Horizon Discovery’s new CEO Terry Pizzie says the rate of technology evolution is greater than at any other time in his illustrious career as he reflects on the state of the bioprocessing services industry. Terry Pizzie joined Horizon Discovery Group in 2017 as head of commercial operations, but in May this year he was appointed to the top job. Pizzie has worked in life sciences for close to 30 years and spoke with BioProcess Insider about the changes he has…
Gilead’s CSO spoke about its choice of zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) for ex-vivo gene editing at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Healthcare Conference. In February, Kite Pharma – acquired by Gilead Sciences for US$11.9 billion in last August – struck a deal to use Sangamo Therapeutic’s ZFN technology to modify genes in the development of its autologous and allogeneic cell therapies. Kite/Gilead paid $150 million up front to the fellow Californian firm but Sangamo could be entitled to a…
A week after buying AveXis, Novartis has announced plans to build a gene therapy manufacturing facility in Durham, North Carolina. On May 15, Swiss Biopharma Novartis confirmed the completion of the US$8.7 billion (€7.4 billion) acquisition of clinical stage gene therapy firm AveXis. A week later, Novartis has unveiled plans for a $55 million gene therapy production plant in Durham, North Carolina to support AveXis’ gene therapy pipeline targeting rare neurological genetic diseases. AveXis’ lead candidate AVXS-101, in development for…
Biogen has opted to increase its control in biosimilar venture Samsung Bioepis to 49.5%, according to partner Samsung BioLogics. Biogen sent South Korean biomanufacturer Samsung BioLogics a letter last week declaring its intention to increase its stake in the firms’ joint venture Samsung Bioepis from 5.4% to 49.5%. According to Samsung BioLogics, Biogen will pay around 700 billion Won (US$650 million) for an additional 44.6% stake in the JV, with the deal expected to take two to three months to…
CDMO Biomay has teamed with BIA Separations to tackle bottlenecks in the cell lysis and purification stages of large DNA plasmid production. Chromatographic column maker BIA Separations will work with Biomay to develop a high yield and purity manufacturing process for ‘large’ plasmid DNA used for therapeutic application. Large plasmids are commonly used as starting materials for manufacturing of viral gene therapy vectors, said Hans Huber, COO of Biomay. “For instance, manufacturing of the adeno-associated viral vector system (AAV) requires three…
High productivities and specialized targets means Catalent’s 2,000 L scale bioreactors can easily realize production needs for its orphan biosimilar and biobetter candidates, says Valerius Biopharma’s CEO. Swiss biopharma firm Valerius Biopharma has selected Catalent Biologics to provide cell line development and cGMP manufacturing for its burgeoning biosimilar pipeline. The firm has not disclosed the specific targets but CEO Andreas Herrmann told BioProcess Insider “two are biosimilars of orphan drugs and the other two are products, where we want to…
Eli Lilly adds AK-01 – an Aurora kinase A inhibitor it originally discovered – to its early-stage pipeline. The acquisition comes days after Lilly bought Armo BioSciences for US$1.6 billion. In 2016, biopharma giant Eli Lilly sold AK-01 to venture capital firm TVM Capital Life Science, which went on to establish AurKa Pharma. This week, the firm has announced it is buying it back through the acquisition of AurKa. The is an Aurora kinase A inhibitor being tested in multiple…
After weeks of negotiations, Shire has agreed to a Takeda takeover bid worth US$62 billion. The combined company will consist of over 35 manufacturing sites globally. Japanese firm Takeda first made a bid for Ireland-headquartered rare diseases biopharmaceutical company Shire in March. After several rebuffed offers, the firms agreed to merge this week in a deal worth $62 billion (€52 billion). The deal is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. A $32 billion bid for Shire made by AbbVie in…
Repligen will launch several new filtration and chromatography offerings this year as its strategy of developing products based on technology acquisitions pays off. For the first quarter 2018, Repligen Corporation reported record revenues of US$45 million (€38 million), up 46% on the same period last year. The bioprocessing company attributed the results to strong sales of its filtration and chromatography products – up by over 90% year-on-year – bolstered by the $359 million acquisition of Spectrum in June 2017. “Our…
Spark Therapeutics has sold its Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher (PRV) to Jazz Pharmaceuticals for US$110 Million (€92 million). Spark Therapeutics received the PRV from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) when its gene therapy for inherited retinal disease, Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec), was approved. But the firm disclosed in an SEC filing it is selling the voucher to Ireland-headquartered biopharma firm Jazz to help support its future R&D. “We will invest the proceeds from the sale back into the…