Biotherapeutics Partnerships and Innovation Expanding

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Defining the “next generation” of anything can be a challenge. First, whatever the current generation is of the topic in question must be identified, and then the shortcomings and challenges of that generation can serve to inform the next one.

Fortunately, in biotherapeutics, next-generation innovation is happening at lightning speed. By the time this article is published, something new could be in development that hadn’t previously been on the radar.

As of the end of 2024, two pronounced areas of focus for developers and biomanufacturers were the maintenance of an aseptic environment throughout the manufacturing process, and the search for solutions to establishing alternative drug delivery methods that don’t require a parenteral route of administration (1).

These and other new or improved concepts from the first quarter of 2025 are presented in the following review.

Partnering up on ideas and capacity

The first wave of action came on Jan. 9, 2025, when Bora Biologics said it would be supporting DotBio, which specializes in next-generation antibody therapies, in the development and manufacturing of what DotBio considers its lead asset, a novel, tri-specific antibody known as DB007 (2). On the same day, Coave Therapeutics said it had secured €32 million (US$33 million) in Series A financing allowing Coave to advance its proprietary Advanced Vectors-Ligand Conjugates (ALIGATER) platform, something both the company and financing co-leader Novo Holdings said would help Coave advance as a leader in developing targeted, safer, and more efficacious gene therapies (3).

On January 13, Telix Pharmaceuticals announced it had entered into an asset purchase with ImaginAb, an antibody engineering company, giving Telix a pipeline of next-generation therapeutic candidates, a proprietary and novel biologics technology platform, and a protein engineering and discovery research facility in California (4). Included were early-stage drug candidates against high-value targets, and other novel targets still in the discovery stage.

In March, Belgium-based Quantoom Biosciences announced it would be collaborating with TechInvention Lifecare Pvt. Ltd. for the accessibility, scalability, and affordability of RNA-based vaccines. This pact also extends to animal and environmental health with environmentally sustainable technology integrating modular, low-carbon-footprint messenger RNA (mRNA) systems that support decarbonization and efforts to provide access to next-generation RNA technologies (5). Later in March, Cytiva announced it is expanding its Xcellerex X-platform portfolio by adding 500-L and 2000-L bioreactors, allowing scientists and researchers to more easily scale up manufacturing of next-generation advanced therapeutics, ultimately lowering costs, reducing risks, and speeding time to bring new therapeutics to the next clinical milestone (6).

Innovation in the face of uncertainty

Much of the business of the bio/pharmaceutical industry early in 2025 has been conducted through the lens of the threat of high tariffs being imposed by United States President Donald Trump’s administration. Eli Lilly and Company announced on Feb. 26, 2025 that it would be building four new manufacturing sites in the US “to deliver on our big bets on next-generation modalities like small molecules, biologics, and nucleic acid therapies,” Edgardo Hernandez, executive vice president and president of Lilly Manufacturing Operations, said at the time (7).

Read the article in the Next-Generation Biotherapeutics 2025 eBook.

About the author

Patrick Lavery is an editor for BioPharm International®.

Article details

BioPharm International®
Next-Generation Biotherapeutics eBook
April 2025
Pages: 18–19

Citation

When referring to this article, please cite it as Lavery, P. Biotherapeutics Partnerships and Innovation Expanding. BioPharm International Next-Generation Biotherapeutics eBook, 2025 April.