Making The Pharma Supply Chain More Resilient

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Christina Smolke is brewing the key ingredients that go into medicines by the vatful. These vats hold 120,000 liters (roughly 31,700 gallons). During five days of fermentation, “the yeast are producing enough drug ingredients to produce over 100 million doses of medication,” Smolke, cofounder and CEO of synthetic biology startup Antheia, said today at the Forbes Sustainability Summit. It would take around 10 square miles of growing medicinal plants to reap the same amount, she said – not to mention significantly shrinking the amount of time from years to days. Antheia’s first products are thebaine and oripavine, both of them key components in pain management and addiction management medications such as codeine, hydrocodone and naloxone.

“One of the problems we have with the way that our pharmaceutical supply chains have evolved is that they’re globally distributed, but there’s also very little resiliency and redundancy in the manufacturing sources,” said Smolke. Look no further than current shortages of certain ADHD and cancer drugs. Climate change, floods, fires, regulatory issues. “It’s the single source failures that really disrupt our supply chains.” Read Alex’s story about Antheia and Smolke, the scientist brewing prescription drug ingredients like they were beer, here.

Bankrupt Digital Health Company Babylon Sells U.K. Assets For Just $620,000

New U.K. bankruptcy filings show Babylon sold its U.K. telemedicine assets to eMed for just $620,000. Babylon owes its main lender AlbaCore a combined $380.5 million in loans, according to the filing. Only $34.5 million of that is secured against collateral. The bankruptcy filing notes AlbaCore “will receive a distribution, however, it will suffer a shortfall.”

Pipeline & Deal Updates

Workflow Software: Awell, a Belgium-based digital health startup, has raised a $5 million seed round led by Octopus Ventures. The company is targeting U.S. expansion of its clinical workflow software, which aims to automate triage, patient onboarding and care plans. It’s already used by Commons Clinic, Parsley Health and Patina.

Birth Control App: Natural Cycles, which combines temperature tracking with an algorithm to help track fertility, has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for an integration with the Apple Watch. App users can manually input temperature data from a thermometer or use a wearable device. The Apple Watch is the second wearable to get FDA clearance following the Oura smart ring in 2021.

Protein Therapeutics: Generate:Biomedicines, which uses machine learning to develop novel protein-based drugs, announced it has raised a $273 million series C round.

Robosurgery: Surgical robotics company Vicarious Surgical announced it has signed a strategic agreement with Intermountain Health to research and develop expanded treatment options for robotic surgery that aim to improve clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness.

AI: Denmark-based Corti has raised a $60 million Series B co-led by Prosus Ventures and Atomico for what it’s calling an “AI co-pilot for healthcare interactions.”

Digestive Health: Vivante Health has raised a $31 million Series B funding led by Mercato Partners for its virtual care program that helps patients manage chronic digestive conditions.

Home Health: Inbound Health has raised a $30 million Series B led by HealthQuest Capital for its technology that helps health systems and health plans offer in-home care.

2024 Breakthrough Prizes Announced: Cystic Fibrosis Pioneers Awarded $3 Million

Researchers at Vertex Pharmaceuticals were honored for their revolutionary work in the treatment of the genetic disorder, along with other researchers in biology, physics and mathematics.