Sai Life Sciences augments DMPK capabilities to ace large-scale collaborations

To offer global big pharma clients cutting-edge, end-to-end drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK) services, Sai Life Sciences, a global Contract Research, Development & Manufacturing Organization (CRO-CDMO), has expanded its DMPK capabilities. The expansion comprises the addition of 25,000 sq. ft. of state-of-the-art labs equipped with cutting-edge instrumentation enabling high-end automation. Complementing the expansion has been the hiring of rich talent globally resulting in nearly 3x growth of the team size.

Making the announcement, Krishna Kanumuri, CEO & Managing Director, Sai Life Sciences, said, “The focus of innovator companies on diversifying their supply chains bodes well for Indian CROs-CDMOs like ours. This expansion in our DMPK capabilities demonstrates our commitment and appetite for large, complex programs and our readiness to offer world-class DMPK services at scale.”   

The current expansion strengthens the company’s ongoing commitment to its clients for providing high-quality data and industry-leading turnaround time for absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) screening and pharmacokinetics (PK) studies. 

Key highlights: 

• In vitro ADME: A centralized lab design where assays are performed using automation in consolidated lab space to increase speed, throughput and quality.
• In vivo Pharmacokinetics: Expanded space for animal holding; procedure and surgical rooms for supporting rodent PK studies; formulation screening and mass balance/tissue distribution studies.
• Bioanalytical: State-of-the-art infrastructure for supporting bioanalysis of samples at higher sensitivity and faster turnaround time; In vitro and In vivo Metabolite identification (Met ID) studies enabled.
• Toxicology: Space expansion with dedicated necropsy rooms, and safety hoods to perform non-GLP in vitro safety and in vivo tox studies supported by immunohistochemistry and toxicokinetic (TK) analyses. Additional efforts on alternative in vitro approaches to animal models are underway. 
• Ion-channel physiology and safety pharmacology: Dedicated lab for manual patch-clamp setup for supporting cardiotoxicity profiling and for any ion-channel-based research.

Sauri Gudlavalleti, Chief Operating Officer said, “The latest expansion of DMPK capabilities augments our integrated drug discovery (IDD) offerings. We have now emerged as a one-stop provider of DMPK services with high-level automation and the latest technologies. This coupled with our world-class MedChem, Biology, DMPK and Toxicology under one roof, we are better prepared than ever to offer end-to-end IDD services to global clients.”

The DMPK team at Sai Life Sciences has experience of working with over 80 clients across the USA and UK supporting diverse drug discovery programs for various drug modalities- small molecules, PROTACs, molecular glues and peptides.  Even as Sai Life Sciences announces expansion of its DMPK capabilities, the expansion of its Vivarium for supporting animal efficacy, PK-PD and safety studies is underway which is expected to be ready by the end of this quarter. Sai Life Sciences also has plans to invest in niche areas such as peptides, oligos and large molecules to strengthen its discovery capabilities.