Page 55 - Innovation Delaware 2018

BIOSCIENCE
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Incyte and NIIMBL
INCYTE
REID HUBER, executive vice president and chief scientific officer at Incyte, has a simple formula for how the company can keep ahead in a drug therapy environment that is moving more rapidly every year.
“Speed, creativity and thinking 12 steps ahead is where the action is,” he says.
NIIMBL
In the fast-moving world of biopharmaceuticals, the University of Delaware is preparing to demonstrate the importance of being NIIMBL.
Launched at UD’s Delaware Biotechnology Institute last year, the National Institute for Innovation
STILL GOING STRONG
REID HUBER
KELVIN LEE
in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) is moving from its startup and organizational phase into working on developing new technology, says KELVIN LEE, the institute’s director and Gore Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UD.
NIIMBL’s mission isn’t to create new medicines. Rather, Lee says, it is to develop technology that will help biopharmaceutical manufacturers
That mantra is helping to fuel Incyte’s research and development of drug therapies. Its signature product, Jakafi, has been helping patients fight bone cancers and marrow disorders for several years. The company recently received approval outside the U.S. — and is conducting studies in this country — for Baricitinib, a rheumatoid arthritis treatment. Five other products are now in what Huber deems the “pivotal development” stage, meaning they are not far from approval, either.
“We’ve been going at a pretty good clip,” Huber says. Incyte is working to create therapies that allow the body’s immune system to fight certain diseases, particularly cancer. Instead of attacking tumors, its products aim to kick-start people’s own defenses, with the hope of creating a more personalized approach to overcoming malignancies and preventing their reappearances.
“We want to be much more targeted in our approach,
so that the drugs people take to fight cancer do not have deleterious effects,” Huber says. “If a drug has significant side effects, it limits the ability to add other drugs on top of it.”
That can decelerate the fight against cancer, and as Huber knows, this is no time for slowing down.
produce drugs more reliably and get them to the patient faster. He mentions advances in development of “personalized
treatments” for cancer — a single, customized dose that could put a patient’s cancer in remission for years. However, he says, it can take several weeks to create these custom medications, and often that’s longer than the patient’s life expectancy. NIIMBL will be looking for ways to accelerate the process so the medication gets to the patient before it’s too late.
NIIMBL currently has a team of 24, and is looking to hire a few more. Most work at the institute’s site at the Delaware Technology Park, but three are based at North Carolina State University. UD students will eventually get involved in the research projects, and some should have opportunities to work as interns or apprentices with biopharmaceutical manufacturers.
Ultimately, Lee says, there are several ways NIIMBL’s work could make for a healthier nation.
“Look at public health threats, especially flu vaccines and manmade threats,” he says. “How can we quickly respond, and have manufacturing technologies ready to meet these challenges?”
Biopharmaceuticals, he adds, are among the most expensive medicines to make. “If we can reduce the costs of the goods needed to make these medicines, then the medicines can become more available.” ID
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3. Expect future research to reflect
the growing trend among bioscience companies to target the consumer with therapies tailored to personalized needs. Drugs now focus on stimulating the body’s immune system to fight cancer and other formidable foes, rather than tearing down everything — good and bad — and hoping for a positive outcome. Doing this requires employees with specialized training, and universities in the state are
focusing on attracting, retaining and training tomorrow’s bioscientists, who will continue to make significant breakthroughs.
4. Eighty percent of the U.S. pharmaceuticals industry is headquartered in Delaware and the surrounding region, benefiting from an infrastructure that allows companies to collaborate with research and medical institutions to develop innovative
drugs, diagnostics and medical devices. Source: Delaware Prosperity Partnership
5. The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) connects Delaware’s bioscience industry with more than 140 industry, academic, nonprofit and government partners throughout the country. ID
Source: NIIMBL
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