Deal-Making

Inhouse and out: AstraZeneca secures COVID-19 vaccine capacity

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Contracts with CDMOs Catalent, Emergent Biosolutions, Cobra, and Novasep and the retrofitting of a facility in Ohio will support AstraZeneca and the Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate. AstraZeneca was among the second wave of Big Pharma firms to enter the rush to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 in April when it teamed with the Jenner Institute and the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford on its ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 program. Production of the vaccine…

June 17, 2020

Is Catalent set to make another major acquisition?

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With CDMO Catalent set to raise around $550 million in a public offering, some commentators believe another large acquisition could be around the corner. Contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Catalent has announced the pricing of a public offering of shares of its common stock, expected to close next week resulting in proceeds of approximately $550 million. This is the third time in two years that the firm has tapped the public equity market. In July 2018, the CDMO announced…

June 11, 2020

COVID-19 round-up: Vaccine capacity M&A, deals and task orders

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Emergent has received $628 million to support vaccine production; Novavax buys Czech Republic-based Praha Vaccines; Vaxart contracts Kindred Biosciences. Just another week in the fight against COVID-19. Emergent Biosolutions is working on several projects to support the development of COVID-19 vaccines but has been buoyed by a US government task order of $628 million to support rapid domestic production through 2021. The task order forms part of a contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the US Department…

June 4, 2020

Thermo Fisher adding 12,000L to bio-capacity with Swiss plant from CSL

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Thermo Fisher will take over operations at CSL’s biomanufacturing site in Lengnau – currently under construction – adding 12,000 L of stainless-steel bioreactor capacity to its CDMO network. CSL Behring broke ground on the 1.5 million square-foot site in Lengnau, near Bern in Switzerland back in 2015, with plans to use the facilities to manufacture recombinant products, specifically in its hematology pipeline. At the time, the firm, which invested approximately CHF 1 billion ($1 billion) into the project, said the…

June 2, 2020

Oxford Biomedica to make AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for trials

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Oxford Biomedica will make trial supplies of AZD1222 – AstraZeneca’s SARS-CoV-2 candidate vaccine – under a deal agreed this week. The cell and gene therapy contractor will make the adenovirus vector-based vaccine at its recently established manufacturing facility – known as Oxbox – at the Oxford Science Park in Oxford, UK. The agreement – which is for one year – will see Oxford Biomedica supply AstraZeneca with multiple batches of vaccine, the majority of which are expected to be produced…

May 29, 2020

AveXis redeploying CDMO gene therapy capacity to support COVID-19 project

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The Novartis gene therapy business will contribute its technology and dedicated space at a facility run by CDMO Catalent to help produce a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Massachusetts-based researchers. Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Massachusetts General Hospital have teamed to develop a vaccine candidate that uses an adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector to deliver and express the Spike gene of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, to elicit an immune response. The developers have turned to AveXis, the gene therapy division…

May 28, 2020

Merck exercises option to use Vaxxas vaccine delivery patch

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Merck & Co. will use Vaxxas’ delivery patch technology in one of its vaccine candidate development programs. Brisbane, Australia based Vaxxas announced the agreement today, explaining the US drug firm exercised an option under a co-development accord signed in 2012. Vaxxas CEO David Hoey told us the technology – known as the High Density Microarray Patch (HD-MAP) platform – “uses an ultra-high density array of very short projections applied briefly to the skin to rapidly deliver vaccine to the abundant…

May 28, 2020

Viral vector vaccines and a nucleotide: Merck enters the COVID game

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A triumvirate of deals, including the acquisition of a firm that uses the measles virus as a carrier for vaccines, sees Merck & Co. jumpstart its COVID-19 efforts. The first of the three announcements – which all came on the same day – will see Merck & Co. acquire vaccine developer Themis. The private Austrian firm is already working with Merck to develop vaccine candidates using its viral vector platform. The technology, developed at the Institut Pasteur and licensed to…

May 27, 2020

Cytiva to help Takara gear up for COVID-19 vaccine production

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Cytiva will help Japan’s Takara Bio prepare manufacturing processes for a DNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate. Cytiva announced the collaboration this week, explaining it will work with Takara and partners Osaka University and AnGes to develop production processes and technology for the vaccine. Stephane Perrey, general manager for Cytiva in Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, told us “Cytiva is providing process design consultation, prioritization of equipment manufacturing and prioritization of consumables manufacturing. “We worked closely with Takara Bio to help them…

May 22, 2020

Aragen and Avid team to offer combined development and manufacturing services

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The collaboration offers customers an end-to-end service incorporating cell line development from Aragen Bioscience with process development and manufacturing from Avid Bioservices. Contract research organization (CRO) Aragen has teamed with contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Avid to provide biopharma customers a package from early cell line development through to cGMP manufacturing. “Many of our prospect customers are requesting expedited timelines to GLP-Tox pilot batch and cGMP drug substance deliveries for their early stage programs,†an Avid spokesperson told Bioprocess…

May 12, 2020