BioNTech says the manufacture of messenger RNA (mRNA) is simple and quick  to adapt when dealing with COVID-19 variants threatening the efficiency of approved vaccines. Just 15 months ago, BioNTech was a relatively unknown player in the biopharma industry. With a global pandemic, partnership with Pfizer, and a historically fast vaccine development, approval and roll-out under its belt, the German mRNA firm is now a household name. In December 2020, the firm’s BNT162b2 became the first mRNA vaccine to be …

Cell and gene therapy firms should consider a ‘lifecycle approach’ to process development and manufacturing to reduce cost of goods, says ElevateBio. Developing cell and gene therapies is highly complex. Such work requires specialist skills and hard to make materials like vectors, the lack of capacity for which has been raised as a constraint in the scientific and mainstream press. But cell and gene therapy firms also need to keep commercialization in mind according to Mike Paglia, COO at cell…