TNO launches Peregrion to boost market impact of its technology that accelerates medicine development

TNO spin-off Peregrion brings science to the marketplace

LEIDEN, Netherlands, March 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ten years of development at TNO, the largest independent research and technology organisation in the Netherlands and one of the largest in the EU, has yielded a track record and acceptance by regulators of the accelerated biomedical mass spectrometry (AMS) technology. TNO aims to boost the technology's market impact by both developing the technology further and launching Peregrion. The purpose of this spin-off company is to aid pharmaceutical companies in accelerating their own early clinical development programmes. Using Accelerated biomedical Mass Spectrometry (AMS) for microtracer studies optimises and de-risks the development of candidate drugs. Peregrion is the 41^st spin-off since the start of TNO Tech Transfer.

Peregrion will build on TNO's legacy of generating early human microtracer data from absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion studies. TNO has optimised the process through the years, for instance by developing a sample preparation technology to enable the detection, identification and quantification of all human metabolites as early as clinical phase 1. Currently, a large number of top-20 pharmaceutical companies are using TNO's AMS technology to advance their medicine development programmes. In the meantime, the acceptance by industry is growing for the microtracer approach that will be transferred to Peregrion.

Wouter Vaes, Chief Science Officer and co-founder of Peregrion: "We have clearly managed to position the microtracer approach as one of the most promising animal-free innovation trajectories. Moreover, we have now reached to point that the global pharmaceutical industry is embracing our technology to implement the 'human first, human only' strategy as the preferred method to obtain drug metabolism data, from a scientific as well as a business perspective."

Steven Erpelinck, Chief Commercial Officer and co-founder of Peregrion: "TNO positions Peregrion to further build on the AMS technology that we developed, offering the ideal setting to support clients in the pharmaceutical industry with bringing the best medicines to patients earlier."

Broadening biomedical application

TNO will continue to focus on developing the AMS technology further and on broadening the biomedical application field of AMS and microtracer studies. TNO is currently working on applying this technology for biomarkers and efficacy research in early clinical development. In addition, TNO is maturing this technology for data enrichment studies of biologics and paediatric drugs.

Peter van Dijken, Managing Director of TNO Healthy Living and Work: "We are very proud at TNO that our 10 years of pre-competitive research proves that it is still possible to generically improve the drug development process."

About AMS technology

The development of medicines is a long and arduous process. To register a new medicine by submitting a dossier to regulators like the FDA and EMA can take between 10 and 15 years, with the whole process costing about 1 to 1.5 billion euros. Ninety percent of the medicines in clinical development never make it to the registration phase. The AMS technology using microtracers can deliver relevant biopharmaceutical data at earlier stages of the programme and potentially reduce the drug development time by 2 years. This greatly contributes to medicines becoming available to patients much sooner. For an earlier article on TNO's AMS technology, please read: https://www.tno.nl/en/newsroom/insights/2023/08/time-setters-medicine-development-ams/.

About TNO

TNO is the largest independent research and technology organisation in the Netherlands and one of the largest in the EU. We innovate, investigate, and orchestrate, collaborating closely with governments, universities and the private sector. We inform government on policies and empower evidence-based decision-making through rigorous investigations, cutting-edge scientific insights, and reliable measurements. By building national and international consortia and ecosystems, we drive technological and methodological breakthroughs that help to realise a secure, sustainable, healthy, and digital society, and strengthen the earning power of the Dutch economy. https://www.tno.nl/en/