AGRICULTURE
PHARMACEUTICALS
Vertex buys Concert’s cystic fibrosis drug Vertex Pharmaceuticals will pay up to $250 million for Concert Pharmaceuticals’ cystic fibrosis drug CTP-656. Currently in Phase II clinical trials, the drug is a deuterated version of Vertex’s own HO D3C CD3 compound ivacaftor, which O O CD3 it sells under the name Kalydeco. N Like ivacaftor, CTPH 656 is a cystic fibrosis N H transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) CTP-656 potentiator. Substituting deuterium atoms for specific hydrogens in the structure generates a novel compound with altered pharmacokinetic properties. Notable is its longer half-life, which means CTP-656 may need to be given only once per day versus two times daily for Kalydeco. For Concert, the deal validates its deuterium chemistry approach to drug design and presents an opportunity for CTP-656 to advance toward commercialization. Vertex already leads the cystic fibrosis drug market with Kalydeco and Orkambi, a CFTR potentiator combination it launched in 2015. Sales of the two products reached $1.7 billion in 2016. Vertex will acquire rights to all of Concert’s other cystic fibrosis research and preclinical programs. Concert intends to use the money to support itself through 2021 and advance its deuterated JAK 1/2 inhibitor CTP-543, now in Phase II testing to treat the autoimmune disease alopecia areata. The deal brings at least three benefits to Vertex, Leerink stock analyst Geoffrey C. Porges told clients in a report. It removes a potential competitor, adds a new compound that can improve the firm’s existing cystic fibrosis therapy combinations, and extends its intellectual property protection by at least five years.—ANN THAYER
DSM, Evonik form omega-3 joint venture DSM and Evonik Industries are setting up a joint venture to make omega-3 fatty acids from natural marine algae for use in fish feed and pet food. The venture, called Veramaris, will spend $200 million to build an omega-3 fatty acid facility at an existing Evonik site in the U.S. It will go onstream in 2019. The firms have already made pilot-scale quantities of the oil at DSM’s facility in Kingstree, S.C. The new plant will turn out a “highly concentrated algal oil,” the partners say, using algae production expertise from DSM and industrial-scale fermentation know-how from Evonik. Omega-3 fatty acids are a family of polyunsaturated fats that include eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Initial output from the planned facility will meet about 15% of the farmed salmon industry’s demand for EPA and DHA, the two firms say. Fish use omega-3 for metabolic functions and as a cellular membrane component. Veramaris plans to supply Most of the omega-3 fatty enough omega-3 fatty acid to acids used by the aquaculture meet 15% of the needs of the industry today come from salmon farming industry. harvested wild fish such as sardines. A number of companies have developed alternative sources of protein for farmed fish, but finding an alternative source of omega-3 fatty acids has proven difficult until now, the partners say. DSM and Evonik have had a joint technology development agreement since July 2015. Both companies say they achieved positive results in product development while “extensively working with the entire value chain, including fish feed producers, fish farmers, and retailers.”—ALEX SCOTT
INFORMATICS
CREDIT: DSM
Instrument makers invest in cloud computing Thermo Fisher Scientific has acquired Core Informatics, a fast-growing, venture-capital-backed provider of cloud-based scientific data management systems with about 100 employees. Thermo Fisher announced the purchase last week at the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry & Applied Spectroscopy (Pittcon) in Chicago. It underscored the growing importance for instrument makers of systems capable of handling, storing, and manipulating the flood of data from today’s scientific instruments. “Their cloud-based offerings are more
discovery oriented, while what we already had supported quality control and quality analysis in manufacturing processes,” explained Dan Shine, analytical instruments president at Thermo Fisher. “They will integrate seamlessly into what we already have.” Also at Pittcon, Waters Corp. launched the cloud version of its Empower chromatography data management system. “The cloud has changed the way the world interacts with data,” said Steve Smith, Waters’ informatics vice president, by “allowing companies to focus on science and not the infrastructure.”
Managing information through cloudbased software is part of PerkinElmer’s strategy too, said Jim Corbett, head of the firm’s discovery and analytical solutions unit. Instruments are generating more data than they did just a few years ago, and scientists need a way to sort through it all, Corbett said. Cloud-based software systems make that possible, he noted. PerkinElmer made its own informatics acquisition with the purchase of laboratory software and services firm Ceiba Solutions in 2014.—MARC REISCH MARCH 13, 2017 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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