Author Archives: Dan Stanton

Rentschler doubling commercial capacity through US expansion

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Driven by demand for an increasing complexity and diversity of modalities, CDMO Rentschler has broken ground on a second facility in Milford, Massachusetts. German contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Rentschler laid down its US roots in 2019 when it bought a biomanufacturing facility from the now defunct Shire in January 2019 in Milford, Massachusetts – about 20 miles southwest of Boston. Now the firm has begun expanding its presence, breaking ground on facility adjacent to the ex-Shire plant set to…

August 13, 2021

Novavax: Analytical work keeping vaccine at bay, Fujifilm not to blame

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Novavax expects EUA submission for its COVID-19 vaccine to occur in the fourth quarter this year due to analytical work delays. Novavax was one of the forerunners of the COVID-19 vaccine pioneers, attempting to bring its prefusion protein-based vaccine NVX-CoV2373 – made using Novavax’ proprietary nanoparticle technology and Matrix–M adjuvant – to market with help from $1.6 billion of US government assistance through the ‘Operation Warp Speed’ program. However, while peers such as Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J have achieved regulatory…

August 12, 2021

Merck KGaA highlights MilliporeSigma as ‘star performer’ in Q2

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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…

August 11, 2021

Podcast: GSK’s digital twin approach to vaccine development

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GSK relates its experience of adopting a digital twin technology initiative for its vaccine business on the latest episode of the BioProcess Insider Expression Platform podcast. A digital twin is a virtual representation that serves as the real-time digital counterpart of a physical object or process. Biopharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has adopted this technology to advance its vaccine development and manufacturing division. A year after partnering with Siemens and Atos to pilot a digital twin in order to create a…

August 10, 2021

Sartorius buys media firm Xell among ‘lively’ M&A environment

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Xell AG is only Sartorius’s second acquisition this year despite CEO Joachim Kreuzburg saying his firm look at numerous &A activities each week. The €50 million ($60 million) deal sees Sartorius add German firm Xell to its subgroup Sartorius Stedim Biotech, extending its media and feed supplement business for cell cultures. Xell also expands Sartorius’ analytical services for characterizing, screening, and quantifying media components, as well as for optimizing media composition. “With this acquisition, we are expanding our current media…

July 30, 2021

Bayview’s back: FDA gives Emergent green light to resume vaccine production

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Emergent took a $54 million hit from remediation efforts and inventory write-downs at its Bayview plant and saw a $108 million reduction in its CDMO backlog. But now the firm is free to restart vaccine production for customer J&J. Emergent BioSolution’s Bayview, Maryland facility had been contracted by both Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca to make their respective COVID-19 vaccines, but an ingredient mix up rendered 15 million doses unusable and landed the plant with a Form 483 and a directive…

July 30, 2021

Repligen expanding MA and Ireland sites to support long-term growth

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Repligen will lease a plant in Hopkington, Massachusetts and build a facility in Waterford, Ireland as part of capacity growth plans. Repligen announced its second quarter 2021 financials this week, reporting sales of $163 million, up 86% year-on-year. Like its bioprocess peers, record revenue – along with significant order intake – relate to a mix of a robust industry sector and the high demand for COVID-19 related vaccine and therapy consumables and services. Also like its bioprocess vendor peers, Repligen…

July 29, 2021

Sartorius eyes single-use opportunities in Alzheimer’s and China

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Sartorius says it is witnessing substantial opportunities for its single-use portfolio in new indications and markets. Sartorius continued to see double-digit growth in both sales revenue and order intake for the first half of 2021 due to “unabated high demand for innovative technologies used in the development and production of biopharmaceuticals.†With group sales up 54% to €1.63 billion ($2 billion), CEO Joachim Kreuzburg cited both COVID-19 related revenue, from vaccine and testing manufacturers, and non-pandemic demand for bioprocess equipment…

July 28, 2021

PerkinElmer continues M&A path with $5.25bn BioLegend deal

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PerkinElmer is set to add antibody and reagent supplier BioLegend in a deal that analysts say could transform its Discovery and Analytical Solutions (DAS) business into a high growth segment. The acquisition announced yesterday and expected to close by the end of the year will see life sciences giant PerkinElmer pay $5.25 billion – including $2.2 billion in stock consideration – for private antibody and reagent developer BioLegend. The proposed deal xpands PerkinElmer into the “fast growing, high margin, antibody…

July 27, 2021

With $100m in hand, Kriya set to bring GMP gene therapy plant online

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Kriya Therapeutics will use $100 million from a Series B funding to develop its gene therapy manufacturing platforms and says its GMP plant in North Carolina will come online this year. The Series B financing – led by Patient Square Capital, with participation from new investors Woodline Partners LP, CAM Capital, Hongkou, Alumni Ventures and others – closed earlier this month. The funding will help support Kriya’s gene therapy platforms and manufacturing infrastructure, which aim to reduce the cost of…

July 26, 2021