Editor’s Take: Innovations continue to drill down on specific targets, specializing therapies at levels not previously possible.

This week on The Friday Brief, a bit of a short week with the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. But still plenty to get to, including that central concept in pharma: how to get innovative treatments to patients faster.

Circio and AaviGen are launching into a research collaboration to develop AAV vectors for targeted, low-dose heart gene therapies. Asahi Kasei is licensing novel ADC technology from the Noguchi Institute enabling precise control of drug-to-antibody ratio.

ProBioGen has launched an avian designer cell line that will accelerate and simplify development of modern poxvirus vaccines. QSA Global and NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes have agreed to bolster supply for radium-226 targets, the starting material for actinium-225 production. AGC Biologics was selected by Teikoku Seiyaku to provide microbial CDMO services for a candidate targeting lumbar disc herniation. Finally, Minaris is using a platform from bioMérieux to expand its rapid mycoplasma testing capability.

AI remains top of mind for biopharma companies. Biomunex Pharmaceuticals this week announced new strategic collaborations with two companies, Gordion Bioscience and Tangramed Biotech. These partnerships are intended to further integrate relevant AI into all of Biomunex’s scientific processes. And another company is adopting Veeva Vault CRM services—Merck in Darmstadt, Germany, or MilliporeSigma here in the U.S.

Before we forget—check us out at CPHI Americas next week in Philadelphia. Contract Pharma will be at Booth #346. Also, now is as good a time as any to sign up for our family of newsletters: the latest from Contract Pharma delivered straight to your inbox.

Enjoy this final weekend of May and we will see you next Friday, on The Friday Brief.