AstraZeneca and Elixir Software unveiled a groundbreaking integrated analytical workflow management tool, at SLAS Boston 2024.

From streamlining R&D workflows and collaboration with data-driven software platforms, to building tools that make the development of new therapies possible, to empowering more efficient and inclusive clinical trials, these companies are laying the foundations for a new era of life science and digital technology innovations.

A US-based global biotechnology company had a commonly seen challenge in Laboratory Animal Science (LAS). Biopharmaceutical LAS teams receive multiple project requests for studies and need to schedule the delivery of tasks by relevant skilled technicians, with the available and designated time slots. In conversation with their clients, Elixir learned that many of the currently available tools used for LAS are disconnected and inefficient for effective study planning, tracking and delivery. The use of multiple emails, calendars and isolated files e.g., spreadsheets has resulted in a complex process, that is typically maintained through time-consuming daily meetings.

The challenge: This clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company’s chemistry engine combined in-house medicinal chemistry design with external synthesis capabilities. It was critical for them to have a robust process for tracking the design cycle (Design-Make-Test-Analyze) to assure expedient execution and quality decision making. A specific technical challenge, common to many institutions, is unambiguous tracking of synthetic targets across multiple projects and partners. Issues may and do arise from keeping track of the target status, changes in the target priority, and other synthetic queue modifications.In common with many growing biotech companies, a Boston-based biotech augments its in-house chemistry team with tens of synthetic chemists from multiple CRO partners. While this enables the company to significantly increase its capacity, it also brings the challenge of coordinating work between multiple organizations around the globe. “We were relying on emails to exchange information, which ended up either in PDFs buried in a file share or in people’s memory. It was difficult to keep track of who was making what, or to find out if something had been done before, which meant that people at different locations were working on the same target and some compounds were re-proposed unnecessarily. There was also the risk of timelines sliding because an important compound went under the radar and wasn’t worked on in a timely manner”. Director of Informatics, Boston-based biotech The solution: Aware that current methods of working might be improved by using an electronic tool to track and manage synthesis, the team looked for a solution. It turned out that they were not alone as a colleague from another company suggested they look at chemTraX. The initial demo was well received, so the next step was to conduct a hands-on evaluation of the system. Regular feedback throughout ensured that the configuration met the desired synthetic chemistry workflow and was ready to be rolled out to the wider chemistry team, both internally and to key people at its CRO partners. The results: “chemTraX has enabled us to achieve a truly distributed drug discovery process. The visual status board provides clarity and ensures everyone is on the same page when it comes to priorities and knowing what needs to be made, by who and when. Our CRO partners update the status of their work directly in chemTraX and add comments if needed, which not only means we always have up-to-date information but also facilitates communication during weekly meetings and mitigates potential issues with language differences. The information managed by chemTraX has provided us with a fantastic knowledge base that we can use to understand why a given compound was or wasn't made and reduces the chance of duplicating effort. chemTraX has become an integral part of our informatics ecosystem and is fundamental to the way our chemists work”. Director of Informatics, Boston-based biotech

The challenge: This clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company’s chemistry engine combined in-house medicinal chemistry design with external synthesis capabilities. It was critical for them to have a robust process for tracking the design cycle (Design-Make-Test-Analyze) to assure expedient execution and quality decision making. A specific technical challenge, common to many institutions, is unambiguous tracking of synthetic targets across multiple projects and partners. Issues may and do arise from keeping track of the target status, changes in the target priority, and other synthetic queue modifications. The solution: While solutions to these common problems exist at large pharma companies, and are typically proprietary, the selection of tools for smaller biotech companies is limited. “We heard about chemTraX from one of our partners and were excited to give it a try. It turned out to be a tool which met many of our needs: unambiguous tracking of synthetic targets across multiple projects/CRO partners, flexible customization to meet our project objectives, and ease of implementation. Among other benefits, it should be mentioned that the implementation team were very attentive and responsive to our needs. Robust control of access privileges for CRO partners was implemented natively within the application." Director of Chemistry, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company The results: The company now has an accessible and unambiguous system for synthetic target tracking which eliminates target duplication and ambiguity, greatly simplifies management of multiple chemistry CRO partners, and provides an up-to-date status of the synthetic queue. “We are excited about the prospect of further integration of this tool in our chemistry workflow.” Director of Chemistry, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company

New molecule design incorporating 3D, chemical property and nearest neighbor information (left, Torx Design) is connected to hypothesis tracking that enables project teams to track and manage synthetic chemistry efforts (right, Torx Make). Cambridge, UK – 22 April 2020 – Torx Software announces the launch of Torx, a new web-based platform for small molecule discovery chemistry. Torx enables chemists to work together, share ideas, manage resources and track progress in the Design-Make-Test-Analyze (DMTA) workflow. Molecule design, review, prioritization, resource allocation and synthesis scheduling are separate parts of a complex process that can lead to productivity bottlenecks and slow the drug discovery process. Torx deploys dedicated applications within medicinal chemistry workflows to reimagine the end-to-end process and create a team-friendly, productivity-centric approach. Coupled with enabling research managers to manage synthesis resourcing and prioritization, Torx can reduce time to quality candidate selection by working through DMTA cycles faster and more efficiently. “Torx connects the discovery process across teams in different locations,” said Dr Tim Cheeseright, CEO, Torx Softwae, “Torx provides an information rich environment for small molecule design combined with detailed scheduling and management of synthetic chemistry. Chemists can share knowledge and ideas. Project managers can track progress and resources, all from the same software platform.” “We are delighted to launch Torx to the chemistry community bringing together key technologies from both Cresset and Elixir into a single DMTA workflow application”, said Dr Paul Faulder, CEO, Elixir Software. “This ground-breaking platform will facilitate increased efficiency of chemistry teams and their partners around the world working towards their next clinical candidate.”

July 2020 sees the launch of a brand new responsive, mobile-ready website for Elixir Software, putting more information about our tracking and collaboration software in the palm of your hand.

Frederic Martin, Senior Externalisation Specialist, Alliance & Project Management at AstraZeneca, said: “By using iTraX as our main collaborative tool to manage strategic outsourcing with CRL, we were able to visualise and share our portfolio and all studies at different stages of the outsourcing process. We could also benefit from all the new possibilities iTraX offers in refining, simplifying and improving our processes.” David Hollinshead, Technical Director at Elixir Software comments, “It’s gratifying to see iTraX become an indispensable tool for study portfolio management, covering study design, planning/costing, scheduling, and also tracking delivery”. He adds, “The benefits ascribed by AstraZeneca and CRL immediately resonate with other company internal and external study management needs. We are now helping many new customers maximise value through effective study management”. Contact us to find out how Elixir and iTraX™ can enhance your project.

“Our team of research scientists and software engineers wanted to get scientists back to their research and enable smoother projects,” says Paul Faulder, CEO, Elixir. “iTraX takes a visual approach to R&D workflows, with drag and drop tracking boards, spreadsheets, Gantt charts & dashboards. This cloud-based solution eliminates the need for multiple tools to manage projects and cuts planning and reporting from hours to minutes. Progress can be viewed in real time, work schedules easily balanced, and communication improved across global and on-site teams.” Watch this short video to see how iTraX provides the visibility you need to prioritize and schedule experiments more effectively and efficiently. Email us for further information