Beacon Dictionary Glossary

Beacon Dictionary Glossary [e-mail]

Last Updated: 24th February 2025 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Index 1 A

Announcement Date: The date on which a deal was first publicly announced. Antigen Classes: The antigen class that the antigen (target) fits into. Antigen Selection Platform: The technology used to identify, select, or produce antigens which are then incorporated into the vaccine. This field covers proprietary technology from companies/developers. Antigen Source: Describes where the antigen has been sourced from. Approved Disease Indications: Diseases for which a drug has received approval and is commercially available. Arm: Groups or subgroups of participants receiving an intervention in a trial. Armouring: Any additional feature engineered to a cell therapy to prolong its active persistence. This includes but is not limited to cytokine secretion, enzyme secretion, additional receptors, or antibodies. Asset History: A reverse chronological summary of key events in the lifecycle of a drug. 2 Asset Type: Describes whether the property covered by a deal or company is a drug, enabling technology, company, or service. Autoantigen Specificity: The specificity of treatments, whether they are targeting the immune response to selfantigens, modulating the immune system due to reactions unrelated to self-antigens, or targeting multiple specificities. 3 B Binding Affinity: The binding potency of the drug for a specific target; data may include (if available) the numerical value of affinity, assay system, and cell line used. Binding Mode: The orientation of the ligand relative to the receptor as well as the conformation of the ligand and receptor when bound to each other. Biomarkers: A biological molecule used in a clinical trial for diagnostic, monitoring, or predictive/prognostic purposes. Bispecific Mechanism: Describes how the drug engages with the target, e.g., protein, genetic material. 4 C Cell Source: Whether the cells used in therapy are patientderived, donor-derived, or other. Cell Type: The differentiated type of cell at the point of product infusion. Clinical Benefit Rate: The proportion of patients with no disease progression after 6 months of therapy. Clinical Data: A section on the drug record compiling all clinical trials by phase and top 20 disease indications. Clinical Efficacy: This additional column describes whether efficacy data is available for a clinical trial (Y/N). Clinical PK/PD: This additional column describes whether pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic data is available for a clinical trial (Y/N). CMC: Information relating to chemistry, manufacturing, and control, such as expression system, purification strategy, yield, stability, formulation, shelf life, photosensitivity, metabolites formed, construct information, etc. for a drug. Collaborator Type: The primary activity of any organization involved in the design and execution of a clinical trial in addition to the sponsor. 5 Collaborators: Any organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. Comments: A section on the drug record compiling Beacon comments of relevance to a drug that are not captured elsewhere. Commentary: A section on the trial record compiling Beacon comments of relevance to a trial that are not captured elsewhere. Company Headquarters Location: The location of a company's primary operations segmented in the following categories: Company Name: The official name of a company or organization involved in a deal segmented in following categories: Company Headquarters Location - Buyer/License Company Headquarters Location - Lead Investor Company Headquarters Location - Other Investor Company Headquarters Location - Seller/Licensor Company Name - Buyer/Licensee Company Name - Lead Investors Company Name - Other Investors Company Name - Seller/Licensor 6 Company Type: The primary activity of an organization involved in a deal based on its industry, role, or specialization. Complete Response: The percentage of patients who have a complete response to therapy. Conjugation Amino Acid: The amino acid of the targeting moiety (protein) at the point of linker-payload attachment. Conjugation Site: The location in the targeting moiety (protein) where linker-payload is attached. Conjugation Technology: The technology used to conjugate a linker and payload to a targeting moiety. Consortia Growth Conditions: The conditions provided for batch growth of a microbe. Company Type - Buyer/Licensee - The company which has purchased or licensed an asset, intellectual property or shares/equity in a company, for monetary payment. Company Type - Seller/Licensor- The company which is selling an asset, transferring intellectual property rights or is selling shares/equity of the company, in receipt of monetary payment. Company Type - Lead Investors - The organisation which leads the funding round and offers a significant proportion of the total funding. Company Type - Other Investors - The organisations that aren’t the primary investors involved in the funding. 7 Costimulatory Domains: Additional stimulatory domains added to augment cell survival and proliferation or other functions. Crystal Structure: Where available, a link to crystal structures associated with the drug. Current Enrollment: The most recent published total for the number of patients recruited to a clinical trial. Cytokine Class: The category or categories of cytokine families relevant to a drug based on target, armoring, composition, mechanism of action, vaccine adjuvant, transgene, or gene/mutation. Cytokine Engineering: The specific type of structural or molecular engineering and modification performed on a cytokine in order to improve efficacy and pharmacokinetics properties. 8 D Drug-Antibody Ratio (DAR): The average number of drugs attached per targeting moiety. Dataset: The Beacon module or modules to which the drug, trial, deal, or company belongs. Deal Name: A descriptive title of a deal including key aspects of the deal. Deal Phase of Development: The highest stage of development for a drug during the deal entry, ranging from preclinical to approval. Deal Status: Deal Type: The nature of the agreement between parties, defined by the terms, obligations, and goals of the collaboration. Degradation DC50/DC90: The concentration at which 50% or 90% of the target protein is degraded. Degradation DMax: The maximum degradation percentage. Announced - When a planned deal is publicly declared. At this stage, the deal has been agreed but not formally signed. Signed - When a deal is signed by all parties and initial funding commitments are transferred. Further payments will be made throughout the lifecycle of the deal, which must also be tracked: the deal remains active Terminated Early - When a deal is ended before the agreed term (i.e. length of time) of the deal. 9 Delivery System Developer Type: The primary activity of an organization involved in the development of a drug. Disease Indication: The disease or diseases against which a drug or trial is being investigated. Donor Sources: The tissue or matter from which a microbiome sample is derived, for instance, stool, skin, vagina, etc. Dosing Strategy: This additional column describes whether drug dosing information is available for a trial (Y/N). Drug Developers/ Developers: Organizations that are involved in the research and development of a drug. Drug Dosing: A section on the trial record compiling all aspects of the dosing strategy for a trial including arms, cohorts, and interventions. Drug Names: Any name, such as a research code or nonproprietary name, by which the drug is known. A descriptive Beacon name will be provided where a specific name is not available. Cell Therapy, Gene Therapy, Immune Tolerance, RNA: The viral or non-viral vector or system used to deliver a gene/genetic material into a cell. Cancer Vaccine: The viral or non-viral vector or system used to deliver an antigen into a cell. OV: The viral or non-viral vector or system used to deliver the oncolytic virus into a cell. 10 Drug Status: The stage of development of a drug including whether it is still in development or not. Approved: A drug is tagged as Approved that has received approval for marketing by the relevant regulatory authority in at least one country or territory. Active: A drug is tagged as Active when there is a clear statement from the developer that the drug is in active development. Discontinued: A drug is tagged as Discontinued when there is a clear statement from the developer that they have terminated the development of the drug. Not Active: Not Active is applied to a drug where there is evidence that it is no longer undergoing active development, in the absence of formal confirmation of discontinuation from the developer. This tag is added in the following circumstances: Active Clinical: This tag is used if a drug is being tested in humans clinically. Active Preclinical: This tag is used if a drug has not been tested in humans. Discontinued Preclinical: This tag is used if a drug was preclinical at the point of discontinuation. Discontinued Clinical: This tag is used if a drug is clinical at the point of discontinuation. As soon as a drug no longer appears on a company pipeline that previously included it. 1. For a drug that has never appeared on a company pipeline, and where there is no evidence of activity associated with the drug from the company or in the literature for a defined period of time. 2. 11 Drug Targets: The molecular entity with which a drug interacts to achieve a therapeutic effect. Drug Last Update: The date of the last significant revision to a drug record. Duration of Response: The time between documentation of tumor response and disease progression. Not Active Preclinical: For preclinical drugs only, if there have been no updates from companyissued sources, including literature/conference presentations with at least one company author, for 18 months Not Active Clinical: For clinical drugs, this period will be 3 years after the most recent publication of clinical data, or the completion date/scheduled completion date (whichever is available) of the most recently active trial. 12 E Editing Technology Envelope Modifications: Specific changes introduced to a viral envelope to improve its efficacy as a therapy. Estimated Enrollment: The targeted number of participants to be included in a trial. Exclusivity: The extent to which rights over an asset are restricted to specific parties to a deal. Cell Therapy, Immune Tolerance: The technology used to directly edit a specific part of DNA for the creation of the cell therapy. Gene Therapy: The technology used to directly edit a specific part of DNA or RNA for the creation of the gene therapy. Microbiome: The technology used to engineer the microorganism. OV: The technology used to directly edit a specific part of DNA or RNA for the creation of an oncolytic virus therapy. RNA: The technology used to directly edit a specific part of DNA or RNA for the creation of a RNA therapy. 13 F Formulation: The process in which different chemical substances, including the active drug, are combined to produce a final medicinal product. Founded Date: The date on which a company was first established. Funding Type: The stages of financial investment of a company, including Angel, Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, Series D, Series E, Series F, and Series G. 14 G Gene/Mutation Genes Deleted: The gene deleted from an oncolytic virus. Genetic Material for Therapy: The genetic material on which the therapy is based. Geographic Market: The regions or markets covered under the terms of a collaboration or licensing deal. Gene Therapy: The gene targeted by the asset. If therapeutic class is gene replacement this refers to the gene being introduced. RNA: Refers to the disease-causing gene. 15 H Half Life: The time taken for the body to eliminate 50% of the drug. Headcount Range: The number of employees (by range) for a company. Headquarters Location: The location of a company's primary operations. Highest Phase of Development: The highest stage of development a drug has advanced to. HLA Subtypes: The specific type of MHC to which the product is restricted to due. HW ID: The unique ID for the Beacon record. 16 I Immune Effectors Immunogenicity Info: This additional column describes whether immunogenicity data is available for a trial. Inclusion/Exclusion: A section on the trial record compiling patient eligibility criteria for a trial. Institute Type: The category of academic group or hospital participating in a trial. Institutes: The name of the university or hospital participating in a trial. Cancer Vaccine: The specific immune cells which respond to vaccine administration. Cytokine: The immune cell population(s) that are affected by the drug and are responsible for its observed immune effects. 17 L Latest Funding Round: The most recent round of funding received by a company. Ligand (Effector): The component of the drug that binds to the E3 ligase enzyme. Ligand (Target): The component of the drug that binds to the protein of interest (the target). Ligase: The enzyme recruited by the drug to aid the degradation of the target protein. Line Of Therapy: The stage at which a drug is given to a patient, relative to the patient's other treatment history. Linker Linker Catabolism: The methodology of releasing the payload from the targeting moiety. ADC: The chemical component connecting the targeting moiety and the payload. Bispecific: The compound that links the two or more active components of the drug. 18 M Mechanism of Action: How a drug binds to and functions at the target(s) site. MHC Restrictions: Whether the cell therapy can recognise and interact with targets presented by MHC proteins or not. Microbiome Target Factor: The strain or microbiota toxin that may be the target of the therapy. Microbiome Therapy Engineering: Whether a microorganism has been genetically engineered or not. Microbiome Therapy Type: Whether a therapy is additive to, subtractive to, or modulates the microbiome. Milestones: A section on the drug record compiling key events in a drug’s development, including both retrospective (past) and expected (future) events. Molecular Format: The structure of the antibody and/or the platform technologies used for the discovery, screening, and production of the antibody. Molecular Weight: The mass of a molecule, indicative of its size. 19 N Nucleic Acid Modifications: The type of chemical modification made to nucleic acids in RNA-based therapies. Number of Arms: The number of individual groups or subgroups of participants receiving an intervention or treatment in a trial. Number of Drugs in Beacon: The number of drug candidates or therapies listed in the Beacon database from a particular company. Number of Strains: The number of different strains being administered. 20 O Operating Status: The current operating status of a company. Other Drug Names: Names associated with a drug in addition to the primary Beacon name. Other Efficacy Results: This additional column describes whether efficacy data is available for a trial (Y/N). Other Trial IDs: Names associated with the trial in addition to the primary registry trial ID. OV Type: Whether or not an oncolytic virus has been genetically modified. Overall Response: The percentage of patients who have a partial or complete response to therapy. Ownership Type: The nature of ownership or control over a company, such as public or private. 21 P Partial Response: The percentage of patients who have a partial response to therapy. Pathway or Signaling Alterations: Any genetic changes to a pathway or signaling molecule. Patients: A section on the trial record compiling information on subjects receiving treatment in a trial. Payload: Any functional molecule (drug) that is attached to a targeting moiety. This may be a cytotoxic or noncytotoxic agent. Payload Mechanism: The process describing how a drug binds to and functions at the target(s) site. Phases: The stages of clinical trials for a particular drug. Pivotal Trial: Whether a trial is pivotal, i.e., is intended to be used to support approval of the drug by a relevant regulatory authority (Y/N). Potential Total Deal Value (USD): The maximum estimated value of a deal, including all potential financial considerations. Preclinical Efficacy: Data from preclinical studies that aim to confirm the potential therapeutic benefit of the drug. Preclinical in Vitro: Data from studies performed outside of a living organism, i.e., in isolated tissues, cells, or organs. 22 Preclinical PK: Data from studies performed to understand the effect of the body on a drug. Preclinical References: A table capturing the title, summary, and link for references on a drug record. Preclinical Results: This additional column describes whether preclinical data is available (Y/N). Preclinical Toxicity/Safety: Data from studies performed to understand the side effects of a drug. Preconditioning Regimens: Regimens administered to a patient prior to receiving adoptive cell therapy in order to increase the likelihood of clinical benefit. Progression Free Survival: The length of time following treatment without a disease progressing or worsening. Progressive Disease: Whether the tumor has grown or if new tumors have appeared. Promoter: The promoter added to transgene to initiate transcription which may influence the degree of expression of the transgene. Promoter Related Modifications: Specific promoters introduced into the viral backbone to drive a specific behavior of the virus through the transcription of specific genes. 23 R Rationale: The scientific, commercial, or ethical reason for starting a clinical trial. References: A section on the data record compiling references used in a trial, deal, and company record, including the title, summary, and link for each. Registry Trial ID: A unique identifier for a trial as provided by a hosting trial registry. Regulatory Announcements: A section on the drug record compiling announcements from pharmaceutical regulatory bodies, or announcements relating to any regulatory step in the process of drug development. Repair Pathways: The specialized cellular mechanisms that use either error-free or error-prone pathways to identify and correct damage to the DNA molecules encoding the genome, preventing genomic instability. Results: A section on the trial record compiling efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics data for a trial. Role of Phage: The mode of action for a phage. Route of Administration: The mechanism by which a drug is introduced into the body in a trial. 24 S Scaffold/Structural Format: Describes the 3D structure of a bispecific drug. Sequence and Mutation: Whether a drug record contains the sequence of the transgene, antibody, or antibody fragments that comprise the drug (Y/N). Signaling Domains: The intracellular signaling component of a T cell receptor for downstream activation. Site of Delivery: Where the drug is delivered. This may be the site of therapeutic effect or a site distant, relying on transport or trafficking to reach the site of activity. Site Specifically Conjugated: Reflects if a linker-payload is attached to a targeting moiety with full positional control or stochastically. SMILES: The SMILES (Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry System) string for a drug, where available. Solubilities: The amount of drug that dissolves in a fixed volume of solvent. Source Registry Results: This additional column describes whether results are available on a trial registry (Y/N). Species: The type of species receiving a drug in a preclinical study. 25 Sponsor: The organization or individual who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study. Sponsor Type: The category of organization responsible for a trial. Stable Disease: Where tumors are neither shrinking nor growing or there is no evidence of disease progression. Starting Material: The raw material collected from the donor or patient from which the final product is derived. Structure: The chemical or physical structure of the drug. Study: A section on trial record compiling information on the including outcome measures, enrolment, and major design elements. Suicide Genes: An additional gene that allows for the selective destruction of the expressing cells upon activation. Also sometimes known as “off-switches” or “safety switches”. Summary Page: A section on data record compiling general information about a drug, trial, deal, or company record. Synthetic Lethality Info: A synthetically lethal interaction occurs between two genes when the perturbation of both genes simultaneously results in cell death, but the perturbation of either gene alone does not. If tagged as ‘Yes’ this means there is a preclinical data reference that states this drug is exploiting the synthetic lethality concept. 26 T Targeting Moiety: The chemical structure- a small molecule, a peptide, or a protein (including any type of antibody), an aptamer, etc. that binds to the site of interest (epitope) within the target. Target Organ/Cell: The organ or cell the therapy is targeting. Termination Date: The date in which a deal is stopped (earlier than expected or set). Therapeutic Class: A description of the structural and physicochemical properties of a drug, divided into three main categories Advanced Therapy, Biological Therapy, and Small Molecule Therapy. Total Number of Trials: The number of trials associated with a drug record. Toxicity: This section on the trial record compiles data on studies relating to the side effects of a drug. Toxicity Results: This additional column describes whether (Y/N) toxicity data is available for a clinical trial. Transgene: Genes that are added to an oncolytic virus to enhance its activity and alter its properties. Most transgenes are used to increase the anti-tumor immune responses elicited by the virus. 27 Trial End Date: The date in which a trial is estimated to end. Trial Last Update: The date of the last significant update for a Beacon trial record. Trial Location: A section on the trial record complies the location of sites for a trial by country, state, and city. Trial Location (Number of Sites): This additional column compile location and number of sites for a trial by continent and country. Trial Name: A unique name or acronym for a trial included as part of the protocol. Trial Results: This additional column describes whether (Y/N) dosing, patients, toxicity, or efficacy data is available for a clinical trial. Trial Start Date: The date in which a trial started, or is intended to start. Trial Status: The recruitment and activity status of a trial. Type of Gene Therapy: Identifies whether the gene therapy is based on germ cells or somatic cells. 28 U Update History: A reverse chronological summary of key data revisions to a Beacon record. Upfront Payment (USD): A payment made by one party to another at the start of a deal. 29 V Vaccine Adjuvants: Component of a vaccine which helps to create a stronger immune response. Adjuvants are formulated as part of the vaccine. Experimental adjuvants which are administered independently, but in combination, are tagged to the trial record instead. Vaccine Types: The broad categorization of the type of cancer vaccine and how it is used to treat patients., can either be prophylactic or therapeutic. Valency (Target): The number of targets a drug can bind to. Viral Genome Type: The type of genome that the virus has. This is linked to the virus family field, as viruses within the same family have the same viral genome. Virus Family: The family of oncolytic viruses that the therapy fits into.

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