Facilities & Capacity

With $58m in hand, Touchlight looks to triple DNA manufacturing capacity

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Touchlight says the latest fundraising round will help increase production capacity to up to 1 kilogram of DNA per month – enough for 1 billion vaccine doses – as demand skyrockets. Hampton, UK-based firm Touchlight has raised £42 million ($58 million) through a fundraising round led by Bridford Investments Limited. The firm produces synthetic DNA used as starting material in advanced therapies including lentivirus and messenger RNA (mRNA) and says the cash injection will be used to expand production capacity,…

March 18, 2021

Lonza dedicates suite to make Altimmune’s nasal COVID-19 vaccine

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Lonza will commission a dedicated suite at its Houston, US facility for supply of Altimmune’s AdCOVID, a nasal COVID-19 vaccine that entered Phase I trials last month. Last November, Altimmune entered an agreement which meant that Lonza would provide commercial production capacity for AdCOVID from its Houston, US, site. Now, Altimmune has expanded its manufacturing partnership with lonza by adding capacity and stability through its own dedicated suite. “Our recently inaugurated Houston facility is our center of excellence for process…

March 17, 2021

Pfizer exits Chinese biosimilars space, selling plant to WuXi

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As part of a “difficult decision†to halt its biosimilars programs in China, Pfizer is offloading its single-use biologics manufacturing plant in Hangzhou to WuXi Biologics. Pfizer is one of the world’s largest biosimilar manufacturers, with seven commercialized products in the US alone (Inflectra, Retacrit, Nivestym, Nyvepria, Zirabev, Trazimera, Ruxience). In 2016, Pfizer took aim at the Chinese market by investing $350 million in the Hangzhou Economic Development Area (HEDA) to set up a biosimilars manufacturing facility. Five years on…

March 17, 2021

ConserV Bioscience and eTheRNA to develop HIV vaccine

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ConserV Bioscience and eTheRNA will share their expertise to develop an mRNA-based vaccine for HIV. The partnership will bring together ConserV’s services in identifying protective antigens and eTheRNA’s TriMix immunostimulatory mRNA technology and novel lipid nanoparticle encapsulation technologies. “We will first collaborate on an mRNA vaccine against HIV,†Tim Van Assche, director of Business Development and Alliance Management at eTheRNA Immunotherapies told BioProcess Insider. “In case results are positive, the collaboration will be extended to other mRNA vaccine formulations based…

March 15, 2021

GSK expands its manufacturing capacity at CGT Catapult

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Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult says GlaxoSmithKline is expanding its clinical trial manufacturing capacity in Stevenage, UK to drive its gene therapy pipeline.  No financial details have been disclosed, however through this agreement GSK is set to leverage the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult) Stevenage facility to improve its GMP cell processing network and, in turn, streamline technical transfer and develop its gene therapy pipeline. “GSK is the seventh collaborator to join and this increases further the breadth…

March 12, 2021

Univercells Technologies teams with High Purity New England for distribution

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High Purity New England (HPNE) will market and sell Univercells Technologies’ products in the US after the two firms enter an agreement. No financials are connected to the agreement, however HPNE is now an authorized distributor of the firm’s technology offerings, which includes the Nevoline Upstream platform, the scale-X carbo system, and the scale-X hydro system. “The goal is to increase reach, expand the sales pipeline and further build the supply and service organization, recognizing the importance of being closer…

March 11, 2021

Novartis: Kundl shines bright for CureVac’s COVID vaccine

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Novartis has invested €20 million ($23.8m) to service the CureVac deal and says up to 100 jobs will be created at its Kundl site in Austria.   Last week, Novartis became the latest firm to partner with CureVac to help manufacture its COVID-19 candidate, CVnCoV, at Novartis’ site in Kundl, Austria. The firm plans to manufacture up to 50 million doses by the end of 2021 and, potentially, a further 200 million doses by 2022. A spokesperson for Novartis told…

March 10, 2021

Going Dutch: Intravacc paves way for in-country vaccine production

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CDMO Intravacc has started a concept design for a so-called ‘Multi-Purpose Vaccine Production Plant’ in response to COVID-19. Dutch contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Intravacc has signed a letter of intent alongside Bilthoven Biologicals, Poonawalla Science Park and Alt Foundation to begin developing a Multi-Purpose Vaccine Production Plant (MPVPP) at Utrecht Science Park, Bilthoven. According to Intravacc, the coronavirus pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of the Netherlands regarding the development and manufacturing of vaccines for its own population.  The firm…

March 9, 2021

Fujifilm says Denmark expansion meets continued CDMO demand

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Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies says the continual growth of the biopharma CDMO market means its Danish site will help meet industry demands as it begins its $928 million cell culture expansion project. In June 2020, the firm announced plans to invest $928 million to double capacity at the Danish site it acquired from Biogen in 2019. The capacity was 90,000 L and the expansion (which started last week) will boast another six large-scale stainless-steel tanks, giving a total capacity of 240,000…

March 8, 2021

Novartis inks COVID-19 vaccine deal with CureVac

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Novartis is the latest firm to partner with CureVac and plans to help make up to 250 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV by 2022.  The Swiss firm is set to support manufacturing of CVnCoV, an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which is currently in Phase II studies and expected to merge into a Phase III efficacy trial. The manufacturing is anticipated to start in Q2, 2021 at Novartis’ site in Kundl, Austria. The firm is aiming to produce…

March 5, 2021