Before the trials come

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Crown Bioscience, a wholly owned subsidiary of Crown Bioscience International, and Bar Harbor, Maine-based The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) this summer announced an agreement to improve the development and accessibility of innovative research models and preclinical services to the global biomedical research community.

 

Global drug discovery and development solutions company CrownBio brings to the agreement a global technology platform for oncology and cardiovascular and metabolic disease (CVMD), while non-profit biomedical research institution JAX brings its talents as a worldwide provider of high-quality research models and services. In the end, the partners say, the team-up “facilitates the shared objective of both organizations: to accelerate and advance the rate of preclinical research and discovery.”

 

As part of the deal, CrownBio will advance the use of JAX Mice in client research studies and will both increase the utilization and improve access of JAX research models, including humanized NSG and NSG-SGM3, thus advancing the research and translational efforts of organizations  globally.

 

In turn, JAX research scientists will have select access to CrownBio’s preclinical contract laboratory services, providing JAX scientists with additional resources and facilities in which to continue the search for cures for cancer and other diseases.

 

“The agreement with JAX heralds a significant step forward for oncology and immuno-oncology preclinical research,” said Dr. Jean-Pierre Wery, CEO of Crown Bioscience. “The utilization of JAX’s scientific-leading humanized and translational models in combination with our PDX [patient-derived xenograft] technology platforms will ensure the greatest potential for translatable drug development.”

 

Research teams at JAX, focused on understanding the genetic and biochemical signatures that can be targeted by next-generation precision medicines, will immediately begin leveraging CrownBio’s vast research services in oncology and CVMD to generate new insights into therapeutic approaches to target disease.

 

“The Jackson Laboratory’s mission is to empower the global biomedical community in our shared quest to improve human health. By harnessing our complementary strengths, this agreement allows us to propel scientific research and drug discovery globally by improving accessibility to the most advanced and highest-quality preclinical research models and services,” stated Dr. Auro Nair, president of  JAX Mice, Clinical & Research Services. “Additionally, JAX research teams will be able to advance basic biological discoveries to therapies much more rapidly by utilizing the world’s largest collection of PDX and cell-line models and services from CrownBio.”

 

In other news of CrownBio, July brought word that the company had released another substantial collection of life-sciences products to its e-commerce platform, adding a significant number of cell lines and reference standards related to EGFR, KRAS and BRAF signaling cascades of the MAPK pathway, which plays a critical role in the development and progression of cancer. Further enhancements to the CrownBio catalog also include additional monoclonal antibodies to immune checkpoint and cancer-related targets, as well as compounds to activate or inhibit signaling pathways.

 

This product expansion is designed to further strengthen CrownBio’s offerings within preclinical drug discovery and cancer research, which already includes antibodies for in-vivo and in-vitro studies, recombinant proteins, recombinant cell lines, tumor samples for oncology research and development, and tumor tissue microarrays.

 

“We are very pleased with the growth of the life-science division,” stated Laurie Heilmann, CrownBio’s senior vice president of global strategy, marketing and business development. “The division continues to demonstrate significant growth; we remain committed to providing products that meet our customers' needs and a method to access them quickly and easily.”