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September 10, 2020
Pharmatest will be taking part of the virtual ASBMR 2020 Meeting starting on Friday, September 11. We are excited about this year’s scientific program packed with cutting-edge research in the bone, mineral and musculoskeletal field.
Explore our this year’s posters showcasing our research studies:
Syngeneic Murine Bladder Cancer Growing in Bone Responds to Anti-PD-1 Treatment by Dr. Mari Suominen (P-172)
Chondrogenic Differentiation of Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Like KS483 Cells by Dr. Katja Fagerlund (P-192)
Zoledronate Treatment Improves Trabecular Bone without Affecting Bone Biomechanical Properties in + G610C Mouse Model of Osteogenesis Imperfecta by Dr. Jukka Morko (P-844)
Be sure to visit our virtual booth and connect with our experts. We will be available to answer any of your questions during the entire meeting.
Our dedicated booth hours during the meeting are
Friday 11.9. 2PM-3PM EDT and 4PM-5PM EDT
Saturday 12.9. 2PM-3PM EDT and 4PM-5PM EDT
Sunday 13.9. 10AM-11AM EDT and 2PM-3PM EDT
Monday 14.9. 10AM-11AM EDT and 2PM-3PM EDT
June 16, 2020
Pharmatest is very excited to participate in AACR virtual meeting II on June 22-24. Registration for this year’s Meeting is free!
Please meet our Team attending AACR 2020 and ready to answer any of your questions regarding our services. Unfortunately, we won't be able to meet you in person but please contact us to arrange a virtual discussion with our experts in oncology.
The following presentations will be available on AACR’s platform on June 22:
Poster 5026: Efficacy of anti-PD-1, IDO inhibitor, chemotherapy and bone-targeting agent on tumor growth in a syngeneic bone metastasis model of triple-negative breast cancer presented by Mari Suominen
Poster 2759: Immune cell killing assay for analyzing the effects of immunomodulating agents in vitro by Jenni Mäki-Jouppila
Poster 1634: Orthotopic and bone metastasis prostate cancer models using the 22Rv1 cell line by Justyna Zdrojewska
MEET OUR PRESENTERS:
Mari Suominen, PhD, Research Director
Mari Suominen joined Pharmatest in 2005. As a Study Director, she is in of charge of customer projects and new model development projects of the cancer field. Previously, she has worked at bone biology department at Schering (currently Bayer), where her responsibility was setting up new models of cancer and skeletal diseases. In her Ph.D. work she studied various therapeutic approaches in experimental mouse models of breast and prostate cancer bone metastasis, including radium-223 (Xofigo). Her whole career has focused on the interaction of bone microenvironment and cancer, and particularly on the development of new therapeutics to treat skeletal metastases.
Jenni Mäki-Jouppila, PhD, R&D Director
Jenni Mäki-Jouppila joined Pharmatest in 2016 and is working as a Research Director and R&D Director. She has a background in cell and molecular biology. She has graduated as a MSc from the Department of Biology and defended her PhD thesis from the Department of Pharmacology, Drug Development and Therapeutics in the University of Turku. Her previous work has included screening and validation of small molecular compounds and microRNAs targeting mitosis and cell division of cancer cells. Moreover, she has worked in research projects concerning hormonal regulation.
Justyna Zdrojewska, PhD, Research Director
Justyna Zdrojewska joined Pharmatest in 2017. As a Research Director she is responsible for customer projects and new product development in the field of cancer models. She graduated as MSc from Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology at Gdansk University and further continued her education at Åbo Akademi University, from where she obtained her PhD degree in Cell Biology at the Department of Biosciences. Her previous work focused on protein interaction and cell migration.
Find our more about our services in oncology here.
April 30, 2020
In severe cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections, the immune system has been hyper-activated, triggering a cytokine release storm (CRS). CRS is body’s excessive immunological response against infection that may ultimately lead to organ failure. Cytokine storms are a common complication of Covid-19 and can also occur after cancer immunotherapy treatment.
When an individual gets infected by SARS-CoV-2, their immune system starts producing antibodies against viral antigens. Therefore, SARS-CoV-2 infection can be detected by measuring these antibodies in the blood of an individual, possibly also after the individual has cured from the disease.
Pharmatest can measure the levels of multiple cytokines/key inflammation markers that are indicative of pathologic inflammatory response and also SARS-CoV-2 reactive IgG class antibodies from plasma and serum samples.
Mouse models for coronavirus research are available upon request.
More information on cytokine storm and cytokine markers:
The Lancet: COVID-19: consider cytokine storm syndromes and immunosuppression. https://doi.org/10.1016/ S0140-6736(20)30628-0
Nature: In the eye of the COVID-19 cytokine storm.
March 20, 2020
Pharmatest’s projects and safety during the COVID-19 outbreak
To ensure the health and safety of Pharmatest’s employees, we have adopted the following precautionary policies until further notice:
- No visitors will be allowed at Pharmatest’s offices, with the exception of essential vendors and maintenance.
- Pharmatest staff will not attend external in-person meetings or events but will participate virtually. Internal meetings are limited and recommended to be held virtually.
- All of our own events have been postponed to a later date.
- Pharmatest staff will work remotely as much as possible.
- The laboratory staff has been guided to work in alternating shifts and to pay special attention to hygiene.
Committed to ensuring the smooth continuation of customer projects
Our primary focus is the safety of our employees, the health and welfare of the animals in our care, and the ability of our customers to continue their critical research.
All project work is operating as usual, and many pre-emptive measures are in place to ensure the normal operation of our services. In case of employee illnesses, we have a deputy procedure that will be deployed in case it is needed. Project work will continue as normal even if the pandemic situation gets worse.
We are confident in continuing to provide our services despite the current uncertain situation.
If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at info@pharmatest.com.
February 12, 2020
Pharmatest Services is pleased to announce that Dr. Jukka Rissanen will join the company as the new CEO starting on March 1st, 2020. Jukka brings extensive business and multidisciplinary scientific experience to the company.
Jukka has over 20 years of experience in various challenging roles within the pharmaceutical industry and has a long history with Pharmatest being the company’s COO for many years. Most recently he has been CEO and co-founder at PreclinApps Ltd, a medical technology company focused on drug delivery technologies.
In his new position as CEO, he will focus on the strategic growth of the business and delivering real value to customers. Chairman of the Board of Pharmatest, Mika Ali-Rantala: “We are delighted that Jukka is joining the company as the new CEO. We look forward to his leadership and knowledge supporting the continued growth of Pharmatest.”
January 20, 2020
Pharmatest will start the year 2020 with several events in California, USA. The first two, oncology seminars, are part of the Biocom seminar series and they will be held in San Francisco on January 21 and in San Diego on January 28. Topics discussed during the seminars include preclinical imaging, human immune system engrafted mouse models, and their use in preclinical oncology studies.
Our oncology experts will also attend Tumor Models event organized by Hanson Wade in San Francisco on January 22 – 24. At the Tumor Models event, Dr. Mari Suominen will have a speech titled ”Importance of Microenvironment in Evaluating IO Therapy Response in Humanized Mouse Models”. In her speech Dr. Suominen will discuss the basis of osteoimmunology and the potential of targeting immune cells in bone metastasis as well as effects of microenvironment on tumor growth and efficacy of immunotherapy.
Pharmatest will also have the following scientific presentations:
“Characterization of Anti-CTLA-4 Effects on Tumor Growth and Immune Microenvironment in a Syngeneic CT26.WT Colon Carcinoma Mouse Model”
“Efficacy of Pembrolizumab and Assessment of Tumor-Infiltrating Immune Cells in Bone Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer”.
November 25, 2019
Pharmatest Services has a great pleasure to welcome Dr. Joy Wolfram, an outstanding young scientist to present her research in the field of nanomedicines. The presentation will be held at the Visitor and Innovation Center JOKI (Lemminkäisenkatu 12b, 20520 Turku, Finland) on December 12, 2019 at 14:00 - 15:45 o'clock.
The session will start with Dr. Wolfram’s presentation “Nanomedicine for cancer and beyond” followed by a Q&A session and refreshments.
In her talk Dr. Wolfram will discuss the three emerging concepts in clinical nanomedicine: optimization of nanoparticle size and shape for improved hemodynamics, modulation of innate immunity to reduce nanoparticle clearance, and use of biological nanoparticles (i.e. extracellular vesicles).
The application of nanotechnology in medicine provides new and innovative solutions to diagnose and treat disease, as nanoscale structures exhibit multifunctionality, unique electromagnetic properties, and distinct biodistribution profiles that can be exploited. Dr. Wolfram’s goal is to bring new nanomedicines with increased therapeutic efficacy and safety to the clinic.
About the speaker: Dr. Joy Wolfram is an Assistant Professor at the renowned Mayo Clinic in Florida, where she is the director of the Nanomedicine and Extracellular Vesicles Lab and leads a research group focusing on nanotechnology in cancer. She is a native of Finland and received her master's degree in biology from the University of Helsinki in Finland. She completed her Ph.D. in Nanoscience and Technology at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China.
She was selected as one of 12 internationally accomplished Finns and earned her way to the Forbes 30 under 30 in healthcare in 2018. Dr. Wolfram has also received more than 25 scientific awards from seven different countries.
Please register on Eventbrite.com (registration has closed) for a free ticket for the event to secure your attendance.
October 18, 2019
Pharmatest Services attends AACR-NCI-EORTC Conference in Boston, MA on October 26 –30 and SITC Annual Meeting 2019 in National Harbor, MD on November 7–10. In both events, Pharmatest publishes novel models and emerging scientific findings from preclinical immuno-oncology studies.
In the AACR-NCI-EORTC conference Pharmatest has the following poster presentations:
-
Establishment of a novel prostate cancer bone metastasis model in humanized mice and early efficacy results of pembrolizumab. Late-breaking poster A148 on Sunday, October 27.
- Establishment of primary tumor models of TNBC and ER+/HER2- breast cancer in humanized mice and validation of pembrolizumab efficacy. Poster B143 on Monday, October 28.
- Lack of immunotherapy efficacy in a syngeneic bone metastasis model of triple-negative breast cancer. Poster B144 on Monday, October 28.
In the SITC Annual Meeting 2019 Pharmatest has the following poster presentation:
- Pitfalls in preclinical development of immunotherapies for ER+ breast cancer: estrogen as an immunomodulator potentially influencing pembrolizumab efficacy in a breast cancer model in humanized mice. Poster P284, presented on Saturday, November 9.
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to visit our posters in the events. If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the events click here.
August 20, 2019
Shareholders of Pharmatest have elected Dr. Joy Wolfram as a new board member. Dr. Wolfram is Assistant Professor at the renowned Mayo Clinic, where she is the director of the Nanomedicine and Extracellular Vesicles Lab and leads a research group focusing on nanotechnology in cancer.
Dr. Wolfram received her master's degree in biology from the University of Helsinki in Finland and completed her Ph.D. in Nanoscience and Technology at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. She earned her way to the Forbes 30 under 30 in healthcare in 2019 and has received more than 25 scientific awards from seven different countries.
Pharmatest offers clinically predictive preclinical efficacy services in skeletal diseases and oncology, and has special expertise in bone metastasis models. The research of Dr. Wolfram focuses on developing new treatments for metastatic breast cancer. Her research goal is to use nanotechnology to design multifunctional and targeted therapies, thereby increasing therapeutic efficacy and reducing adverse effects in patients.
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “Dr. Wolfram’s unique set of experience and expertise and in-depth knowledge of cancer research will be extremely valuable to Pharmatest. Her innovative thinking is exactly what we are looking for and we are honored to have her join our board.”
Joy Wolfram says: “I am very excited to join the board of Pharmatest. Pharmatest’s mission to reduce the high failure rates in oncology clinical trials by novel predictive preclinical models is an ambitious but achievable goal with their highly skilled and innovative staff. I hope that my experience in oncology can help to achieve this goal especially in the field of advanced, metastatic cancer where the need for novel therapies is the highest.”
Dr. Wolfram will join Pharmatest in the ASBMR annual meeting in Orlando on September 21. She will also visit the headquarters of Pharmatest in Turku, Finland on December 12, 2019, and at the same time host an intriguing presentation about her research.
August 13, 2019
Pharmatest Services attends Annual Meeting of The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) that will be held in Orlando, FL, USA on September 20 – 23, 2019. Pharmatest attends the event with a booth (#429) and has 6 scientific presentations.
Pharmatest Services is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. ASBMR Annual Meeting is the leading scientific event in the field of bone research globally.
This year Pharmatest attends ASBMR with the following six scientific presentations:
- HER2 Positive Breast Cancer Bone Metastasis Model for Studying Efficacy of Novel Therapies. Poster presentation #SAT-137 on Saturday, September 21, 2019 from 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm.
- Effect of Zoledronic Acid Treatment on Bone in +/G610C Mouse Model of Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Poster Presentation #SAT-924 on Saturday, September 21, 2019 from 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm.
- Prostate Cancer Bone Metastasis Model for Preclinical Evaluation of Radiopharmaceuticals. Poster Presentation #SUN-154 on Sunday, September 22, 2019 from 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm.
- Tartrate-Resistant Acid Phosphatase 5b in Rat Serum and Plasma. Poster presentation #SUN-849 on Sunday, September 22, 2019 from 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm.
- Syngeneic Bone Metastasis Models for Testing Efficacy of Novel Therapies. Poster presentation #MON-167 on Monday, September 23, 2019 from 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm.
- Young Adult Male and Female +/G610C Mice as an Animal Model of Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Poster Presentation #MON-945 on Monday, September 23, 2019 from 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm.
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to visit our posters and booth #429 in the event. If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the ASBMR meeting click here.
May 31, 2019
Pharmatest Services has published an invited review article about preclinical bone metastasis models and a research article about the first humanized mouse model of bone metastasis. Humanized mouse models allow confirming efficacy of novel immunotherapies in bone metastatic microenvironment.
Pharmatest Services is a CRO that offers preclinical efficacy services in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. In oncology Pharmatest has been the global leading expert in bone metastasis models since 2005.
Pharmatest has recently published the following two scientific papers:
- Novel and Conventional Preclinical Models to Investigate Bone Metastasis
Tiina Kähkönen, the lead author in the publications says: “In Pharmatest, we are constantly developing novel bone metastasis models. Now, for the first time, we are bringing these models to humanized mice with functional human immune system, allowing to test the efficacy of immunotherapies on bone metastases.”
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “The majority of deaths in breast, prostate, lung, and many other cancers are caused by bone metastases, and bone microenvironment changes tumor properties and induces drug resistance. I hope that our publications will help to convince the pharmaceutical industry about the importance of confirming compound efficacy in metastasis models before entering clinical trials.”
May 10, 2019
Pharmatest attends the 4th Annual Advances in Immuno-oncology Congress arranged by Oxford Global Conferences in London on May 20 – 21, and arranges a seminar titled “Example Studies in Immunodeficient and Humanized Mouse Models and Considerations for Drug Development” in London on May 23 together with Valirx Plc.
Pharmatest Services is a CRO that offers preclinical efficacy services in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. In oncology Pharmatest has been the global leading expert in bone metastasis models since 2005.
In the 4th Annual Advances in Immuno-oncology Congress, Pharmatest has a booth and the following scientific presentations:
- Oral presentation “Importance Of Microenvironment In Evaluating IO Therapy Response– Case Examples From Bone Metastasis Models In Humanized Mice
- Poster presentation “Syngeneic bone metastasis models for testing efficacy of novel therapies
- Poster presentation “Human Immune System Engrafted Mouse Models of Triple-Negative and Triple-Positive Breast Cancer for Preclinical Validation of Novel Immuno-Oncology Therapies
In the seminar “Example Studies in Immunodeficient and Humanized Mouse Models and Considerations for Drug Development” Pharmatest will present bone metastasis models established in humanized mice.
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to attend the free seminar and networking event after it. You can find more information about the seminar and register in the following link: Oncology seminar registration (registration has closed).
March 11, 2019
Pharmatest Services attends Annual Meeting of American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) held in Atlanta, Georgia, USA on March 30 – April 3, 2019. Pharmatest attends the event with a booth (#4730) and is presenting 8 scientific presentations.
Pharmatest Services (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. The Annual Meeting of AACR is the leading scientific event in the field of cancer research globally.
This year in AACR Pharmatest presents the following 8 scientific presentations:
- Poster ID 2007: Validation of a preclinical model for bone metastatic triple negative breast cancer. Poster presentation on Monday April 1 at 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM by Justyna Zdrojewska, section 7, poster board 15. (Collaboration with Polyphor Ltd, Allschwil, Switzerland)
- Poster ID 2161: In vitro osteoblast assays for studying the effects of cancer therapeutics on bone biology. Poster presentation on Monday April 1 at 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM by Jenni Mäki-Jouppila, section 13, poster board 12.
- Poster ID 2814: Systemic and local syngeneic bone metastasis models for immuno-oncology drug development. Poster presentation Tuesday April 2 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM by Tiina Kähkönen, section 3, poster board 30. (Collaboration with Bayer AG, Berlin, Germany)
- Poster ID 3936: Efficacy of single agent radium-223 in the syngeneic MBT-2 bladder cancer bone growth model in mice. Poster presentation on Tuesday April 2 at 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM by Tiina Kähkönen, section 15, poster board 17. (Collaboration with Aurexel Life Sciences Ltd., Askainen, Finland; Vincit Oy, Turku, Finland and Bayer AG, Berlin, Germany)
- Poster ID 4588: Characterization of anti-CTLA-4 effects on tumor growth and immune microenvironment in a syngeneic CT26.WT colon carcinoma mouse model. Poster presentation on Wednesday April 3 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM by Jenni Mäki-Jouppila, section 4, poster board 12. (Collaboration with OracleBio, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK and BioSiteHisto, Tampere, Finland)
- Poster ID 4614: Establishment of a HER2 positive breast cancer bone metastasis model for validation of novel therapies. Poster presentation on Wednesday April 3 at 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM by Tiina Kähkönen, section 6, poster board 9. (Collaboration with Bayer AS, Oslo, Norway)
- Poster ID 4616: Establishment of a metastatic orthotopic model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) for drug development. Poster presentation on Wednesday April 3 at 8:00 AM - 12:00 by Justyna Zdrojewska, section 6, poster board 11. (Collaboration with Pharmaxis, New South Wales, Australia)
- Poster ID 4850: The relevance of using proper preclinical models when developing therapeutics for localized or bone metastatic prostate cancer. Poster presentation on Wednesday April 3 at 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM by Jenni Bernoulli, section 15, poster board 8.
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to visit our posters and booth #4730 in AACR. If you would like to meet our representatives during the event, contact us here.
January 11, 2019
Pharmatest has announced the list of events where Pharmatest representatives will attend during 2019. The first events include immuno-oncology seminars in San Francisco on January 22 and San Diego on January 28, and Tumor Models event organized by Hanson Wade in San Francisco on January 23 – 24.
Pharmatest Services is a CRO that offers preclinical efficacy services in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. In oncology Pharmatest has been a pioneer in offering bone metastasis models since 2005, and is today the global leader in the field.
The list of events where Pharmatest representatives will attend during 2019 can be found here. The list includes scientific meetings and conventions, and the previously announced immuno-oncology seminars organized by Pharmatest together with our partners.
The first events include immuno-oncology seminars in San Francisco on January 22 and San Diego on January 28, and Tumor Models event organized by Hanson Wade in San Francisco on January 23 – 24. In the Tumor Models event Pharmatest has a booth and the following scientific presentations:
- Oral presentation on January 23 at 4.15 pm titled “Importance of the microenvironment in evaluating IO therapy response – case studies from bone metastasis models in humanized mice”.
- Two poster presentations titled:
- “Characterization of tumor-infiltrating immune cells and the efficacy of pembrolizumab in preclinical models of primary and bone metastatic triple-negative breast cancer”.
- “Systemic and local syngeneic bone metastasis models for immuno-oncology drug development”.
If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the events, click here.
December 5, 2018
Pharmatest Services arranges an immuno-oncology seminar series about humanized mouse models during 2019. The first seminars are part of the Biocom seminar series and they will be held in San Francisco on January 22 and in San Diego on January 28.
A large amount of immunotherapies are currently under development, and reliable preclinical models are needed to confirm their efficacy before entering clinical trials. The Pharmatest 2019 seminar series includes speakers from many of our partners and covers extensively the utility of humanized mouse models in oncology.
Pharmatest has been the leading expert and provider of bone metastasis models for over 10 years. In the seminars Pharmatest will present humanized mouse models of bone metastasis, showcasing how immunotherapies can affect differentially tumor growth in metastatic sites than in primary tumors, demonstrating the importance of confirming compound efficacy in relevant metastasis models.
The following five seminars have been confirmed for 2019:
- San Francisco, CA, USA, January 22 with Champions Oncology
- San Diego, CA, USA, January 28 with Taconic Biosciences
- Berlin, Germany, March 19 with EPO Berlin-Buch
- London, UK, May 23 with Valirx Plc
- Cambridge, MA, USA, September 19 with Taconic Biosciences
The first seminars in San Francisco and San Diego, titled “Pre-Clinical Efficacy Models for Immuno-Oncology Studies in Humanized Mice”, are part of the Biocom seminar series. You can register to the seminars from the following links:
- Biocom seminar San Francisco Jan 22 (registration has closed)
- Biocom seminar San Diego Jan 28 (registration has closed)
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to join the seminars to learn more about the use of humanized mouse models in preclinical efficacy studies in oncology, and to discuss with the expert speakers.
September 19, 2018
Pharmatest Services attends ASBMR Annual Meeting in Montreal, Canada on September 28 – October 1, 2018. In ASBMR Pharmatest launches two new services, a preclinical mouse model of osteogenesis imperfecta and clinical bone marker measurement services.
Pharmatest Services (Pharmatest) is a CRO that offers preclinical efficacy services in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. In skeletal diseases Pharmatest offers bone cell culture models and animal models of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.
Pharmatest now widens its portfolio of preclinical efficacy models in skeletal diseases by launching a mouse model of osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). The model utilizes heterozygous (+/G610C) male mice that exhibit a variable form of OI (type IV).
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “The OI model that we are now launching is our first model of rare bone diseases, and it strengthens our position as a CRO offering preclinical efficacy models in skeletal diseases.”
Pharmatest has strong expertise in performing bone turnover marker measurements in its preclinical efficacy models. Pharmatest now launches clinical bone marker measurements that are performed using the iSYS automated platform of Immunodiagnostic Systems Plc (IDS).
Katja Fagerlund, Research Director in the bone marker unit of Pharmatest says: “We have a long history in collaborating with IDS and offering bone turnover marker measurements in our preclinical studies. We are now very excited to start offering also clinical bone marker measurements using the IDS-iSYS automated platform.”
September 17, 2018
Pharmatest Services attends Annual Meeting of The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) that will be held in Montreal, Canada on September 28 – October 1, 2018. Pharmatest attends the event with a booth (#217) and has 4 scientific presentations.
Pharmatest Services is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. ASBMR Annual Meeting is the leading scientific event in the field of bone research globally.
This year Pharmatest attends ASBMR with the following four scientific presentations:
- Bone metastatic growth was not inhibited by anti-PD-1 blockage in a humanized mouse model of triple-negative breast cancer – difference in responses between primary and bone metastatic tumors (collaboration with Taconic Biosciences, USA). Poster presentation LB SAT-1164 by Tiina Kähkönen on September 29, 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm at ASBMR Discovery Hall – Hall 220 B-E.
- Intra-Articular Monosodium Iodoacetate Induced Knee Osteoarthritis: Effects on Bone as Measured by Micro-Computed Tomography in Rats. Poster presentation SAT-0986 by Jukka Vääräniemi on September 29 from 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm at ASBMR Discovery Hall – Room 220 B-E. This poster will also be presented at ASBMR Symposium on Skeletal Contributions to Joint Degeneration and Osteoarthritis (#P-49) at room 513 of the Palais des Congres on September 27, 2018 from 8:00 am – 6:00pm.
- Analgesic Effects of Morphine on Knee Osteoarthritis Induced by Intra-Articular Monosodium Iodoacetate in Rats. Poster presentation SUN-0995 by Jukka Morko on Sunday, September 30 from 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm at ASBMR Discovery Hall – Room 220 B-E. This poster will also be presented at ASBMR Symposium on Skeletal Contributions to Joint Degeneration and Osteoarthritis (#P-44) at room 513 of the Palais des Congres on September 27, 2018 from 8:00 am – 6:00pm.
- The effects of castration on prostate cancer tumor growth in bone (collaboration with Bayer AG, Berlin, Germany). Poster presentation MON-0215 by Tiina Kähkönen on October 1, 12:00 pm-02:00 pm at ASBMR Discovery Hall - Exhibit Hall 220 B-E.
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to visit our posters and booth #217 in the event. If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the ASBMR meeting click here.
May 24, 2018
June 15, 2018 marks the 20th anniversary of Pharmatest Services. We will be celebrating this important milestone by hosting a celebration Symposium on this same day at the PharmaCity Building in Turku, Itäinen Pitkäkatu 4, 20520 Turku, Finland.
We are proud to announce our guest speakers including the Rector of the University of Turku Kalervo Väänänen who was one of the founders of Pharmatest. Dr. Risto Lammintausta, CEO of Forendo Pharma has a long history with Pharmatest as customer and previous Board Member, and over 30 years of drug development experience.
Symposium schedule:
- 13.00: Opening words - Jenni Bernoulli, COO, Pharmatest Services
- 13.05: Jussi Halleen, CEO, Pharmatest Services – History of Pharmatest
- 13.20: Kalervo Väänänen, Rector, University of Turku - Research – Innovation – Entrepreneurship
- 13.40: Risto Lammintausta, CEO, Forendo Pharma - Drug discovery and development in the new business network
- 14.00: Andrew Heiniluoma, Business Development Director, Pharmatest Services LLC - Pharmatest in USA
- 14.15: Tiina Kähkönen, Research Director, Pharmatest Services - Humanized mouse models of bone metastasis
- 14.45: Closing words - Jenni Bernoulli
March 21, 2018
Pharmatest Services attends Annual Meeting of American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) held in Chicago, Illinois, USA on April 14 – 18, 2018. Pharmatest attends the event with a booth (#3640) and is presenting 8 scientific presentations.
Pharmatest Services (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. The Annual Meeting of AACR is the leading scientific event in the field of cancer research globally.
This year in AACR Pharmatest presents the following 8 scientific presentations:
- Poster ID 709: Anti-PD-1 therapy reduces bone lesion growth in a novel syngeneic bladder cancer bone metastasis model. Poster presentation on Sunday April 15 at 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM by Tiina Kähkönen, section 33, poster board 6. (Collaboration with Bayer AG, Berlin, Germany).
- Poster ID 838: Synergistic in vivo activity of the ATR inhibitor BAY 1895344 in combination with the targeted alpha therapy radium-223 dichloride in a preclinical tumor model mimicking bone metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Poster presentation on Sunday April 15 at 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm by Mari Suominen, Section 39, poster board 1. (Collaboration with Bayer AG, Berlin, Germany).
- Poster ID 1158: Phenotypic screening using AMIDA identifies different drug responses in breast and prostate cancer cell lines in an organotypic cell culture model. Poster presentation on Monday April 16 at 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM by Katja Fagerlund, section 6, poster board 15. (Collaboration with University of Turku, Turku, Finland).
- Poster ID 1677: Differential efficacy of PD-1 targeted immunomodulation in preclinical models of primary and bone metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Poster presentation on Monday April 16 at 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM by Tiina Kähkönen, section 31, poster board 2. (Collaboration with Taconic Biosciences, Rensselaer, NY and BioSiteHisto Ltd, Tampere, Finland).
- Poster ID 1738: PD-1/PD-L1 expression and tumor-infiltrating immune cells in triple-negative breast cancer: Characterization of preclinical primary tumor and bone metastasis models in humanized mice. Poster presentation on Monday April 16 at 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM by Jenni Bernoulli from Pharmatest and Philip Dube from Taconic Biosciences, section 33, poster board 3. (Collaboration with Taconic Biosciences, Rensselaer, NY and BioSiteHisto Ltd, Tampere, Finland).
- Poster ID 1162: Castration-resistant prostate cancer bone metastasis model to assess new therapeutics. Poster presentation on Monday April 16 at 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM by Mari Suominen, section 6, poster board 19. (Collaboration with Bayer AG, Berlin, Germany).
- Poster ID 2684: Drug sensitivity profiling of BT-474 breast cancer cell line for identification of novel therapies targeting HER2-positive breast cancer. Poster presentation on Monday April 16 at 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM by Jenni Mäki-Jouppila, section 30, poster board 24. (Collaboration with Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland).
- Poster ID 3859: Hormone receptor and HER2/HER3 expression in preclinical breast cancer models of primary tumor and bone metastasis. Poster presentation on Tuesday April 17 at 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM by Jenni Bernoulli, section 36, poster board 2. (Collaboration with Taconic Biosciences, Rensselaer, NY and BioSiteHisto Ltd, Tampere, Finland).
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to visit our booth #3640 in AACR. If you would like to meet our representatives during the event, click here.
February 21, 2018
Year 2017 was again the most successful year in the history of Pharmatest, beating clearly the previous sales records from 2016. The sales of Pharmatest increased by 50% in 2017 compared with 2016, and the growth is expected to continue further during 2018 and beyond.
Pharmatest Services (Pharmatest) is a CRO that offers preclinical efficacy services in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. In oncology Pharmatest has been a pioneer in offering bone metastasis models since 2005, and is today the global leader in the field.
Pharmatest reached its all-time records in sales and sales growth in 2017. As a result of the strong sales growth, Pharmatest has received three years in a row certification of the highest Dun & Bradstreet Credit Worthiness classification, which is given each year to only 4% of all companies in Finland.
The growth is a result of several years of successful marketing and R&D activities that have produced reliable and predictive high quality preclinical efficacy models. Pharmatest’s current R&D activities are concentrated in development of bone metastasis models for immuno-oncology and radiotherapy applications, in which there is a very strong growth potential for the business of Pharmatest.
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “I am very pleased about the strong growth of our business that we expect to continue also in the future. The novel bone metastasis models that we are currently developing for immuno-oncology and radiotherapy applications will form a strong backbone for the future growth of our business.”
January 16, 2018
Pharmatest has announced the list of events where staff of Pharmatest will attend during 2018. The first events will be an educational seminar held in San Diego on Jan 23 in an event organized by BIOCOM, followed by the Tumor Models event organized by Hanson Wade in San Francisco on Jan 24 – 25.
Pharmatest Services (Pharmatest) is a CRO that offers preclinical efficacy services in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. In oncology Pharmatest has been a pioneer in offering bone metastasis models since 2005, and is today the global leader in the field.
The list of events where staff of Pharmatest will attend during 2018 is found here. The first event is the educational seminar titled “Humanized Mouse Models in Preclinical Efficacy Studies in Oncology” that will be held together with Crown Bioscience in San Diego on Jan 23 at 8 – 10 am. The event is organized by BIOCOM as part of their CRO event series.
The educational seminar will be followed by the Tumor Models event organized by Hanson Wade in San Francisco on Jan 24 – 25. Pharmatest has a booth and the following scientific presentations in the event:
- Oral presentation by Mari Suominen on Jan 25 at 10.40 am titled “Novel Bone Metastasis Models in Syngeneic and Humanized Mice”.
- Poster presentation by Mari Suominen on Jan 24 and 25 titled “A Humanized Mouse Model of Breast Cancer Bone Metastasis for Immuno-oncology Drug Discovery”.
If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the events, click here.
November 24, 2017
Bruker installed its first SkyScan 1276 High-Resolution and Fast In Vivo Desktop Micro-Computed Tomography (micro-CT) in premises of Pharmatest on February 2017. After 9 months of experience Pharmatest gives high credit to the performance of the equipment.
Bone biology expert Pharmatest Services has offered preclinical efficacy services in skeletal diseases since 1999. Pharmatest has also been a pioneer in offering bone metastasis models since 2005, and is today the global leader in the field.
Bruker installed its first SkyScan 1276 high-resolution and fast in vivo micro-CT equipment in Pharmatest on February 2017. The equipment has been very useful in Pharmatest in both skeletal disease and bone metastasis studies, and after 9 months of experience Pharmatest gives high credit to the system.
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest says: “We are very impressed about the excellent performance of the SkyScan 1276 in vivo micro-CT equipment, and the excellent training provided by Bruker for using the equipment. I would say that SkyScan 1276 is especially useful for bone specialists.”
Jukka Morko, a Research Director in Pharmatest comments: “SkyScan 1276 gives the user many possibilities to modify and optimize scanning, reconstruction and analysis settings for different kind of studies. This allows obtaining highest quality results, which is very important for Pharmatest in everything that we do.”
November 2, 2017
Pharmatest Services has successfully worked with radioactive compounds for almost a decade. Recent scientific publication in collaboration with Bayer shows an example of the strong expertise of Pharmatest in testing efficacy of radiopharmaceuticals in preclinical oncology models.
Pharmatest Services (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. In oncology Pharmatest has strong expertise in bone metastasis models.
Pharmatest has almost a decade of experience in testing efficacy of radioactive compounds in preclinical efficacy models. The studies have provided a large amount of scientific publications, including published papers in scientific journals, oral presentations and posters in leading scientific events.
The latest scientific paper was published in collaboration with Bayer in August 2017 in Clinical Cancer Research, demonstrating efficacy of radium-223 dichloride (Xofigo) to inhibit prostate cancer growth in bone microenvironment. The study continues the long collaboration between Pharmatest and Bayer with radiopharmaceuticals. The efficacy of Xofigo has been confirmed in clinical studies and Xofigo is currently in use in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients with advanced bone metastatic disease.
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest says: “I am proud of the strong expertise of Pharmatest for testing efficacy of radiopharmaceuticals in preclinical studies. Setting up the capacity, training the personnel and obtaining the required licenses in compliance with relevant legislation has required lots of efforts over the years, and we can firmly state to be among the global leaders in the field.”
August 28, 2017
Pharmatest Services attends Annual Meeting of The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) that will be held in Denver, CO, USA on September 8 – 11, 2017. Pharmatest attends the event with a booth (#135) and has 5 scientific presentations.
Pharmatest Services is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. ASBMR Annual Meeting is the leading scientific event in the field of bone research globally.
This year Pharmatest attends ASBMR with the following five scientific presentations:
- Active human immune system induces more severe osteoblastic bone reaction in a humanized mouse model of breast cancer bone metastasis. Oral presentation #1052 on Saturday September 9 at5.45 – 6.00 pm by Tiina Kähkönen, Four Seasons Ballroom I, Colorado Convention Center (collaboration with Taconic Biosciences, USA).
- Bone phenotype of human immune system engrafted mice. Late-breaking poster presentation #LB-SU0359 by Tiina Kähkönen on Sunday, September 10 at 12.30 – 2.30 pm (collaboration withTaconic Biosciences, USA).
- PF708, a therapeutic equivalent and biosimilar candidate to Forteo (teriparatide), demonstrates nonclinical efficacy equivalence to the reference product in the treatment of established osteopenia in adult ovariectomized rats. Poster presentation #SU0317 by Jukka Morko on Sunday, September 10 at 12.30 – 2.30 pm (collaboration with Pfenex Inc., USA).
- Effects of estrogen removal by ovariectomy on growth of human MCF-7 breast cancer cells in bone. Poster presentation #MO0432 by Tiina Kähkönen on Monday, September 11 at 12.00 – 2:00 pm.
- Suitability of various non-Invasive imaging techniques to analyze bone, muscle and fat tissues in ovariectomized mice. Poster presentation #MO0688 by Jukka Vääräniemi on Monday, September 11 at 12.00 – 2.00 pm(collaboration withAlizé Pharma III SAS, France).
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to visit our posters and booth #135 in the event. If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the ASBMR meeting click here.
August 24, 2017
Pharmatest Services LLC arranges an educational seminar titled “Significance of Bone Metastases and Targeting Tumor, Bone and Immune System” in hotel Boston Marriott Copley Place in Boston, MA, on September 6 at 8.00 – 10.30 am.
A very large amount of oncology drugs still fail in clinical trials due to poor efficacy. One important reason for this is that compound efficacy is not confirmed in clinically relevant preclinical metastasis models before entering clinical trials. This would be important because the metastatic microenvironment changes tumor properties and induces drug resistance.
This educational seminar highlights significance of bone metastases in clinical and preclinical aspects. Keynote speaker of the seminar will be Dr. Matthew Smith from Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and other speakers will be from MassBio, Taconic Biosciences and Pharmatest.
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “It is our mission to decrease the currently very high failure rates of oncology drugs in clinical trials, and we want to emphasize the importance of confirming compound efficacy in preclinical metastasis models to achieve this goal”.
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to join this educational seminar. You can find the seminar program and register from this link.
Pharmatest offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. In oncology Pharmatest has been the leading provider of bone metastasis models since 2005.
June 7, 2017
Pharmatest Services LLC is a US based CRO operating in Massachusetts, where it offers preclinical efficacy services in oncology and skeletal diseases. The company is a fully owned subsidiary of Pharmatest Services Ltd based in Finland.
In skeletal diseases Pharmatest offers models of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. In oncology Pharmatest has special expertise in clinically predictive orthotopic and metastasis models, and Pharmatest has been the global leading provider of models of bone metastasis since 2007. As bone experts Pharmatest also offers bone safety studies.
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “Our US sales has grown more than 50% per year in the past years. We expect the growth to continue also in the coming years, and we established the LLC to be able to better serve our US customers. When the business grows it is our long-term goal to offer more jobs for skilled people in the US.”
Andrew Heiniluoma is the manager of the LLC and responsible for the operations. He says: “I am thrilled to see how the expertise and high quality preclinical services of Pharmatest will help American drug development companies to save time, money and effort, and at the same time develop compounds that are more effective in the clinic.”
Join us for an educational seminar about the importance of preclinical bone metastasis studies that Pharmatest will present in Boston on September 6 in an event held together with Taconic Biosciences. More detailed information about the event will be available later.
May 16, 2017
Pharmatest Services Ltd has developed in collaboration with Taconic Biosciences a novel humanized mouse model of tumor growth in bone that can be used for testing immunotherapies. Testing compound efficacy in bone microenvironment should decrease substantially the very high number of cancer drugs currently failing in clinical trials due to poor efficacy.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. In oncology Pharmatest has special expertise in models of bone metastasis. Taconic Biosciences is a fully-licensed, global leader in genetically engineered rodent models and services.
Bone metastases are common and increase mortality in many cancers such as breast, prostate and lung cancers, and multiple myeloma. Bone microenvironment changes tumor properties and induces drug resistance. Thus, showing compound efficacy in the commonly used subcutaneous cell line based and patient-derived xenograft models may not translate into efficacy when the tumor is in bone, leading to lack of efficacy in cancers where bone metastases increase mortality.
Immunotherapies have proven efficacy on many primary tumors in preclinical studies. Bone provides an essential and natural site for testing immunomodulators, as bone marrow is the reservoir of hematopoietic stem cells, the precursors of all immune cells. The now established humanized mouse model of tumor growth in bone includes the functional human immune system, which allows its use in confirming efficacy of immunomodulators in the bone microenvironment. It is the first validated model from an ongoing large R&D program in Pharmatest for developing humanized mouse models of bone metastasis in collaboration with Taconic Biosciences.
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “I am very excited about the ongoing collaboration with Taconic for establishing humanized bone metastasis models. Currently, a very high number of cancer drugs fail in clinical trials due to poor efficacy. One important reason for this in cancers that develop bone metastases is that drug efficacy has not been confirmed in preclinical models where the tumor cells are in bone. Our novel humanized mouse models provide a completely new tool for this purpose, and they should dramatically decrease drug development costs and increase the speed and number of truly efficacious new therapies entering clinical practice.”
The first humanized mouse model of tumor growth in bone was presented as a late-breaking poster in the AACR Annual Meeting 2017, and in more detail in a scientific webinar on April 25.
March 13, 2017
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends Annual Meeting of American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) held in Washington, D.C., USA on April 1 – 5, 2017. Pharmatest attends the event with a booth (#3538) and is involved in 8 scientific presentations.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. The Annual Meeting of AACR is the leading scientific event in the field of cancer research globally.
This year in AACR Pharmatest presents the following 7 scientific presentations:
- Preclinical efficacy model to promote immunotherapy development for prostate cancer. Poster presentation on Monday April 3 at 8 am – 12 pm by Jenni Bernoulli, Section 28, poster board 11.
- New preclinical model for immuno-oncology: Combination of tumor, bone microenvironment and immune system. Late-breaking poster presentation on Monday April 3 at 1 – 5 pm by Tiina Kähkönen, Section 36, poster board 4. (Collaboration with Taconic, USA).
- Immunodeficient mice differentially sensitize to estrogen and exhibit severe estrogen-related adverse effects in orthotopic breast cancer model. Poster presentation on Monday April 3 at 1 – 5 pm by Jenni Bernoulli, Section 38, poster board 25. (Collaboration with Taconic, USA).
- Drug sensitivity profile of 5TGM1 murine multiple myeloma cell line emphasizes the translational potential of the syngeneic in vivo model. Poster presentation on Tuesday April 4 at 8 am – 12 pm by Jenni Mäki-Jouppila, Section 37, poster board 4. (Collaboration with FIMM, Finland).
- Selective drug sensitivity score (DSS) for indolent and aggressive prostate cancer cell lines. Poster presentation on Tuesday April 4 at 1 – 5 pm by Jenni Mäki-Jouppila, Section 8, poster board 3. (Collaboration with FIMM, Finland).
- Importance of tumor microenvironment in the preclinical estrogen receptor positive breast cancer - Primary tumor and bone metastasis models. Session: Novel Approaches for Experimental Therapeutics. Oral presentation on Tuesday April 4 at 4.05 – 4.20 pm by Jenni Bernoulli, Room 144, level 1. (Collaboration with Orion Pharma, Finland).
- Additive benefits of radium-223 dichloride and bortezomib combination in a syngeneic 5TGM1 multiple myeloma mouse model. Poster presentation on Wednesday April 5 at 8 am – 12 pm by Mari Suominen, Section 7, poster board 20. (Collaboration with Bayer AG, Germany).
Pharmatest is also involved in the following poster presentation presented by our collaborators:
- HER2-targeted thorium-227 conjugate (HER2-TTC): Efficacy in a HER2 positive orthotopic bone model. Poster presentation on Wednesday April 5 at 8 am – 12 pm by Bayer AS, Norway, Section 41, poster board 20.
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to visit our booth #3538 in AACR. If you would like to meet our representatives during the event, click here.
February 22, 2017
Pharmatest Services Ltd has joined two California-based organizations Biocom and Science Exchange. Biocom is the largest life science organization in California, and Science Exchange is the leading marketplace for scientific research. By joining Biocom and Science Exchange Pharmatest expects to find new customers and increase further its growing US sales.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. Pharmatest opened its first US sales office in Boston in early 2013 and its second sales office in San Diego in July 2016. Joining Biocom and Science Exchange is the next step in increasing investments in US marketing for Pharmatest.
San Diego-based Biocom has more than 800 members, many of which are potential customers of Pharmatest. Based in Palo Alto, CA, Science Exchange is the largest platform of research outsourcing in the world. Being a member of Biocom and a Science Exchange Verified Provider will allow potential customers to better find Pharmatest and help showcase Pharmatest as a reliable partner with high quality services.
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “Our increased investments in US marketing in recent years have shown their value, as we have increased our US sales by more than 50% per year after 2014. I am convinced that joining Biocom and Science Exchange will help us substantially in reaching our goal to achieve at least similar growth figures for our US sales also in the coming years.
January 18, 2017
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends the Tumor Models conference in San Francisco, CA, on January 24 – 26. Pharmatest is sponsoring the conference and holds a scientific oral presentation and poster presentation in the event.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. The Tumor models event is organized by Hanson Wade for the first time in San Francisco. It focuses on increasing the value of preclinical and translational research.
Pharmatest has a booth and the following scientific presentations in the event:
- Poster presentation in the poster session starting on January 25 at 3.35 pm titled “Validation of human osteoclast cultures for studying mode-of-action and identification of new compounds with the potential of inhibiting the vicious cycle in osteolytic bone metastases".
- Oral presentation by Mari Suominen, the cancer research director of Pharmatest, on January 26 at 10.05 am titled “Rationale for testing anti-cancer drug efficacy in the bone microenvironment”.
Handout of the poster presentation will be available in a link above after the start of the poster session.
If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the conference, click here.
November 22, 2016
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends the EORTC-NCI-AACR International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics that will be held in Munich, Germany on November 29 – December 2, 2016. Pharmatest presents two scientific poster presentations in the conference.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. The EORTC-NCI-AACR International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics is organized by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
This year Pharmatest attends the EORTC-NCI-AACR conference with the following two scientific poster presentations:
- Poster P126 on Tuesday, November 29: Presence of immune infiltrates in early phases of prostate cancer: Establishment of a preclinical efficacy model to promote immunotherapy development
- Poster P065 on Wednesday, November 30: Differential drug sensitivity score (DSS) for indolent and aggressive prostate cancer cell lines (in collaboration with FIMM)
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to visit our posters. If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the ASBMR meeting, click here.
October 12, 2016
Pharmatest has started a successful collaboration in preclinical studies with one of the world’s leading CROs. The collaboration with Envigo includes the provision of specialised bone safety assessment to support regulatory preclinical studies for novel therapies.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. Envigo provides essential products and research services for pharmaceutical, crop protection, chemical companies and research organizations.
The collaboration between Pharmatest and Envigo started in 2015 when Envigo required specialist support on a pivotal GLP investigation to address a specific regulatory question relating to bone safety assessment for a European Sponsor. As part of the study, Envigo representatives visited Pharmatest on several occasions to assess capabilities, monitor procedures and audit the data and contributory report in order for the Envigo study director to claim GLP compliance for this phase of the study.
Senior Pharmaceutical Programme Manager of Envigo says: “Initial discussions with Pharmatest suggested that they would be the best facility for this very specialized work and the service we received was of the highest quality. Working closely together, Envigo and Pharmatest have met the challenging requirements set by the Sponsor.”
Jussi Halleen, Chief Executive Officer of Pharmatest comments: “So far the collaboration with Envigo has been an excellent learning process for Pharmatest and improved our general procedures and understanding of the requirements for a GLP study. We look forward to continuing the fruitful collaboration with Envigo in future studies.”
October 7, 2016
Pharmatest Services Ltd has purchased two new equipment for bone imaging with most advanced latest technologies, the SkyScan 1276 high resolution desktop in vivo µCT system of Bruker, and the Faxitron UltraFocus DXA digital radiography system of DatecMedico.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. Bone imaging has an important role in the services offered by Pharmatest.
The SkyScan 1276 high resolution desktop in vivo µCT system of Bruker was launched on September 2016. It addresses the latest needs of preclinical imaging in animal studies by reducing the used radiation dose while maintaining highest image quality and spatial resolution.
The Faxitron Ultrafocus DXA digital radiography system of DatecMedico improves the quality and resolution of in vivo X-ray images with an additional option of measuring BMD, BMC, and also lean and fat mass percentages.
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “These new equipment will further improve our strong bone imaging capabilities and provide added value to both our skeletal disease and oncology studies. They allow us to offer our customers high quality follow-up data in rats and mice using latest and most advanced imaging technologies.”
September 5, 2016
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends Annual Meeting of The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) that will be held in Atlanta, GA, USA on September 16 – 19, 2016. Pharmatest has four scientific presentations in the meeting and we welcome everyone to visit our booth #109.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. ASBMR Annual Meeting is the leading scientific event in the field of bone research globally.
This year Pharmatest attends ASBMR with the following four scientific presentations:
- Poster FR0052 and SA0052 on Friday, September 16 (plenary poster) and Saturday, September 17: Effects of cabozantinib alone and in combination with bortezomib in the 5TGM1 murine multiple myeloma model (collaboration with Exelixis Inc.)
- Poster SA0318on Saturday, September 17: Changes of Articular Cartilage and Subchondral Bone in Rat Osteoarthritis Model Induced by Surgical MMT and MCLT Operation (funded by Eurostars program of EU)
- Poster SU0317 on Sunday, September 18: The Effects of Intra-Articular Treatment with Recombinant Human Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7 (rhBMP-7) on the Development of Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis in Surgically Induced Rat Models (funded by Eurostars program of EU)
Pharmatest is welcoming everyone to visit our posters and booth #109 in the event. If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the ASBMR meeting click here.
July 15, 2016
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) has opened new US sales offices in San Diego, CA, and Concord, MA near Boston. At the same time Pharmatest signed a service agreement with Regus, allowing Pharmatest to use the wide global network of Regus offices and business lounges.
Pharmatest is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. Regus is a multinational corporation that provides a global workspace, including office space and business lounges in 3000 locations worldwide.
Pharmatest started its current US sales strategy by opening its first US sales office in Boston area in early 2013. After that Pharmatest has increased its annual US sales by 4-fold, and the number of new US customer contacts by 6-fold.
The new US sales offices will have an important role for contacting and serving customers in Boston and San Diego areas that are both central locations of pharmaceutical industry in US. The new service agreement with Regus provides an excellent opportunity for Pharmatest to contact and serve customers in multiple locations in the US and elsewhere in the world.
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “Increasing US sales remains one major goal of Pharmatest for the coming years. The US sales strategy that we started in 2013 has already shown its power. We have performed best possible activities and succeeded perfectly in them so far, and now we have taken the next steps to further boost our US sales. I am extremely happy with our new sales offices and the agreement with Regus that will have an important role in achieving this goal.”
Updated contact information of our US sales offices can be found in the Contact page.
July 5, 2016
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends 4th Annual Tumor Models conference in Boston, MA, on July 19 – 21. Pharmatest is sponsoring the conference and holds a scientific oral presentation and poster presentation in the event. The oral presentation is taking place in the afternoon of July 21.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. The Tumor models event organized by Hanson Wade in Boston focuses on effective translation of preclinical knowledge of immunotherapies and combination therapies into clinical utility.
Pharmatest has a booth and the following scientific presentations in the event:
- Oral presentation by Dr. Jenni Bernoulli, the COO of Pharmatest on July 21 at 12.30 pm titled “Why and how to test drug efficacy in mouse models of bone metastasis”.
- Poster presentation starting in the afternoon of July 20 titled "Presence of Immune Infiltrates in Early Phases of Prostate Cancer: Establishment of a Preclinical Efficacy Model to Promote Immunotherapy Development"
Handout of the poster presentation will be available in a link above after the start of the poster session.
If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the conference, click here.
May 30, 2016
Pharmatest Services Ltd releases three White Papers during 2016. The first White Paper was released before the AACR Annual Meeting on April. The second White Paper will be released before the Hanson Wade Tumor Models event on July and the third before the ASBMR Annual Meeting on September.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases.
Pharmatest released the first White Paper “Orthotopic and Metastasis Models for Preclinical Efficacy Testing of Novel Cancer Drugs” on April 2016. The White Paper was distributed in the AACR Annual Meeting held in New Orleans on April 16 - 20. Please download your copy of our White Paper here.
The second White Paper will describe in more detail metastasis models of Pharmatest. It will be released before the Hanson Wade Tumor Models event held in Boston, MA, on July 19 – 21 and distributed in the event. Pharmatest has a sponsored talk in the event titled “Why and How to Test Drug Efficacy in Mouse Models of Bone Metastasis.”
The third White Paper describing skeletal disease models of Pharmatest will be released before the ASBMR Annual Meeting held in Atlanta, GA, on September 16 – 19 and distributed in the event. Pharmatest will have a booth and several poster presentations in the event.
More detailed news related to the events mentioned above will be published later before the events. To schedule a meeting with our representatives during the events click here for e-mail.
April 5, 2016
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends Annual Meeting of American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) held in New Orleans, LA, USA on April 16 – 20, 2016. Pharmatest attends the event with a booth (#1524) and is involved in 8 scientific poster presentations.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. The Annual Meeting of AACR is the leading scientific event in the field of cancer research globally, with over 17,000 expected participants from 60 countries.
This year in AACR Pharmatest presents the following 5 scientific poster presentations that are all presented on Sunday April 17 at 1 – 5 pm:
- Bernoulli et al: Validation of human osteoclast cultures for studying the mode-of-action and identification of new compounds with the potential of inhibiting the vicious cycle in osteolytic bone metastases (section 18, poster board 15)
- Suominen et al: PI3K inhibitor BAY 1082439 and radium-223 dichloride decrease tumor burden and tumor-induced bone formation in an established bone metastatic prostate cancer model in mice (section 19, poster board 12)
- Konkol et al: Establishment of a realistic patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model for prostate cancer bone metastasis (section 29, poster board 16)
- Suominen et al: New models of breast and lung cancer bone metastases for preclinical efficacy testing (section 29, poster board 19)
- Bernoulli et al: Utilizing a novel luciferase labeling technique to establish and validate preclinical models of pancreatic cancer (section 29, poster board 23)
Pharmatest is also involved in the following 3 poster presentations that are presented by our collaborators:
- Hagemann et al: A novel high energy alpha-pharmaceutical: In vitro and in vivo potency of a mesothelin-targeted thorium-227 conjugate (TTC) in a model of bone disease (Sunday April 17 at 1 – 5 pm, section 27, poster board 22)
- Mattinen et al: TRAC, a novel time and cost saving gene expression analysis technology with improved efficacy (Tuesday April 19 at 1 – 5 pm, section 6, poster board 9)
- Mattinen et al: Gene fusion detection in sarcoma using TRAC technology (Tuesday April 19 at 1 – 5 pm, section 6, poster board 28)
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to visit our booth #1524 in AACR. If you would like to meet our representatives during the event, click here.
March 4, 2016
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends the ORS Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, on March 5 – 8, and the TRI-CON event in San Francisco, California, on March 6 – 11. Pharmatest has scientific poster presentations in both events.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases.
Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) attracts over 3,000 attendees with interest in orthopaedic research. Pharmatest attends the event with a poster “Differences in the Nature of Osteoarthritis between Surgically and Chemically Induced Rat Models”.
Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 23rd international Molecular Medicine Tri-conference (Tri-Con) attracts over 3300 drug discovery and development professionals. Pharmatest attends the event with a poster “Novel luciferase labeling technique to improve imaging of orthotopic pancreatic cancer model”.
If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the conference, click here.
January 18, 2016
Pharmatest Services Ltd has finalized the list of events that the company will attend during 2016. The list includes 16 events, of which 3 are attended with a booth. The number of events is substantially higher than in 2015 (including 12 attended events).
The list of events can be found in the following link: Pharmatest events 2016. Please click here if you would like to meet our representative at any of the events.
January 11, 2016
After several years of profitable growth Pharmatest will increase its staff amount by hiring four new employees in early 2016. The turnover of Pharmatest increased by 30% in 2015 compared with 2014, and the growth rate is expected to increase further during 2016 and beyond.
Of the four new employees mentioned above, three have already been identified. These include one new person to support sales and marketing activities, and two laboratory persons. Pharmatest is now accepting applications for the fourth position, a senior scientist. For more details see Senior scientist position.
After several successful years of business Pharmatest received certification of the highest Dun & Bradstreet Credit Worthiness classification a year ago. Dun & Bradstreet rating was based on the business figures of 2014, when Pharmatest was amongst the approximately 4% of all companies in Finland that received the highest classification.
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “After a difficult 1-2 years period that started in September 2008 due to the global finance crisis Pharmatest has now had several consecutive years of profitable growth, and 2015 was the most successful year in the history of Pharmatest. We look very optimistically towards the future, with substantial growth expectations during 2016 and beyond, creating the current need to increase our staff number.”
October 28, 2015
Pharmatest Services Ltd and Valirx Plc have signed a 3-year collaboration agreement related to the proprietary GeneICE technology of Valirx. During the project Pharmatest will be responsible for developing GeneICE products and testing their efficacy in Pharmatest’s preclinical cancer models.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. Valirx Plc is a London-based biopharmaceutical company developing technologies and products in oncology therapeutics and diagnostics.
Valirx’s proprietary GeneICE technology (“Gene inactivation by chromatin engineering”) enables selective silencing of rebellious genes contributing to many diseases, including cancer. In preliminary studies GeneICE products have been shown to be effective in prostate, ovarian, pancreatic and lung cancer cell lines.
Satu Vainikka, CEO of Valirx says: “Valirx is happy to enter into this 3-year agreement with Pharmatest. The work that Pharmatest has done for Valirx in our other programmes during the past years has been of very high quality and we are convinced that this agreement will substantially speed up the development of the GeneICE project.”
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “This project continues our successful Eurostars-funded project D-SIST where we were partners with Valirx. I wish to thank Valirx for their trust in Pharmatest for continuing the collaboration and our fruitful business relationship in this very important project.”
October 19, 2015
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics that will be held in Boston, MA, USA on November 5 – 9, 2015. Pharmatest presents two scientific poster presentations in the conference.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. The AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics is organized by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC).
This year Pharmatest attends the AACR-NCI-EORTC conference with the following two scientific poster presentations:
- Radium-223 dichloride inhibits tumor growth and tumor-induced bone growth in osteoblastic prostate cancer models (in collaboration with Bayer Healthcare)
- VAL401 decreases tumor volume in a xenograft model of pancreatic cancer utilizing a novel improved luciferase labelling technique (in collaboration with Valirx Plc)
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to visit our posters. If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the ASBMR meeting, click here.
September 29, 2015
Together with its European partners Pharmatest Services Ltd has received two positive funding decisions for its R&D projects, one from the Eurostars-program and the other from the EuroTransBio program of EU. Both fundings are for 3-year projects and include developing new preclinical efficacy models of oncology.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. Eurostars and EuroTransBio are funding programs of the EU especially for SMEs in European countries participating in the programs.
In the project funded by the Eurostars program (acronym ACT), the main focus of Pharmatest will be in developing novel types of breast cancer models. In the project funded by the EuroTransBio program (acronym HUMiC), Pharmatest will develop patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of breast and prostate cancer, and associated 3D cell culture models. The total budget of Pharmatest is 1.73 mEUR for these projects.
Dr. Jenni Bernoulli, R&D Director of Pharmatest says: “These new fundings are very important for Pharmatest, allowing us to develop new innovative state-of-the-art cancer models that will open new markets and business opportunities. Both projects are very challenging, but we are confident that we will be successful with our expert European partners and local academic collaborators”.
September 15, 2015
Pharmatest Services Ltd has been approved as an R&D performing organization by French tax authorities. The decision means that French customers of Pharmatest will benefit substantial tax credits when they purchase services of Pharmatest.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. Pharmatest applied the status of an R&D performing organization from French Tax Authorities in June 2015. The tax credit is currently valid until the end of 2020.
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest says: “We are very pleased for the approval for French Research Tax Credit. The status of an R&D performing organization will be important for our French customers who will now benefit substantial tax credits for the services they purchase from Pharmatest.”
Transgene S.A. is one French long-term customer to benefit from the R&D performing organization status of Pharmatest. Transgene has been very happy about the many years of collaboration with Pharmatest and recently stated this in a public testimonial.
Dr. Jean-Baptiste Marchand, Head of Proteins Science Group in Transgene says: “Transgene and Pharmatest have successfully collaborated since 2009 for the in vitro and in vivo preclinical evaluation of TG’s monoclonal platform in different skeletal diseases. Transgene was particularly impressed by the high professionalism of Pharmatest’s scientist staff, who participated actively nearby our teams in the designs, execution and analysis of the experiments.”
September 3, 2015
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends Annual Meeting of The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) that will be held in Seattle, WA, USA on October 9 – 12, 2015. Pharmatest has four scientific presentations in the meeting and welcomes everyone to visit our booth #320.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. ASBMR Annual Meeting is the leading scientific event in the field of bone research globally.
This year Pharmatest attends ASBMR with the following four scientific presentations:
- Poster SA0350 on Saturday October 10: The Bone-Protective Effects of a Novel Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator (SERM) pERD in Ovariectomized Rats (collaboration with Bayer AG)
- Poster SU0176 on Sunday, October 11: Epiphyseal Bone, Subchondral Bone Plate and Epiphyseal Trabecular Bone in Surgically and Chemically Induced Rat Models of Osteoarthritis (funded by Eurostars program of EU)
- Poster MO0212 on Monday, October 12: Denosumab and Odanacatib as Reference Compounds in Human Osteoclast Cultures
- Poster MO0348 on Monday, October 12: The Effects of a Novel Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator (SERM) pERD on Bone Health in Intact Female Rats (collaboration with Bayer AG)
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to visit our posters and booth #320 in the event. If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the ASBMR meeting, click here.
July 9, 2015
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends Tumor Models event of Hanson Wade held in Boston, MA, USA, on July 21 – 23. Pharmatest has a sponsored talk and three poster presentations in the event, and welcomes everyone to visit our booth.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. The Tumor Models events organized by Hanson Wade enable the preclinical oncology community to come together and uncover emerging next generation models that will enhance their preclinical strategies.
Pharmatest attends Tumor models event with the following scientific presentations:
- Sponsored talk by Dr. Sanna Käkönen (consultant for Pharmatest from Aurexel) on Thursday, July 23 at 10.20 am: “Breaking the morbid bond – Identifying compounds to silence the vicious crosstalk between tumor and bone microenvironment utilizing bone metastasis models”
- Poster presentation by Dr. Johanna Tuomela: “Establishment of realistic patient-derived preclinical models for prostate cancer bone metastasis”
- Poster presentation by Dr. Jenni Bernoulli: “Radium-223 dichloride exhibits dual mode-of-action inhibiting both tumor and tumor-induced bone growth in two osteoblastic prostate cancer models”
- Poster presentation by Dr. Jenni Bernoulli: “Novel luciferase labeling technique to improve imaging of orthotopic pancreatic cancer model”
If you would like to meet our representatives during the meeting, click here.
April 28, 2015
Pharmatest will be attending the 2015 Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) World Congress in Seattle, WA, USA on April 30 - May 3, 2015.
Pharmatest attends the congress with a scientific presentation titled “Changes in epiphyseal bone, subchondral bone plate and epiphyseal trabecular bone in surgically and chemically induced models of osteoarthritis”
If you would like to meet our representative during the meeting, please click here.
April 24, 2015
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends Cancer-Induced Bone Disease (CIBD) meeting held in parallel with the ECTS-IBMS meeting in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on April 25 – 28. Pharmatest has three scientific presentations in the event.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. CIBD represents a major clinical problem with bone metastases developing in 80% of advanced breast and prostate cancer patients, leading to significant morbidity.
Pharmatest attends CIBD meeting with the following three scientific presentations:
Poster #115: “Establishment of patient-derived prostate cancer models for drug development and personalized medicine studying fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitors as investigational drugs” (in collaboration with University of Turku and Turku University Hospital)
Poster #121: “Validation of in vitro cell viability and apoptosis assays for identifying compounds that affect human multiple myeloma and plasma cell leukemia.” (in collaboration with Bayer Pharma AG)
Poster #139: “Radium-223 dichloride exhibits dual mode-of-action inhibiting both tumor and tumor-induced bone growth in two osteoblastic prostate cancer models.” (in collaboration with Bayer Pharma AG)
If you would like to meet our representatives during the meeting, click here.
March 26, 2015
Pharmatest Services Ltd has published a new scientific review article “Importance of microenvironment in preclinical models of breast and prostate cancer”. The article was written in collaboration with University of Turku and published in “World Journal of Pharmacology” after invitation from the Journal.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. In oncology, Pharmatest is experienced with clinically predictive orthotopic and metastasis models, and especially models of bone metastasis.
Pharmatest decided to accept invitation of the Journal because it is our mission to reduce the amount of drug candidates failing in clinical trials. The majority of cancer drugs entering clinical trials fail to reach the market due to poor efficacy, and Pharmatest wanted to highlight the importance for using correctly selected clinically predictive preclinical efficacy models to improve the situation.
The review article is an open access publication, and you can find a link to it and other publications of Pharmatest here. If you would like to discuss the article or the preclinical efficacy models of Pharmatest with our representatives, click here.
March 24, 2015
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends Annual Meeting of American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) held in Philadelphia, PA, USA on April 18 – 22, 2015. Pharmatest attends the event with a booth (#1641) and three scientific presentations.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. The Annual Meeting of AACR is the leading scientific event in the field of cancer research globally, with over 17,000 expected participants from 60 countries.
This year Pharmatest attends AACR with three scientific presentations, two of which demonstrate efficacy of customer compounds for cancer treatment. The studies were performed in collaboration with Bayer Pharma AG and Exelixis Inc that have both given a public testimonial to credit the high quality of Pharmatest.
Pharmatest is currently in the process of labelling all of its cancer cell lines with luciferase to improve its preclinical cancer efficacy models. The labelling is performed with an improved technology, and the third presentation of Pharmatest in AACR includes first results of the project.
Pharmatest welcomes everyone to visit our booth #1641 in AACR. If you would like to meet our representatives during the AACR meeting, click here.
March 19, 2015
Pharmatest Services Ltd has updated the list of events that the company will attend during 2015. The list includes 11 events, of which 8 are attended with scientific presentations and 3 are attended with a booth.
Below is a list of the events that Pharmatest will be attending during 2015. Please click here if you would like to meet our representative at any of the events.
Symposium |
Date, Place |
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March 20-24 Madrid, Spain |
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March 26-27 Boston, USA |
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AACR Annual Meeting (Booth #1641) |
April 18-22 Philadelphia, USA |
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April 25-28 Rotterdam, The Netherlands |
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April 30 - May 3 Seattle, USA |
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MassBio’s CRO Symposium |
May 5.2015 Boston, USA |
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June 9-12 Turku, Finland |
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July 22-25 Boston, USA |
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July 21-23 Boston, USA |
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ASBMR 2015 Annual Meeting (Booth #320) |
Oct. 9-12 Seattle, USA |
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AACR-NCI-EORTC: International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics |
Nov. 5-9 Boston, USA |
March 16, 2015
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends the European Association of Urology (EAU) congress held in Madrid, Spain on March 20 – 24, 2015. Pharmatest attends the event with two scientific presentations.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. EAU congress is Europe’s largest annual event in urology, with over 14,000 expected participants from more than 100 countries.
This year Pharmatest attends EAU with the following two scientific presentations that describe recent results from its R&D pipeline:
- Presentation number 409: Promoting advanced prostate cancer drug development by clinically predictive models enhanced with novel patient-derived xenografts (PDX)
- Presentation number 787: Norway spruce galactoglucomannan attenuates symptoms of nonbacterial chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome in rat model
If you would like to meet our representatives during the EAU congress, click here.
January 27, 2015
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s third annual conference on “Predictive Preclinical Models in Oncology” that will be held in the Moscone North Convention Center in San Francisco, CA, on February 16 – 18. Pharmatest has two scientific presentations in the conference and welcomes everyone to visit our booth #100.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. The third annual conference on “Predictive Preclinical Models in Oncology” is part of the “Cancer Channel” of the 22nd Annual Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference (Tri-Con). Pharmatest attends the conference with two scientific presentations that demonstrate development of novel clinically predictive preclinical efficacy models for oncology drug development.
Poster handouts will be available here after the start of the poster sessions:
"Novel human organotypic 3D myoma based invasion assay applicable as a preclinical tool for cancer drug development"
"Towards a more efficient ensemble of predictive models for cancer drug development with special focus on metastatic bone disease".
If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the conference, click here.
November 28, 2014
December 2nd-4th, 2014 Pharmatest will be attending the Tumour Models meeting in London. The number one aim of this year's Tumour Model London meeting is to improve the predictability and translatability of preclinical oncology research. Contact us today to arrange a meeting with our representative.
October 27, 2014
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends 26th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics that will be held in Barcelona, Spain on November 18 – 21, 2014. In the symposium Pharmatest presents novel data with Bayer Healthcare about efficacy and mode of action of radium-223 dichloride in a mouse model of prostate cancer bone metastasis.
Pharmatest is presenting new exciting data at the meeting in collaboration with Bayer Pharma AG. The efficacy and mode-of-action of newly approved prostate cancer drug Xofigo® was studied in an osteoblastic prostate cancer bone metastasis model. Radium-223 dichloride therapy exhibits a dual mode-of-action that impacts on tumor growth and on tumor-induced bone reaction, both important players in the destructive vicious cycle of osteoblastic bone metastasis in prostate cancer.
Poster handout will be available here after the start of the poster session:
If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the symposium, click here.
August 27, 2014
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends Annual Meeting of The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) that will be held in Houston, TX, USA on September 12 – 15, 2014. Pharmatest has three scientific presentations in the meeting and welcomes everyone to visit our booth #220.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. The ASBMR Annual Meeting is the leading scientific event in the field of bone research globally.
This year Pharmatest attends ASBMR with three scientific presentations that demonstrate development of novel research models for osteoarthritis research. The models described in the presentations were developed in a project funded by the Eurostars programme, and they can be used for testing efficacy of customer compounds for osteoarthritis treatment.
Each poster handout will be available here after the start of the corresponding poster session:
- An in Vitro Chondrogenic Differentiation Model Using KS483 Mouse Mesenchymal Progenitor Cell Line
- Characterization of Monosodium Iodoacetate Induced Osteoarthritis in Rat Knee, Including Patellofemoral and Tibiofemoral Joints
- Intra-Articular Treatment with Recombinant Human Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7 (rhBMP-7) Attenuates the Development of Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis in Rats
If you would like to schedule a meeting with our representatives during the ASBMR meeting, click here.
May 21, 2014
Pharmatest will be attending the 13th Annual World Pharma Congress in Boston, MA, held on May 21-23, 2014.
In the event Pharmatest has a poster presentation and an invited oral presentation in the conference “In Vitro Tumor Models”. The presentation is titled “Culturing Cancer Cells on Myoma Tissue: Development of a Novel Fully Human Organotypic 3D Invasion Model”, and the oral presentation is scheduled on Thursday May 22 at 5:15 pm (“Selected Poster Presentations” in the program).
Please click here if you would like to meet our representative in the event.
May 2, 2014
Pharmatest Services Ltd had a very successful meeting in the Annual Meeting of American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in San Diego, CA, USA on April 5 – 9, 2014. Pharmatest attended the event with a booth and the following scientific presentations:
- Combination of PI3K inhibitor BAY 1082439 with radium-223 is a promising treatment of cancer with bone metastases (in collaboration with Bayer Pharma AG)
- Effects of Cabozantinib in the 5TGM1 murine multiple myeloma model (in collaboration with Exelixis Inc.)
- A new spectrum-selective cathepsin inhibitor, VBY-825, inhibits bone destruction in a syngeneic 5TGM1 multiple myeloma mouse model (in collaboration with Virobay Inc.)
We would like to thank everyone who visited our booth and posters, and everyone else who had interesting discussions with us in the event. We look forward to seeing you all again next year at the AACR in Philadelphia.
April 23, 2014
Pharmatest will be attending the 2014 OARSI World Congress in Paris, France on April 24-27, 2014.
Pharmatest attends the congress with a scientific presentation that characterizes the effects of intra-articular rhBMP-7 treatment on the development of posttraumatic OA.
Presentation: Intra-articular treatment with recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP-7) attenuates the development of osteoarthritis in a surgically induced rat model.
If you would like to meet our representative during the meeting, please click here.
March 7, 2014
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends Annual Meeting of American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) held in San Diego, CA, USA on April 5 – 9, 2014. Pharmatest attends the event with a booth and scientific presentations and launches new service products in the meeting.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. The Annual Meeting of AACR is the leading scientific event in the field of cancer research globally, with over 17,000 expected participants from 60 countries.
This year Pharmatest attends AACR with three scientific presentations that demonstrate efficacy of customer compounds for cancer treatment. The studies were performed in collaboration with Bayer Pharma AG, Exelixis Inc. and Virobay Inc. that all have credited Pharmatest (see Customer testimonials). Pharmatest also welcomes everyone to visit our booth #848.
Pharmatest launches new cancer models that are available for our customers as service products after the event. The new models include robotics-based in vitro high throughput screening and patient-derived xenograft models.
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest says: “We are happy to present again new exiting data with our customers in AACR, and I am proud for the launching of the new products that complement our existing products and help us to serve our customers better with a wider range of services in the coming years.”
If you would like to meet our representative during the AACR meeting, click here.
February 14, 2014
Pharmatest to attend High-Content Analysis and Physiologically-Relevant Cellular Models for Drug Discovery meeting on February 19-20, 2014 in San Diego Marriott La Jolla, La Jolla, CA, USA.
If you would like to meet our representative during the meeting, please click here.
February 5, 2014
Pharmatest will be attending Predictive Preclinical Models in Oncology meeting on February 10-12, 2014 in Moscone North Convention Center, San Francisco, CA, USA.
If you would like to meet our representative in San Fransisco, please click here.
October 29, 2013
Pharmatest Services Ltd attends 13th international conference on cancer-induced bone disease (CIBD) held in Miami, FL, USA on November 6 – 9, 2013. In the conference Pharmatest presents scientific presentations that demonstrate efficacy of customer compounds for treating CIBD.
About half of patients that die from cancer have bone involvement. CIBD develops commonly in many cancers such as breast, prostate and lung cancer and multiple myeloma, and it can also be induced by treatments of primary cancer such as with glucocorticoids, estrogen or androgen deprivation, or chemotherapy-induced ovarian failure.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization (CRO) that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of skeletal diseases and oncology, including high quality research models that are clinically predictive for CIBD. The International Conference on CIBD is the leading scientific event concentrating on CIBD research organized annually by the International Bone and Mineral Society (IBMS).
Pharmatest attends the CIBD conference with two scientific presentations that demonstrate efficacy of customer compounds for treating CIBD. The studies described in the presentations were performed in collaboration with Bayer Pharma AG related to breast cancer and Virobay Inc related to multiple myeloma.
Both Bayer (see Bayer news) and Virobay Inc give credit for Pharmatest. Dr. Leslie Holsinger, Vice President of Biology, Virobay Inc. says: "Virobay has worked with Pharmatest on both in vitro and in vivo model analysis of drug candidates and we are very pleased with the excellent quality of their work and the high level of scientific expertise they provide to our studies.”
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest says: “We are happy to present the exiting new data in the CIBD conference. The models used in the studies have convincingly demonstrated their clinically predictive power earlier, and the obtained results are very good news for our customers whose compounds were tested in the studies.”
September 13, 2013
[Updated October 4, 2013] Turku, Finland -based CRO Pharmatest Services Ltd launches new fully validated preclinical efficacy models for osteoarthritis that were developed in a Eurostars-funded project during 2009 – 2013. The validation results will be presented in the ASBMR annual meeting in Baltimore, MD, during October 4 – 7.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease and among the most common causes of chronic pain and disability in older people, affecting 12.6% of total population in Western countries. No disease modifying treatment options for OA are currently available, and development of OA drugs is of increasing interest to the pharmaceutical industry.
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) is a contract research organization (CRO) that offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of skeletal diseases and oncology. Annual meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) is the globally leading scientific event in bone research.
This year Pharmatest attends ASBMR in Baltimore, MD, on October 4 – 7, and presents scientific presentations that include results of validation studies of four new preclinical OA models. With the current announcement Pharmatest officially launches the models as service products for the pharmaceutical industry developing new treatment options for OA.
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “We want to thank our Dutch partner Percuros for fruitful collaboration in the project, and the Eurostars programme for the funding. Without them we would not have these new OA models ready now. I am convinced that these models will have a substantial impact in the growth of our business, and we will be able to help the pharma industry in developing new OA treatments and battling the increasing disease burden of OA in the coming years.”
The data was published in a poster presentation for the first time on October 3, 2013 at the ASBMR Symposium: Cutting Edge Discoveries in Muscle Biology, Disease and Therapeutics after an invitation from the organizers (poster P018). The poster will be presented a second time in poster session III of ASBMR regular program at the Discovery Hall-Hall CDE, Baltimore Convention Center (poster MO0013), titled " Degenerative Changes in Knee Joints and Joint Pain in Surgically and Chemically Induced Rat Models of Osteoarthritis".
May 22, 2013
Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) has been the preferred provider of Bayer Pharma AG (Bayer) since 2010. The results of several projects performed at Pharmatest regarding the newly FDA approved cancer drug Xofigo were published last week, and Bayer says to be impressed about the high quality of the work performed by Pharmatest during the collaboration.
Pharmatest offers clinically predictive preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry for testing their drug candidates in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. Pharmatest has been the preferred provider of Bayer since 2010, after several years of successful collaboration.
During the past years Pharmatest has performed several projects for Bayer related to their new cancer drug Xofigo (radium-223 dichloride) that was approved by FDA last week for treating bone metastases in castration-resistant prostate cancer. Results of the projects were published jointly last week in Journal of the National Cancer Institute (impact factor 13.76) in a paper that demonstrates efficacy of radium-223 dichloride also for bone metastases in breast cancer.
Dr. Karl Ziegelbauer, Senior Vice President of Global Drug Discovery, TRG Oncology/GT at Bayer says: “Bayer has worked for several years with Pharmatest and we are very impressed about the high quality of the work they have done for us.”
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “This new publication will be important for Pharmatest in convincing potential new customers about the high quality and clinical predictivity of the services that we offer. I want to thank Bayer for the trust and confidence in Pharmatest being able to perform these very important studies for them.”
April 11, 2013
[Updated April 18, 2013] Pharmatest is proud to inform development of four new rat osteoarthritis models that will be soon available as service products. The new models will be presented for the first time in the OARSI Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 18-21, 2013, where we will give a poster presentation titled
“Degenerative changes in knee joints as determined by OARSI rat scoring system and osteoarthritis-related joint pain in surgically and chemically induced rat models of osteoarthritis” (Poster 112)
If you would like to meet with our representative in Philadelphia, please contact us at sales@pharmatest.com.
March 20, 2013
[Updated April 9, 2013]
Pharmatest will be attending the key annual event in cancer research, AACR Annual Meeting in Washington DC, USA, April 6-10.
Come and meet us at our exhibit booth (#907) - and if you would like to reserve a meeting with our representative in Washington in advance, please contact us at sales@pharmatest.com.
Pharmatest is also presenting new exciting data on cancer research. We will have altogether five poster presentations at the upcoming show (each poster handout will be available here after the start of the corresponding poster session):
"Inhibiting androgen receptor associated Src signaling with VAL201 inhibits breast cancer growth in an orthotopic xenograft model" (joint presentation with Valirx Plc)
- abstract
- poster 922/20 on Sun, Apr 7, 1:00 - 5:00 PM
"Radium-223 dichloride monotherapy and combination therapy with zoledronic acid or doxorubicin improve survival in a mouse model of breast cancer bone metastasis" (joint presentation with Bayer HealthCare)
- abstract
- late-breaking poster LB-105/14 on Mon, Apr 8, 1:00 - 5:00 PM
"Inhibiting androgen receptor-associated Src signaling by VAL201 inhibits prostate cancer metastasis in an orthotopic mouse model" (joint presentation with Valirx Plc)
- abstract
- poster 2080/3 on Mon, Apr 8, 1:00 - 5:00 PM
"Improved imaging of orthotopic BxPC3 pancreatic adenocarcinoma xenograft using animal PET/CT" (joint presentation with Turku PET Centre, University of Turku)
- abstract
- poster 2680/23 on Tue, Apr 9, 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
"Culturing cancer cells on myoma tissue: Development of a novel fully human organotypic 3D invasion model applicable as a preclinical tool for cancer drug development" (joint presentation with University of Oulu)
- abstract
- poster 3842/13 on Tue, Apr 9, 1:00 - 5:00 PM
February 22, 2013
[Updated March 21, 2013] Turku, Finland-based Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) has opened a new US sales office in Cambridge, MA near Boston. The new office provides an excellent opportunity for Pharmatest to contact and serve customers, with a large number of potential customers located in the Boston area.
Pharmatest offers clinically predictive preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry for testing their drug candidates in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. Cambridge, MA is one of the central locations of the pharmaceutical industry in America. The Pharmatest sales office is located in the Cambridge Innovation Center, which is centrally located amongst a large number of potential customers.
Despite the fact that Pharmatest has not had any direct US sales activities before, the company has already a wide customer base in the US. With the new sales office and increased US sales and marketing efforts Pharmatest expects to rapidly grow the number of US customers and US sales figures.
In combination with the opening of the sales office Pharmatest hired Andrew Heiniluoma as the US sales representative with responsibility for the Cambridge office. Andrew says: “I am very excited for the opportunity to work for Pharmatest. Cambridge is a perfect site for a US sales office, and the Boston area is unique in the US in terms of the presence of the pharma industry, providing an outstanding opportunity for attracting new customers for Pharmatest.”
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “USA has the biggest market potential for our services and we now have a clear strategy to focus on increasing our US market share. We are very happy to have Andy on board in Cambridge, which allows us to get closer to our customers. I am convinced that this will boost our US revenues in the coming years.”
Contact information of the US sales office can be found in the Contact page.
The press release can be found here (in English) or here (in Finnish), and an extended press release for the US market can be found here.
October 16, 2012
The Turku-based company Pharmatest Services Ltd (Pharmatest) has signed a Master Service Agreement with the London AIM-listed cancer drug development company Valirx Plc (Valirx). The agreement makes Pharmatest preferred provider of preclinical efficacy testing services for Valirx in its cancer drug development programs.
Pharmatest offers preclinical efficacy services for the pharmaceutical industry in the fields of oncology and skeletal diseases. Valirx is developing new cancer drugs and has tested their compounds in several models of Pharmatest. After about one year of customer relationship Valirx decided to sign a long-term Master Service Agreement with Pharmatest that gives Pharmatest preferred provider status for the services that it offers.
Valirx expects that the agreement will help them especially in selecting the most effective compounds from their GeneICE program and confirming correct indications for the selected compounds for planning subsequent clinical trials. Satu Vainikka, CEO of Valirx says: “We have been very pleased about the quality of the services that Pharmatest provides and we are convinced that this partnership will significantly benefit our cancer drug development programs.”
Jussi Halleen, CEO of Pharmatest comments: “We are very happy to sign this agreement with Valirx to follow our preferred provider partnership with Bayer Healthcare that was signed in 2010. These partnerships show that we are on the right track in developing our services.”
The press release can be found here (in English) or here (in Finnish).
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Pharmatest Services
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FI-20520 Turku
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Tel. +358 2 278 4700
