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18 BioPharm International ® Next-Generation Biotherapeutics April 2025 www.biopharminternational.com D ening the "next generation" of any- thing can be a challenge. First, whatev- er the current generation is of the top- ic in question must be identied, and then the shortcomings and challenges of that generation can serve to inform the next one. Fortunately, in biotherapeutics, next-generation innovation is happening at lightning speed. By the time this article is published, something new could be in development that hadn't previously been on the radar. As of the end of 2024, t wo pronounced areas of focus for developers and biomanufacturers were the maintenance of an aseptic environment through- out the manufacturing process, and the search for solutions to establishing alternative drug delivery methods that don't require a parenteral route of ad- ministration (1). T he s e a n d o t he r ne w or i m pr o ve d c onc e p t s from the first quarter of 2025 are presented in the following review. Partnering up on ideas and capacity The first wave of action came on Jan. 9, 2025, when Bora Biologics said it would be supporting DotBio, which specializes in next-generation antibody thera- pies, in the development and manufacturing of what DotBio considers its lead asset, a novel, tri-specific an- tibody known as DB007 (2). On the same day, Coave Therapeutics said it had secured €32 million (US$33 million) in Series A financing allowing Coave to ad- vance its proprietary Advanced Vectors-Ligand Con- jugates (ALIGATER) platform, something both the company and financing co-leader Novo Holdings said would help Coave advance as a leader in developing targeted, safer, and more efficacious gene therapies (3). On January 13, Telix Pharmaceuticals announced it had entered into an asset purchase with ImaginAb, an antibody engineering company, giving Telix a pipeline of next-generation therapeutic candidates, a proprietary and novel biologics technology platform, and a protein engineering and discovery research fa- cility in California (4). Included were early-stage drug Biotherapeutics Partnerships and Innovation Expanding Patrick Lavery Groundbreaking clinical studies and new research collaborations are pushing ahead even as uncertainty lingers about the geopolitical climate's impact on development. TIERO - STOCK.ADOBE.COM