Avid raises $20m, working ‘aggressively’ to grow CDMO business
As Outsourcing-Pharma.com. previously reported, the now-defunct Peregrine Pharmaceuticals began selling off its R&D assets to focus on its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) subsidiary Avid Bioservices late last year.
In the past week, the company has completed its transition to a dedicated CDMO by divesting the bulk of its legacy research and development assets, Roger Lias, PhD, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Avid Bioservices told us.
Subsequently, Avid has completed a follow-on offering, which raised more than $20m. The funds will be used to expand the contract manufacturing business and general corporate purposes, Lias explained.
“This will include the expansion of our process development capabilities, as well specific capital improvements to manufacturing infrastructure designed to enhance operational efficiency,” he added.
“Now, as a fully focused CDMO, we are working aggressively to grow our business by both increasing our backlog of business and converting revenue from both legacy and new customers.”
Lias explained the company is also dedicating resources to strengthen its early phase service offering for high-throughput development, “rapidly progressing projects into manufacturing, and efficiently on-boarding new client programs.”
Since establishing itself as a dedicated CDMO, Lias said Avid has received “very favorable feedback from a number of audiences,” including a positive reaction from Wall Street, “as well as a rapid acceleration of momentum related to business development.”
“To this end, we expect to announce a number of new contractual commitments in the coming weeks and months,” he added.
