ACD Labs:Unifying the Heterogenous Laboratory Ecosystem
With several different state-of-the-art equipments which serve to aid scientists and researchers in their quest for the next breakthrough in medical and chemical sciences, the laboratory ecosystem has become highly heterogeneous; and this heterogeneous laboratory environment leads to a multitude of challenges. The first challenge arises from the data accumulated from the different equipments which vary in nature, making data portability between the systems a major stumbling block. Secondly, a crucial element for sound Research & Development (R&D) is the ability of laboratories to extrapolate information on one system based on the experimental data obtained from another. However, the data incompatibility between systems is likely to lead to the creation of knowledge roadblocks. Above all, data generated from different sources/instruments should grant the ability to facilitate collaboration between different teams. This can only be achieved when multiple users utilize a common interface as a medium to exchange the experimental data in a common language. A common interface would not only allow experts from different domains to interact but also pool their resources to accelerate the decision making process. Using a common interface to represent their expertise and utilize the information to take a decision leads to knowledge capture/captured knowledge.The aforementioned challenges are precisely the key areas in the laboratory ecosystem which Canada headquartered Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc. (ACD/Labs) explores to fill in the gap. A provider of Informatics Solutions for Chemical, Biochemical, and Pharmaceutical R&D, ACD/Labs brings in their specialization in Analytical and Chemical Knowledge Management. Headed by K. K. Bhagchandani as the Senior Director – Asia & Pacific Business, the firm has withstood the test of time, establishing a strong market presence for over two decades since its inception in 1994 and has successfully brought down the time consumed in deciphering data derived from various experiments, leveraging on a number of the firm's vendor agnostic solutions that automate processes right from the experimentation to the data capture from different equipments. It has accomplished this by connecting the different sets of data to transform them into a unified whole, thus enhancing the productivity and efficiency of the people engaged in the process. In fact, ACD's solutions go way beyond facilitating the traditional automation and data processing, enabling laboratories across the globe to compare the results and assess their quality with the existing data or reference. This distinctively makes the firm a preferred choice for many chemical companies involved in material analysis.
Management of Impurity Data and Metabolite
One of the recent enterprise solution developed at the firm is ACD/Labs Luminata, a software for the efficient and comprehensive management of impurity data. Speaking of the rationale behind the development of the product, K. K. Bhagchandani adds, "Organisations, be it pharmaceuticals or chemical, are spending a lot of time in ensuring the purity of a compound, though the formation of impurities is an inevitable part in this process. Additionally, in the current R&D landscape, it is mandatory for organisations to maintain the information of the origination, control and fate of all the impurities associated with the process of manufacturing. Luminata is a platform that captures all of that in an organised fashion in a single interface." Built on top of the analytical and chemical data handling expertise of ACD/Spectrus platform, ACD/Labs’characterisation solution aides in identification of impurities and a QbD solution helps in isolating impurities. The solution enables researchers to enforce effective impurity control measures backed by centrally managed impurity maps, elaborate tables, reports and analytical data of further comparison, all of which can be toggled with from a single interface be represented in a live format.
ACD/Labs is one of the few companies which brings in the ability to uniquely manage and hold all this discrete information which requires a lot of standardization and unification. A potential game changer for the firm as well as the industry, organisations can leverage Luminata to support the decision making process as well as enhance their scientific claims to regulatory bodies.
Metasense by ACD/Labs works to identify and predict the metabolites generated in the body as a result of the various compounds. The solution provides labs with the benefit of a single interface which captures,streamlines and processes the data from various LC/MS instrument for analysis.
Giving life to data and making it useful
With the mission to enable scientists and organizations to increase the efficiency of analytical data interpretation, ACD/Labs has developed ACD/Spectrus Platform, a chemical intelligence and knowledge management platform. Addressing the key challenge of data portability, the Spectrus platform is a unique solution in the market today which enables raw or unprocessed data from different lab instruments to be combined into a single data set open for examination and interpretation while ensuring that the researcher is equipped with enough tools to put forward meaningful information.
In built with the Unified Laboratory Intelligence (ULI) technology framework, the Spectrus platform brings data sets to life making them interactive and enabling the reapplication of the live data, thus eliminating the need to engage in repeated experiments. Taking us deeper into this framework, Mr.Bhagchandani elucidates, "For several decades, unifying the different sets of information meant creating a PDF report. This was due to the absence of a universal format which would capture the information. The report was inclusive of very limited information. With the help of ULI, we are actually using live and interactive information which at any given point of time can be zoomed into with the different pieces of information that can be connected or disconnected to be studied. This is important because when you are representing your experiment, it is not necessary that the person who has conducted the experiment is the person who is representing the information. Therefore, a report is not enough. And that is exactly where you rely on ULI."
Empowering Researchers with Predictive Models
Empowering researchers with predictive models is the firm's ACD/Percepta Platform which significantly reduces the time, energy and material utilized in task discovery. Providing further insight into this solution which finds extensive application across CAS, ChemSpider, PubChem, and more, K. K. Bhagchandani says, "Now when we are trying to find a medicine, we are looking at tens of thousands to a hundred thousand. For a drug to be successful, it has to be very effective in doing what it is designed to do and nothing unexpected. It should be easily absorbed, assimilated and excreted from the body and above all, safe for the human body. It also has to be examined if the drug will interact with any ongoing medication of the patient. Hence, there are different criteria on which this molecule has to be examined. This is exactly where Percepta comes into the picture, enabling researchers to calculate and anticipate the behavior of the molecule or is likely to manifest. As a result of this, researchers only synthesize like a 50 or 100 compounds instead of a 10,000 or 100,000 compounds for a particular purpose."
Fostering QbD for analytical method development
Equipped with some of the best and the brightest, ACD/ Labs exerts a strong domain expertise which has been one among the key factors that has enabled the firm to establish a strong foothold in the market. Uniquely positioned solutions such as the ACD/Spectrus and the ACD/Percepta platforms go a long way in proving the team's expertise. Additionally, the incorporation of the Quality by Design (QbD) approach is yet another factor that differentiates ACD/Labs. Driven by the objective to ingrain the right design and quality into every product and process, its chromatographic method development solution uniquely enhances efficiency by enabling chemical intelligence into the system.Yet another distinct factor is the company's partnership with instruments vendors which further enables the firm to emerge as a one stop solution provider, bringing in the unmatched capability to capture and unify as well as simulate the data in a universally understandable format.
A One stop Hub
ACD/Labs started off with humble beginnings. Starting as a company focused on drug discovery they are adding their focus onto drug development, API R&D and specialty chemical R&D, ACD/Labs' journey has been shaped by a number of turning points. The firm currently plans to stay put and continue rolling out more tools designed to help organizations and laboratories in identifying and managing impurities with a system in compliance with the industry norms and regulations. Expressing his views on the current trends in the industry, K.K.Bhagchandani says, "Many times in our interactions we find that either the market is overestimating or underestimating the potential of software to automate various functions. Today, software has become far smarter with a significant increase in the knowledge retention capacity. However, software cannot be expected to replace human minds. With the human mind you have intellect and the power to understand. With software, you have the advantage of speed and multidimensional approach. You need to combine these innate characteristics and look at software as an enabling tool and not as a substitute."
Empowering Researchers with Predictive Models
Empowering researchers with predictive models is the firm's ACD/Percepta Platform which significantly reduces the time, energy and material utilized in task discovery. Providing further insight into this solution which finds extensive application across CAS, ChemSpider, PubChem, and more, K. K. Bhagchandani says, "Now when we are trying to find a medicine, we are looking at tens of thousands to a hundred thousand. For a drug to be successful, it has to be very effective in doing what it is designed to do and nothing unexpected. It should be easily absorbed, assimilated and excreted from the body and above all, safe for the human body. It also has to be examined if the drug will interact with any ongoing medication of the patient. Hence, there are different criteria on which this molecule has to be examined. This is exactly where Percepta comes into the picture, enabling researchers to calculate and anticipate the behavior of the molecule or is likely to manifest. As a result of this, researchers only synthesize like a 50 or 100 compounds instead of a 10,000 or 100,000 compounds for a particular purpose."
ACD's solutions go way beyond facilitating the traditional automation and data processing, enabling laboratories across the globe to compare the results and assess their quality with the existing data or reference
Fostering QbD for analytical method development
Equipped with some of the best and the brightest, ACD/ Labs exerts a strong domain expertise which has been one among the key factors that has enabled the firm to establish a strong foothold in the market. Uniquely positioned solutions such as the ACD/Spectrus and the ACD/Percepta platforms go a long way in proving the team's expertise. Additionally, the incorporation of the Quality by Design (QbD) approach is yet another factor that differentiates ACD/Labs. Driven by the objective to ingrain the right design and quality into every product and process, its chromatographic method development solution uniquely enhances efficiency by enabling chemical intelligence into the system.Yet another distinct factor is the company's partnership with instruments vendors which further enables the firm to emerge as a one stop solution provider, bringing in the unmatched capability to capture and unify as well as simulate the data in a universally understandable format.
A One stop Hub
ACD/Labs started off with humble beginnings. Starting as a company focused on drug discovery they are adding their focus onto drug development, API R&D and specialty chemical R&D, ACD/Labs' journey has been shaped by a number of turning points. The firm currently plans to stay put and continue rolling out more tools designed to help organizations and laboratories in identifying and managing impurities with a system in compliance with the industry norms and regulations. Expressing his views on the current trends in the industry, K.K.Bhagchandani says, "Many times in our interactions we find that either the market is overestimating or underestimating the potential of software to automate various functions. Today, software has become far smarter with a significant increase in the knowledge retention capacity. However, software cannot be expected to replace human minds. With the human mind you have intellect and the power to understand. With software, you have the advantage of speed and multidimensional approach. You need to combine these innate characteristics and look at software as an enabling tool and not as a substitute."
