Life Science companies are doing great things every day. The research in life science companies touches millions of lives. These companies are working day and night to help people get healthier, feel better and increase their longevity. Saving lives is a beautiful thing.
Service to humanity is highest service, but everyone is not equipped with the skills and opportunities to be of service to humanity. The least that one can do is appreciate the efforts of some life science companies that are engaged in incredible research. Let's take a moment to take a deeper look into how these companies are making our lives better.
Sage Therapeutics
Work in Mental Health
Childbirth is a life-changing event. It brings lots of joy, excitement and many responsibilities. Because of the several hormone changes during the pregnancy, it is common for a new mother to experience the 'baby blues' for a short period of up to two weeks. But some women also experience a more severe prolonged depression known as 'Post-partum Depression' (or PPD). The treatment of PPD was limited to psychotherapy and antidepressants until the FDA-approved Sage Therapeutic's drug candidate called Zulresso for the treatment of PPD. The approval is going to change the lives of 400,000 women suffering from PPD.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Work in Rare Disease
Our body produces fluids like sweat and mucus to keep the body tissues lubricated and prevent body organs from getting too dry or infected. However, in some people, a mutation in CFTR gene causes production of a defective protein that makes the fluid thick and sticky. This leads to blockages in passageways in the body, causing respiratory failure and malnutrition. The condition is called 'Cystic Fibrosis'. It affects the lungs, pancreas, liver and intestines.
For many years, life science researchers have been trying to overcome the condition using gene therapy. But Vertex Pharmaceutical amazed life science researchers with small-molecule drug treatment for the deadly disease. The small molecule tweaks the faulty protein allowing it to function normally and reducing the symptoms drastically. The small molecule drug is called 'Trikafta'. The US FDA approved the drug in less than three months, making it the second-fastest drug approval in US History.
AbCellera
Work in AI-powered Discoveries
AbCellera is a company that searches, decodes, and analyzes natural immune systems to discover antibodies that its partners can develop into drugs to prevent and treat disease. In short, it offers a full-stack AI-powered antibody discovery platform.
It recently discovered Bamlanivimab, the first therapeutic candidate specifically developed against SARS-CoV-2 to enter human clinical trials in North America. Bamlanivimab resulted from the collaboration between Lilly and AbCellera to create antibody therapies to prevent and treat COVID-19. Bamlanivimab was the first monoclonal antibody to receive EUA from the FDA. Although US FDA has halted the treatment with Bamlanivimab alone due to Sars-Cov-2 variants, AbCellera is doing great service to the life science research by providing an AI powered platform for antibody discovery.
Theranica Bioelectronics
Work in Medical Devices
The Migraine pain is unbearable. It hampers not only physical well-being but also mental well-being. Many Migraine patients resort to over the counter pills that have some side effects. Besides, the patient gets dependent on the drug too. If the medicine is not administered at the on set of the attack, it may not provide desired effect.
Source: nerivio.co
Theranica Bioelectronics has invented a wearable medical device called Nerivio Migra® that reduces Migraine pain with electronic stimulations without any side-effects. The technology harnesses a pain inhibition mechanism known as Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM). CPM may be triggered by delivering a remote, non-painful but well-felt peripheral stimulus. Once triggered, CPM results with increased release of pain-relieving neurotransmitters in the brain stem to shut down the pain.
Avita Medical
Work in skin regeneration
Normally, diseases are thought to be the cause of the departure from normal health, but sometimes, the reason may be an accident too. Fire accidents causing skin burns are one of the dreadful incidents that no one would like to experience. Avita Medical is engaged in the noble cause of minimizing the damage to the skin burns through its research. The company has developed a cutting edge technology called RECELL® for skin restoration. RECELL® System, is a medical device that enables healthcare professionals to produce a suspension of Spray-On Skin™ Cells using a small sample of the patient's own skin for the treatment of acute thermal burns. The Spray-On Skin™ suspension contains the cells essential to regenerate the outer layer of natural, healthy skin and is prepared and applied at the point of care in as little as 30 minutes. The technology is approved for use in patients above 18 years of age and the potential of reducing burn victims' need for grafts by 35%.
Conclusion
While most of the world comfortably works from home during the pandemic, researchers in the life science companies are stepping out every single day to facilitate unobstructed supply of essential healthcare. Martin Luther King, Jr. has famously said that Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?' Perhaps this is what encourages the researchers in life science companies to keep doing the great work that they always do.
