Thursday, May 14, 2020 Daily Archives

Greenlight raises $17m for mRNA vaccine capacity hike citing COVID-19 target

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GreenLight Biosciences says a manufacturing expansion will allow it to make billions of doses of its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine. The Boston biotech announced the expansion plan last week, explaining it will use $17 million raised in a recent funding round to build out its scalable mRNA production capability. GreenLight is developing several mRNA vaccine candidates against SARS-CoV2, the virus responsible for COVID-19 disease. The aim is to establish “a scaled process under current good manufacturing practices (cGMP), capable of supporting…

May 14, 2020

Thermo Fisher doubling viral vector capacity with $180m MA plant

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Thermo Fisher will bolster its viral vector manufacturing business through the acquisition of a site in Plainville, Massachusetts. Since Thermo Fisher entered the gene therapy space by acquiring contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Brammer Bio in March 2019, the firm has rapidly invested in its capabilities to service the advanced therapy space. This includes an extra $125 million investment in Brammer announced weeks after buying the CDMO, and expansions at sites in Alachua, Florida and Lexington, Massachusetts. The latest…

May 14, 2020

Charles River: COVID forces closure of donor clinic disrupting HemaCare biz

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Charles River says its cell therapy services business HemaCare is susceptible to the impact of COVID-19 and has already had to temporarily close its donor collections clinic. Charles River Laboratories acquired HemaCare for $380 million in December last year, bolstering its cell therapy services business. HemaCare provides human primary cells as well as services used in the discovery, development and commercial production of cell therapies, and provides leukapheresis services for materials used in the manufacture of Novartis’ Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), Kite’s…

May 14, 2020