Friday, May 7, 2021 Daily Archives

CDMO round-up: Lonza, AGC Biologics, and BioElpida contract wins

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Ankyra Therapeutics contracts Lonza; Oculis selects AGC Biologics to manufacture its investigational drug candidate; BioVaxys signs a contract with BioElpida. Great to have you here for Bioprocess Insider’s CDMO round-up. First up in our contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) round-up is Swiss firm Lonza, which recently partnered with US-based Ankyra to support manufacturing of its cytokine-based immunotherapy for cancer patients. The immunotherapy candidate is administered directly into the solid tumors and Jeetendra Vaghjiani, director of Commercial Mammalian Development, Lonza told BioProcess Insider…

May 7, 2021

Key Considerations for Maximizing LV and AAV Production in Transient Transfection Workflows

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This webcast features: Leisha Kopp, Applications Scientist, Mirus Bio Recombinant adenoassociated virus (AAV) and lentivirus (LV) are critical components of gene and cell therapies, which show incredible promise for the treatment of disease. Accordingly, the need for large-scale manufacture of safe and effective viral vectors has never been greater. Here, we present: Optimization strategies for AAV and LV generation in both adherent and suspension HEK 293 cells LV and AAV enhancers that further increase functional virus titers over previously optimized…

May 7, 2021

Catalent bolsters pDNA biz with Promethera buy

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Contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Catalent has acquired Promethera’s cell therapy manufacturing subsidiary, Hepatic Cell Therapy Support (HCTS). No financial details have been disclosed. Catalent gains a 32,400 square-foot plant located on in Gosselies, Belgium. The facility will be used for commercial-scale plasmid DNA (pDNA) production and is next to the Delphi Genetics building, which the firm acquired in February expanding its pDNA offering. “With this investment, Catalent will now be able to offer cell therapy and gene therapy customers…

May 7, 2021

Is Fiber-Based Protein A Chromatography the Missing Piece in Single-Use mAb Purification?

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Protein A chromatography resins are widely used for therapeutic antibody production because they perform well, giving excellent recovery and purity. But resin-based chromatography methods are better suited to large-scale manufacture. In clinical monoclonal antibody (mAb) purification, batch sizes are small, so protein A resins are rarely used to their full lifetime potential. As a result, protein A resins may be cost-prohibitive, especially for mAb manufacturing when doses are very low or where target patient populations are small. Protein A resins…

May 7, 2021

Charles River sets sights on cell therapy manufacturing after Cognate buy

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US contract research firm Charles River says its expanded manufacturing business will focus mainly on cell therapy production. CEO Jim Foster outlined Charles River’s plan this week, telling analysts the firm’s recent acquisition Cognate BioServices would boost the contract research organization’s (CRO) biologics business. “Cognate gives us the ability, and particularly in combination with HemaCare and Cellero, to provide the cells to do the process development, to do the clinical trial scale up, and ultimately, to provide commercial quantities specifically…

May 7, 2021

Lonza to up mammalian bioreactor capacity by 136,000L

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Lonza has invested $935 million to expand its mammalian manufacturing facilities in Visp, Switzerland and Portsmouth, US.   Swiss contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Lonza will construct a large-scale stainless-steel plant in Visp and a small-scale, single-use technology facility in Portsmouth to respond to customer demand for mammalian drug substance production.   “At Lonza, we are focused on supporting our customers to achieve efficient, high-throughput production processes and flexible manufacturing solutions,†said Jean-Christophe Hyvert, president, Biologics and Cell & Gene, Lonza.   He added: “Our customers’ needs range from the manufacture of small- to mid-volume…

May 7, 2021