Year: 2014-15

Company: Cellworks

Liaison(s): Taher Abbasi

Cellworks is a therapy design company which uses a
proprietary predictive simulation approach to improve
clinical outcomes and shorten time to clinical proof of
concept. Cellworks’ focus areas include oncology, autoimmune
disorders, anti-infective and other indications.
In oncology, modeling of patients using genomics
enables personalization of treatments. For rapid clinical
translation, this modeling approach is combined with
the repurposing of clinically tested drug agents.
The goal for the Cellworks TMP is to develop a
manuscript for submission and publication in a
peer-reviewed journal. The publication is intended
to highlight drug repurposing case studies for rare
and orphan diseases to illustrate the value of their
simulation approach in discovering new therapeutics.
This manuscript will further analyze the benefits and
opportunities of this approach to different stakeholders
in the Pharma eco-system. Finally, the Cellworks TMP
team has been asked with identification of potential
gaps and challenges in the use of a simulation driven
approach for drug repurposing while simultaneously
developing approaches to mitigate these gaps and
challenges.
To accomplish this objective, the Cellworks TMP
has analyzed the shortcomings of the traditional
drug development process, evaluated the advantages
of using a simulation approach to facilitate drug
repurposing, and identified potential partnership
opportunities with different stakeholders in the
Pharma eco-system. The team has identified the value
propositions with respect to each stakeholder at
different stages of the development process. Potential
benefits which have been identified include access
to: drug compound data; clinical trials design and
execution; intellectual property considerations; and,
regulatory advantages and challenges. To produce
its final report, the Cellworks TMP team conducted
primary and secondary research to identify information
gaps and clarify opportunities which might facilitate
partnerships and collaborations between different
stakeholders in the Pharma eco-system.