Does your heart beat when you see a large shiny tank fixed-fast to the wall of a giant redbrick facility, or do you get a warm feeling in your inside bioreactor when you see a plastic bag flexing its flexibility credentials across a modular cleanroom? It’s the end of the decade and while much has changed since December 2009, one of the biggest shake-ups in the bioprocess space is the advent of single-use systems. With single-use systems now being used…
Korean CDMO Samsung BioLogics will use the Beacon optofluidic platform to reduce cell line development timelines and boost its drug development services. Having first entered the contract development space in 2017, Samsung BioLogics has now inked a deal to use Berkeley Lights’ Beacon pre-programable and automated optofluidic platform to service its customers cell line and process development projects. The technology itself is based on a nanofluidic chip consisting of chambers in which cells are placed to be cultured and assayed,…
A single-use bioprocessing training facility in Guangzhou will help attract and retain biopharma talent in the burgeoning China market, says GE Healthcare. Bioprocess vendor GE Healthcare Life Sciences and Guangzhou Development District government have invested a total of $10 million (€9 million) to establish a biomanufacturing training center in the Guangdong province in China. The Guangzhou Bioprocess Academy aims to train over 1,000 people annually when it opens in September next year and is needed to feed the the rapid…
A year after ending an exclusive collaboration with Lonza for cell culture media and buffers, Sartorius has reentered the space by acquiring 50% of Israeli firm Biological Industries The deal sees bioprocess equipment and consumables vendor Sartorius pay €45 million ($50 million) in cash to Kibbutz Beit Haemek and private equity fund Fortissimo Capital for just over half of Biological Industries. Under terms of the deal, Sartorius will have the option to acquire a further 20% of the Haifa, Israel-based…
Polyplus-transfection SA has expanded its reagent portfolio, citing the growing number of candidate cell and gene therapies nearing commercialization as the driver. The French biotech launched a range of sizes of its PEIpro-GMP reagent in single-use bags and bottles this week. Transfection reagents facilitate cellular uptake of nucleic acids. Polyplus premiered PEIpro-GMP last year, marketing it as “the first transfection solution for the gene and cell therapy industry that is compliant with global cGMP viral vector manufacturing requirements.†The expanded…
French vendor Saint-Gobain has completed construction of a tubing plant in Florida, the second of seven manufacturing expansions intended to support the rapidly growing bioprocess space. The 80,000 square-foot facility in Largo, Florida is set to increase Saint-Gobain’s manufacturing capacity for its C-Flex tubing and assemblies used in fluid management for biomanufacturing. The plant, which is soon to be operational, has created up to 20 new jobs. But for Saint-Gobain, the facility completion marks the second part of seven of…
GE Healthcare has entered into a partnership with Pharmadule Morimatsu to optimize and expand supply of its off-the-shelf biomanufacturing platform, KUBio. Demand for modular off-the-shelf manufacturing platforms is high, due to the speed of construction and operation, flexible use, and capital cost-saving. One of the suppliers of such technologies is GE Healthcare, which touts its KUBio platform as a “factory in a box,†capable of producing biologics, vaccines, viral vector-based therapies, and other modalities. Now the bioprocess vendor has teamed…
The US FDA has approved a manufacturing process using a Purolite Praesto resin for the first time. Purolite says Janssen, Celgene and Biogen are among the firms working with its Praesto range of mAb capture resins. The separation tech firm told Bioprocess Insider about demand for its products last week, explaining that “Praesto resins are currently implemented into over 170 ongoing pre-clinical to Phase III projects at facilities across the globe. “This is a mix of standard and custom design…
Investment firm KKR is set to acquire Prometic Bioseparations, the chromatography and bioprocessing business of Liminal BioSciences. Global biotech firm Liminal BioSciences, which changed its name in September from Prometic Life Sciences, has announced the sale of Prometic Bioseparations (PBL) to KKR. The investment firm will pay £45 million ($58 million), with up to £32 million ($42 million) more upon closing of the deal. PBL offers chromatography columns and services for the biomanufacturing industry. Its Evolve Process column range offers…
MilliporeSigma is seeing “terrific momentum†from the burgeoning cell and gene therapy space, but says double-digit growth continues to be driven by monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). The recent buzz in biopharma has been around the cell and gene therapy space, along with other modalities such as mRNA. It is no surprise that news outlets, such as this one, focus on ‘new’ modalities such as cell therapies, gene therapies, and mRNA. These are touted as the next-generation in treating and curing diseases,…