Axol CEO, Liam Taylor, discusses his key reflections from the year so far.
It’s a pivotal time in the iPSC space.
I’ve spent the last 6 months traveling extensively, attending conferences, and meeting customers and collaborators around the world. In truth, it’s the only way to understand the landscape on a deeper level. I’ve seen firsthand the transformative impact of the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 on the drug discovery industry, which is mirrored in our market research: 55% of respondents cited it as a driver of iPSC adoption, while 75% are increasing iPSC investment in 2023.
There’s a clear demand for more human-like cell models, and our products and services departments have been receiving an increasing number of enquiries, both from existing partners and those looking to transition from in vivo.
In response, we’ve doubled down on our 6 company values (Transparency, Integrity, Accountability, Performance, Diversity & Inclusion, and Collaboration) which form the bedrock of everything we do. This has galvanized the company and enabled us to drive forward, solidifying our position as industry pioneers who operate nimbly in the iPSC space and provide exceptional value to biopharma drug discovery.
But in such a fast-paced industry, taking the time to pause and reflect helps us to see how far we’ve come and take valuable learning points to apply to the future. So, without further ado, here are my main highlights and reflections from the first 6 months of 2023.
January
The start of the year marked the launch of our axoCellsTM human iPSC-derived microglia, which have been a particular highlight for us. In fact, they’ve featured in over 40% of our service project work, which is a testament to their quality and consistency.
Microglia feature in a wide range of neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS; it’s no surprise that the drug discovery industry is increasingly interested in them as targets for treatments of these conditions. But effective in vitro models need high-quality cells, so that has been our main focus.
Our microglia have been extensively characterized and validated for use in drug discovery models, supported by a robust catalog of functional data. And with our ISO 9001 production facility in Roslin, we confidently fulfill bulk orders with excellent batch-to-batch consistency and quality control.
February
We had the pleasure of speaking to Stephen Brannan, chairman of Edinburgh’s branch of Parkinson’s UK and someone who’s been living with Parkinson’s Disease for the past ten years.
Stephen joined our monthly company town hall and spoke about how his diagnosis changed his life and what still gives him hope. He also had a refreshingly succinct message for the drug discovery industry- “hurry up!” Hearing Stephen speak about our iPSC-derived cell models as a source of hope was a sobering experience, reminding us all exactly why we exist in this space and who we’re trying to help.
With that in mind, if you’re looking to work in the Parkinson’s Disease space then please get in contact- we have Parkinson’s Disease patient lines available to license and we’d be delighted to collaborate with you to further your research and accelerate the drug discovery process. Ultimately, we want better, safer therapies for patients just like Stephen- so please get in touch!
March
March saw me take the trip to visit our valued partners and friends in Japan, who are certainly leading the way in this industry and always leave me feeling energized and inspired. Japanese biotech have significant challenges in accessing diverse biosamples so we’re more than happy to support them with our licenses and logistics, as well as engage in productive discussions and attend conferences. It’s always a pleasure speaking to our partners Cosmo Bio, and I’ve committed to flying out to Japan on a regular basis to continue the fruitful relationships we have out there.
March also kicked off a series of “Technical Q&A Clinics”, offering practical lab tips and expertise from our talented scientists. The success of this first clinic (centered around microglia) paved the way for a regular monthly slot, which has seen increased engagement and impressive feedback. Scientists are at the core of our company- seeing them engage with their community and present their work so confidently is wonderful to see.
April
April was very much a “cardiomyocyte month” with the exciting announcement of our collaboration agreement with the Crick Institute for an enhanced left ventricular methodology. The IP exclusivity gives us the freedom to operate in the market and deliver on our mission, and it was great to see the promotional material involving scientists from the Crick.
We also saw the next technical Q&A clinic on the theme of cardiomyocytes, which touched on the impressive functional data we’ve built on our cardiomyocytes. In particular, we’ve worked with InnoVitro GmbH to show distinct pharmacological effects can be observed between our atrial and ventricular cardiomyocytes using their FLEXcyte 96 platform to assess contractility. This opens the door for chamber-specific cardiomyocyte models which is a significant improvement on existing mixed models- after all, you don’t want ventricular cells affecting readouts of an atrial fibrillation model.
On the neurodegenerative therapy area side, Axol scientists presented at the CHDI Annual Therapeutics Convention, generating significant interest around our Huntington’s Disease iPSC lines. We have five iPSC lines derived from Huntington’s Disease patients and one from an asymptomatic carrier, which are commercially available to build models for research and drug discovery. Above all else, the engagement we got at the CHDI convention demonstrated to me that we are doing very meaningful work in this space, and there is clear value being seen by the Huntington’s Disease research community.
May
We were delighted to announce our collaboration agreement with StrataStem, which enables us to access and commercialize a large-scale collection of iPSCs derived from StrataStem’s Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) patient samples. This opens up the possibility to produce a “clinical trial in a dish”, representing a diverse range of sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease patients and giving drug discovery companies a platform to test therapeutics before latter-stage clinical trials (aka, patient stratification). It’s a truly exciting prospect and one that could de-risk and accelerate drug development, so we welcome partnerships from biopharma to realize this potential.
May also saw our R&D Lead, Dr Stuart Prime, impressing attendees at the ALS Drug Development Summit 2023 with our data on an in vitro neuromuscular junction model. There was a real “aha!” moment from the crowd when Stuart compared the electrophysiology data from healthy control and ALS patient-derived motor neurons. The impressive 2D and 3D microfluidics images, coupled with the characterization data, contractility, and functional disease expression data, were a hit at the event and Stuart was (happily!) inundated with questions about the model. Microfluidic devices are an incredibly exciting area of drug discovery, but the most encouraging thing for me is that it’s no longer just “potential”- we are doing meaningful work on it right now.
June
With the advancements in iPSC technology, we’re seeing increasing discussions around the regulatory landscape of in vitro models. Maintaining quality, consistency, and standardization has to be an area of focus, so it was wonderful to speak to regulatory expert Simon Hoffman, and hear his viewpoints on current and future areas for discussion. His interview provided us with valuable insights in keeping with the man who brought us the Oxford/AZ Covid-19 vaccine launch.
Our discussion with Simon centered around the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, which was a key part of several conversations I had at the Micro-Physiological Systems (MPS) World Summit in Berlin. My key takeaway from the Summit was that there is a growing positive community that supports the development of MPS, and solid adoption from biopharma.
MPS have tremendous potential for human-relevant drug discovery, but we again have to prioritize quality. To fulfill their potential, we must supply these platforms with high-quality, diverse, functionally relevant cells and- most importantly- ensure a regular supply (with excellent batch-to-batch consistency) to platform providers. This is a blossoming area of science and is being moved along by the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 and the “3Rs” initiative. I’m excited to show the quality data we have behind our cells, so we welcome enquiries from platform providers.
Looking Ahead
Looking back at the first half of this year, I can’t help but be impressed at how much we’ve achieved at Axol. We’ve attended global events, continually engaged with the scientific community, announced several high-level partnerships, and (most importantly) consistently delivered high-quality products and services to our clients.
This year, rising interest rates rising and supply chain challenges made for a difficult Q1 globally, but the industry is now coming to terms with it and I’m seeing some restoration of the norm. In times of uncertainty, companies will naturally rely on consistency, quality, and dependability- all areas that we’ve invested heavily in, which fills me with great confidence as to our capabilities going forward.
From our market research, the biopharma industry is transitioning to more human-relevant cell-based assays, driven by key pieces like the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 and the ISSCR Standards Document. I can see increasingly strong buy-in into our mission, both from our market research results and our conversations with clients and partners.
