Tag: Africa

SOLVE FSHD’s Venture Philanthropy Model

The model will enable SOLVE FSHD to be financially self-sustainable through return on investments.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 11, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Following SOLVE FSHD’s recent acclaimed launch, the organization is pleased to formally announce the appointment of Dr. Eva Chin as the Executive Director. SOLVE FSHD’s Founder, Chip Wilson, has personally committed USD100 million to find a cure for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a rare disease he was diagnosed with at the age of 32. As the inaugural Executive Director for SOLVE FSHD, Dr. Chin will be responsible for aligning the organization’s goals with the expertise of researchers, scientists and companies to promote and fund the discovery and development of new therapies for FSHD.

“Dr. Chin’s experience and specialization in rare neuromuscular diseases add immense value to our organization. We are excited to gain her expertise and guidance to achieve the organization’s goal of finding a cure for FSHD by December 2027,” says Chip Wilson, SOLVE FSHD Founder. He added, “Within just a few weeks of the organization’s launch, SOLVE FSHD has received a tremendous response to the call for qualified grant applications and new therapeutic technologies, which will be reviewed under Dr. Chin’s leadership. In addition, she has worked tirelessly to build strong industry alliances for SOLVE FSHD, closely assessed the exciting projects to fund and facilitated collaborative funding opportunities across the academic and industry sectors in FSHD research and drug development.”

Dr. Chin obtained her Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Waterloo in Canada and completed post-doctoral training at the University of Sydney, Australia and U.T. Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, focusing on intracellular calcium in muscle fatigue and transcriptional regulation of gene expression in muscle fibre type determination and muscle plasticity.

“I am honoured to join the Solve FSHD team, supporting Chip and the Wilson Family in our mission to improve the quality of life for those affected by rare neuromuscular diseases by funding qualified research projects and pre-clinical and clinical research that will accelerate finding a cure for FSHD,” says Dr. Eva Chin, Solve FSHD Executive Director.

Dr. Chin’s career has spanned the academic and pharmaceutical industries, with previous positions at Pfizer, the University of Maryland, MyoTherapeutics, Cytokinetics and NMD Pharma. While at Pfizer, Eva shifted her career from academic research focusing on cellular and molecular mechanisms of muscle function to discovering and developing muscle-targeted therapies. Over the past five years, she has led the nonclinical development of numerous drug candidates in clinical trials for ALS, SMA, myasthenia gravis and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Under Dr. Chin’s guidance, Solve FSHD’s venture-philanthropic funding model will strategically utilize Wilson’s monetary commitment to support the initial grants, investments in early-stage companies focused on FSHD and to incentivize pharmaceutical companies in the neuromuscular disease space to increase their focus on FSHD. The venture philanthropy model will enable the organization to be financially self-sustainable through return on investments. The investments in viable, albeit high-risk, research opportunities may generate a continued re-investment stream into the organization to further support grant funding initiatives.

“To take advantage of recent advances in genetic therapeutics, SOLVE FSHD constructed a creative funding platform to facilitate the development of treatments that rapidly slow, stop or even reverse weakness in FSHD,” said Dr. John Day, MD, Ph.D., Director of Stanford University’s Neuromuscular Medicine program. “Having someone with Dr. Eva Chin’s experience and capabilities join SOLVE FSHD is critical to establishing the scientifically rigorous program needed to define and validate safe and effective treatments as quickly as possible,” says Dr. John Day, MD, Ph.D., Neuromuscular Medicine, Stanford Neuroscience Health Center.

About Solve FSHD
Solve FSHD is funding innovative biotech and biopharma research and development activities that accelerate novel treatments of Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) treatment. It is fully funded and created by Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist Chip Wilson. The founder of yoga-inspired athletic apparel company Lululemon Athletica inc. has been living with FSHD for the last three decades of his life. He has committed $100 million of his own money to create SOLVE FSHD and kick-start funding into projects that fit the organization’s mission: accelerate research into new therapies and find a cure for the disorder by 2027.

Future announcements for grant funding will be issued on SOLVE FSHD’s website – https://solvefshd.com/. For early-stage companies, contact SOLVE FSHD at info@solvefshd.com.

If you have FSHD and want to find out about clinical trials or be included in the FSHD registry, please see SOLVE FSHD’s website – https://solvefshd.com/

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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0e87aacb-92f4-4723-9e7e-e24021cff5f7

New solution will allow businesses to aggregate and calculate life cycle assessments quickly and at scale

CHICAGO, May 11, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sphera®, a leading global provider of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance and risk management software, data and consulting services, today announced the launch of its new Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Automation software, building upon the company’s existing LCA solutions. The move comes as investor and regulatory pressures surrounding the standardization and digitalization of end-to-end sustainability data measurement continue to mount, necessitating increasingly sophisticated and granular reporting and compliance tools.

Sphera’s next-generation solution integrates seamlessly with customers’ existing systems for rapid deployment, allowing customers to quickly receive holistic, real-time analysis and insights into the environmental footprint of their product portfolios. It also features extensive managed content that enables customers to instantaneously calculate their carbon footprint at scale and model how adjustments to specific variables—such as leveraging a cleaner power source or altering production processes—may affect emissions outputs.

The LCA Automation solution serves as an extension of Sphera’s existing Product Sustainability capabilities which include life cycle assessment software and content. The service allows a company to increase the number of LCAs by a factor of 1,000, in turn enabling the experienced LCA professional to focus on analyzing and improving results, versus creating them.

The overarching goal of Sphera’s LCA Automation tool is to help businesses—especially those in sectors with complex supply chains, such as manufacturing, consumer goods, paints and chemicals—to more effectively reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at every step of production, from design to disassembly. Improved forecasting will facilitate holistic corporate decisions with sustainability incorporated at each stage, allowing teams to proactively predict and control environmental impact.

Paul Marushka, Sphera’s CEO and president, says: “Historically, LCAs have been viewed as voluntary, ad-hoc add-ons to broader corporate sustainability efforts. However, with consumer awareness growing in-step with regulatory mandates to mitigate the effects of climate change, LCA Automation feeds into the highest needs of decarbonization. As recent moves from the EU, SEC and the latest IPCC report have shown, financial and reputational fallout from a failure to act are very much a ‘when’, not an ‘if’.”

Continues Marushka, “From helping engineers create more sustainable products to enabling procurement professionals to establish lower carbon emission supply chains, LCA Automation will transform decision-making, for the benefit of both businesses and our planet.”

About Sphera
Sphera is the leading provider of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance and risk management software, data and consulting services focusing on Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability (EHS&S), Operational Risk Management and Product Stewardship. For more than 30 years, we have served over 3,000 customers and a million-plus users in 80 countries to help companies keep their people safe, their products sustainable and their operations productive. Learn more about Sphera at www.sphera.com. Follow Sphera on LinkedIn.

Contact Information:
Astrid Dickinson
sphera@aspectusgroup.com

Improves Access to Critical Rodent Models for Researchers in India

RENSSELAER, N.Y., May 10, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Taconic Biosciences, a global leader in providing drug discovery animal model solutions, has appointed Nomura Siam International Co., Ltd (NSI), an established distributor of laboratory animals and related products, as its preferred distributor in India.

India makes a significant contribution to global pharmaceutical and vaccine production, and its pharmaceutical and biotechnology research and development is expected to grow over the next decade. To support this growth, scientists in India need advanced mouse and rat models for pharmacology studies and toxicology and drug safety assessment. Research across all therapeutic areas requires genetically engineered models (GEMs). Additionally, mice with humanized immune systems are critical for immuno-oncology and other applications.

Taconic’s portfolio comprises nearly 4,700 mouse and rat models, including widely used standard strains, immunodeficient models, and exclusive GEMs. Taconic is also a global leader in humanized immune system mouse generation. Taconic’s industry-leading quality systems, genetic integrity, and globally harmonized animal health standards promote research reproducibility while its flexible approach to licensing reduces barriers to accessing valuable GEMs.

Based in Thailand, NSI is known for its focus on quality and customer service. The company’s new agreement with Taconic significantly increases preclinical researchers’ access to GEMs in India and allows NSI to offer this market a full spectrum of solutions.

“To date, rodent model selection and availability has been somewhat limited in India. We believe this partnership will provide India’s growing pharmaceutical industry access to the most sophisticated and high-quality animal models available globally,” said Dr. Michael Seiler, vice president of commercial products at Taconic. “We truly believe this partnership will support Taconic’s desire to accelerate new life-saving therapeutics for the global community.”

“Taconic’s portfolio of sophisticated mouse models fills a major gap in the Indian market,” said Taiichiro Kamiya, president of NSI. “By our frequent information sharing, and the improvement of logistic process, we will provide faster and easier access to GEMs for Indian users.”

To learn more about Taconic’s full line of animal model solutions, please call 1-888-TACONIC (888-822-6642) in the US, +45 70 23 04 05 in Europe, or email info@taconic.com.

About Taconic Biosciences, Inc.

Taconic Biosciences is a fully licensed, global leader in genetically engineered rodent models and services. Founded in 1952, Taconic provides the best animal solutions so that customers can acquire, custom-generate, breed, precondition, test, and distribute valuable research models worldwide. Specialists in genetically engineered mouse and rat models, microbiome, immuno-oncology mouse models, and integrated model design and breeding services, Taconic operates service laboratories and breeding facilities in the US and Europe, maintains distributor relationships in Asia, and has global shipping capabilities to provide animal models almost anywhere in the world.

About Nomura Siam International Co. Ltd. (NSI)

Nomura Siam International Co. Ltd., based in Bangkok, Thailand, was jointly established in 2012 by CLEA Japan, Inc. and Nomura Jimusho, Inc. as a comprehensive provider for the laboratory animal field. As a one-stop service supplier, NSI not only sells laboratory animals but also handles a wide range of related products, including equipment for breeding, conducting experiments, and environmental enrichment, as well as consulting services for preclinical research and laboratory animal facility design.

Media Contact:

Aidan Bouchelle
Associate Director, Marketing Operations
518-949-7598
Aidan.Bouchelle@taconic.com