Charles River Laboratories has entered a strategic partnership with Wheeler Bio to expedite the progression from therapeutic discovery to manufacturing for its clients.
The collaboration will offer a transition from preclinical activities to investigational new drug (IND) submission, facilitating entry to first-in-human clinical trials for early-stage biotech enterprises.
Charles River’s clients will gain access to Wheeler’s portable CMC platform.
To speed up therapeutic development, Charles River's expertise in antibody discovery, analytics and safety will be merged with Wheeler's platform.
The integrated offering simplifies the management of multiple vendor relationships, connecting preclinical work, clinical manufacturing and release evaluations.
Early integration of CMC development in the discovery phase allows therapeutic developers to work alongside experts, ensuring that phase-appropriate manufacturing and analytics are utilised.
Charles River corporate senior vice-president and chief scientific officer Julie Frearson stated: “We are thrilled to provide Charles River clients with access to Wheeler’s innovative portable CMC platform, which will optimise their workflows and ultimately bring new treatments to patients faster.”
The platform is a validation-ready manufacturing process that lowers technical and regulatory risk.
Wheeler manages it from its process development laboratories in Oklahoma City, US, which also has a current good manufacturing practice facility with on-site Charles River RightSource quality control testing facilities.
The organisation offers modular work packages to startup biotechs, facilitating a high-quality, agile and cost-effective path to clinical supply.
Wheeler Bio CEO and co-founder Jesse McCool stated: “Wheeler is excited to expand our relationship with Charles River and to link with their discovery organisation. By integrating discovery CRO [contract research organisation] and CDMO [contract development and manufacturing organisation] workflows, we can speed our clients’ path to first-in-human trials, thereby achieving clinical decisions faster.
“Our combined sales teams look forward to co-promoting these services for the benefit of our biotech partners and their pipelines towards clinical impact.”
