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MilliporeSigma: Talent shortages will remain an ongoing issue in 2022

Talent retention and attraction will be the biggest challenge firms face in 2022, says MilliporeSigma’s head of Process Solutions Andrew Bulpin. Talent shortages in the biopharma space have been globally reported with professionals forming a general consensus that the industry’s growth does not match the amount of talent coming through. While certain countries like Lithuania claim it has a talent pool ready and waiting, other global companies such as Lonza, SwedenBIO, pharma recruitment firm Lead Candidate, and Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult expressed their…

Pfizer bags $37bn from COVID vax with another $32bn expected in 2022

by Millie Nelson

Pfizer has lauded its clinical development and vaccine manufacturing capabilities as it hopes to produce a total of 4 billion doses of Comirnaty by the end of 2022. Through its partnership with BioNTech, Pfizer became the first company to bring a messenger RNA-based product to market, namely the COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty (BNT162b2), which received emergency use approval in December 2020. This week, Pfizer told shareholders during its Q4 2021 earnings call that the jab has generated $36.8 billion sales worldwide for…

WuXi Bio: COVID-delayed inspections blamed for addition to US Unverified List

by Dan Stanton

The addition of two WuXi Biologics sites to the US Government’s Unverified List will have no impact on its business, the CDMO says. On Monday, the US Commerce Department added 33 Chinese companies to its Unverified List (UVL) including two subsidiaries of contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) WuXi Biologics based in Shanghai and Wuxi. As supply chain consultants BDP put it: “The UVL lists names of companies that the Bureau of Industry Security (BIS) could not verify as bona…

Abecma clocks $164m for Bristol-Myers but supply constraints remain

by Dan Stanton

Bristol-Myers Squibb says it expects viral vector supply to ramp up later in the year as third-party and inhouse capacity come online. Bristol-Myers’ Abecma (idecabtagene vicleucel, commonly referred to as ide-cel) was approved in March 2022 as the first cell-based gene therapy for the treatment of multiple myeloma. “Abecma generated revenues of $164 million since its launch in May of last year,” David Elkins, Bristol-Myers’ CFO said during the firm’s fourth quarter call. “Revenues reflect very strong demand for the…

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

by Gareth Macdonald

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…

Catalent will increase CapEx to boost biologics business

by Gareth Macdonald

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…

Biogen pulling out of Bioepis JV in $2.3bn Samsung Bio deal

by Dan Stanton

Samsung Biologics will take full ownership Samsung Bioepis 10 years after forming the biosimilar developer with Biogen. In 2012, the relatively new contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Samsung Biologics teamed up with Biogen Idec (now just Biogen) to form a joint venture aimed at developing, manufacturing and marketing biosimilars: Samsung Bioepis. Over the past decade, the share of the entity has shifted – Samsung Biologics began with an 85% share, which later increased to 94.6% before Biogen paid $670…

2021 CGT moments: First place for second line CAR-T

by Millie Nelson

Advancements in CAR-T development and access, in vivo gene editing, and CDMO M&A all feature in Propel BioSciences’ Susan Nichols top 10 advanced therapy moments of 2021. After two years away, BioProcess Insider attended the highly anticipated presentation at Phacilitate’s Advanced Therapies Week in Miami, Florida, where Susan Nichols (CEO of Propel BioSciences) highlighted 10 moments from 2021 that defined and drove the cell and gene therapy (CGT) space. Some unexpected milestones made the list, such as the arrival of messenger…

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

by Gareth Macdonald

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…

Continuous processing and CGTs: MilliporeSigma on CDMO trends for 2022

by Millie Nelson

BioProcess Insider spoke virtually with MilliporeSigma’s head of Process Solutions Andrew Bulpin about his predictions for the company and the CDMO space in 2022. The life sciences services division of Merck KGaA, MilliporeSigma, has been steadily increasing its contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) services through a string of investments and expansions. The firm invested $110 million into its gene therapy CDMO business in April 2020 by building a second facility at its site in California, adding 11 production suites and more…