25-08-2017, 09:32 PM
REPORT ON INDUSTRIAL VISIT TO ANTHEM BIO-SCIENCES PVT.LTD (BANGALORE)
The department of Microbiology of V.E.S.A.S.C. organized an Industrial visit to Bangalore for Under Graduate (U.G.) and Post Graduate (P.G.) Students. There were in all Sixty Students along with five faculty members. The objective of the visit was to gain knowledge about and to provide exposure to the inner atmosphere and industrial acquaintances of the Companies. It was a five days visit which included some very well known and well established Microbiology and Biotechnology Companies which includes Biocon, Indo-American Hybrid Seeds and Anthem Bio-Sciences Pvt. Ltd. This report gives all the details about the visit to Anthem Bio-Sciences. Pvt. Ltd. The Visit to Anthem Bio-Science was arranged on 12th of November 2010 in the afternoon.
ABOUT ANTHEM BIO-SCIENCES:-
Anthem Bio-Sciences Pvt. Ltd is a Contract Research Organization (CRO) established in 2006. It is a Bangalore based DRAP (Discovery Research Alliance Partner) dedicated to supporting research efforts in the discovery of new compounds by Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Speciality Chemicals, Agriculture Chemicals and Material Science Companies. They provide services in the area of Medicinal chemistry, Process Chemistry, Custom Synthesis, Discovery Research and Analytical Research & Development. With its best in class infrastructure, Anthem Biosciences can do GMP synthesis from milligram to kilogram and multi-kilogram scale.
Anthem Bio-Science is located in an Industrial Park in Bangalore with a built up capacity to house 250 researches. It is one of the few CRO’s to have a Chemistry Laboratory, Kilo Laboratory, Pilot Plant, Analytical Laboratory and Discovery Research in the campus. Apart from modern well equipped laboratories, the company has cGMP laboratory and a versatile GMP Pilot Plant.
The Company works on various business models like Full Time Equivalents (FTE), project basis, custom projects and combination of above depending up on the complexity of tasks. The Company is flexible in its approach to evolve models that suit each client. In the ever crowding space of CRO’s, Anthem Bio-Sciences distinguishes itself as a top tier organization with a highly skilled team, Quality services and on-time performances.
Anthem undertakes entire discovery projects for different therapeutic areas such as oncology, anti-infective, cardiovascular, inflammation, metabolic disorder etc. Discovery projects are carried out in three stages
1. Hit identification: When the receptor crystal structure is available for any target, Anthem can generate virtual hits by searching various databases. Subsequently, the virtual hits can be synthesized and studied for their biological activity.
2. Lead identification: A hit molecule is tuned by SAR studies (Structure activity relationship studies) to generate the lead molecule with improved and consistent biological activity.
3. Lead optimization: The lead molecule is optimized to identify differentiators with respect to benchmark drug/molecule.
INSIDE ANTHEM BIO-SCIENCES:-
All the students were instructed to assemble in the conference room and were briefed by about the history and working of the company with the help of a PowerPoint Presentation by the HR head Ms. Lavanya. Students were introduced to the head of all departments which then briefed about their own departments. Then students were divided into three batches of twenty each. Each batch visited all the departments where they were explained in details about the work being carried out in that particular department.
Students were taken to all the following departments
ADSORPTION DISTRIBUTION METABOLISM EXCRETION (ADME)
Mr. Ravi and Mr. Satish explained the kind of work carried out in ADME department. This department carries out various preclinical works. In-vitro and In-vivo experiments to assess the metabolism and Pharmacokinetics properties of a given test items. Following are some of studies carried out in ADME department.
Bio-availability Studies- This deals with In-vivo Studies to determine the availability of a given drug when delivered either orally or intravenously.
Tissue Distribution Studies- This deals with In-vivo studies to study the distribution pattern of a given drug or a chemical entity in the given test animal.
In-vivo Metabolism Studies- This kind of studies are carried out to study the metabolism pattern of the given item, this is done by characterising the metabolites formed in the given test animals after administration of the given item.
Caco-2 permeability assay- This assay is performed to predict the human intestinal absorption of a given drug molecule.
A liquid Chromatographic column and Mass Spectrophotometer were showed and principle and working were explained. The chromatographic Column is used for liquid-liquid or solvent-solvent Extraction. Some of the other studies carried out in the department are CYP profiling/liability, Liver microsomes stability, Blood plasma kinetics, Bio analytical method development studies.
Ms. Deepa showed a Bioreactor. It was a lab scale Bioreactor of two litres capacity which was used for bacterial and fungal fermentation. Co-indecently the Bioreactor was dismantled for cleaning, so all the internal parts of a Bioreactor i.e. Sparger, Agitator, Baffles, and their assembly into a bioreactor were shown. The working and function of the Bioreactor was explained in detail.
ANIMAL HOUSE
The most interesting and exciting aspect of the visit was the visit to the animal house. Students were not allowed inside to avoid any risk of infection to both students and animals but animals were shown through a glass safety door. There were separate cages for all animals. White Mice, Mice with Tumour, Nude Mice and many different species of Mice were shown. Animals of different species are physical separated to prevent interspecies disease transmission and to eliminate anxiety and possible physiological and behavioral changes due to interspecies conflict.
A great care is taken about the health and safety of animals. All animals are observed for signs of illness, injury, or abnormal behavior by animal house staff daily. Animals are fed palatable, non-contaminated, and nutritionally adequate food. Cages are cleaned each time before animals are placed in them. Animal cages, racks and accessory equipment, such as feeders, water bottles, sipper tubes, and stoppers are washed and cleaned frequently to keep them free from contamination.
Effective quarantine procedures are used for non-human primates to help limit exposure of humans to zoonotic infections.