JRF AgCelerate: A Collaborative Research Platform as an “End-to-End” Service

Date:10-26-2020

By Abhay Deshpande & Samir Pandya

It was just before the Thanksgiving holidays in the US. We were savoring delicious Chinese food at a popular oriental Chinese restaurant in downtown. While looking at an indoor organic garden maintained by the restaurant for freshly picked salad, the CEO asked us why JRF can’t do a horizontal integration? Apparently, they had the pipeline of products that were awaiting screening at different levels, while the innovation needed a tangential thinking ability. Coming from a hardcore R&D background, we quickly grasped what the company wanted! The scaffold of services to be developed and offered to this sponsor emerged based on our experience and his valuable inputs, which led to the birth of “JRF AgCelerate.” 

 

As a credible, and well respected global CRO, known for our high-quality data, we have garnered popularity amongst diverse sponsors across the globe from east to the west.  These sponsors have been comfortable using the high-quality GLP studies, enabled hundreds of our sponsors who acquired the registrations for their products across the globe, from Japan to Brazil, and from Canada to Australia.  

 

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As a result of this US meeting, we quickly went back to the drawing board to develop a strategy and tactical action plan to establish facilities for the Synthetic chemistry as well as Biological research. The talent search was quick, and we managed to induct the leaders very quickly. Thanks to the renowned study director group at JRF, who has experience of thousands of studies up their sleeve, developing the new research-based systems was a cake-walk. The GLP systems enabled SOPs and systems, which are like oxygen for each scientist of JRF enabled disciplined work-practices.  

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We started actively developing the necessary tools by working on backward integration into product development services since 2015. The “proof-of-concept project” was internally funded, and we could establish efficacy and safety systems for our first batch of a library of ten molecules.  

This led to the confidence to release the services under the brand of “JRF AgCelerate,” an effort aimed at accelerating the new product development for the sponsor.  The sponsor mentioned above was happy with the plug-ins that we provided for their new product screening process and continues to work with us utilizing the “JRF AgCelerate” services. The JRF AgCelerate service enables close interactive participation in the sponsor’s initiatives towards the development of new products. JRF AgCelerate thus becomes an extended, off-site R&D for sponsors.

What is – JRF-AgCelerate?

This service of JRF, which is built around “Take-the-full-tour” as well as “Hop-on/hop-off” principles, offering connecting interdependent services for our sponsors, as well as the end-to-end development activities based on FTE principles. 

The JRF AgCelerate service integrates JRF’s global service offerings in the areas of; 

1. Collaborative Predictive Tox and In silico Activities 

2. Synthesis of derivatives, bio-isosteric compounds, as well as impurities & metabolites to develop a strong library.

3. Custom designed bio-efficacy assays 

4. Safety Assessment: In vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity screens

5. Physicochemical characterization, Solubility in the polar and nonpolar solvents, Ko/w, Dissociation Constant, etc.

6. Environmental risk assessment

7. Quick aquatic and terrestrial ecotox screening 

8. In vivo screening assays

JRF’s AgCelerate comes loaded with a collective research experience exceeding a few thousand man-years in the diverse fields of expertise. The expertise enables quick assembly of the right type of assays to deliver the results, with reliable data at a rapid rate of turnaround. We customize the package of the workflow and summarize the experimental scheme. The benefits move further to in-house planned regulatory studies, which would enable the sponsor to acquire their registration quickly, with reliable raw data and high-quality GLP reports. 

JRF Global - AgCelerate also helps to broaden your pipeline - by validating novel chemotypes for the same indication with new properties as well as by sieving out the inefficacious or unsafe molecules. The tool not only helps to zero down on the potentially useful molecule based on efficacy and safety but also environmental safety, which is critical for the crop-care chemical manufacturers.

To summarize, JRF-AgCelerate facilitates access to a single facility that can offer “End-to-end services” from designing the molecule to providing registration enabling GLP studies.  

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About the Author: Dr. Abhay Deshpande

A biotechnologist by profession, has deep expertise in fermentation processes, microbiology, GLP and Toxicology. This along with his broad understanding of chemistry, and his business acumen, has been instrumental in establishing robust operational processes at JRF Global. Under his stewardship JRF Global has added several specialized services resulting in an unprecedented growth of the organization. Dr. Deshpande has brought about a perceptible change in the JRF’s work-culture to keep up with the ever-changing trends in the CRO space.  

 About the Author: Mr. Samir Pandya

Mr. Samir Pandya is a Business Development Manager for JRF Global. He oversees the North and Latin American business for JRF, and lives in Toronto, Canada. Samir is a Pharmacy graduate and MBA in marketing. He has been working with JRF for over 10 years, where he spent the first five years as a Business Manager for Asian countries.

This article was initially published in AgroPages '2020 Market Insight' magazine. Download it to read more articles.