotechnology Institute of the University of Miami. Prior to joining the University of Miami, Dr. Daunert was the Gill Eminent Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Daunert was also a Distinguished Professor of the College of Arts & Sciences and a University of Kentucky Research Professor. Among others, she is a Fulbright Scholar, an ELAM Fellow, and the recipient of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry van Slyke Research Award, the National Science Foundation-CAREER Award, the Cottrell-Scholars Award, the Lilly Analytical Faculty Award, the American Chemical Society A. F. Findeis Award, the National Science Foundation Special Creativity Award, the Bill Barfield Award from the Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute and the Albert D. and Elizabeth H. Kirwan Memorial Prize. Dr. Daunert is Editor of Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, Executive Editor of Analytical Biochemistry, Annual Reviews in Analytical Chemistry, and member of the Editorial Advisory Boards of several journals. She serves in the Scientific Advisory Boards of professional, governmental, as well as private industrial institutions. Dr. Daunert’s research interests are in Bionanotechnology. Specifically, her group designs molecular diagnostic tools and biosensors based on genetically engineered proteins and cells with applications in the biomedical, environmental, and pharmaceutical fields. Additionally, her group focuses on the development of targeted and responsive drug delivery systems. Dr. Daunert’s work has been featured in over 250 publications, patents, and highlighted by the scientific media and popular press. Gregg Fields, PhD - Torrey Pines Institute Full Member and Vice President of Scientific Affairs, Distinguished Chair - Metalloproteinase and Multiple Sclerosis Research Dr. Gregg B. Fields received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from the University of Florida and Florida State University, respectively. He was a Postdoctoral Scholar with Ken A. Dill at the University of California San Francisco. Dr. Fields joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 1991 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 1995 and then achieved the rank of full professor of chemistry & biochemistry at Florida Atlantic University in 1997. In 2008, Dr. Fields became a Robert A. Welch Foundation Distinguished University Chair in Chemistry in the Department of Biochemistry at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Dr. Fields relocated to the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies in 2011, where he is a Full Member, Vice President of Scientific Affairs, and Distinguished Chair of Metalloproteinase and Multiple Sclerosis Research. Dr. Fields' research interests are in the use of chemical approaches to better understand how protein three-dimensional structures influence cellular and enzymatic behaviors. Early studies by Dr. Fields included the systematic examination of mild methodologies for solid-phase synthesis of small proteins. Chemical approaches were used to develop “mini-protein” models for the study of cellular recognition processes, which in turn allowed for the mapping of protein domains involved in tumor cell binding and signal transduction. Mini-protein models have subsequently been utilized to dissect the mechanisms of collagen catabolism, and in the process have provided new avenues for protease inhibitor design. Dr. Fields has authored or coauthored more than 200 scientific publications and presented over 100 invited lectures. Dr. Fields was President of the American Peptide Society (2009-2011). Ian MacNiece, PhD - MD Anderson Cell Therapy Laboratory Director at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Board Member - Foundation of Accreditation of Cell Therapy (FACT ) Dr. McNiece received his B.Sc. in Biochemistry from Melbourne University, Melbourne Australia in 1979. He went on to earn an M.Sc. in Physiology from Melbourne University in 1981, and his Ph.D. in physiology in 1986 undertaking his thesis work at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute in Melbourne in stem cell biology and hematopoiesis. In 1986 he moved to the US to undertake postdoctoral work at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. In 1988 he moved to Thousand Oaks, California to join Amgen Inc. as a Research Scientist and in 1994 he became Laboratory Head in the Department of Developmental Hematology at Amgen. He moved to the University of Colorado Health Science Center in Denver, Colorado in 1997, where he was Director of Research for the Bone Marrow Transplant Program and Director of the Stem Cell Biology Program. In 2003 he moved to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as Professor of Oncology and Director of the Graft Engineering Laboratory in the Cancer Center. Dr. McNiece was appointed to the position of Director of the Division of Biomedical Sciences Johns Hopkins in Singapore in 2004. He was recruited to the University of Miami in June of 2007 as Professor of Medicine and Director of the Experimental and Clinical Cell Based Therapies Program in the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute. In July 2012 he moved to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston as Professor of Medicine and Director Cell Therapy Laboratories. Dr. McNiece’s research has focused on aspects of stem cell biology and in particular control of proliferation and differentiation of stem cells by growth factors. Much of his work has studied aspects of stem cells in clinical marrow and stem cell transplantation leading to clinical trials in mobilization and ex vivo expansion. His current work is focused on control of stem cells by the microenvironment and translation to clinical applications.
