Tuesday, April 2, 2019 Daily Archives

Novartis grabs AstraZeneca’s CO plant and staff for AveXis gene therapy

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Novartis has acquired a biomanufacturing facility – earmarked for closure by AstraZeneca – ahead of the potential launch of AveXis’ gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy, Zolgensma. Since Novartis bought AveXis for $8.7 billion (€7 billion) in May 2018, the Swiss pharma giant has rapidly grown its gene therapy manufacturing network. The latest action sees the firm add the 700,000 square-foot Longmont facility to its AveXis operations in what it says is preparation for the launch of Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi1),…

April 2, 2019

Merck to up drug product capacity by 50% at Swiss site

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Merck KGaA will invest €150 million ($168 million) to build a facility with two new aseptic filling lines at its site in Aubonne. For Germany’s Merck, the Aubonne site in Switzerland is its global center of expertise for the production of biotech drug products, carrying out both aseptic filling and packaging operations. The €150 million investment will cover a new building with two new lines for the aseptic filling – one for freeze-dried formulations, one for liquid formulations – of…

April 2, 2019