Author Archives: Dan Stanton

Three-way collaboration looks to scalable purification for AAV

The UK’s Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) will work with CDMO Cobra Biologics and vendor GE Healthcare to reduce the cost of making adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors. Funded by a £570,000 ($750,000) grant from Innovate UK, the three-way consortium is looking to increase the robustness and reduce costs for the manufacturing of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors to feed the growing gene therapy space. The collaboration will see each player contribute its expertise. GE Healthcare’s Puridify fibre-based chromatography technology platform will…

Celltrion ‘wrapping up’ 50,000L expansion in Korea; eyes third plant

Celltrion says an additional 50,000 L of bioreactor capacity will come online next year. Meanwhile, the Korean drugmaker is “undecided†on the location of a third biomanufacturing facility. A capacity expansion at Celltrion is close to completion, doubling the size of the firm’s first facility at its site in Songdo, Incheon, South Korea. “Celltrion is currently wrapping up steps to add 50,000 liters of expanded capacity to its first plant based in Incheon,†spokesperson Heewon Park told BioProcess Insider. Presently,…

Gene editing deal leaves Thermo Fisher ‘unique in offering TALENs and CRISPR’

Thermo Fisher Scientific has increased its gene editing technology offering by licensing CRISPR/Cas9 technologies from the Broad Institute and ERS Genomics. Thermo Fisher will now be able to offer its biopharma customers several genome editing offerings through the in-license deals. “Genome editing has unlocked the door for researchers to begin understanding gene function, which is fundamental in unraveling and outlining basic biological processes and disease pathways,†said Helge Bastian, vice president and general manager of Synthetic Biology at Thermo Fisher…

UK orders smallpox vaccine in response to monkeypox occurrences

Bavarian Nordic has supplied volumes of its smallpox vaccine for personnel involved in the treatment of two UK patients diagnosed with monkeypox. At the time of going to press, two patients have been diagnosed with the potentially fatal but rare disease monkeypox in the United Kingdom. Both are believed to have contracted the disease in Nigeria, where there has recently been a monkeypox outbreak. While there is no specific treatment or vaccine for the viral zoonotic disease, Public Health England…

Lonza targets both early and late-stage biotech in $415m Ibex expansion

CDMO Lonza has invested CHF 400 million in a site in Switzerland to expand its Ibex Solutions business, adding end-to-end services for biotech customers. Contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Lonza has launched today Ibex Design and Ibex Develop, offering smaller biopharma companies complete product lifecycle management. The CHF 400 million ($415 million) expansion follows the launch of the Ibex Solutions service in July 2017, which saw the firm look to provide flexible production capacity for biotherapeutics through a biopark…

Prefab sprouts in China as BeiGene selects GE for MAb facility

Much of Asia lacks traditional biomanufacturing infrastructure according to GE Healthcare, which says prefabricated facilities like its KUBio platform can support the rapid biologics growth in the region. BeiGene Ltd inked a deal with GE Healthcare in 2015 to install the bioprocessing vendor’s FlexFactory platform at its clinical monoclonal antibody facility in Suzhou, China. Three years on and the Chinese biotech firm has chosen GE Healthcare’s prefabricated biomanufacturing facility offering KUBio for commercial production of cancer MAbs at a site…

Eli Lilly on M&A: Balancing the science with the shareholders

Many early-phase acquisitions do not make sense for shareholders despite having promising assets, says Lilly’s CFO Joshua Smiley. About a third of Lilly’s pipeline comes from M&A. Speaking to attendees at the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Conference Broker Conference Call this month, Eli Lilly CFO Joshua Smiley said his firm is “interested in doing early stage clinical deals where we see compelling scientific rationale in our key therapeutic areas and that we can upgrade our pipeline.†But deals also need to…

Video news: Pall strategic deals aim to enable biosimilar and novel scale-up

Pall Corporation has inked separate partnerships with cell line and expression tech firms Celltheon and Aetos Biologics. The deals help enable both novel and biosimilar manufacturing, the firm says. At the 2018 BPI Conference in Boston, Massachusetts earlier this month, Pall Corporation announced it had entered into a strategic partnership with cell line and expression technology platform development company Celltheon Corporation.   The deal combines Pall’s bioprocessing equipment and consumables with Celltheon’s SMART Expression Platform to offer customers integrated systems…

B-I working with CMO on viral therapies after $245m ViraTherapeutics buy

Boehringer Ingelheim has acquired ViraTherapeutics for €210 million ($245 million) and tells us how it will integrate the viral therapy firm into its oncology business. In September 2016, German biomanufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim partnered with Austrian based ViraTherapeutics GmbH to develop an oncolytic virus therapy platform and bring various programs through the clinic. As part of the deal, Boehringer Ingelheim had the right to acquire its collaborator after the conclusion of Phase I clinical development, something the firm has now undertaken…

September 2018 BioProcess Insider

Launched in June 2018, the BioProcess Insider digital information portal delivers the latest financial and business news and expert insider views influencing the commercialization of biopharmaceuticals. Here are just a few recent stories edited for our space limitations in print. For more discussion and in-depth analysis, check out the website at www.bioprocessinsider.com. Every edition provides expert and insider perspectives on current financial movements and deal-making; the newest technology purchases and capacity investments; regulations affecting the bioprocessing sector; global market actions…