Paul Jorjorian, vice president/general manager, biologics, Thermo Fisher Scientific Jorjorian began by noting current trends in drug development, including more compounds being held for longer periods of time than in previous years by small and emerging pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. He sees an increased complexity of molecules being brought to market, including bispecific antibodies and fusion proteins. Growth continues in both the cell and gene therapy segments and in orphan drug markets. From a business-dynamics perspective, such growth can create…

For the on-demand virtual BPI Theater at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s annual convention, BioProcess Insider founding editor Dan Stanton conducted a series of interviews to discuss trends in biomanufacturing. Here, we summarize his conversation with Timothy Compton, chief commercial officer at Avid Bioservices. Having settled into its role as a dedicated contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), Avid Bioservices is expanding. The company made several changes to its executive and sales teams after refocusing its mission in 2018, recruiting people…

For the on-demand virtual BPI Theater at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s annual convention, BioProcess Insider founding editor Dan Stanton conducted a series of interviews to discuss trends in biomanufacturing. Here, we summarize his conversation with Kevin Sharp, director of the Global Business Development Center for Samsung Biologics. The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled substantial changes across the biopharmaceutical industry. But Sharp reported that South Korean CDMO Samsung Biologics is weathering the storm. Samsung quickly joined the South Korean government’s efforts to…

For the on-demand virtual BPI Theater at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s annual convention, BioProcess Insider founding editor Dan Stanton conducted a series of interviews to discuss trends in biomanufacturing. Here, we summarize his conversations with Julien Meissonnier, vice president and chief scientific officer at Catalent Biologics. Contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) have scrambled lately to gain cell and gene therapy capabilities. That includes Catalent Biologics, which last year acquired Paragon Bioservices and MaSTherCell. Paragon offers expertise in manufacture of…

For the on-demand virtual BPI Theater at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s annual convention, BioProcess Insider founding editor Dan Stanton conducted a series of interviews to discuss trends in biomanufacturing. Here, we summarize his conversations with Felix Hsu, chief commercial and chief business officer at WuXi Advanced Therapies. WuXi Advanced Therapies has served the cell and gene therapy industry as a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for nearly two decades. When speaking with BioProcess Insider’s Dan Stanton, Hsu reflected on…

For the on-demand, virtual BPI Theater at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s annual convention, BioProcess Insider founding editor Dan Stanton conducted a series of interviews to discuss trends in biomanufacturing. Here, we summarize his conversation with Steve Burton, chief executive officer of Astrea Bioseparations. Astrea Bioseparations (formerly Prometic Bioseparations) is eager to expand in the wake of its acquisition by Gamma Biosciences, a platform for life-sciences tools and a subsidiary of KKR. Burton explained that before the acquisition, his company felt…

Richard Richieri, chief operations officer, Avid Bioservices Avid has manufactured biologics since the early 1990s. Its early phase and late-phase projects (including commercial biologics) are approved in 90 countries. The company uses 2,000-L single-use bioreactors (three units), two 1,000-L bioreactors, and a few smaller ones, all in single-use configurations. Avid is expanding and will add six 2,000-L single-use bioreactors to its facility. Richieri spoke about the road to biologics commercialization from Avid’s perspective as a contract development and manufacturing organization…

Mario Kraft, head of process development, AGC Biologics Kraft leads AGC’s process development team at a site in Heidelberg, Germany. He spoke about his company’s focus on plasmid DNA manufacturing and about how AGC supports its clients’ projects. The company has an established platform production process “toolbox system” for customized manufacturing of high-quality–grade plasmids for both good manufacturing practice (GMP) and non-GMP applications. With the explosion of interest in cell and gene therapies and with their improving clinical success, increased…

Moderator Dan Stanton, with Magnus Schroeder and Daniel P. Slone In the biopharmaceutical industry, manufacturing partners always have served as more than mere suppliers. But they increasingly are expanding their technologies and capabilities with the goal of offering end-to-end services. In this online panel for the 2020 BIO conference, Dan Stanton asked Magnus Schroeder and Daniel P. Slone, both vice presidents at major contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs), “how manufacturers put the D in CDMO” and how biologics development…