Author Archives: Dan Stanton

Months after Cognate buy, Charles River divests plasmid DNA plant

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Charles River says the divestment of a plasmid DNA CDMO facility in Sweden will help optimize its business and does not signify a U-turn in its cell and gene therapy strategy. In February this year, Charles River Laboratories agreed to pay $875 million in cash to acquire Cognate BioServices. The deal propelled the biopharma services firm into the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) space, adding a network of cell therapy and plasmid DNA manufacturing facilities. The deal went through…

October 14, 2021

Avid turns to viral vector production on back of strong CGT growth

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CDMO Avid Bioservices will expand its biomanufacturing services to include viral vector development and production, investing up to $75 million in a California facility. Biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Avid Bioservices revealed today to build a 53,000 square foot viral vector development and GMP manufacturing facility in Costa Mesa, California at a cost of between $65 million to $75 million. The facility, which could be operational within two years, will initially support projects up to 200 L using…

October 14, 2021

Aceto buffers up presence in bioprocessing with A&C buy

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A&C Bio Buffer is the sixth acquisition for Aceto in the past two years and signals the firm’s ambitions in the biomanufacturing services space. The deal, financials of which have not been disclosed, brings Aceto a GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) manufacturer of custom buffer and chemical blend products used in the manufacturing of biopharmaceutical drug products, with a facility in Limerick, Ireland producing over 50 products including biological buffers, process solutions, cleaning solutions and WFI (Water for Injection). “A&C Bio…

October 13, 2021

Lonza ups mammalian cell services in Singapore

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The increased capabilities in Singapore will support both upstream and downstream processing and analytical development, the CDMO says. The size of the investment has not been disclosed, but Jeetendra Vaghjiani, senior director of Clinical Development for Mammalian Biologics, Lonza told this publication the expansion consists of a 1800 m2 lab built at the Singapore Science Park in Tuas along with the renovation of an existing 1500 m2 lab. “We are adding more capacity across all our technologies, supporting upstream and…

October 13, 2021

Simulated Bed fellows: Tosoh buys purification firm Semba

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Tosoh Bioscience says it will complement its resins business through the addition of continuous chromatography firm Semba Biosciences. The deal, which closed earlier this month, saw Pennsylvania-based Tosoh add all Semba’s staff and assets for an undisclosed fee. The acquisition will boost the firm’s downstream bioproduction portfolio, made up of chromatography resins, with the addition of Semba’s simulated moving bed (SMB) chromatography systems (see text box below). “Coupled with Semba’s revolutionary multi-column chromatography technology we have found a perfect complement…

October 11, 2021

Boosters and beyond: CDMOs likely to continue to ride COVID-19 wave

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Inoculating children and booster jabs will further fuel CDMO demand argues GlobalData’s Fiona Barry, who adds industry’s reliance on third-party manufacturers will not abate post-pandemic. Since the start of the pandemic, biopharma’s efforts and determination in developing and producing billions of vaccines and therapeutics have led to some companies and sectors benefitting from a COVID-19 windfall. The contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) sector is one such group, with both drug substance and drug product capacity proving crucial in the…

October 8, 2021

Boehringer opens $800m plant with 185,000 L bioreactor capacity

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Boehringer Ingelheim’s biologics facility in Vienna, Austria boasts 48 bioreactors to support both its own products and its CDMO business. It has been six years in the making, but German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim inaugurated its latest site this week, opening the doors on its Large Scale Cell Culture (LSCC) biologics manufacturing plant in Vienna, Austria. The facility boasts a total of 48 stainless-steel bioreactors at various scales, including nine 15,000 L tanks, along with digitalization and automation technologies, and artificial…

October 8, 2021

Moderna lays plans for $500m African mRNA plant

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Details remain under wraps, but the $500 million investment will lead to Moderna’s first biomanufacturing facility outside of North America. Moderna, which sprang to the forefront of biopharma on the back of the success of its COVID-19 vaccine, announced yesterday it will invest up to $500 million into a facility on the African continent to support production of its messenger RNA portfolio. While the exact location (Africa is a big place!) has not yet been decided, a spokesperson for the…

October 8, 2021

CDMO BioCina rises out of Pfizer’s Australian ashes

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Bridgewest Group has launched BioCina, a microbial therapy and mRNA-based manufacturer operating from a former Pfizer facility in Adelaide, Australia. Last year, Bridgewest Australia Holdings, a subsidiary of private investment firm Bridgewest Group, entered the biologics production space by inking a deal to acquire a Pfizer plant in Adelaide, Australia. This week, the company has completed an expansion program and relaunched the 60,000 square-foot site under its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) banner BioCina. The Adelaide site now includes…

October 6, 2021

Human error at CDMO led to Moderna vaccine contamination in Japan

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An investigation has found an incorrectly assembled production line at Spanish CDMO Rovi led to the presence of foreign particles in a lot of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. In August, Japan put on hold the rollout of 1.6 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine after “foreign materials†were discovered in approximately 565,000 vials. Moderna and Takeda Pharmaceuticals, which distributes the vaccine in Japan, pointed the finger at contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Laboratorios Farmacéuticos Rovi, and this week confirmed the issue stemmed…

October 5, 2021