Curia (formerly AMRI), a contract research, development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has adopted The Beacon Optofluidic system and workflows from Berkeley Lights to accelerate and expand its antibody-based drug discovery capabilities.
 
The Beacon system workflow at Curia leverages its proprietary Pentamice platform, CHO-GSN and TunaCHO platforms, as well as the company’s antibody and cell-line engineering systems.
 
With the addition of the Beacon system, Curia is able to provide a seamless and comprehensive portfolio of technologies and experience for rapid progression of client antibody programs. Its solutions address the earliest stage of discovery, through maturation and development, to manufacture of drug substance and final drug products under GMP.
 
“Speed counts in drug discovery, so the ability to conduct high-throughput, single-cell experiments is a game changer, enabling abundant and diverse leads,” said Christopher Conway, president, R&D, Curia. “Advanced technologies such as the Berkeley Lights platform are revolutionizing antibody discovery, tackling key pain points that confront innovators, such as long timelines and limited number of sequences. Our demonstrated ability to integrate technologies, process and scientific expertise ultimately enables us to accelerate the time to clinic and the advance of life-changing life science.”
 
Curia scientists evaluated a variety of technologies and selected the Beacon system based on its proven capabilities and seamless integration in Curia’s end-to-end manufacturing value chain. With its abilities to deliver against a range of targets that fail with traditional technologies, combined with the proven immunological diversity inherent in its PentaMice platform, Curia expects to deliver unique and diverse antibody sequences with comprehensive data analysis under timelines that are weeks in duration rather than months, and development candidates in six months or fewer.
 
“We are excited to partner with Curia, a leading CDMO, in their adoption of the Berkeley Lights platform for antibody discovery. They can now accelerate the timeline in which critical therapeutics can make it to the clinic,” said Eric Hobbs, Ph.D., president of Antibody Therapeutics at Berkeley Lights. “Curia is showing their commitment to adopting cutting-edge technologies that more rapidly and effectively find the best cells, especially for hard-to-identify antibodies.”