Akron Bio says the facility in Sarasota will support the growing demand for gene therapies and vaccines. In March 2020, Akron Bio – a supplier of biomanufacturing media and consumables – acquired a 60,000 square-foot biomanufacturing plant from Cambryn Biologics for an undisclosed fee. At the time, the firm told us that “with only minor adaptations, this plant will allow us to rapidly scale our existing products such as cGMP cytokines and media, while also establishing new lines of business…

The funding will be used to develop Aurion Biotech’s first candidate, AURN001, a cell therapy aiming to treat corneal edema. Aurion Biotech is a clinical-stage biotech firm that is aiming to “restore vision to millions of patients” with its regenerative therapies. According to the firm, the raised funds will be used to file an IND to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in order to begin clinical trials. Additionally, Aurion wants to submit an NDA to the Japan Pharmaceuticals…

VectorBuilder is constructing a $500 million gene delivery and research campus in Guangzhou, China to expand its capabilities and production capacity. Contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) VectorBuilder, provides gene delivery solutions says it will take four years to build what it has named the “Gene Delivery Research and Manufacturing Campus.” According to the firm, the campus will include 30 production suites designed to manufacture lentivirus, plasmids, messenger RNA (mRNA), adeno-associated virus (AAV), cell lines and other types of viral and…

CDMO Samsung Biologics has agreed to buy land close to its site in Songdo, Korea for future greenfield projects including capacity expansions. Samsung Biologics has grown over the past decade into one of the largest biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), with three operational facilities at its biocampus in Songdo, Incheon boasting a total of 364,000 L of mostly stainless-steel bioreactor capacity. A fourth ‘super plant’ under construction will add a further 256,000 L of capacity, and a future…

After receiving permission to build a £350 million biomanufacturing facility at a former GSK site in Ulverston, UK last year, Lakes BioSciences’ plan has reportedly fallen through. In February 2021, contact development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Lakes BioScience was granted permission from South Lakeland District to build a facility on GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) site located on North Lonsdale Road, Ulverston, Cumbria. Lakes BioScience director, Pat McIver told BioProcess Insider at the time that £350 million ($490 million) was being invested to build a monoclonal…

Lonza has expanded its Cocoon platform functionality by adding capabilities in cell separation, cell binding, and bead removal. The Cocoon platform is a single system that can be used for a wide-range of different autologous cell therapy protocols, with each patient batch produced in a single disposable cassette customized to their specific process. The platform was developed by Octane Biotech with help from Swiss contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Lonza, which has worked with the firm since 2015. In October…

CDMO Catalent has picked up the UK taxpayer-funded Vaccine Manufacturing & Innovation Centre (VMIC) for an undisclosed fee. In early 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce invested around £200 million ($270 million) into a facility aimed at addressing the country’s lack of vaccine manufacturing capacity. The 74,000 square-foot VMIC in Harwell, near Oxford – about 50 miles west of London – had been expected to offer up to 70 million doses of pandemic vaccine, deliverable…

ThermoGenesis has leased a facility in Sacramento, California to house its newly launched CDMO cell therapy business TG Biosynthesis.  ThermoGenesis (formerly known as Cesca Therapeutics), which provides cell processing tools and services to the cell and gene therapy sector, is bolstering its offering by creating a cell therapy production division.   The firm will deliver contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) services under the name TG Biosynthesis. To create this, ThermoGenesis entered into a license and technology agreement with Boyalife Genomics, a…