Author Archives: Dan Stanton

MicrofluidX to take on single-use tech with microfluidics for CGTs

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MicrofluidX will use fundraising money to advance its cell bioprocessing technology, which uses microfluidics to tackle challenges associated with bioprocessing advanced therapies. The London, UK-based firm has raised £1.4 million ($1.7 million) in seed funding to advance its microfluidics-based technology, which aims to combat challenges associated with the production of cell and gene therapies (CGTs) such as cost of goods, batch variability, and scalability. “Cell and gene therapies have demonstrated significant therapeutic potential. However, these treatments are now at a…

April 27, 2020

Emergent to produce J&J COVID-19 vaccine in $135m contract

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As it prepares to advance its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, J&J has contracted CDMO Emergent Biosolutions and reserved large-scale capacity at its site in Maryland. In its efforts to tackle the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), Johnson & Johnson (J&J) began working on a vaccine candidate in early January and last month identified a lead COVID-19 vaccine candidate and two backups. To prepare for trials and future approval, the firm has inked a deal with contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Emergent BioSolutions…

April 24, 2020

Eli Lilly and AbCellera begin GMP manufacture of potential COVID-19 MAb

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Eli Lilly has three therapy programs attempting to combat COVID-19 but says its monoclonal antibody partnership with AbCellera is the most significant. In March, Eli Lilly inked a deal to codevelop antibody products for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus, using AbCellera’s pandemic response platform. While discussing its first quarter 2020 results, Lilly described the collaboration as the “most significant program†of its active therapeutic programs it is pursuing against COVID-19 and…

April 24, 2020

Oxford University latest horse in COVID-19 race as AAV vaccine enters clinic

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The first patients have been dosed with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, an adenovirus vaccine vector (AAV) developed by the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford. It becomes the fifth COVID-19 vaccine to enter the clinic. Clinical trials of the vaccine, based on an adenovirus vaccine vector (AAV) and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, began today in healthy volunteers aged between 18 – 55 in Oxford, UK. The vaccine was developed at Oxford’s Jenner Institute and was chosen as the most suitable vaccine…

April 23, 2020

Sartorius’ strong Q1 shows ‘defensiveness of bioprocess industry,’ analysts

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Sartorius reported pronounced year-on-year increases in sales and orders for its first quarter 2020, indicating the opportunities for bioprocessing and the resilience of biopharma amid the coronavirus pandemic. For many businesses, the first quarter 2020 could be described as exceptional; at best subdued, but more realistically unsettling or even disastrous. Since January, the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has led to systematic shutdowns and lockdowns, creating fiscal uncertainty and forcing many businesses to shut up shop. But for Sartorius Stedim Biotech, the…

April 22, 2020

MilliporeSigma invests $110m in gene therapy CDMO biz

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MilliporeSigma is building a second facility at its gene therapy site in California, adding 11 production suites and more than doubling its viral vector capacity. The life sciences services division of Merck KGaA, MilliporeSigma, has been involved in the gene therapy area since 1997 through its site in Carlsbad, California. In 2016, the company expanded the site from 44,000 square feet to 65,000 square feet to meet growing demand for viral and gene therapy products. Now the firm has announced…

April 22, 2020

FairJourney and Iontas: Speed and collaboration key to developing coronavirus antibodies

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Antibodies must be developable and manufacturable say FairJourney and Iontas, the latest partnership aiming to bring a therapy against COVID-19 to fruition. Recently we published a comprehensive guide to all the antibody-based therapies being developed to treat COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). The latest firms looking to this modality in the battle against the virus are UK-based biotech Iontas and Portugese contract research organization (CRO) FairJourney Biologics, which announced a partnership to combine the latter’s phage display antibody…

April 21, 2020

COVID-19 pipeline: Industry flexing its Abs in fight against coronavirus

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From Regeneron to GSK, monoclonal to bispecific, industry is increasingly looking at antibody (Ab) therapies to tackle the novel coronavirus. We bring you a comprehensive guide to what’s in the pipeline. Only six weeks ago, Bioprocess Insider brought to you a highlights reel of the treatments and prophylaxis in the development pipeline to treat COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). But six weeks is a very long time in a global pandemic, and since then new projects have begun…

April 17, 2020

Over-capacity concern drives Bellicum to sell Texas CAR-T plant for $15m

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The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has acquired the 60,000 square-foot Houston facility and entered into an agreement to manufacture cellular therapies for Bellicum Pharmaceuticals. The $15 million (€13.8 million) sale, first announced in January, went through this week and sees MD Anderson Cancer Center take over operations at the Houston, Texas site less than a year after Bellicum completed the buildout of the manufacturing space. The sale took place following an evaluation of Bellicum’s manufacturing strategy as…

April 17, 2020

J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine: ‘Four production plants, one billion doses by end of 2021’

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J&J says its Janssen Adeno vector and PER.C6 technologies provide the ability to rapidly develop and upscale production of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate Not unexpectedly, much of Johnson & Johnson’s Q1 2020 financial call was taken up with talk of coronavirus. “COVID-19 is one of the most severe global health challenges we have seen in our lifetimes, but at the same time, we have unprecedented science and technology available today to help us mount a false and effective response,†said…

April 15, 2020