Select Page ::

Cloud Computing in Education Market Competitive Intelligence And Tracking Report Till 2028 – The Daily Chronicle

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

The most recent Cloud computing in education Market Research study includes some significant activities of the current market size for the worldwide Cloud computing in education market. It presents a point by point analysis dependent on the exhaustive research of the market elements like market size, development situation, potential opportunities, and operation landscape and trend analysis. This report centers around the Cloud computing in education-business status, presents volume and worth, key market, product type, consumers, regions, and key players.

Sample Copy of This Report @https://www.quincemarketinsights.com/request-sample-63129?utm_source=Radhika/DC

The prominent players covered in this report: Adobe Systems, Microsoft, NetApp, and Ellucian; internet service providers such as Cisco Systems, WindStream, Sandvine, and Interoute; system integrators such as IBM Corporation, Oracle Corporation, N2N services, Workday, and Pearson; resellers such as BRLINK, Fractalyst

The market is segmented intoService Model (SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS), By Deployment Model (Private Cloud, Public Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, and Community Cloud), By User Type (K-12 and Higher Education), By Region (North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Rest of the World)

A 360 degree outline of the competitive scenario of the Global Cloud computing in education Market is presented by Quince Market Insights. It has a massive data allied to the recent product and technological developments in the markets.

It has a wide-ranging analysis of the impact of these advancements on the markets future growth, wide-ranging analysis of these extensions on the markets future growth. The research report studies the market in a detailed manner by explaining the key facets of the market that are foreseeable to have a countable stimulus on its developing extrapolations over the forecast period.

Get ToC for the overview of the premium report @https://www.quincemarketinsights.com/request-toc-63129?utm_source=Radhika/DC

This is anticipated to drive the Global Cloud computing in education Market over the forecast period. This research report covers the market landscape and its progress prospects in the near future. After studying key companies, the report focuses on the new entrants contributing to the growth of the market. Most companies in the Global Cloud computing in education Market are currently adopting new technological trends in the market.

Finally, the researchers throw light on different ways to discover the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats affecting the growth of the Global Cloud computing in education Market. The feasibility of the new report is also measured in this research report.

Reasons for buying this report:

About Us:

QMI has the most comprehensive collection of market research products and services available on the web. We deliver reports from virtually all major publications and refresh our list regularly to provide you with immediate online access to the worlds most extensive and up-to-date archive of professional insights into global markets, companies, goods, and patterns.

Quince Market Insights

Ajay D. (Knowledge Partner)

Office No- A109

Pune, Maharashtra 411028

Phone: APAC +91 706 672 4848 / US +1 208 405 2835 / UK +44 1444 39 0986

Email:[emailprotected]

Web:https://www.quincemarketinsights.com

Visit link:

Cloud Computing in Education Market Competitive Intelligence And Tracking Report Till 2028 - The Daily Chronicle

What is an edge cloud? The wild card that could upend the cloud – ZDNet

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

The edge of a network, as you may know, is the furthest extent of its reach. A cloud platform is a kind of network overlay that makes multiple network locations part of a single network domain. It should therefore stand to reason that an edge cloud is a single addressable, logical network at the furthest extent of a physical network. And an edge cloud on a global scale should be a way to make multiple, remote data centers accessible as a single pool of resources -- of processors, storage, and bandwidth.

The keyword in the above paragraph is "should." Many IT producers stand to benefit from the type of technology from which an edge cloud is built. Theoretically, every user of distributed applications should stand to gain from such a concept coming to fruition. But the world, as evidenced by the recent pandemic, is huge, and perhaps in the social sense, growing larger. The edge of a network run by the operators of hyperscale data centers would, it would seem, be nearer to their customers. The edge of a telecommunications network, you might think, would be at or near their most distant transmitters and base stations. And the edge of a network of colocation facilities might be in small buildings, remote campuses, and even a few closets and basements.

At least that's what you'd think. But none of these locations necessarily intersect with one another. And these locations are not necessarily where it makes the most sense, from a business perspective, to stand up a cluster of servers. So, as it turns out, an edge cloud may turn out to be the set of all locations distributed away from its operator's core, which may be collectively addressable from the same virtual network.

EdgeConneX 30,000 square-foot DEN01 facility (relatively small) in Denver, Colorado

"Edge doesn't exist unto its own," explained Matt Baker, senior vice president of strategy and planning at Dell Technologies, during a press conference earlier this year. "Edge is a part of broader environment: Edge to core to cloud."

The edge cloud your organization may end up using, therefore, may depend on a number of variable factors:

The typical networked application has a single address point that is accessible through one location. In the public cloud, that location may shift, and it may even be transferred across availability zones, but there's still a central server. Distributed applications have functions that may reside in many places in a network, including in domains nearer to databases or customers.

The dream of IT engineers and architects -- or, where that dream is closer to reality, their objective -- is to distribute the functions that collectively comprise applications, in those "edge" locations where latency may be reduced for the benefit of users or of servers (often one or the other, since they're on different ends of the distribution chain). Originally, the edge cloud concept was a means to this end: a way to choose the point on a map where functions make the most sense to be deployed, strategically speaking, and place them there.

One of the first references to an edge cloud appeared in 2014, as a submission by Nokia Bell Labs to an IEEE communications conference. An edge node, the paper explained, would be a point-of-presence (PoP) offering direct access to compute and storage resources at the edge of the network. The collection of all edge nodes would be an edge zone, and what would make these nodes interoperable would be some kind of network namespace federation with the core data center.

Given that setup, Bell Labs envisioned things would go this way:

The Edge Cloud is the federation of the data center nodes along with all the edge zones. The Edge Cloud operator is assumed to have a pre-existing, traditional IaaS data center cloud. By adding Edge Cloud functionality, the Edge Cloud operator can now extend the cloud's capabilities to deploy applications at the edge networks.

But "applications" in the telecommunications sense doesn't mean SAP, Oracle, or Microsoft Exchange. They are generally network functions, the virtual form of which (VNF) populates telco data centers today. Already, telco network schedulers distribute VNFs to where they need to be. The advantages of distributing these services to a broader number of disparate locations is, at least for now, theoretical -- and among at least some telco network engineers, questionable.

There's not just one answer to the question of the definition of "edge cloud," like the correct answer to a multiple-choice question on a quiz. Each definition spells out a unique and important concept in the world's computing infrastructure. It's just that, in the typically non-concerted efforts by stakeholders to establish a new and lucrative market, they will end up applying the same, catchy name to their own respective business models.

"Driven by a need to get data and applications closer to the user," reads one definition posted on the corporate Web site of communications infrastructure provider Ciena, "the edge cloud will be composed of orders of magnitude more data centers, scaled-down and a short distance from end-users."

The common element in all definitions of edge cloud, including those printed below, is the acknowledged need among the administrators of applications to specify where on a map (not the network map, but the planetary one) they are deployed. Rather than a typical public cloud, where availability zones (e.g., western US, eastern US, Australia) give you about as much locality as you're going to get, an enterprise may prefer an option where the distances between the workloads and the places where they are put to use, are minimized.

1. As a virtual infrastructure platform, one kind of edge cloud enables a software workload to become deployable among a variety of strategic locales, one of which may offer minimum latency with respect to how it's used, and who is using it.

2. As a physical infrastructure platform, to which ZDNet first introduced you in June, an edge cloud may be a collection of geographically dispersed data centers that are interconnected in such a way that they may be perceived at one level of the network as a single domain.

3. A completely separate class of physical infrastructure platform -- in this case, smaller facilities operated by public cloud providers such as Amazon AWS -- locates smaller quantities of cloud-connected servers (much smaller than the providers' own hyperscale facilities) in greater numbers of locations, interconnected using telecommunications companies' fiber-optic lines -- for instance, Verizon's. This concept of edge cloud offers users a way to implement existing public cloud services in strategic locations.

4. In the telecommunications industry, there is an emerging concept of a central office distributing its network functions and customer applications to remote locations without altering their functionality, enabling a distribution of resources to more rural and remote areas. China Telecom, among others, calls this concept its edge cloud. One vendor, Juniper Networks, has adopted this concept as a genuine product, called Contrail Edge Cloud. The GSMA public/private telecom industry cooperative pictures this concept [shown above] as an "operators' cloud." The US Federal Communications Commission appears to have adopted this concept as the official version of edge cloud for government purposes [PDF]. (Although some have said the 3GPP organization's Multi-Access Edge Computing, or MEC, is its own edge cloud, 3GPP chooses not to refer to it as such.)

5. Another permutation of an edge cloud model is entirely private, even going so far as to re-architect fully-cooled, self-contained servers as edge cloud appliances, so they can be more easily installed on-premises. One example of a company building such appliances is Hivecell. The "cloud" aspect of this architecture comes from the company's business model: Effectively selling the use of these appliances, rather than the appliances themselves, as "platform-as-a-service" (PaaS).

"The term 'edge' is relative," explained Wen Temitim, the CTO of edge cloud infrastructure platform maker StackPath at the time of this interview, now VP of Technology and Edge Architectures at StackPath's partner company, Juniper Networks.

"If you're hyper-focused on your enterprise data center use case, it may be more towards a data center provider," Temitim continued. "If you're hyper-focused on end-user experience, then you're thinking more about mobile operators and wireline providers."

Today, your public cloud-based services and applications are sourced in hyperscale data centers. And your streaming multimedia is sourced from a different set of data center facilities, but still, one that is highly connected using fiber optic cable. By "hyperscale" in this context, we mean a large building whose architecture makes it possible for its tenants to deploy greater amounts of compute, storage, memory, bandwidth, and electrical power very rapidly (usually a matter of days) in measured, planned increments. Amazon Web Services (AWS) can scale up capacity in any of its facilities quite rapidly.

An edge data center (for example, a micro data center or DC) is a different beast -- a velociraptor, if you will, to hyperscale's tyrannosaurus. It's smaller, nimbler, and capable of being deployed in a wider variety of locations, especially including the metropolitan areas of medium- and even small-sized towns. It could bring computing capacity closer to the users of data center resources, minimizing latency, and improving service quality. Or, it could bring that capacity closer to telecommunications and Internet service providers eager to compete with the Amazons and Azures of the world, presumably with their own quality-of-service value proposition.

But these smaller facilities can't just be parachuted into place from the sky. They still need connectivity and power -- not the same electrical plug that powers your electric lawnmower, but three-phase power, which is more adaptable and more stable in variable climates and operating conditions.

"As companies are moving to virtualization, not just in virtualization but in the network layer as well," explained Cole Crawford, CEO of edge system provider Vapor IO, in a recent interview, "where you put a virtual network function [VNF], where you terminate an ASN [Autonomous System Number route] to expose an SD-WAN capability back to some location. . . you have to think at the edge about things you can take for granted in a Tier-3 facility. The edge is not always as fault-tolerant as a big Tier-3 facility.

"So if you're on single-phase power, if you're on only an N+1-capable [having a backup power source] physical data center platform, then all of a sudden, the things that an OpenStack or a Tanzu or an OpenShift, or anything that can be queried from a telemetry standpoint, now needs to include what we call an OT cloud -- an operational technology capability. Here, the orchestrator that is used to carving up CPU, memory, disk, and network, is now thinking about, 'What's the SLA? Am I running on UPS power? On generator power? On primary power? What latency profiles exist for me?'"

Here's what Crawford essentially said, translated into something more resembling a common language: There are conveniences associated with having every part of your computing infrastructure in one building. You can deploy necessary functions of the network, such as VNFs, in almost any convenient server you can provision, or you can enable a scheduler such as OpenStack (or, in the case of CNFs, an orchestrator such as Kubernetes, of which OpenShift is Red Hat's commercial incarnation), to do this for you.

Once you decouple everything and distribute the parts across multiple, interconnected, facilities, the logistics issue that was previously solved by centralizing everything around a single building, becomes an actual problem that has to be solved. Crawford believes (and admittedly may, to some degree, be counting on) this decentralization is inevitable. But these parts can't be made cohesive again without the introduction of a new element, to replace the convenience of centralization. This is the OT cloud, a platform of hubs that make this distributed network as functional as a hyperscale cloud.

Here, at last, is the open question: Who runs the OT cloud? The answer could determine, in the near term, who sends the customer the bill. In the long term, Crawford believes, it could remodel the Internet as a whole.

"That, I believe, is the panacea of what we're ultimately trying to build as an industry," he stated. "At some point -- and I don't know when that is, I feel like it's sooner than later -- we're going to stop being able to mechanically-turk the internet, which we do today."

One edge cloud deployment option -- which has been around for surprisingly longer than most folks realize -- comes from owners and operators of existing, smaller data center facilities. Since 2009, Herndon, Virginia-based EdgeConneX has been building a global network of what it calls "hyper-local data centers" -- facilities that are interconnected with public cloud providers via private, fiber optic connections. It was founded with funding from cable TV providers Comcast and Charter Communications, to provide cloud DVR storage capacities closer to their viewers.

"Round-about 2015, just as we brought content closer to the consumer," remarked EdgeConneX CEO Randy Brouckman in a recent interview, "the cloud providers certainly recognized they needed to get the cloud closer to the enterprise, if they were to get the 'cloud edge' deployed. Working with the world's biggest hyperscalers opened up the opportunity for EdgeConneX to bring our data centers closer to where our customers needed -- technically, where our customers' customers need them. This concept of location-sensitive data centers is critical, whether you're building out big core nodes near the edges of their clouds, or 'edge-edge' nodes, as we might think about them. We were able to demonstrate that the core architecture and design of data centers could scale up from 2 10 megawatts to many tens of megawatts."

Brouckman added that CSPs and enterprise data center customers have three common needs: lower latency, higher performance, and decreased cost. Theoretically, engineering for the latter group may not be all that different from engineering for the former one, especially since both may be equally invested in applications classes such as industrial IoT, 5G, AI/ML, and cloud gaming.

There are at least a handful of architectures for constructing a network of what Brouckman calls "location-sensitive data centers." These will be facilities that are closer to customers, closer to data, closer to interconnectivity routes -- closer to something, and for a good reason. At the moment, exactly what that reason will be, is a jump ball.

View post:

What is an edge cloud? The wild card that could upend the cloud - ZDNet

5G and Edge Computing-Cloud Workloads Shifting to the Edge, Forecast to 2024 – Yahoo Finance

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

NEW YORK, Sept. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The term 'Edge Computing' refers to computing that pushes intelligence, data processing, analytics, and communication capabilities down to where the data originates, that is, at network gateways or directly at endpoints. The aim is to reduce latency, ensure highly efficient networks and operations, as well as service delivery and an improved user experience.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05955418/?utm_source=PRN

By extending computing closer to the data source, edge computing enables latency-sensitive computing, offers greater business agility through better control and faster insights, lowers operating expenses, and results in more efficient network bandwidth support.Key characteristics of edge computing include: Computing power in the network or 'on-premises' Proximity Real-time data processing Wide geo-distributionThere have been 3 major computing revolutions in industrial applicationsmainframe, client server, and cloud computing.

Taking up where these paradigms left off, edge computing is establishing itself as a foundational technology for industrial enterprises with its shorter latencies, robust security, responsive data collection, and lower costs. It is extremely relevant in the current hyper-connected industrial environment, as its solution-agnostic nature enables its use across a range of applications, including autonomous assets, remote asset monitoring, data extraction from stranded assets, autonomous robotics, autonomous vehicles, smart factories, oilfield operations management, machine monitoring and smart campuses. The multi-access edge computing (MEC) market is still at nascent stage, with telecom operators and cloud providers conducting trials and, in certain cases, agreements to launch commercial offerings. The recent launch of 5G technology with much lower latency and higher capacity, coupled with MEC, brings computing power closer to customers, driving new applications and experiences. Operators are now deploying smaller data centers in the network edge, closer to customers, optimizing applications performance. However, telecom operators cannot implement and manage MEC alone. They must establish partnerships and an application ecosystem to seize this growth opportunity. Thus, operators are partnering with cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and IBM Cloud to improve the performance of existing mission-critical applications, and enable new applications over wireless networks.This market influences growth opportunities in a variety of areas, for both consumer and enterprise use cases, where the low-latency requirements for connectivity are essential for applications and user experience. For consumers, there are innovative applications such as 5G gaming and augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and ultra-high-definition (UDH) streaming. For enterprises, telecom operators are deploying private wireless networks to enable Manufacturing 4.0, automated mining, precision agriculture, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and other compelling use cases. The analyst anticipates that approximately 90% of industrial enterprises will utilize edge computing by 2022, and a majority of the data will be processed in the edge even before 5G coverage reaches higher levels and use cases mature. The geographic coverage of this MEC study is global, and the study period is from 2019 to 2024. Author: Renato Pasquini

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05955418/?utm_source=PRN

About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

__________________________ Contact Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/5g-and-edge-computing-cloud-workloads-shifting-to-the-edge-forecast-to-2024-301122803.html

SOURCE Reportlinker

Read this article:

5G and Edge Computing-Cloud Workloads Shifting to the Edge, Forecast to 2024 - Yahoo Finance

Mimicking cloud makes the right impression on edge computing – Diginomica

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

One of the hot topics of IT infrastructure development right now is edge computing, and as the idea has started to gain real traction it has brought with it an interesting and important question, that goes something like: Yeah, yeah, it's a great idea but.ummmmm.. how do you actually do it?'

The whole idea of virtualising and distributing the data centre so that compute is located right with the sources of data, rather than trying to cope with the cost and latency of shifting Petabytes- and what will soon enough be Zetabytes- of data from those sources out in the field back to a central repository.

Until recently, it has been far easier to envisage the software and applications infrastructure that would be needed. But the provision of the hardware horsepower was still hard for people to imagine. But to talk of `virtualised data centers' still suggests the wrong idea- that a local rack or two shifted out of the datacentre might dothe trick. I have heard several suggestions that the edge would mean businesses using cloud services effectively clustering their facilities around one or two remote cloud services providers to ensure the lowest latency possible.

But the signs of a real alternative solution have now emerged as mimik Technology comes out of skunkworks stealthmode. This Canadian start-up is targeting bringing the computational element of workflow as close as possible- both physically and logically -to where the application demand and the sources of data are located. The ultimate implementation of this is to make it possible for the devices producing the raw data also to run the application needed to process that data, communicate it to other applications and, quite possibly, manage and change the actions of the process the device is sensing or a part of.

This, according to mimik's founder and CEO Fay Arjomandiis the first element of a three-part design model. The second element is making it possible for that device to find other devices and communicate with them. In this way, the collaborative environment required by the edge computing model can be built.

The third element is that, as that collaborative environment grows, the need for it to communicate up and down the chain of command' inherent in building an operational whole right out to the edge becomes an imperative. This means being able to operate the same applications and orchestrations from the individual edge devices right up into the cloud and back up the network.

For now the end-point of an application is the local remote cloud service (which in practice could be physically anywhere). So why not mimic the fabric of the cloud so that it can be logically continued right out to the physical endpoints of the network- the devices themselves? If the environment then allows them to communicate and collaborate, they can combine to provide the resources that applications need from the micro-services at their disposal. Arjomandi explains:

Devices need to provide information of their own resource to each other. And then the resources need to be able to reach out to each other as in the cloud. That's what we call forming the fabric of cloud, which is about cluster formation in an ad hoc fashion. And in order to do that formation, we do it based on three scopes: Network, Proximity, and Account.

`Network' means the obvious direct interconnection- be that in the same home attached to the same Wi Fi, or the same manufacturing facility attached to the same network. Here, there are a huge number of use cases where applications and devices need to communicate with each other.

`Proximities' refers to situations where a device needs to reach beyond the direct network to find the right resource, such as additional computation to process a specific workload, while `Account' refers to devices or resources that belong to associated accounts for which access is authorised.

This ability to mimic the cloud then leads to the next obvious stage-the ability to start orchestrating the collaborations possible right out at the edge, using what Arjomandi refers to as a lite container. This uses the uses the same API semantics as Docker in order to ensure compatibility from within a cloud environment and seamlessly out to the edge. This allows existing cloud applications and services to be readily extended as far out into the edge as required:

If I were using an edge approach, which is going to be the next generation of applications, I still want to use Cloud appropriately. Now I have a live container that I can instantiate as a serverless micro-service, either dynamically or as part of my application package. Your application can now send text-based messages through TCP and video-based through UDP using two separate sidecar components. On one side you can bring the workload to the device; on the other side, you can now decompose your application to a group of serverless micro-service components and sidecar components. And if you have to use Kubernetes you can now utilise those tools for your orchestration.

In essence, this capability extends the reach of a fully orchestrated operations infrastructure right down into the heart of the edge and making it an integral part of the whole environment. These serverless micro-services provide the additional granularity required by applications so they can reach into the edge services such as IoT environments, right down to the individual sensor level, regardless of what operating system is being used there.

It is perhaps no surprise, therefore, that Amazon's AWS operation has noted the possibilities and formed a partnership with mimik, with one certain aim being to distribute AWS services and resources as far down to the edge as it is possible to go.

Research which Arjomandi attributes to Red Hat, suggests the reason why this is important. This says that so far only 20% of industry across the board has gone through any real digital transformation and moved into using cloud services. And yet the cloud market is expected to top $220 billion this year, so there is logically huge potential to be had out of the 80% that has yet to move. And they are the businesses where the ability to reach right down there, seamlessly, into the smallest levels of IoT granularity, will make practical sense of the whole digital transformation storyline.

This makes it sound like it is a copy and paste of cloud services out to the edge, but Arjomandi is adamant that it is not that simple. That's still really just a regional data centre infrastructure:

That cannot be done, it's a different door. You have to look at the functionality that you have and say, How can I image it to the edge?'. It's about mimicking the cloud to the edge, but not copy/pasting it because you can't. We give you the environment that runs your serverless micro-service on any device. And we give you the environment that can decompose your client application to micro-services, which means that now you reduce your application development time because now you can run that application, that same workload, as micro-services across every operating system.

This opens up a new avenue for business managers who will at this point, be thinking, Here comesa whole new investment budget to plan for'. The ability to run on any operating system, coupled with the fact it is micro-services that only load the specific code called for a specific task rather than the whole application code, means a whole range of old devices can become servers in the environment. And let's face it, there is going to be a market for millions of them, if not billions.

So otherwise obsolete laptops and mobile phones can find a new, extended service life alongside Raspberry Pi-based devices and similar new serverlettes. It also allows whole new levels of data collaboration to be built in what Arjomandi calls "a true hyper-connected world", such as data taken from an athlete at an event being fed into a sports game to allow a player to compete directly with the athlete, in real time.

One fascinating side issue of this hyper-connected world that mimik makes possible is a fundamental change in the economics of personal data. The common mantra with social media's use of personal data is that users are the product being sold. That being the case, what might people feel about that if they were the ones making some money from the transactions? Arjomandi suggests:

When a company gets your data, they decide, based on their overall data, how to improve their product, how to funnel to other markets, and how to expand their business. As the data producer, end users need to participate in that income. The only way to do it is when our data is in our control, managed by our device. And now I'm having a reverse API model where I provide the API and instead of my data going, being pulled, I decide who to push the content to. I can broker revenue with the content or digital solution provider. Are we all going to be jobless because technology will take over? Well, let's talk about it. Let's make our data part of our basic income. It could even be part of the inheritance I leave after my death.

Edge computing has been the next coming thing for a while now, and it has remained so for nearly as long because it has lacked one component, the hardware implementation capable of being an integral part of the very edge, out there at the coal face and the software implementation capable of providing the bridge between the physicality of what happens at the edge and the logic running the business process. I am of a mind to predict that this, or something very like it, will be that solution. It will be fascinating to watch what comes along to compete with mimik and how user businesses take it up and start using it. The next year could hear a lot of pennies dropping amongst the user community.

Follow this link:

Mimicking cloud makes the right impression on edge computing - Diginomica

5 Cloud Stocks to Make the Most of the Digitalization Race – Zacks.com

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

The coronavirus-led crisis has devastated global economies. In spite of disruption in certain businesses, thanks to advancement in technology, several companies have remained operational at maximum capacity. The remote working trend has played a significant role in speeding up digitization of the global economy, with cloud computing acting as a catalyst.

The shift to working for home has highlighted demand for various cloud computing services like infrastructure, storage and data security. In fact, per a report by Canalys, the global cloud infrastructure-as-a-service market has reached a worth of $34.6 billion in first-quarter 2020, growing 31% from second-quarter 2019.

This is because workplace collaboration tools have become an essential service for companies connecting with its workforce in the wake of the widespread lockdowns. In fact, with workspace now in the cloud, the need for collaboration and monitoring tools makes cloud computing one of the most sought-after innovations among technology companies. Additionally, the high storage capacity and processing horsepower are a bonus.

Months into the new normal of remote working, organizational focus has shifted to increased flexibility, real-time collaboration, intelligent applications and a more streamlined user experience. Companies like AVEVA Connect will serve as a one-stop destination for all these requirements. In fact, with the expansion of cloud collaboration tools amid the coronavirus pandemic, software-as-a-service (SaaS) businesses expect robust growth, due to their ease in deployment, management, and support.

In view of the pandemic, the global cloud computing market size is projected to grow from $371.4 billion in 2020 to $832.1 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 17.5%, per a ResearchAndMarkets.com report. Organizations are migrating their infrastructure to cloud due to its lower hardware cost and exquisite features. Additionally, the cloud technology adoption is expected to see robust growth in sectors where the work-from-home initiatives are helping sustain enterprise business functions.

Digital transition makes companies rely on enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to help aggregate and organize data that is spread across each of its independent departments. While traditional ERP solutions are often housed within a companys own infrastructure server and requires updating and servicing to stay relevant, cloud ERP relies on cloud-based server infrastructure.

The coronavirus outbreak has halted this digital transition process for several companies. The requirement for many now revolves around cloud computing and collaboration. Hence, new plans based around ERP are required. The cloud ERP system requires a shared database that supports multiple functions used by different business units, allowing employees in various divisions to access and rely on the same information for their specific needs.

Companies like Anaplan play a tremendous role. Its native cloud platform helps connect a company's digital data and systems to its workforce along with facilitating decision-making and organization-wide planning. Anaplan's machine learning-enabled platform helps in finances, sales, marketing or logistics.

Per MarketsandMarkets estimate, the global cloud ERP market size is expected to grow from $45.3 billion in 2020 to $101.1 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 17.4%.

Given the uproar in cloud technology, we have shortlisted five stocks that are poised to grow from the pandemic-induced remote working trend or long-term shift to global digitalization.

salesforce.com, inc. (CRM - Free Report) offers cloud-based software that includes customer relationship management service and marketing automation, analytics, and application development. The companys expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 25.1% compared with the ZacksComputer - Softwareindustrys estimated earnings growth of 0.5%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has climbed 25.9% over the past 60 days. salesforce currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Blackbaud, Inc. (BLKB - Free Report) provides cloud software solutions to nonprofits, foundations, companies, education institutions, healthcare organizations and individual change agents. The companys expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 18.3% compared with the ZacksComputer - Softwareindustrys estimated earnings growth of 0.5%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has climbed 29.9% over the past 60 days. Blackbaud currently sports a Zacks Rank #1.

Box, Inc. (BOX - Free Report) provides a cloud content management platform that enables organizations to manage and share their content from anywhere on any device. The companys expected earnings growth rate for the current year is more than 100% compared with the ZacksInternet - Softwareindustrys projected earnings growth of 7.3%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has climbed 14% over the past 60 days. Box carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at the moment.

Qualys, Inc. (QLYS - Free Report) provides cloud-based platform that delivers IT, security and compliance solutions. The companys expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 13.3% compared with the ZacksSecurityindustrys estimated earnings growth of 6.7%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has climbed 5.6% over the past 60 days. Qualys currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

FireEye, Inc. (FEYE - Free Report) provides cybersecurity solutions to prepare for, prevent, investigate, respond to, and remediate cyber-attacks. The companys expected earnings growth rate for the current year is more than 100% compared with the ZacksSecurityindustrys estimated earnings growth of 6.7%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up more than 100% over the past 60 days. FireEye carries a Zacks Rank #2.

The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. Theyre also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.

Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.

See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>

View original post here:

5 Cloud Stocks to Make the Most of the Digitalization Race - Zacks.com

Stream Data Centers Teams up with Banking Leaders for Build-to-Suit Data Center Project – Data Center Frontier

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

A banking leader, with over $500 billionin assets, needed the perfect partner for a data center consolidation project. (Photo: Stream Data Centers)

The financial sectors need for data centers is growing at a rapid pace as data continues to explode amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rise of technologies like cloud and edge computing. A new report from Stream Data Centers highlights how the data industry company and leaders of one of the nations larger commercial banks joined forces as part of a comprehensivedata center consolidation plan. The pair ascertained the need for a new core build-to-suit data center that wouldcomplement the banks primary Tier IV data center and executes the project.

The bank leader, with over $500 billionin assets, needed the perfect partner for the project. According to the report, in the competitive and highly regulated banking industry, demands on financial institutionscome not only from customers, but from regulators and shareholders.

In fact, the financialservices sector is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the nation, Stream Data Centers pointed out.

And bank leaders often have the sometimes challenging responsibility toensure that expenditures are justified and add value to the business and its customers.

The new case study explores how acollaborative partnership with Stream Data Centers gave the bank the security and controlof a standalone facility and the ability to specify the design, build and ongoing operation ofa dedicated data center building that incorporated the most critical elements of the existingcustomer-built facility.

As the partnership kicked off, Stream and teams from the bank toured each others facilitiesto study operational practices and efficiencies, and reviewed methods of procedures and strandard operating procedures to hone best practices for the project as a whole.

Stream was able to work within the banks changemanagement systems and adhere to established protocolsfor the project. (Photo: Stream Data Centers)

Stream was able to work within the banks changemanagement systems and adhere to established protocolsfor the project. This capability to integrate reportingsystems, adopt the banks MOP/SOP documents andadhere to best practices was crucial. Stream Data Centers

The project was completed in less than a year, creating savings the bank in capital expenses, as well ascreating shareholder value with a reduced total costof ownership (TCO).

Download the full report, Case Study: Financial Services Build-to-Suit Data Center Strength through Flexibility, courtesy of Stream Date Centers, to explore how a leader in the financial sector and Stream Data Centers partnered to successfully complete a build-to-suit data centers to fit a banking giants specific needs.

See the original post:

Stream Data Centers Teams up with Banking Leaders for Build-to-Suit Data Center Project - Data Center Frontier

Can Stem Cell Therapy Repair Damaged Knees?

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

In recent years, stem cell therapy has been hailed as a miracle cure for many conditions, from wrinkles to spinal repair. In animal studies, stem cell treatments have shown promise for various diseases, including heart disease, Parkinsons disease and muscular dystrophy.

Stem cell therapy could also potentially treat osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. In OA, the cartilage covering the ends of the bones starts to deteriorate and wear away. As the bones lose this protective covering, they start to rub against one another. This leads to pain, swelling, and stiffness and, ultimately, loss of function and mobility.

Millions of people in the United States live with OA of the knee. Many manage their symptoms through exercise, weight loss, medical treatments, and lifestyle modification.

If symptoms become severe, total knee replacement is an option. Over 600,000 people a year undergo this operation in the United States alone. Yet stem cell therapy can be an alternative to surgery.

The human body is constantly manufacturing stem cells in the bone marrow. Based on certain conditions and signals in the body, stem cells are directed to where they are needed.

A stem cell is an immature, basic cell that has not yet developed to become, say, a skin cell or a muscle cell or a nerve cell. There are different types of stem cells that the body can use for different purposes.

There is evidence that stem cell treatments work by triggering damaged tissues in the body to repair themselves. This is often referred to as regenerative therapy.

However, research into stem cell treatment for OA of the knee is somewhat limited, and the results of studies are mixed.

The American College of Rheumatology and the Arthritis Foundation (ACR/AF) do not currently recommend stem cell treatment for OA of the knee, for the following reasons:

Currently, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) considers stem cell treatment investigational. Until additional studies can demonstrate a clear benefit from stem cell injections, people who opt for this treatment must pay for them on their own and must understand that the treatment may not work.

That said, as researchers learn more about this type of treatment, it could one day become a viable option for the treatment of OA.

The cartilage covering the ends of the bones enables the bones to glide smoothly against one another with only slight friction. OA causes damage to the cartilage and leads to increased friction resulting in pain, inflammation, and ultimately, a loss of mobility and function.

In theory, stem cell therapy uses the bodys own healing mechanisms to help repair and slow the deterioration of body tissues, such as cartilage.

Stem cell therapy for knees aims to:

In simple terms, treatment involves:

Several studies have concluded that stem cell therapy improves arthritis symptoms of the knee. While overall results are promising, more research is needed to discover:

Stem cell treatment for knees is noninvasive, and studies suggest that side effects are minimal.

After the procedure, some people may experience temporary increased pain and swelling. However, the overwhelming majority of people who get stem cell injections have no adverse side effects.

The procedure uses stem cells that come from your own body. In theory, this dramatically reduces the risk of any serious side effects. However, there are various ways of harvesting and processing the stem cells, which likely affects the various success rates of the published studies.

Before receiving any treatment, its best to:

Despite conflicting evidence about whether stem cell injections work, many clinics offer them as an option for the treatment of arthritic knee pain.

Since stem cell treatment for arthritic knee pain is still considered investigational by the FDA, the treatment is not yet standardized and there is no limit to what doctors and clinics can charge.

The cost can be several thousands of dollars per knee and most insurance companies do not cover the treatment.

If OA is causing knee pain or affecting your mobility, the ACR/AF recommend the following options:

If these dont work or become ineffective, a total knee replacement surgery may be an option. Knee replacement surgery is a very common operation that can greatly improve mobility, decrease pain, and significantly improve quality of life.

Research into stem cell therapy for treatment of osteoarthritic knee pain is ongoing. Some research has shown promising results and it may one day become an accepted treatment option. For now, it remains costly and experts remain cautiously optimistic.

View post:

Can Stem Cell Therapy Repair Damaged Knees?

COVID-19 cell therapy drives Mesoblast to seek manufacturing muscle – BioPharma-Reporter.com

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

In mid-August, the US Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voiced support for the efficacy of remestemcel-L in children with steroid-resistant graft-versus-host (GvHD) disease. The positive vote moved Mesoblast a step closer to winning approval for the mesenchymal stem cell therapy.

While seeking approval in that long-targeted indication, Mesoblast is also working to show the cell therapy is effective in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by infection with SARS-CoV-2.

Talking to investors on a fourth quarter results conference call late last week, Mesoblast CEO Silviu Itescu explained how the potential size of the COVID-19 market opportunity creates a substantial challenge.

We ... have to be prepared to substantially scale up manufacturing ... to be in a position next year to make sufficient quantity of product to start to meet some of this unmet need. We are able to implement proprietary xeno-free technologies and we certainly have plans to move into 3D bioreactors to allow us to have sufficient capability to meet this large unmet need, said Itescu.

Like many organizations targeting COVID-19, including groups such as AstraZeneca and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals that have large in-house operations, Mesoblast is planning to partner to gain the scale needed to manufacture the quantities of remestemcel-L it may need.

Mesoblast is currently running a phase 3 trial of remestemcel-L in ARDS. Itescu is assuming that the company will be entering into a strategic partnership for manufacturing commercialization to serve the ARDS indication.

The need for remestemcel-L in ARDS will depend on the progress of COVID-19 vaccines, which could significantly reduce the number of people suffering the complication of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and the strength of the phase 3 data.

Itescu explained the rationale for developing remestemcel-L in COVID-19 on the conference call. Like GvHD, a hyperactive immune response, known as a cytokine storm, is implicated in ARDS. In ARDS the cytokine storm manifests in severe inflammation of the lungs.

Remestemcel-L has shown anti-inflammatory effects during its development in GvHD. In addition, there is evidence the cell therapy migrates to the lungs after intravenous administration, suggesting it will accumulate in the part of the body where it is needed most in ARDS,

US physicians administered remestemcel-L to ventilator-dependent patients under a compassionate use program earlier this year. Nine of the 12 patients were taken off ventilator support, after 10 days in median, and later discharged from the hospital.

The evidence to support the use of remestemcel-L in COVID-19 led Mesoblast to start a 300-subject clinical trial. Mesoblast is assessing the effect of remestemcel-L on mortality after 30 days and is set to hold a series of interim analyses as increasing percentages of participants reach that point. If the data link remestemcel-L to improved survival, Mesoblast will seek expedited regulatory approval.

Vor Biopharma and Metagenomi to Collaborate on Engineered Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Therapies – Business Wire

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vor Biopharma, an oncology company pioneering engineered hematopoietic stem cells (eHSCs) for the treatment of cancer, and Metagenomi, a gene editing company discovering breakthrough systems for curing genetic disease, today announced that Vor will evaluate the potential use of Metagenomis gene editing technology to develop engineered hematopoietic stem cell-based therapies for the treatment of blood cancers, such as acute myeloid leukemia.

Cancer patients deserve therapies with strong effects on cancer cells and minimal effects on all other cells, said Tirtha Chakraborty, Ph.D., Vors VP and Head of Research. Our new partnership with Metagenomi will help us achieve this goal by engineering hematopoietic stem cells using precise yet flexible gene editing thereby ensuring that targeted therapies can live up to their name."

The collaboration is non-exclusive and applies to pre-clinical research only. Further terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.

This partnership unites two transformative technologies our proprietary gene editing enzymes, and Vors platform for engineering hematopoietic stem cells such that they are inherently treatment-resistant, said Brian C. Thomas, Metagenomis CEO and co-founder. We are excited to be working together to bring both of these cutting-edge approaches into the clinic.

About Vor Biopharma

Vor Biopharma aims to transform the lives of cancer patients by pioneering engineered hematopoietic stem cell (eHSC) therapies. By removing biologically redundant proteins from eHSCs, these cells become inherently invulnerable to complementary targeted therapies while tumor cells are left susceptible, thereby unleashing the potential of targeted therapies to benefit cancer patients in need.

Vors platform could be used to potentially change the treatment paradigm of both hematopoietic stem cell transplants and targeted therapies, such as antibody drug conjugates, bispecific antibodies and CAR-T cell treatments.

Vor is based in Cambridge, Mass. and has a broad intellectual property base, including in-licenses from Columbia University, where foundational work was conducted by inventor and Vor Scientific Board Chair Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, DPhil.

About VOR33

Vors lead product candidate, VOR33, consists of engineered hematopoietic stem cells (eHSCs) that lack the protein CD33. Once these cells are transplanted into a cancer patient, we believe that CD33 will become a far more cancer-specific target, potentially avoiding toxicity to the normal blood and bone marrow associated with CD33-targeted therapies. Vor aims to improve the therapeutic window and effectiveness of CD33-targeted therapies, thereby potentially broadening the clinical benefit to patients suffering from acute myeloid leukemia.

About Metagenomi

Metagenomi is harnessing the vast information found in life on Earth to develop cures for genetic disease. Using proprietary data collected from around the world, Metagenomi has developed novel gene editing tools that enable next-generation gene and cell therapies.

Metagenomi is based out of Emeryville, California, and was founded by pioneers in the field of metagenomics, Jill Banfield and Brian C. Thomas. Metagenomi generates massive quantities of data from natural environments, producing complete genomes from organisms that are otherwise unknown. Metagenomi then unlocks the information captured in these genomes to develop game-changing in vivo and ex vivo therapeutics.

Read the rest here:

Vor Biopharma and Metagenomi to Collaborate on Engineered Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Therapies - Business Wire

New Report Begins a New Era of Stem Cell Science and Medicine: Stem Cell Biotechnology Company Asymmetrex Tells How It Counts Therapeutic Tissue Stem…

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

Impact of New Tissue Stem Cell Counting Algorithms

BOSTON (PRWEB) September 01, 2020

Stem cell biotechnology company, Asymmetrex, has been counting tissue stem cells like those used for bone marrow and cord blood transplantation therapies for a few years now. Recently, the company announced the issue of patents for its first-in-kind technology both in the U.S. and the U.K. However, until last Friday, August 28, Asymmetrex had not reported in the peer-reviewed academic literature how it achieves this feat that had been pursued by many distinguished labs for more than six decades.

Now in a report published in a special issue of OBM Transplantation, a peer-review journal for transplantation medicine research, Asymmetrex completes its introduction of the new technology to the fields of stem cell science and stem cell medicine. The report is the second invited article published in a special issue focused on the Isolation and Characterization of Adult Therapeutic Cells.

The new report describes Asymmetrexs discovery of mathematical formulas, call algorithms, that can be used to determine the number of stem cells in complex tissue cell preparations, like experimental samples or patient treatments. The stem cell counting algorithms are specific for different types of tissue stem cells. So, the algorithms defined for blood stem cells are distinct from the algorithms for liver stem cells, or lung stem cells. Once an algorithm is defined by the Asymmetrex technology, it can be used repeatedly as a simple, rapid, and inexpensive test to determine the quantity and dosage of its specific tissue stem cell type.

Asymmetrexs founder and director, James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D., anticipated the August publication of the new algorithms in a talk given earlier at the 6th Annual Perinatal Stem Cell Society Congress in March of this year. Then and now, he says that he believes, Now that the tissue stem cell counting algorithms are available, everything will change in stem cell science and medicine.

Prior to Asymmetrexs technology, there was no method for counting tissue stem cells in research, medicine, or for any other of their many uses. So, the impact of the stem cell counting algorithms in research and medicine is far-reaching. Such information is a game changer for accelerating progress in stem cell science and stem cell medicine, including improving treatments like gene therapy whose success depends on targeting tissue stem cells. There will also be tremendous gains in cell biomanufacturing, drug development, and environmental toxicology, all whose capabilities are currently limited by the lack of a facile means to quantify tissue stem cells.

To make the new counting technology readily accessible for evaluation by the greater academic, medical, and industrial stem cell communities, Asymmetrex provides free tissue stem cell counting on its company website.

About Asymmetrex

Asymmetrex, LLC is a Massachusetts life sciences company with a focus on developing technologies to advance stem cell medicine. The companys U.S. and U.K. patent portfolio contains biotechnologies that solve the two main technical problems production and quantification that have stood in the way of effective use of human adult tissue stem cells for regenerative medicine and drug development. Asymmetrex markets the first technology for determination of the dose and quality of tissue stem cell preparations (the AlphaSTEM Test) for use in stem cell transplantation therapies and pre-clinical drug evaluations. Asymmetrex is a member company of the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute BioFabUSA and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.

Share article on social media or email:

New Report Begins a New Era of Stem Cell Science and Medicine: Stem Cell Biotechnology Company Asymmetrex Tells How It Counts Therapeutic Tissue Stem...

Optimized Freezing Solutions for Clinical Application of Cell Therapy Products – Technology Networks

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

AMSBIO has announced new additions and certifications for its range of clinical grade, chemically defined cryopreservation excipient solutions STEM-CELLBANKER and HSC-BANKER.

STEM-CELLBANKER DMSO Free GMP grade is a new chemically defined freezing solution that does not contain DMSO as an anti-freezing agent. It was developed for customers who prefer not to use DMSO-containing cryopreservation solution due to the intended application of the samples. STEM-CELLBANKER DMSO Free GMP grade is manufactured in compliance with JPN, EU, US, and PIC/S GMP guidelines.

STEM-CELLBANKER is a chemically defined freezing media optimized for stem cells and iPS cells storage, as well as fragile primary cells. Published data supports its ability to cryopreserve organoids and tissues to allow the recovery of viable cells. STEM-CELLBANKER GMP grade is manufactured in compliance with JPN, EU, US, and PIC/S GMP guidelines. Free from animal derived components this popular cryopreservation medium contains only chemically defined USP, EP and JP grade ingredients. Available in both DMSO containing and DMSO-Free formulations, STEM-CELLBANKER is an optimal freezing solution for basic research and is finding widespread use in the clinical application of cell therapy products.

Manufactured to be completely free of serum and animal derived components, HSC-BANKER contains only European or US Pharmacopoeia graded ingredients making it suitable for storage of hematopoietic stem cells developed for cell therapy applications.

Recently the master files of HSC-BANKER were accepted by the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) within the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Master files are submissions to the FDA used to provide confidential, detailed information about facilities, processes, or articles used in the manufacturing, processing, packaging, and storing of human drug products. Beneficially they allow researchers to reference material without disclosing Master file contents to those parties.

HSC-BANKER is supplied ready-to-use and requires no special devices, such as a controlled rate freezer, in order to achieve consistently high viabilities following resuscitation from cryopreservation, even over extended long-term storage. HSC-BANKER significantly increases cell viability while maintaining cell pluripotency, normal karyotype and proliferation ability after freeze-thaw. Evaluated for endotoxins, pH, osmolarity and mycoplasma contaminants to ensure GMP equivalent quality. HSC-BANKER is part of the CELLBANKER range of cryopreservation media for cells, organoids and tissues.

Read the rest here:

Optimized Freezing Solutions for Clinical Application of Cell Therapy Products - Technology Networks

Global Cord Blood Banking Market 2020 with Analysis of 44 Industry Players – PRNewswire

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

DUBLIN, Sept. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Cord Blood Banking Industry Report 2020" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report presents the number of cord blood units stored in inventory by the largest cord blood banks worldwide and the number of cord blood units (CBUs) released by registries across the world for hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation. Although cord blood is now used to treat more than 80 different diseases, this number could substantially expand if applications related to regenerative medicine start receiving approvals in major healthcare markets worldwide.

From the early 1900s through the mid-2000s, the global cord blood banking industry expanded rapidly, with companies opening for business in all major markets worldwide. From 2005 to 2010, the market reached saturation and stabilized.

Then, from 2010 to 2020, the market began to aggressively consolidate. This has created both serious threats and unique opportunities within the industry.

Serious threats to the industry include low rates of utilization for stored cord blood, expensive cord blood transplantation procedures, difficulty educating obstetricians about cellular therapies, and an increasing trend toward industry consolidation. There are also emerging opportunities for the industry, such as accelerated regulatory pathways for cell therapies in leading healthcare markets worldwide and expanding applications for cell-based therapies. In particular, MSCs from cord tissue (and other sources) are showing intriguing promise in the treatment and management of COVID-19.

Cord Blood Industry Trends

Within recent years, new themes have been impacting the industry, including the pairing of stem cell storage services with genetic and genomic testing services, as well as reproductive health services. Cord blood banks are diversifying into new types of stem cell storage, including umbilical cord tissue storage, placental blood and tissue, amniotic fluid and tissue, and dental pulp. Cord blood banks are also investigating means of becoming integrated therapeutic companies. With hundreds of companies offering cord blood banking services worldwide, maturation of the market means that each company is fighting harder for market share.

Growing numbers of investors are also entering the marketplace, with M&A activity accelerating in the U.S. and abroad. Holding companies are emerging as a global theme, allowing for increased operational efficiency and economy of scale. Cryoholdco has established itself as the market leader within Latin America. Created in 2015, Cryoholdco is a holding company that will control nearly 270,000 stem cell units by the end of 2020. It now owns a half dozen cord blood banks, as well as a dental stem cell storage company.

Globally, networks of cord blood banks have become commonplace, with Sanpower Group establishing its dominance in Asia. Although Sanpower has been quiet about its operations, it holds 4 licenses out of only 7 issued provincial-level cord blood bank licenses in China. It has reserved over 900,000 cord blood samples in China, and its reserves amount to over 1.2 million units when Cordlife' reserves within Southeast Asian countries are included. This positions Sanpower Group and it's subsidiary Nanjing Cenbest as the world's largest cord blood banking operator not only in China and Southeast Asia but in the world.

The number of cord blood banks in Europe has dropped by more than one-third over the past ten years, from approximately 150 to under 100. The industry leaders in this market segment include FamiCord Group, who has executed a dozen M&A transactions, and Vita34, who has executed approximately a half dozen. Stemlab, the largest cord blood bank in Portugal, also executed three acquisition deals prior to being acquired by FamiCord. FamiCord is now the leading stem cell bank in Europe and one of the largest worldwide.

Cord Blood Expansion Technologies

Because cord blood utilization is largely limited to use in pediatric patients, growing investment is flowing into ex vivo cord blood expansion technologies. If successful, this technology could greatly expand the market potential for cord blood, encouraging its use within new markets, such as regenerative medicine, aging, and augmented immunity.

Key strategies being explored for this purpose include:

Currently, Gamida Cell, Nohla Therapeutics, Excellthera, and Magenta Therapeutics have ex vivo cord blood expansion products proceeding through clinical trials. Growing numbers of investors have also entered the cord blood banking marketplace, led by groups such as GI Partners, ABS Capital Partners & HLM Management, KKR & Company, Bay City Capital, GTCR, LLC, and Excalibur.

Cord Blood Banking by Region

Within the United States, most of the market share is controlled by three major players: Cord Blood Registry (CBR), Cryo-Cell, and ViaCord. CBR has been traded twice, once in 2015 to AMAG Pharmaceuticals for $700 million and again in 2018 to GI Partners for $530 million. CBR also bought Natera's Evercord Cord Blood Banking business in September 2019. In total, CBR controls over 900,000 cord blood and tissue samples, making it one of the largest cord blood banks worldwide.

In China, the government controls the industry by authorizing only one cord blood bank to operate within each province, and official government support, authorization, and permits are required. Importantly, the Chinese government announced in late 2019 that it will be issuing new licenses for the first time, expanding from the current 7 licensed regions for cord blood banking to up to 19 regions, including Beijing.

In Italy and France, it is illegal to privately store one's cord blood, which has fully eliminated the potential for a private market to exist within the region. In Ecuador, the government created the first public cord blood bank and instituted laws such that private cord blood banks cannot approach women about private cord blood banking options during the first six months of pregnancy. This created a crisis for private banks, forcing most out of business.

Recently, India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) restricted commercial banking of stem cells from most biological materials, including cord tissue, placenta, and dental pulp stem cells - leaving only umbilical cord blood banking as permitted and licensed within the country.

While market factors vary by geography, it is crucial to have a global understanding of the industry, because research advances, clinical trial findings, and technology advances do not know international boundaries. The cord blood market is global in nature and understanding dynamics within your region is not sufficient for making strategic, informed, and profitable decisions.

Overall, the report provides the reader with the following details and answers the following questions:

1. Number of cord blood units cryopreserved in public and private cord blood banks globally2. Number of hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCTs) globally using cord blood cells3. Utilization of cord blood cells in clinical trials for developing regenerative medicines4. The decline of the utilization of cord blood cells in HSC transplantations since 20055. Emerging technologies to influence the financial sustainability of public cord blood banks6. The future scope for companion products from cord blood7. The changing landscape of cord blood cell banking market8. Extension of services by cord blood banks9. Types of cord blood banks10. The economic model of public cord blood banks11. Cost analysis for public cord blood banks12. The economic model of private cord blood banks13. Cost analysis for private cord blood banks14. Profit margins for private cord blood banks15. Pricing for processing and storage in private banks16. Rate per cord blood unit in the U.S. and Europe17. Indications for the use of cord blood-derived HSCs for transplantations18. Diseases targeted by cord blood-derived MSCs in regenerative medicine19. Cord blood processing technologies20. Number of clinical trials, number of published scientific papers and NIH funding for cord blood research21. Transplantation data from different cord blood registries

Key questions answered in this report are:

1. What are the strategies being considered for improving the financial stability of public cord blood banks?2. What are the companion products proposed to be developed from cord blood?3. How much is being spent on processing and storing a unit of cord blood?4. How much does a unit of cryopreserved cord blood unit fetch on release?5. Why do most public cord blood banks incur a loss?6. What is the net profit margin for a private cord blood bank?7. What are the prices for processing and storage of cord blood in private cord blood banks?8. What are the rates per cord blood units in the U.S. and Europe?9. What are the revenues from cord blood sales for major cord blood banks?10. Which are the different accreditation systems for cord blood banks?11. What are the comparative merits of the various cord blood processing technologies?12. What is to be done to increase the rate of utilization of cord blood cells in transplantations?13. Which TNC counts are preferred for transplantation?14. What is the number of registered clinical trials using cord blood and cord tissue?15. How many clinical trials are involved in studying the expansion of cord blood cells in the laboratory?16. How many matching and mismatching transplantations using cord blood units are performed on an annual basis?17. What is the share of cord blood cells used for transplantation from 2000 to 2020?18. What is the likelihood of finding a matching allogeneic cord blood unit by ethnicity?19. Which are the top ten countries for donating cord blood?20. What are the diseases targeted by cord blood-derived MSCs within clinical trials?

Key Topics Covered

1. REPORT OVERVIEW1.1 Statement of the Report1.2 Executive Summary1.3 Introduction1.3.1 Cord Blood: An Alternative Source for HPSCs1.3.2 Utilization of Cord Blood Cells in Clinical Trials1.3.3 The Struggle of Cord Blood Banks1.3.4 Emerging Technologies to Influence Financial Sustainability of Banks1.3.4.1 Other Opportunities to Improve Financial Stability1.3.4.2 Scope for Companion Products1.3.5 Changing Landscape of Cord Blood Cell Banking Market1.3.6 Extension of Services by Cord Blood Banks

2. CORD BLOOD & CORD BLOOD BANKING: AN OVERVIEW2.1 Cord Blood Banking (Stem Cell Banking)2.1.1 Public Cord Blood Banks2.1.1.1 Economic Model of Public Cord Blood Banks2.1.1.2 Cost Analysis for Public Banks2.1.1.3 Relationship between Costs and Release Rates2.1.2 Private Cord Blood Banks2.1.2.1 Cost Analysis for Private Cord Blood Banks2.1.2.2 Economic Model of Private Banks2.1.3 Hybrid Cord Blood Banks2.2 Globally Known Cord Blood Banks2.2.1 Comparing Cord Blood Banks2.2.2 Cord Blood Banks in the U.S.2.2.3 Proportion of Public, Private and Hybrid Banks2.3 Percent Share of Parents of Newborns Storing Cord Blood by Country/Region2.4 Pricing for Processing and Storage in Commercial Banks2.4.1 Rate per Cord Blood Unit in the U.S. and Europe2.5 Cord Blood Revenues for Major Cord Blood Banks

3. CORD BLOOD BANK ACCREDITATIONS3.1 American Association of Blood Banks (AABB)3.2 Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT)3.3 FDA Registration3.4 FDA Biologics License Application (BLA) License3.5 Investigational New Drug (IND) for Cord Blood3.6 Human Tissue Authority (HTA)3.7 Therapeutic Goods Act (TGA) in Australia3.8 International NetCord Foundation3.9 AABB Accredited Cord Blood Facilities3.10 FACT Accreditation for Cord Blood Banks

4. APPLICATIONS OF CORD BLOOD CELLS4.1 Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantations with Cord Blood Cells4.2 Cord Cells in Regenerative Medicine

5. CORD BLOOD PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES5.1 The Process of Separation5.1.1 PrepaCyte-CB5.1.2 Advantages of PrepaCyte-CB5.1.3 Treatment Outcomes with PrepaCyte-CB5.1.4 Hetastarch (HES)5.1.5 AutoXpress (AXP)5.1.6 SEPAX5.1.7 Plasma Depletion Method (MaxCell Process)5.1.8 Density Gradient Method5.2 Comparative Merits of Different Processing Methods5.2.1 Early Stage HSC Recovery by Technologies5.2.2 Mid Stage HSC (CD34+/CD133+) Recovery from Cord Blood5.2.3 Late Stage Recovery of HSCs from Cord Blood5.3 HSC (CD45+) Recovery5.4 Days to Neutrophil Engraftment by Technology5.5 Anticoagulants used in Cord Blood Processing5.5.1 Type of Anticoagulant and Cell Recovery Volume5.5.2 Percent Cell Recovery by Sample Size5.5.3 TNC Viability by Time Taken for Transport and Type of Anticoagulant5.6 Cryopreservation of Cord Blood Cells5.7 Bioprocessing of Umbilical Cord Tissue (UCT)5.8 A Proposal to Improve the Utilization Rate of Banked Cord Blood

6. CORD BLOOD CLINICAL TRIALS, SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS & NIH FUNDING6.1 Cord Blood Cells for Research6.2 Cord Blood Cells for Clinical Trials6.2.1 Number of Clinical Trials involving Cord Blood Cells6.2.2 Number of Clinical Trials using Cord Blood Cells by Geography6.2.3 Number of Clinical Trials by Study Type6.2.4 Number of Clinical Trials by Study Phase6.2.5 Number of Clinical Trials by Funder Type6.2.6 Clinical Trials Addressing Indications in Children6.2.7 Select Three Clinical Trials Involving Children6.2.7.1 Sensorineural Hearing Loss (NCT02038972)6.2.7.2 Autism Spectrum (NCT02847182)6.2.7.3 Cerebral Palsy (NCT01147653)6.2.8 Clinical Trials for Neurological Diseases using Cord Blood and Cord Tissue6.2.9 UCB for Diabetes6.2.10 UCB in Cardiovascular Clinical Trials6.2.11 Cord Blood Cells for Auto-Immune Diseases in Clinical Trials6.2.12 Cord Tissue Cells for Orthopedic Disorders in Clinical Trials6.2.13 Cord Blood Cells for Other Indications in Clinical Trials6.3 Major Diseases Addressed by Cord Blood Cells in Clinical Trials6.4 Clinical Trials using Cord Tissue-Derived MSCs6.5 Ongoing Clinical Trials using Cord Tissue6.5.1 Cord Tissue-Based Clinical Trials by Geography6.5.2 Cord Tissue-Based Clinical Trials by Phase6.5.3 Cord Tissue-Based Clinical Trials by Sponsor Types6.5.4 Companies Sponsoring in Trials using Cord Tissue-Derived MSCs6.6 Wharton's Jelly-Derived MSCs in Clinical Trials6.6.1 Wharton's Jelly-Based Clinical Trials by Phase6.6.2 Companies Sponsoring Wharton's Jelly-Based Clinical Trials6.7 Clinical Trials Involving Cord Blood Expansion Studies6.7.1 Safe and Feasible Expansion Protocols6.7.2 List of Clinical Trials involved in the Expansion of Cord Blood HSCs6.7.3 Expansion Technologies6.8 Scientific Publications on Cord Blood6.9 Scientific Publications on Cord Tissue6.10 Scientific Publications on Wharton's Jelly-Derived MSCs6.11 Published Scientific Papers on Cord Blood Cell Expansion6.12 NIH Funding for Cord Blood Research

7. PARENT'S AWARENESS AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS CORD BLOOD BANKING7.1 Undecided Expectant Parents7.2 The Familiar Cord Blood Banks Known by the Expectant Parents7.3 Factors Influencing the Choice of a Cord Blood Bank

8. CORD BLOOD: AS A TRANSPLANTATION MEDICINE8.1 Comparisons of Cord Blood to other Allograft Sources8.1.1 Major Indications for HCTs in the U.S.8.1.2 Trend in Allogeneic HCT in the U.S. by Recipient Age8.1.3 Trends in Autologous HCT in the U.S. by Recipient Age8.2 HCTs by Cell Source in Adult Patients8.2.1 Transplants by Cell Source in Pediatric Patients8.3 Allogeneic HCTs by Cell Source8.3.1 Unrelated Donor Allogeneic HCTs in Patients &lessThan;18 Years8.4 Likelihood of Finding an Unrelated Cord Blood Unit by Ethnicity8.4.1 Likelihood of Finding an Unrelated Cord Blood Unit for Patients &lessThan;20 Years8.5 Odds of using a Baby's Cord Blood8.6 Cord Blood Utilization Trends8.7 Number of Cord Blood Donors Worldwide8.7.1 Number of CBUs Stored Worldwide8.7.2 Cord Blood Donors by Geography8.7.2.1 Cord Blood Units Stored in Different Geographies8.7.2.2 Number of Donors by HLA Typing8.7.3 Searches Made by Transplant Patients for Donors/CBUs8.7.4 Types of CBU Shipments (Single/Double/Multi)8.7.5 TNC Count of CBUs Shipped for Children and Adult Patients8.7.6 Shipment of Multiple CBUs8.7.7 Percent Supply of CBUs for National and International Patients8.7.8 Decreasing Number of CBU Utilization8.8 Top Ten Countries in Cord Blood Donation8.8.1 HLA Typed CBUs by Continent8.8.2 Percentage TNC of Banked CBUs8.8.3 Total Number of CBUs, HLA-Typed Units by Country8.9 Cord Blood Export/Import by the E.U. Member States8.9.1 Number of Donors and CBUs in Europe8.9.2 Number of Exports/Imports of CBUs in E.U.8.10 Global Exchange of Cord Blood Units

9. CORD BLOOD CELLS AS THERAPEUTIC CELL PRODUCTS IN CELL THERAPY9.1 MSCs from Cord Blood and Cord Tissue9.1.1 Potential Neurological Applications of Cord Blood-Derived Cells9.1.2 Cord Tissue-Derived MSCs for Therapeutic use9.1.2.1 Indications Targeted by UCT-MSCs in Clinical Trials9.2 Current Consumption of Cord Blood Units by Clinical Trials9.3 Select Cord Blood Stem Cell Treatments in Clinical Trials9.3.1 Acquired Hearing Loss (NCT02038972)9.3.2 Autism (NCT02847182)9.3.3 Cerebral Palsy (NCT03087110)9.3.4 Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (NCT01856049)9.3.5 Type 1 Diabetes (NCT00989547)9.3.6 Psoriasis (NCT03765957)9.3.7 Parkinson's Disease (NCT03550183)9.3.8 Signs of Aging (NCT04174898)9.3.9 Stroke (NCT02433509)9.3.10 Traumatic Brain Injury (NCT01451528)

10. MARKET ANALYSIS10.1 Public vs. Private Cord Blood Banking Market10.2 Cord Blood Banking Market by Indication

11. PROFILES OF SELECT CORD BLOOD BANKS11.1 AllCells11.1.1 Whole Blood11.1.2 Leukopak11.1.3 Mobilized Leukopak11.1.4 Bone Marrow11.1.5 Cord Blood11.2 AlphaCord LLC11.2.1 NextGen Collection System11.3 Americord Registry, Inc.11.3.1 Cord Blood 2.011.3.2 Cord Tissue11.3.3 Placental Tissue 2.011.4 Be The Match11.4.1 Hub of Transplant Network11.4.2 Partners of Be The Match11.4.3 Allogeneic Cell Sources in Be The Match Registry11.4.4 Likelihood of a Matched Donor on Be The Match by Ethnic Background11.5 Biocell Center Corporation11.5.1 Chorionic villi after Delivery11.5.2 Amniotic Fluid and Chorionic Villi during Pregnancy11.6 BioEden Group, Inc.11.6.1 Differences between Tooth Cells and Umbilical Cord Cells11.7 Biovault Family11.7.1 Personalized Cord Blood Processing11.8 Cell Care11.9 Cells4Life Group, LLP11.9.1 Cells4Life's pricing11.9.2 TotiCyte Technology11.9.3 Cord Blood Releases11.10 Cell-Save11.11 Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR)11.11.1 Global Collaboration11.11.2 Scientific Working Committees11.11.3 Medicare Clinical Trials and Studies11.11.4 Cellular Therapy11.12 Crio-Cell International, Inc.11.12.1 Advanced Collection Kit11.12.2 Prepacyte-CB11.12.3 Crio-Cell International's Pricing11.12.4 Revenue for Crio-Cell International11.13 Cord Blood Center Group11.13.1 Cord Blood Units Released11.14 Cordlife Group, Ltd.11.14.1 Cordlife's Cord Blood Release Track Record11.15 Core23 Biobank11.16 Cord Blood Registry (CBR)11.17 CordVida11.18 Crioestaminal11.18.1 Cord Blood Transplantation in Portugal11.19 Cryo-Cell International, Inc.11.19.1 Processing Method11.19.2 Financial Results of the Company11.20 CryoHoldco11.21 Cryoviva Biotech Pvt. Ltd11.22 European Society for Blood and Bone Marrow Transplantation (EBMT)11.22.1 EBMT Transplant Activity11.23 FamiCord Group11.24 GeneCell International11.25 Global Cord Blood Corporation11.25.1 The Company's Business11.26 HealthBaby Hong Kong11.26.1 BioArchive System Service Plan11.26.2 MVE Liquid Nitrogen System11.27 HEMAFUND11.28 Insception Lifebank11.29 LifebankUSA11.29.1 Placental Banking11.30 LifeCell International Pvt. Ltd.11.31 MiracleCord, Inc.11.32 Maze Cord Blood Laboratories11.33 New England Cord Blood Bank, Inc.11.34 New York Cord Blood Center (NYBC)11.34.1 Products11.34.2 Laboratory Services11.35 PacifiCord11.35.1 FDA-Approved Sterile Collection Bags11.35.2 AXP Processing System11.35.3 BioArchive System11.36 ReeLabs Pvt. Ltd.11.37 Smart Cells International, Ltd.11.38 Stem Cell Cryobank11.39 StemCyte, Inc.11.39.1 StemCyte Sponsored Clinical Trials11.39.1.1 Spinal Cord Injury Phase II11.39.1.2 Other Trials11.40 Transcell Biolife11.40.1 ScellCare11.40.2 ToothScell11.41 ViaCord11.42 Vita 34 AG11.43 World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA)11.43.1 Search & Match Service11.44 Worldwide Network for Blood & Marrow Transplantation (WBMT)

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/7bm9lx

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [emailprotected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

http://www.researchandmarkets.com

Continue reading here:

Global Cord Blood Banking Market 2020 with Analysis of 44 Industry Players - PRNewswire

Cartesian Therapeutics Initiates Clinical Trial of First RNA-Engineered Cell Therapy for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and COVID-19 – PRNewswire

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Sept. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Cartesian Therapeutics, a fully integrated, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing cell and gene therapies for cancer, autoimmune diseases and respiratory diseases, today announced that it has initiated a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of its lead RNA-engineered mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy, Descartes-30, in patients with moderate-to-severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), including that caused by COVID-19. Based upon the company's research and analysis, this program is understood to be the first RNA-engineered cell therapy to enter clinical development for ARDS and COVID-19. It is also the first cell therapy to specifically degrade NETs, webs of extracellular DNA and histones that entrap inflammatory cells, block alveoli and vessels, and drive the pathogenesis of ARDS and COVID-19.

"Patients with ARDS, especially those with COVID-19 ARDS, generate copious amounts of NETs that physically obstruct alveoli and vessels, which leads to respiratory distress, immune-mediated thrombosis and a vicious cycle of inflammation," said Bruce Levy, MD, Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Parker B. Francis Professor at Harvard Medical School, and a clinical investigator in the Descartes-30 trial. "We would therefore expect that degrading NETs would improve oxygenation as well as resolve thrombi and quell inflammation in these patients. If successful, Descartes-30 would be a highly differentiated game-changer within our limited toolkit in managing this exceedingly difficult condition."

Descartes-30 is an off-the-shelf (allogeneic) MSC product engineered with Cartesian's RNA ArmorySM cell therapy platform. By expressing a unique combination of DNases that work synergistically, Descartes-30 can eliminate large, macroscopic amounts of NETs within minutes. MSCs are inherently immunomodulatory and naturally travel to the lungs, where they are expected to provide continuous, local delivery of DNases to NET-laden lung tissue.

"We engineered Descartes-30 without genomic modification, and therefore the production of DNases is expected to be time-limited to match the acute nature of ARDS," said Metin Kurtoglu, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer at Cartesian. "Given thatDescartes-30will produce DNases locally and transiently, we anticipate that it will have a favorable benefit-to-risk profile. We also anticipate that these properties will enable Descartes-30 to treat a wide array of NET-related autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases."

About the Phase 1/2a Clinical Trial

The "Phase 1/2a Study of Descartes-30 in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome" (NCT04524962) is enrolling patients with ARDS at multiple critical care units in the United States. Patients with ARDS due to COVID-19 are given enrollment priority. This first-in-human study aims to determine the safety and preliminary efficacy of Descartes-30 in patients with moderate to severe ARDS. The study, which is estimated to begin treatment in September, aims to enroll approximately 20 patients prior to initiation of a larger study. For more information visit http://www.cartesiantherapeutics.com/Descartes-30-ARDS.

About ARDS and NETs

ARDS is a severe inflammatory lung disease with a mortality of over 40%. Inflammation leads to injury of lung tissue and leakage of blood and plasma into air spaces, resulting in low oxygen levels and often requiring mechanical ventilation. Inflammation in the lung may lead to inflammation elsewhere, causing shock and injury or dysfunction in the kidneys, heart, and muscles. Some causes of ARDS include COVID-19, severe pneumonia (including influenza), sepsis, trauma, and smoke inhalation.

NETs are inflammatory webs of DNA and proteins produced by neutrophils. NETs are commonly found in ARDS and are thought to exacerbate the disease by physically occluding air spaces and vessels, leading to reduced oxygenation and increased risk of immune thrombi. NETs are implicated in a variety of conditions beyond ARDS, including autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases.

About the RNA ArmorySM

The RNA ArmorySM is Cartesian's proprietary RNA-based cell engineering platform that activates and arms cells with carefully selected, mRNA-based therapeutics. Unmodified donor cells enter the RNA ArmorySMin the millions; a battle-ready cell army leaves the RNA ArmorySMin the tens of billions. Each cell is equipped with a combination of therapeutics rationally chosen to have a synergistic effect on the disease. In the body, the cells deliver a precision-targeted treatment regimen directly to the site of disease. The cells express therapeutics with a defined half-life, enhancing their safety profile and making repeat dosing and outpatient administration possible. The platform is agnostic to cell type: we choose the best cell for the job, whether autologous or off-the shelf. For more information visithttps://www.cartesiantherapeutics.com/rna-armory/.

About Cartesian Therapeutics

Founded in 2016,Cartesianis a fully integrated, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing potent yet safer cell and gene therapies designed to benefit the broadest range of patients with cancer, autoimmune and respiratory diseases. Cartesianhas three products in clinical development under four open investigational new drug application (INDs) with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). All investigational therapies are manufactured at Cartesian's wholly owned, state-of-the-art cGMP manufacturing facility in Gaithersburg, MD.Cartesian's commanding IP position benefits in part from a broad, exclusive patent license from the National Cancer Institute. For more information visithttps://www.cartesiantherapeutics.com/clinical-trials/.

SOURCE Cartesian Therapeutics

More here:

Cartesian Therapeutics Initiates Clinical Trial of First RNA-Engineered Cell Therapy for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and COVID-19 - PRNewswire

New Comprehensive Report on Stem Cell Therapy Market to Witness an Outstanding Growth during 2020 2025 with Top Players Like Chiesi Pharmaceuticals,…

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

The Stem Cell TherapyIndustry study now available at Grand View Report, is a detailed sketch of the business sphere in terms of current and future trends driving the profit matrix. The report also indicates a pointwise outline of market share, market size, industry partakers, and regional landscape along with statistics, diagrams, & charts elucidating various noteworthy parameters of the industry landscape.

The Stem Cell Therapy Market research report offers an exhaustive analysis of this business space. The key trends that define the Stem Cell TherapyIndustry market during the analysis timeframe are mentioned in the report, alongside other factors such as regional scope and regulatory outlook. Also, the document elaborates on the impact of current industry trends on key market driving factors as well as top challenges.

Request a sample Report of Stem Cell TherapyIndustry Market at:https://grandviewreport.com/sample/21697

Top Key Players Profiled in This Report: , Osiris Therapeutics, NuVasive, Chiesi Pharmaceuticals, JCRPharmaceutical, Pharmicell, Medi-post, Anterogen, Molmed, Takeda (TiGenix)

The study also provides with a summary of the competitive spectrum as well as an in-depth assessment of the raw materials and downstream buyers.

Under COVID-19 outbreak globally, this report provides 360 degrees of analysis from supply chain, import and export control to regional government policy and future influence on the industry. Detailed analysis about market status (2015-2020), enterprise competition pattern, advantages and disadvantages of enterprise products, industry development trends (2020-2025), regional industrial layout characteristics and macroeconomic policies, industrial policy has also been included. From raw materials to end users of this industry are analyzed scientifically, the trends of product circulation and sales channel will be presented as well. Considering COVID-19, this report provides comprehensive and in-depth analysis on how the epidemic push this industry transformation and reform.

Our study helps to acquire the following:

Elaborating on the competitive landscape of Stem Cell TherapyIndustry market:

A gist of the regional scope of the Stem Cell TherapyIndustry market:

Ask for Discount on Stem Cell TherapyIndustry Market Report at:https://grandviewreport.com/discount/21697

Other information mentioned in the Stem Cell TherapyIndustry market report:

The report answers important questions that companies may have when operating in the global Stem Cell TherapyIndustry market. Some of the questions are given below:

For More Details On this Report:https://grandviewreport.com/industry-growth/Stem-Cell-Therapy-Market-21697

Read this article:

New Comprehensive Report on Stem Cell Therapy Market to Witness an Outstanding Growth during 2020 2025 with Top Players Like Chiesi Pharmaceuticals,...

CAR T-Cell Optimization Starts in Production, Extends to Therapy – Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

Just as heat-seeking missiles race toward the infrared signatures of their targets, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells home in on cancer-associated or -specific antigens. Once the antigens are engaged, CAR T cells let fly with cytotoxic flak, granules containing perforin and granzymes, while activating supplementary tumor-killing mechanisms such as stromal sensitization and macrophage polarization. It is to be hoped that by the time the cytotoxic smoke clears, the cancer will have been destroyed.

The development of CAR T cells has revolutionized adoptive cellular therapies against cancer. CARs are genetically engineered to combine antigen- or tumor-specific-binding with T-cell activating domains. T cells, obtained from the patient (autologous cells) or from a healthy donor (allogeneic cells), are typically transduced with an engineered vector, expanded, and infused back into the patient for tumor eradication.

In the 10 years since its inception, the CAR T-cell field has progressed rapidly. Two CAR T-cell products have been approved for clinical use, and many more products are undergoing clinical trials or are in development. Although the field initially focused on B-cell malignancies, it is now advancing on solid tumors.

Despite its initial success, the CAR T-cell field must find ways to generate products that are potent, affordable, and available. To achieve enduring success, the CAR T-cell field is undertaking a range of initiatives. These include the engineering of bridging proteins for multiantigen targeting; the creation of nonviral allogeneic off-the-shelf products; the organization of vein-to-vein networks; and the development of precisely tuned therapies, that is, precisely timed and dosed therapies.

Cellular therapy is a living drug, declares Steve Shamah, PhD, senior vice president, Obsidian Therapeutics. As with any drug, damage can occur if the therapy is not carefully regulated. Our company focuses on creating controllable cell therapies by engineering CAR T cells or tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes to produce regulatable cytokines and proteins that can enhance functional activity, especially against solid tumors.

For example, the company is developing a platform that armors CAR T cells with immunomodulatory factors such as interleukin-15 (IL-15) or CD40 ligand. Shamah explains, These factors can enhance functional activity by driving T-cell expansion, conferring resistance to immunosuppression, improving antigen presentation, and inducing antigen spread. However, both factors can also produce systemic toxicity. Our technology modulates the level and timing of their activity in a fully controlled, dose-dependent manner using an FDA-approved small-molecule drug.

The Obsidian platform, cytoDRiVE, adds a drug-responsive domain (DRD) onto a therapeutic protein of interest. DRD tags are misfolded or inherently unstable in the cell. However, they can be reversibly stabilized by the binding of approved small-molecule drugs. When the drug is absent, the DRD-tagged protein is turned off. When the drug is present, the DRD-tagged protein is turned on. When DRD tags are in place, the concentration of the small-molecule drug serves as a biological rheostat for controlling the dosing of the therapeutic protein.

Preclinical in vivo mouse studies assessed anti-CD19 CAR T cells that were engineered to express an IL-15-DRD that responded to the FDA-approved drug acetazolamide. In these studies, tumor regression was demonstrated.

Controlling the precise timing and expression level of these immunomodulatory factors in CAR T cells could significantly enhance safety and therapeutic efficacy, concludes Shamah.

Obsidian is currently focusing on the oncology space, but the company is also exploring other areas such as autoimmunity and even the regulation of transcription factors to enable controllable in vivoCRISPR-Cas9 gene editing.

Despite the remarkable success of CAR T-cell therapies, relapses can occur within six months for up to 50% of patients treated with anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy.Failures can occur due to loss of CD19 expression or to continued tumor proliferation. Aleta Biotherapeutics has developed a novel technology to reactivate CAR T cells in relapsed patients.

Our approach utilizes antigen-bridging proteins to coat tumors with CD19, says Paul Rennert, PhD, Aletas president and CSO. [The tumors are then] recognized by the patients anti-CD19 CAR T cells, essentially creating a cytotoxic synapse that results in tumor cell death.

To thwart anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy relapses, the company developed a bridging protein using the extracellular domain of CD19 and an anti-CD20 antibody domain. CD20 is an antigen present on the majority of B-cell malignancies. Rennert explains that these injected bridging proteins will coat the patients tumor cells with CD19, creating a target to activate or reactivate a patients anti-CD19 CAR T cells.

To show proof-of-principle, the company performed in vivo studies using a half-life-extended form of the bridging protein injected into mice carrying CD20-positive tumor cells and anti-CD19 CAR T cells. Rennert emphasizes, Our studies demonstrated this strategy can be used to reactivate CD19 CAR T cells to prevent and reverse relapses.

Other programs in development include a bridging protein for injection to improve outcomes in multiple myeloma patients treated with CAR T cells, and bridging protein programs for HER2-positive breast cancer patients with central nervous system metastases. The company is preparing investigational new drug applications for its technology and plans to start Phase I trials in 2021.

Assessing whether engineered CAR T-cell and T-cell receptor (TCR) therapies have successfully attacked and penetrated solid tumors (and not normal cells) can be like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. Traditional methods using immunohistochemistry are useful for immune profiling, but they cannot differentiate engineered versus endogenous cells, points out Christopher Bunker, PhD, senior director of business development, Advanced Cell Diagnostics, a Bio-Techne brand. We developed a means to easily detect and track engineered therapeutic cells and delineate their pharmacokinetics within the tumor microenvironment of intact tumor biopsies, as well as their on-target/off-tumor activity.

Enter RNAscope, an RNA in situ hybridization technology that can enable single-cell spatial transcriptomics. RNAscope, Bunker asserts, is the only off-the-shelf method that can specifically detect engineered CAR T cells and TCR T cells in solid tumor patient biopsies.

Most cell therapies employ lentivirus transduction. Because CAR or TCR transgenes have unique sequences in the viral untranslated regions, these can be used as tags for identification of engineered cell therapies with RNAscope probes. The technology utilizes pools of paired oligos that can be thought of as a ZZ pair, where the paired 3 ends hybridize to ~50 bases of target mRNA, and where the paired 5 ends hybridize to a signal amplification module, which is built through sequential hybridization steps. The signal amplification of paired oligos results in an assay able to detect individual transcripts that appear as visible and quantifiable dots.

Its a little like planting and lighting Christmas trees, quips Bunker. The ZZ pairs plant trees along the mRNA with branches that are decorated either with fluorophores or chromogens. Although the primary technology currently features four colors, the company has developed a HiPlex (12-plex) assay and foresees even higher-plex assays with different detection methods.

We envision assays based on our core technologies that enable spatial analysis of perhaps a hundred transcripts in combination with tens of proteins, Bunker projects. In the context of cell therapy development, these will enable a more comprehensive understanding of tumor biology and immune cell profiles to determine the most effective treatment strategy for a patient, as well as for monitoring efficacy of solid tumor cellular therapies.

Companies developing CAR T-cell products are also eyeing a future involving GMP production. Thus, a critical early question is how to choose the best T-cell medium for manufacturing processes. To test the suitability of a CAR T-cell growing medium, companies must assess factors such as cell viability, cell expansion, cytokine profiles, and cell purity. A medium suitable for a CAR T-cell manufacturing process also needs to support rapid activation and CAR transduction. Additionally, the selected medium needs to be compatible with a variety of donors.

There are many available choices for T-cell culture media ranging from do-it-yourself recipes to commercially available one-size-fits-all complete formulations. CellGenix has developed a novel T-cell medium that avoids the use of human serum. Sebastian Warth, PhD, a senior scientist at CellGenix, explains, To achieve consistent results, human serum requires extensive testing prior to its use for production of cellular products due to lot-to-lot inconsistencies. Since human serum is a limited resource and might not be available in large quantities, it is unfavorable for commercial-scale manufacturing. Furthermore, the human origin of serum poses a certain risk of containing adventitious agents and is, therefore, a risk to the safety of the T-cell therapy product.

The companys TCM GMP-Prototype medium provides a serum-free and xeno-free product for early-onset T-cell expansion. According to Warth, key advantages include promotion of sustained viability, support for expansion of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, promotion of a central memory and early differentiated memory T-cell phenotype, and maintenance of a high proportion of cytokine-producing cells including polyfunctional cells. Further, it was optimized for and verified with CAR T cells.

While autologous CAR T-cell therapies have proven highly successful, they also require a long and expensive manufacturing process. The dream of being able to utilize off-the-shelf allogeneic T cells is on the horizon.

Devon J. Shedlock, PhD, senior vice president, research and development,Poseida Therapeutics, reports, With our technology, we are able to genetically modify cells to create a fully allogenic, or off-the-shelf, product that does not require additional immunosuppression treatment like earlier generation approaches. We also have developed technology to allow us to make hundreds of doses from a single manufacturing run from healthy donors, thereby dropping the cost substantially.

According to Shedlock, the technology consists of three key aspects: 1) the piggyback DNA Modification System, 2) the Cas-CLOVER site-specific gene editing system, and 3) the Booster Molecule.

The PiggyBac DNA Modification System is a nonviral technology for stably integrating genes into DNA. One key feature is that piggyBac preferentially inserts into less mature T cells, enabling the production of therapies that have a high proportion of stem cell memory T cells, or Tscm cells.

Viral technologies are virtually excluded from Tscm cells, Shedlock states. However, Tscm cells are the ideal cell type for cell-based therapies because they have the ability to engraft and potentially last a lifetime, can produce wave after wave of more differentiated cells to attack the tumor, and are much more tolerable with low levels of adverse events compared to other CAR T-cell products.

The companys Cas-CLOVER gene editing technology is a hybrid gene editing technology used to edit the T cells to make allogeneic products. Cas-CLOVER works well in resting T cells, which is important in preserving Tscm cells in a fully allogeneic CAR T-cell product, Shedlock elaborates. It also is a very precise and clean system. This is a particularly important safety issue for allogeneic products that may be given to many patients.

The Booster Molecule is added during manufacture and is temporarily expressed on the cell surface to allow cell stimulation. Normally when allogeneic CAR T-cell products are created, the T-cell receptor must be eliminated to avoid the graft-versus-host reaction, which is a major safety issue. Importantly, this booster stimulation occurs while preserving the Tscm phenotype.

Poseida Therapeutics expects to launch a clinical trial for its multiple myeloma allogeneic product late this year or early next year. The company will also begin clinical trials later in 2021 on its pan-solid tumor allogeneic program.

Creation of partnerships can help drive development of CAR T-cell therapeutics from concept through clinical trials. Advanced therapies require advanced supply chain and data management, advises Minh Hong, PhD, head of autologous cell therapy, Lonza Pharma & Biotech. Prior biopharmaceutical models of mass production and distributionand the systems that support themare not effective for personalized therapeutics. As manufacturing demand increases for autologous cell therapies, there is an overarching need to both industrialize and simplify the entire supply chain ecosystem.

Hong says the overall project needs to be considered from a more comprehensive perspective: Due to the criticality of the starting material, everything from cell sourcing, patient coordination and scheduling for collection/infusion, transportation logistics, and manufacturing logistics needs to be coordinated, ensuring the highest standards, regulatory compliance, and safety throughout the process.

To meet these needs, Lonza is building a network of partners to develop a fully integrated vein-to-vein solution, that is, a system that includes all touch points involved in patient scheduling and sample collection, through material shipping logistics, manufacturing, and eventually the infusion of the cell therapy back into the patient. The partner network, Hong indicates, will help participants define smart workflows and execute an integration strategy. Hong sums up the networks therapeutic implications as follows: We believe these partnerships will decrease time to clinical program setup.

Lonza has more than a 20-year history of providing clinical and commercial manufacturing. Hong asserts, Our company brings to the table our process development and manufacturing experience along with proprietary solutions including a manufacturing execution system solution, MODA-ESTM, for electronic batch records and manufacturing traceability. In addition, we have announced partnerships with Vineti for a supply chain orchestration system and Cryoport to aid in shipping and logistics.

Lonza is also looking beyond CAR T-cell therapies. We would not limit our solutions and partnerships to autologous cell therapies, Hong declares. We can envision solutions for our in vivo viral vector manufacturing clients as well as our traditional allogeneic cell therapy clients.

Follow this link:

CAR T-Cell Optimization Starts in Production, Extends to Therapy - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Ruxolitinib May Be Another Option for Children With Steroid Refractory aGVHD – AJMC.com Managed Markets Network

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

Ruxolitinib may be a promising second-line treatment option for pediatric patients with steroid refractory advanced graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD), according to a new study. Based on the findings, researchers suggest their results be validated in a prospective large-scale pharmacokinetic and efficacy trial.

The small retrospective study of 29 patients recruited from 15 pediatric transplantation centers demonstrated that after 28 days, 6 patients achieved a complete response (CR). By 41 days, 19 (65.5%) patients achieved a CR. Another 2 patients had a partial response (PR). Among the 16 patients who were under the age of 6 years, there was a 75% CR and 6.3% PR. All patients who achieved a response discontinued corticosteroid treatment.

Prior to ruxolitinib, patients received an average of 2 immunosuppressive agents, with a range of 1-6.

The prognosis of patients with aGVHD depends mainly on the response of steroid treatment, which is known to be effective in approximately 50% of cases. Indeed, the mortality rate of steroid-refractory or recurrent aGVHD remains as high as 50% to 70%, wrote the researchers. There is currently no standardized second-line strategy for steroid resistant aGVHD.

While several immunosuppressive therapies are used in the second line of treatment, they carry variable response rates. For example, Monoclonal anti-TNF have demonstrated response rates between 30% and 60%. But, relapse at discontinuation was high at approximately 80%.

Results of the current study led the researchers to argue that ruxolitinib may be a possible treatment for these patients, including in cases of gastrointestinal involvement or severe GVHD.

A total of 8 patients experienced treatment failure, and 23 patients were alive after a median follow-up of 685 days after their hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and a median 480 days after initiating ruxolitinib treatment.

CR/PR was a significant factor of survival with a rate of 90% versus 50% in case of treatment failure (P = 0.02), wrote the researchers. Nevertheless, we could not find any association of baseline characteristics and CR/PR to ruxolitinib. Neither the number of immunosuppressive agents before using ruxolitinib nor involved organs was significant.

The researchers were also unable to demonstrate a relationship between ruxolitinib dose and rate of efficacy nor the speed of efficacy. Throughout the study, the median dose of ruxolitinib was 12.6 mg/m2/day.

The study also showed a favorable safety profile of ruxolitinib, with no observed severe hematologic adverse events and with all cytopenias requiring a dose modification resolving.

Viral replication (including cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, and adenovirus) was observed in 41.4% of cases indicating that viral replications need to be closely monitored, wrote the researchers. This rate should be interpreted with caution because a comparable frequency of viral replications was reported in children treated with other immunosuppressive drugs, including infliximab, alemtuzumab, and daclizumab.

Reference

Laisne L, Neven B, Dalle J, et al. Ruxolitinib in children with steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease: a retrospective multicenter study of the pediatric group of SFGM-TC. Pediatr Blood Cancer. Published online July 2, 2020. doi: 10.1002/pbc.28233.

Ruxolitinib May Be Another Option for Children With Steroid Refractory aGVHD - AJMC.com Managed Markets Network

Growing Focus on R&D Likely to Accelerate the Growth of the Stem Cell Therapy Market – The News Brok

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

New Study on the Global Stem Cell Therapy Market by PMR

Persistence Market Research recently published a market study that sheds light on the growth prospects of the global Stem Cell Therapy market during the forecast period (20XX-20XX). In addition, the report also includes a detailed analysis of the impact of the novel COVID-19 pandemic on the future prospects of the Stem Cell Therapy market. The report provides a thorough evaluation of the latest trends, market drivers, opportunities, and challenges within the global Stem Cell Therapy market to assist our clients arrive at beneficial business decisions.

As per the report, the global Stem Cell Therapy market is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~XX% during the stipulated timeframe owing to a range of factors including, favorable government policies, and growing awareness related to the Stem Cell Therapy , surge in research and development and more.

Request Sample Report @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.co/samples/3253

Resourceful insights enclosed in the report:

Competitive Outlook

The competitive outlook section provides valuable information related to the different companies operating in the current Stem Cell Therapy market landscape. The market share, product portfolio, pricing strategy, sales and distribution channels of each company is discussed in the report.

Request Report Methodology @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.co/methodology/3253

Prominent players covered in the report are:

Regional Assessment

The presented market study touches upon the market scenario in different regions and provides a deep understanding of the influence of micro and macro-economic factors on the prospects of the market in each region.

Some of the major companies operating in the global stem cell therapy market are Mesoblast Ltd., Celgene Corporation, Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. and StemCells, Inc.

Key points covered in the report

For any queries get in touch with Industry Expert @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.co/ask-an-expert/3253

The market report addresses the following queries related to the Stem Cell Therapy market:

Here is the original post:

Growing Focus on R&D Likely to Accelerate the Growth of the Stem Cell Therapy Market - The News Brok

FDA Approves First Maintenance Therapy for AML – Medscape

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an oral form of azacitidine (Onureg) for use as maintenance therapy for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who have achieved a first complete remission.

The approval extends to patients who have achieved complete remission with incomplete blood count recovery following intensive induction chemotherapy and who are unable to complete intensive curative therapy.

The approval was based on data from the QUAZAR AML-001 trial, which showed that oral azacitadine significantly improved overall survival when compared to placebo.

"It's not too hard to get these patients into remission," Harry P. Erba, MD, PhD, director of the Leukemia Program at the Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, North Carolina, told Medscape Medical News last year, when these results were first presented at the 2019 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology. "The problem comes in keeping them in remission."

Despite various attempts, there has been no success over the past 30 years in defining maintenance treatment for these patients, Andrew H. Wei, MBBS, PhD, from the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, said.

"Oral azacitidine represents a new therapeutic standard for patients with AML in remission," he said.

Azacitidine is a hypomethylating agent that incorporates into DNA and RNA. It has long been used as an injectable therapy for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes.

The approval of the new oral formulation for the new indication of AML "is the culmination of over a decade of research and 13 preclinical and clinical trials," said Giovanni Caforio, M.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Bristol-Myers Squibb, in a statement.

The QUAZAR AML-001 trial was a phase 3, international study involving 472 patients with AML who were within achieving a first complete remission or remission with incomplete blood recovery. All patients has received intensive induction chemotherapy with or without consolidation treatment, per investigator preference prior to study entry, and were not candidates for hematopoietic stem cell transplant at the time of screening.

Patients were randomly assigned to receive either oral azacitidine 200 mg daily on days 1 to 14 of a repeat 28-day cycle (n = 278) or matching placebo (n = 274). Treatment was continued indefinitely until blast count was more than 15% or patients experienced unacceptable toxicity or underwent transplant.

At a median follow-up of over 41.2 months, the median overall survival was significantly longer for patients who received oral azacytidine, at 24.7 monthsvs 14.8 months for those who received placebo (P < .0009; hazard ratio [HR], 0.69).

Relapse-free survival was also significantly prolonged to 10.2 months for patients who received oral azacitidinevs 4.8 months for those who received placebo (HR, 0.65; P < .0001).

Serious adverse reactions occurred in 15% of patients who received azacytidine. Events that occurred in 2% of patients include pneumonia (8%) and febrile neutropenia (7%). There was one fatal event.

The most common adverse reactions were nausea (65%, 24%), vomiting (60%, 10%), diarrhea (50%, 21%), fatigue/asthenia (44%, 25%), constipation (39%, 24%), pneumonia (27%, 17%), abdominal pain (22%, 13%) arthralgia (14%, 10%), decreased appetite (13%, 6%), febrile neutropenia (12%, 8%), dizziness (11%, 9%) and pain in extremity (11%, 5%). Permanent discontinuation because of an adverse reaction occurred in 8% of patients.

For more from Medscape Oncology, join us on Twitter and Facebook.

See the original post:

FDA Approves First Maintenance Therapy for AML - Medscape

Oldest male polar bear on record humanely euthanized at Point Defiance Zoo – MyNorthwest.com

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

Boris the polar bear swimming. (Photo courtesy of Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium)

Boris, a polar bear believed to be the oldest male of his species, was humanely euthanized at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium on Tuesday following a significant decline in his health.

Woodland Park Zoos oldest animal dies one day shy of 52

The 34-year-old polar bear was a circus bear before he found his home in Tacoma.

Point Defiance says he was loved and revered by the community, gaining international recognition seven years ago when photographs of his dental procedure circulated around the world.

Staff made the decision to euthanize Boris due to deteriorating health issues that were affecting his quality of life, according to head veterinarian Dr. Karen Wolf. Recent exams showed significant arthritis, several fused vertebrae in his neck, and skin issues, Wolf said. He also had a history of gastrointestinal problems, dental and liver disease.

We cared for Boris as long as possible with a combination of groundbreaking medical treatment and daily TLC, Wolf said. But he had increasing difficulty getting up, had recently fallen, and his quality of life had declined dramatically. We did not want him to suffer. His loss will be felt deeply around the Zoo.

Boris was a medical pioneer of sorts when stem cells grown from his fat tissue were used in an attempt to treat his arthritis. He was believed to be the first polar bear to receive the protocol.

A news release from Point Defiance says Boris participated in his medical care and would stick his paw through a specially built sleeve in his bedroom so veterinary staff could get the voluntary blood samples to monitor his health.

Keepers also gave Boris his favorite foods and daily enrichments, like a den full of fresh wood wool shavings to roll in. He moved slowly on land, but enjoyed splashing in the deep saltwater pool and diving onto toys provided by keepers. He would also occasionally play-wrestle with 24-year-old polar bear Blizzard.

This is a very sad day for us, said Alan Varsik, director of Zoological and Environmental Education for Metro Parks Tacoma, in a news release. Boris held a special place in the hearts of our staff and our community.

Boris moved to Point Defiance in 2002 when he was a scrawny, malnourished, and mistreated animal seized by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service from a traveling circus. Boris and five other bears were provided homes, nutrition, and expert care at zoos around the nation, and Boris was the last surviving member of the group.

We were pleased we could give him a home when he was rescued from the circus, Varsik said. But we are even happier that Boris became a beloved ambassador for his species, inspiring our guests to take action that can help polar bears in the wild.

Point Defiance says the median life expectancy for male polar bears in human care is 23.4 years, which Boris surpassed at 34 years. In the wild, they typically live 15-18 years.

According to data from zoos in North America and around the world, Point Defiance says Boris was the oldest male of his species on record.

Boris stem-cell therapy treatment will add to the knowledge of how to help polar bears and large animals with arthritis, Wolf says, and an upcoming necropsy (the animal equivalent of an autopsy) will help with future polar bear conservation.

We want to take samples so that even after death, Boris can help us all learn more about his species and how to care for them, Wolf explained.

Zoo guests can sign a giant card for Boris caregivers in memory of him in the main plaza Sept. 2-4. Read more about Boris, and find out how to donate to polar bears in Boris memory online here.

Read this article:

Oldest male polar bear on record humanely euthanized at Point Defiance Zoo - MyNorthwest.com

Elixirgen Therapeutics planning to begin Phase I/II Clinical Trials of its COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate EXG-5003 at Fujita Health University -…

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Danzig

BALTIMORE, Sept. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Elixirgen Therapeutics, Inc., a Baltimore-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies for genetic diseases and vaccines, announced that Fujita Health University has received acontract from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) to initiate Phase I/II clinical trials of the company's COVID-19 vaccine candidate, EXG-5003. Clinical trials are expected to begin at Fujita Health University Hospital in Aichi, Japan in Q1 2021.

EXG-5003 is a temperature-sensitive self-replicating RNA vaccine expressing the receptor binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. EXG-5003 was optimized for intradermal injection withpotential dose-sparing and safety benefits.

About Elixirgen Therapeutics, Inc.

Elixirgen Therapeutics, Inc. is a Baltimore-based biotechnology company, which is focused on curing humanity's ailments through innovations in gene and cell therapy, including stem cell therapy. Elixirgen Therapeutics, Inc. is now applying its RNA technology to the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.For more information visit http://www.ElixirgenTherapeutics.com

About Fujita Health University

Fujita Health University plays a major role in treating COVID-19 patients and conducting its clinical trials in Japan. For more information visit http://www.fujita-hu.ac.jp/en/

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain "forward-looking" statements, including statements regarding the potential to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and our planned clinical relationship with Fujita Health University. Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in this press release due to the risks and uncertainties inherent in vaccine research and development. Any forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release, and Elixirgen Therapeutics undertakes no obligation to update or revise the statementsin the future, even if new information becomes available.

ContactMedia RelationsElixirgen Therapeutics, Inc.(443) 869-5420[emailprotected]

SOURCE Elixirgen Therapeutics

https://elixirgentherapeutics.com/

See original here:

Elixirgen Therapeutics planning to begin Phase I/II Clinical Trials of its COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate EXG-5003 at Fujita Health University -...

Select Page ::