Facilities & Capacity

Translate Bio, Sanofi secure CDMO capacity for potential COVID-19 mRNA vaccine

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Sanofi has become the latest firm to leverage mRNA vaccine technology to tackle COVID-19. Its partner Translate Bio, meanwhile, has secured dedicated manufacturing capacity at AMRI to respond to the potential global demand. France’s Sanofi Pasteur announced it is extending an alliance formed in 2018 with Translate Bio specifically to target the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Translate is already producing multiple mRNA constructs through its MRT platform, and now the platform will be used to discover, design and manufacture a number…

March 31, 2020

Vaccine production plant forms part of Canada’s COVID-19 response

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The University of Saskatchewan’s (USask) has received funding from the Canadian government to construct a pilot manufacturing plant to support trials of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Like many governments, Canada’s is ploughing funds into tackling the coronavirus pandemic currently sweeping the globe. A CAD 275 million ($195 million) fund for COVID-19 health research has been announced, and includes several investment in USask’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac), which it says is one of the largest and most…

March 26, 2020

Thermo Fisher to enter cell therapy CDMO space with NJ facility

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Thermo Fisher says it is planning to open a cell therapy development and manufacturing collaboration center in Princeton as part of a $475 million investment in its biopharma capabilities. Thermo Fisher has grown its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business firstly through its $7.2 billion acquisition of Patheon in 2017, and secondly through last year’s $1.7 billion Brammer Bio buy. The latter propelled Thermo Fisher into advanced therapy production with viral vector capacity it has since expanded upon (see…

March 25, 2020

Rapid response vaccine capacity vital for pandemics, BIO-Europe

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Experts fighting COVID-19 say governments and industry must invest in vaccine plants that can be brought online during future pandemics. The call came during the online conference BIO-Europe Spring plenary session. Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel – whose RNA vaccine entered Phase I trials weeks after the SAR-COv2 sequence was published – told delegates rapid scale-up is vital during a pandemic. “The piece we are missing is infrastructure – Moderna is using a development plant to make vaccine for trials and…

March 24, 2020

Jefferson Institute selects Gyros tech for bioprocess training

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Philadelphia’s Jefferson Institute for Bioprocessing (JIB) will incorporate buffers and titer kits supplied by Gyros Protein Technologies in its training programs. JIB opened its doors in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania last June with support from Ireland’s National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT). The center has now inked a contract with immunoassay and peptide synthesis firm Gyros Protein Technologies – now part of Mesa Laboratories – to use its immunoassay system and ready-to-use kits as part of its bioprocessing training programs.…

March 23, 2020

COVID-19: Chinese biomanufacturer CMAB returns to full operations

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As doors close in Europe and the US, there is some hope in China with CMAB Biopharma returning to full operations following the COVID-19 pandemic. As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to close down normal life in Europe, there are signs that normality is beginning to return in China, the country where the outbreak was first reported. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, daily increases in coronavirus cases in China have dropped to fewer than a hundred compared to…

March 23, 2020

Univercells buys plant, launches CDMO to service booming cell & gene sector

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Belgium-based bioprocess tech firm Univercells has launched Exothera, a process development and viral vector manufacturer set to serve the robust cell and gene therapy sector. Fresh from a €50 million ($54 million) investment from global investment firm KKR, Univercells launched cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Exothera today. While the KKR investment supports Univercells’ manufacturing technologies and plays a role in developing and commercializing its bioprocessing equipment, it did not directly drive the creation of the…

March 19, 2020

One billion doses: CureVac gains $88m to support capacity for COVID-19 mRNA vaccine

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CureVac – the German biotech at the center of a Donald Trump acquisition rumor – has received a grant from the European Commission to expedite construction of a plant set to make a potential mRNA vaccine against coronavirus. The European Commission (EC) offered up to €80 million ($88 million) of financial support to German firm CureVac this week in its efforts to support the development and manufacture of a potential vaccine to treat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). At the time…

March 18, 2020

Grist for the MIL: CDMO Cognate making cell therapies for WindMIL

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WindMIL Therapeutics has upped a contract with Cognate BioServices to make its marrow-infiltrating lymphocyte (MIL) cell therapies but says it is developing plans to eventually build in-house manufacturing capabilities. WindMIL, a cancer immunotherapy firm developing autologous cell therapies based on its marrow-infiltrating lymphocytes (MILs), initially began working with contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Cognate last year. Now the firm has expanded the contract to add extra clinical manufacturing capacity. “We are securing one additional manufacturing suite at Cognate’s Memphis,…

March 16, 2020

Autolus hires MolMed to add vector flexibility

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Autolus Therapeutics says hiring MolMed as a contractor for its CAR-T programs was about adding flexibility. The biotech announced contracted MolMed to develop and manufacture vectors for its candidate CAR-T cancer therapy programs this week. Under the deal MolMed will make viral vectors to support Autolus’ various clinical trial programs. An Autolus spokeswoman told us “MolMed is a future supplier. “The MolMed relationship is Autolus taking the normal and prudent step to build flexibility and parallel supply for vector.†The…

March 16, 2020