Beacon, the guiding light in antibody discovery? Another top 10 pharma signs up

By Flora Southey

- Last updated on GMT

GettyImages/ChrisBoswell
GettyImages/ChrisBoswell

Related tags White blood cell Blood

Novartis will install Berkeley Lights’ Beacon antibody discovery technology, the sixth large pharmaceutical firm to adopt the platform in less than a year.

The platform – launched in December 2016 – uses a light-based, nano-fluidic method to select, characterise, culture and export single cells.

According to Berkeley Lights (BLI), Beacon can screen thousands of plasma B-cells – white blood cells that secrete antibodies – in 48 hours, and consequently accelerates workflow.

“Novartis was an early adopter of the BLI technology and the results from this early work has culminated in the adoption of the Beacon platform,” ​said BLI.

Novartis joins a number of large pharmaceutical firms to have adopted the technology over the past few months, including GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in June, Bayer in September​, Daiichi Sankyo in October, Teva Australia in December​, and Pfizer earlier this month​.

“We’ve been lucky to have good traction from the start, but we have also been hard at work the last year doing a number of feasibility studies which have resulted in purchases and expanded partnerships,” ​the spokesperson told us.

BLI is currently working with ten of the top 20 biopharmaceutical companies and is exploring new ways to support them, he added.

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