Author Archives: Gareth Macdonald

Thermo’s $39bn+ sales driven by 25% y-o-y biopharma growth

by

Thermo Fisher has increased its guidance for 2022 predicting that COVID-19 related work and the contribution from PPD would drive growth. The technology and services firm announced the revision last week during a full year earnings call when it revealed that full year revenue grew 22% to $39.21 billion. It went on to explain that organic revenue – sales generated by Thermo’s core businesses – increased 17%. It also said the contribution from acquisitions – including contract research organization PPD which…

February 7, 2022

Catalent will increase CapEx to boost biologics business

by

Catalent will spend more than $700m to expand development and production capacity for biopharmaceutical products. The CDMO outlined the plan during its Q2 earning call this week, explaining it will spend 15 to 16% of its net revenue in fiscal 2022 – which it expects to be in the $4.74 billion to $4.86 billion range – to expand its biologics business. CFO Thomas Castellano told analysts “We expect CapEx to be approximately 15% to 16% of our fiscal 2022 net…

February 3, 2022

CDMO Arranta buys Cytiva single-use tech for mRNA production

by

Live biologics CDMO Arranta Bio has bought a single-use manufacturing platform from Cytiva for the production of mRNA vaccines.  The purchase is part of a $110 million investment by Arranta at its manufacturing and development facility in Watertown, Massachusetts. The CDMO also plans to open a dedicate space for lipid nanoparticle formulation  Joe Makowiecki from Cytiva, told us “This is the first FlexFactory for an mRNA product,†adding that it will “provide Arranta the flexibility to manufacture mRNA vaccines and therapies from in vitro transcription (IVT) to drug product aseptic fill.    He predicted that…

January 27, 2022

Fujifilm Dio signs long term supply deal and buys plant from Atara

by

Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies will buy Atara Biotherapeutics’ T-Cell operations and facility in Thousand Oaks, California for $100 million.  The deal will also see the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) sign a long-term supply agreement covering both clinical and commercial production of Atara’s range allogeneic cell therapies.   Specific candidates will include tabelecleucel, ATA188 for multiple sclerosis and the allogeneic CAR T therapies, ATA3271 and ATA3219. Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies also said it will expand use of the Thousand Oaks facility – which is known as ATOM – to manufacture a…

January 27, 2022

eBook: Antibody–Drug Conjugates —
A New Generation of Approaches Is Changing the Game

by , , and

Combining large proteins with linkers and cytotoxins, antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) may be the most complex drug molecules in development today. Despite early promise and product approvals, a number of technical concerns arose during product and process development. Characterizing and ensuring consistency in the number of small molecules that attach to the antibody — as well as ensuring their proper attachment and biophysics — all present significant challenges to ADC developers. Solving early problems associated with product quality has introduced a…

January 26, 2022

Samsung Bio buoyed by COVID, citing mRNA and mAbs as drivers

by

Samsung Biologics says COVID-19 related demand drove growth in 2021 and predicts mRNA business will be key this year.  The Korean contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) saw revenue of KRW444.3 billion ($328 million) in the fourth quarter of 2021, up 18% on the comparable period in 2020.   Profits increase 39% to KRW128.8 billion. For the full year revenue and operating profit grew 35% and 84%, respectively.  Samsung also said its fourth quarter operating margin jumped 29% due to increased utilization across all…

January 24, 2022

COVID driving revs but patent loss and markets continue to shape pharma

by

COVID-19 will be a revenue driver and R&D focus for biopharma, but pre-pandemic factors like patent expiry and emerging markets continue to shape the sector says IQVIA. The research services and analytics firm made the comments in a report, predicting spending on meds will reach $1.8 trillion by 2026 with a significant contribution coming from COVID-19 vaccine and booster shot sales. According to the authors, “The total cumulative spending on COVID-19 vaccines since their introduction through 2026 is projected to…

January 4, 2022

RNA sector set for progress thanks to decades long research drive

by

The RNA drug sector has overcome some significant hurdles according to Alynlam Therapeutics CEO John Maraganore, who says industry efforts to work with these challenging molecules have laid the foundations for growth. “The scientific obstacles are best defined here, small interfering RNA molecules are large. They’re charged. They’re susceptible to biological degradation. They’re also prone to activated immune sensor systems. And so the challenge of making drugs out of small interfering RNAs was really a formidable scientific challenge that needed…

December 22, 2021

Digital transformation must be driven by technology and savvy staff

by

Staff who understand the benefits of digital manufacturing are as important as the technology itself, according to a Novartis expert Digitization is a hot topic for biopharma. Advocates say the ability to monitor and model manufacturing data in real-time as a major advantage in terms of product quality and consistency. Technology is driving the shift from analog. But having staff who understand the benefits is as important according to Francisca Gouveia, a Senior Process Expert, MS&T at Novartis, who says…

December 20, 2021

Ampersand backs Alliance Pharma and plans ‘aggressive’ growth plan

by

Private equity firm Ampersand Capital Partners has invested in bioanalytical services contractor, Alliance Pharma. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed. Ampersand confirmed that company founder and president, Frank Li, will remain a significant shareholder in Alliance. Malvern, Pennsylvania-headquartered Alliance provides discovery bioanalytical, DMPK, regulated bioanalysis, biomarker, LC-MS/MS, immunoassay services as well as cell and gene therapy and protein characterization. The firm works on all stages of drug development from animal studies through all phases of clinical development. It…

December 13, 2021