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AstraZeneca Partners with Philippines to Establish First Pharmaceutical Innovation Hub in PEZA Ecozone

AIOncology
  • The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Philippines have signed an agreement to create the country's first pharmaceutical innovation hub within the PEZA ecozone network.
  • The hub will serve as a regional center for digital health technology, research and development collaboration, and patient-centered healthcare solutions across ASEAN.
  • The initial project will be an Oncology Innovation Center using artificial intelligence for early cancer detection, modeled after AstraZeneca's pharma hub in the United Kingdom.
  • The partnership aims to make medicines more affordable and accessible while positioning the Philippines as a hub for healthcare-related investments and medical research.

ZEISS Receives CE Mark Approval for AI-Powered CIRRUS PathFinder OCT Assessment Tool

AI
  • ZEISS Medical Technology announced CE mark approval for CIRRUS PathFinder, an AI-powered clinical support tool that uses deep learning algorithms to automatically identify abnormal macular OCT B-scans.
  • The fully integrated AI decision support system flags B-scans requiring further review and allows assessment of hundreds of scans in real time without requiring third-party platforms.
  • The new CIRRUS software release includes AI-enhanced OCTA image quality, multi-layer segmentation, and an expanded Reference Database triple the size of the previous version.
  • Research indicates that physicians leveraging AI algorithms can be more effective than practitioners working alone, supporting more confident decision-making and efficient patient care.

Ginkgo Bioworks Partners with Inductive Bio and Tangible Scientific to Launch AI-Driven Drug Discovery Platform

AIDrug Discovery
  • Ginkgo Bioworks announced a strategic partnership with Inductive Bio and Tangible Scientific to make AI-driven lab-in-the-loop drug discovery broadly accessible across the pharmaceutical industry.
  • The collaboration integrates three core capabilities: Ginkgo Datapoints' rapid ADME profiling, Inductive Bio's model-driven chemistry design platform, and Tangible Scientific's API-enabled compound management platform.
  • The partnership aims to reduce time and uncertainty in early-stage drug development by moving from in-silico compound designs to validated experimental results in one digitally-enabled workstream.
  • The integrated service promises fewer synthesis cycles, faster turnarounds, and lower overall drug discovery costs while supporting the FDA's push for more efficient development timelines.

Scipher Medicine Launches AI Platform to Predict Clinical Trial Failures with Near-Perfect Accuracy

AIPrecision Medicine
  • Scipher Medicine has launched ClinicalTrialRank.com, an AI platform that predicts clinical trial failure with unprecedented accuracy based on over 10 years of research and the human interactome network.
  • The platform demonstrates that poorly ranked therapeutic targets are terminated before market launch nearly 100% of the time, potentially preventing approximately 1,000 failed trials across 25 disease areas.
  • Built on comprehensive protein-protein interaction mapping and validated by over 100 peer-reviewed papers, the technology could redirect billions of dollars from doomed drug development programs to more promising therapeutic targets.
  • The multi-layered approach integrates genotype, phenotype, and treatment models to rank targets based on their relevance to disease genetics and ability to restore patients' molecular profiles to healthy states.

Axelyf Closes $2.6M Seed Round to Advance Superior RNA-LNP Gene Editing Technology

Gene EditingAI
  • Axelyf Inc. secured $2.6 million in seed funding led by Brunnur Ventures to develop its proprietary AXL lipid nanoparticle technology for RNA therapeutics.
  • The company's AXL technology demonstrated superior in vivo gene editing potency compared to LP-01 benchmark in Phase 3 trials, achieving higher efficiency at lower doses without liver toxicity.
  • Axelyf combines novel ionizable lipids with ANNA™ AI platform for lipid optimization, positioning the company as an emerging leader in RNA medicine delivery systems.
  • The funding will support development of lead candidate AXL-003 targeting autoimmune conditions and advance partnerships in the rapidly evolving RNA therapeutics field.

Atropos Health and Novartis Partner to Deploy AI for Faster Rare Disease Diagnosis in PNH Patients

AIRare DiseaseReal World EvidencePrecision Medicine
  • Atropos Health has partnered with Novartis to develop AI models that identify undiagnosed patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), a rare blood disorder affecting 10-20 people per million worldwide.
  • The collaboration addresses critical diagnostic delays in PNH, where many patients wait over a year for diagnosis and some wait more than five years due to the disease's rarity and varied symptoms.
  • The AI model, trained on real-world data from the Atropos Evidence Network, is now available for integration into health systems to accelerate appropriate diagnosis at the point of care.
  • The partnership aims to reduce time from initial symptoms to testing, diagnosis and treatment by implementing patient-finding models across health system members of the Atropos Evidence Network.

ViewsML and iProcess Form Strategic Partnership to Accelerate AI-Powered Virtual Biomarker Testing

AIPrecision Medicine
  • ViewsML, a pioneer in AI-powered virtual immunohistochemistry staining, has partnered with iProcess Global Research to expand access to virtual biomarker technology across research institutions and pharmaceutical companies.
  • The collaboration enables customers to eliminate physical biomarker staining, dramatically accelerating turnaround times from days to seconds while preserving rare tissue samples for multiplex analysis.
  • ViewsML's platform predicts biomarker expression at the per-cell level using only a single H&E image, fitting seamlessly into existing pathology workflows for research and diagnostic applications.
  • The partnership addresses growing demand for faster, more scalable, and cost-effective biomarker analysis, particularly in early drug discovery and high-throughput settings.

Merck KGaA Partners with Skyhawk Therapeutics in $2 Billion RNA Splicing Collaboration for Neurological Disorders

AI
  • Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany has entered a strategic collaboration with Skyhawk Therapeutics valued at over $2 billion to discover novel RNA-targeting small molecules for neurological disorders with high unmet medical need.
  • The partnership leverages Skyhawk's proprietary SkySTAR platform, which uses computational biology and AI to design oral drug candidates that can cross the blood-brain barrier and correct RNA mis-splicing.
  • Skyhawk will lead discovery and preclinical development, while Merck will assume responsibility for further development and commercialization upon option exercise.
  • This collaboration adds to Skyhawk's growing portfolio of pharma partnerships, including a $1.8 billion alliance with Ipsen for neurological diseases and ongoing programs with Sanofi in oncology and immunology.

IQVIA and Veeva Systems Form Strategic Partnership to Accelerate Clinical Development and Commercial Operations

AI
  • IQVIA and Veeva Systems announced global clinical and commercial partnerships on August 18, 2025, resolving all pending legal disputes between the companies.
  • The partnership enables seamless integration of both companies' software, data, and services, including IQVIA data in Veeva platforms and Veeva software in IQVIA clinical trials.
  • Customers will benefit from accelerated database builds, study locks, and data delivery through combined clinical data management and EDC programming expertise.
  • The collaboration aims to help pharmaceutical companies bring treatments to market more efficiently and improve patient access to medical innovations.

Sam Altman's Merge Labs Explores Gene Therapy Approach for Brain-Computer Interface Technology

AI
  • Merge Labs, a brain chip company with ties to Sam Altman and OpenAI, is exploring gene therapy to modify brain cells for improved brain-computer interface implants.
  • The proposed approach would combine genetically altered brain cells with an implanted ultrasound device to detect and modulate cellular activity.
  • The venture aims to raise $250 million at an $850 million valuation, with significant support expected from OpenAI's ventures team.
  • Altman expressed his goal of enabling direct thought-to-ChatGPT communication, positioning the company to compete with Elon Musk's Neuralink in the brain-computer interface field.

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