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COVID continues to impact biopharma supply chains, survey

Industry continues to feel the effect of supply chain constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest industry survey from Informa Connect. The Delta variant. Booster shots. Vaccination hesitancy. Mask mandates (or lack of them). The coronavirus pandemic is clearly still with us, 18 months on from the first reports of a new virus coming out of Wuhan, China. And it continues to affect the life sciences industry, according to Informa Connect’s latest survey. ‘COVID-19 One Year On:…

Merck KGaA highlights MilliporeSigma as ‘star performer’ in Q2

by Dan Stanton

After another record quarter, Germany’s Merck expects a COVID-19 windfall of €1 billion in 2021, the bulk of which coming from its Process Solutions unit. The German biopharma giant reported double-digit growth across all its segments in the second quarter 2021, but highlighted significant contributions from its ‘Big 3’: its Healthcare pipeline, Process Solutions, and Semiconductor Solutions units. The Process Solutions business, which falls under its Life Science business MilliporeSigma and offers biopharmaceutical products and services, pulled in €1.15 billion…

Ins & Outs: ‘CDMOs are now the leaders in the biomanufacturing space’

by Millie Nelson

BioProcess Insider figuratively sat down with bioprocess veteran Roger Lias, as the new chief commercial officer of Vibalogics, to discuss his different experiences and predictions for the CDMO market. Lias has served in senior roles at Diosynth, Lonza, KBI Biopharma, Cytovance Biologics and Eden Biologics. More recently Lias served as chief executive officer at Avid Bioservices before joining Indian drugmaker Stelis Biopharma, where he was responsible for transitioning its manufacturing models. His latest career move takes him to US and…

Cytiva & Pall: Chromotography, cell culture and SUS to benefit from $1.5bn boost

by Millie Nelson

The investment will expand manufacturing capacity for life sciences products at thirteen Danaher Corporation sites run by Cytiva and Pall to meet customer demand. The $1.5 billion investment is in addition to Cytiva’s $500 million growth strategy that was announced in September 2020 and announced in January, and will fund expanding existing facilities as well as constructing new facilities in the US and the UK over the course of two years. More than $600 million will be invested in chromatography…

Humira: AbbVie’s biosimilar erosion woes may be overstated

by Dan Stanton

An analyst says general forecasts of biosimilar erosion for Humira (adalimumab) are too pessimistic as the size of the brand could still present upsides for AbbVie. AbbVie’s monoclonal antibody Humira continues to be the world’s top selling drug, despite biosimilar competition hitting sales outside of the US over the past few years. In 2020, global sales stood at $19.8 billion, $16.1 billion of which came from the US. As it stands, legal agreements between AbbVie and a host of biosimilar…

Chinese CDMOs eye advanced therapies and global markets

by Dan Stanton

Univercells Technologies says traditional small molecule Chinese CDMOs are rapidly expanding into the cell and gene therapy space as it partners with viral vector producer VectorBuilder. The partnership will see Univercells Technologies – a bioprocess technology firm under KKR’s Gamma Biosciences umbrella – work with VectorBuilder’s manufacturing center in Guangzhou, China to develop and optimize platform processes for the production of custom viral vectors for both cell and gene therapies and vaccine applications. “Through this partnership, both parties will leverage…

$250m CAR-T startup ‘validates’ Intellia’s allogeneic and CRISPR platforms

by Dan Stanton

Intellia Therapeutics, Blackstone, and Cellex have launched a CAR-T biotech aimed at developing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies. The new company will combine Intellia’s allogeneic cell platform and CRISPR cell engineering with Cellex subsidiary GEMoaB’s switchable universal CAR-T platforms – UniCAR and RevCAR – to develop a range of therapies against various cancers, including solid tumors. Blackstone Life Sciences has invested $250 million in the new venture, and the three companies – Blackstone, Intellia, and Cellex – will each…

Beyond the CDMO: Samsung Biologics reveals Big Pharma ambition

by Dan Stanton

Having grown into one of the world’s largest bio-CDMOs over the past decade, Samsung Biologics says its next step is to become a top tier pharmaceutical company. Incheon, Korea-based contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Samsung Biologics boasts three plants hosting a total of 364,000 L of mostly stainless-steel bioreactor capacity. Last year, the firm began construction on a fourth facility, housing an additional 256,000 liters of mammalian production capacity as well as fill/finish capabilities. “it’s going to be delivered…

COVID-19 driven CDMO investments to benefit wider sector

by Gareth Macdonald

COVID-19 driven investments in vaccine production capacity will help relieve existing bottlenecks as the pandemic recedes, according to the authors of a new report. Demand for vaccine production capacity increased significantly last year as pharmaceutical industry efforts to develop effective jabs accelerated. The contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) sector’s response has been to invest in vaccine and vector production capacity, says Fiona Barry from GlobalData. “We’re seeing very high investment in vaccine-related contract manufacturing, by dedicated CDMOs and by…

Big Pharma collaborative trend to continue beyond COVID

by Dan Stanton

Manufacturing collaboration between traditional rivals will be normal post-pandemic say GSK and Merck & Co., both of which are using their capacity to support fellow Big Pharma COVID-19 efforts. The biopharma space has traditionally been a highly competitive arena. Retaining intellectual property through secrecy, litigation, and other means is crucial to ensure maximum revenues from products developed at high-cost and high-risk. Just look at how the entrance of biosimilars have decimated certain company’s top line results. But a new era…