Author Archives: Millie Nelson

UCB invests $221m to construct a gene therapy facility

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UCB will construct a gene therapy and clinical manufacturing plant at its campus in Braine l’Alleud, Wallonia, Belgium. According to UCB, the evolution of the gene therapy space has altered how diseases are being treated but the production of viral vectors remains a consistent challenge because of the complex manufacturing process. Therefore, developing capabilities and flexible manufacturing is critical to succeeding in the gene therapy industry. To establish an end-to-end process, Belgium’s biggest drug maker has decided to invest more…

March 14, 2022

Cytiva pumps further $47m into Welsh single-use site

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Cytiva is opening a facility in Cardiff, Wales to produce single-use bioprocessing technologies on the back of global demand. The 11,000 m² Cardiff facility is part of the $1.5 billion investment announced in July 2021 to expand manufacturing capacity for life sciences products at thirteen Danaher Corporation sites run by Cytiva and Pall to meet customer demand. Over two years, the company will invest £36 million ($47m) into the expansion at the Cardiff site, which has already begun to make flow…

March 14, 2022

Evonetix hits milestone in development of DNA synthesis

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Synthetic biology company Evonetix has achieved enzymatic DNA synthesis capability with its thermally controlled synthesis chemistry, allowing the production of scarless DNA sequences. Evonetix is aiming to bring semiconductor technology to DNA synthesis and claims it has achieved enzymatic DNA synthesis through its thermally controlled synthesis chemistry, which is part of a three-year development program supported by Innovated UK and Durham University. The firm said the results demonstrate that its semiconductor array-based platform is compatible with enzymatic and chemical DNA…

March 9, 2022

IDT Biologika and Exothera team on viral vaccine manufacturing

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The partnership will see IDT Biologika and Exothera collaborate to develop a large-scale manufacturing process for viral vector-based vaccines. According to both contract development manufacturing organizations (CDMOs), the study will focus on Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) as a first example for IDT’s wide range of vector technologies. “The MVA is a viral vector that has been successfully validated with a long history of use in clinical trials. MVA expressing recombinant antigens is a flexible vaccine tool that has been shown…

March 8, 2022

Moderna picks Kenya for mRNA facility

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Moderna has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of the Republic of Kenya to establish Kenya as the location for its mRNA plant. Moderna announced the $500 million investment in October 2021 but did not disclose where the messenger RNA (mRNA) manufacturing facility would be built. Now, with the assistance of the US Government, the firm has entered into a MoU to confirm that the facility will be located in Kenya. The aim of the facility…

March 8, 2022

VR training can help meet industry demand, says CGT Catapult

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CGT Catapult has started to include virtual reality (VR) training across the entirety of its skills development programs to meet demands of the industry.  Workforce development opportunities are a focal point in the pharma space as there is a general consensus among professionals that the amount of talent coming through the ranks does not match the huge investment in capacity being seen across the life sciences industry.   With many roles requiring highly skilled workers, training programs are being altered and updated to…

March 7, 2022

Canada approves plant-based COVID-19 vax

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Health Canada has granted authorization for Covifenz, a plant-based COVID-19 vaccine developed by Medicago and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Covifenz is made up of plant-based virus-like particles (VLP) and aims to prevent COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in individuals between the ages of 18 to 64 years old. Medicago uses its Proficia technology to synthesize the virus’ code once a virus has been genetically sequenced. In doing so, the firm claims its genetic instructions can then be…

March 3, 2022

ConserV receives UK Aid funding for pan-coronavirus candidate

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ConserV Bioscience has been awarded £415,000 ($556,000) by UK Aid funding to drive development of a coronavirus vaccine immune to variants, UNICOR-v. The firm claims UNICOR-v could possibly protect people against future epidemics caused by a coronavirus spreading from animals to human, as well as new variants that could emerge from SARS-Cov-2 without needing a frequent booster. UNICOR-v consists of twelve antigens from conserved regions, which includes clusters of reactive T-cell epitopes for various human leukocyte antigens (HLAs). It aims…

March 2, 2022

FDA approves J&J’s myeloma cell therapy

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The US FDA has approved a CAR-T therapy developed by Johnson & Johnson and its partner Legend Biotech to treat white blood cell cancer. J&J division Janssen Biotech entered the cell and gene therapy space in 2017, teaming up with Legend Biotech for the development of Carvykti ( ciltacabtagene autoleucel; ciltacel), a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy that specifically targets the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) and is known as LCAR-B38M in China. Now, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has…

March 2, 2022

PerkinElmer teams with CRG for diabetes gene therapy

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PerkinElmer acquisition Sirion Biotech has partnered with the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, Spain to develop adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors for type 1 and 2 diabetes. Viral vector-based gene therapy firm Sirion (acquired by PerkinElmer in June 2021) will use its AAV technology platform alongside international biomedical research center CRG’s knowledge of genetic regulatory mechanisms. The goal of the partnership is to create AAV vectors that target specific pancreatic cell types and contain payloads that express therapeutic genes…

February 28, 2022