Analytical testing, QC

Metrion and LifeArc extend collaboration on neurological target

17-Dec-2019 By Vassia Barba

After one year of collaborative work, Metrion and LifeArc agree to continue research on a joint project focused on neuroscience ion channel drug discovery for another year.

Thermo Fisher expands site, boosts biologics processing offering

28-Nov-2019 By Vassia Barba

Thermo Fisher Scientific doubles the capacity of its gene therapy and viral vector processing facility in Alachua, Florida, to provide scalability to customers.

GHO raises €975M for more European contract service buyouts

26-Nov-2019 By Nick Taylor

GHO Capital Partners raises €975m European healthcare fund to place another set of bets on contract service providers.

Fujifilm expands gene therapy analytical services with $55m lab

21-Nov-2019 By Vassia Barba

Fujifilm Diosynth opens a 60,000-square-feet Gene Therapy Innovation Center to support upstream, downstream and analytical development services.

CPhI Worldwide 2019

Early monitoring key to countering variability in bioproduction

14-Nov-2019 By Vassia Barba

Regardless of the quality of the raw materials used in bioproduction processes, variability is a very common threat that can be addressed, says Thermo Fisher executive.

Mesa Labs in $180m Gyros acquisition for biopharma asset development

12-Nov-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

Mesa Labs buys Gyros to gain access to the latter’s capabilities in the discovery, development and manufacture of biotherapeutics.

People on the Move: Outsourcing-Pharma roundup October ‘19

01-Nov-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

This month’s people on the move includes a new therapeutic lead at Advanced Clinical, with plans to create a network of investigation sites, as well as CEOs at AIT Bioscience and Pharm-Olam, who discuss plans for moving forward.

Eurofins to support San Diego-based incubator

31-Oct-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Eurofins Discovery has signed a Founding Partner sponsorship agreement with BioLabs San Diego, a membership-based network of shared lab facilities.

HistoIndex expands AI-based digital pathology platform

31-Oct-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

The Singapore-based company recently expanded its AI-based digital pathology platform to support preclinical discovery and drug development programs.

GE Healthcare sets up UK biotech R&D lab

24-Oct-2019 By Vassia Barba

GE Healthcare opens lab space to provide developers with access to protein and cell analysis technologies to encourage networking and partnering on R&D services.

Bioanalytical CRO LGC adopts Quanterix’s automated analyzer for immunoassays

03-Oct-2019 By Vassia Barba

LGC announces the addition of Quanterix’s HD-X platform to its offering, enabling automated development and performing of immunoassays for ‘unprecedented insights’ into disease biology as well as drug efficacy and safety.

PPD expands bioanalytical lab, to hire 200

23-Sep-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

PPD is expanding its immunochemistry and biomarker space by 8,000 square feet, the addition of which will also support a dedicated team for one of the company’s global biopharmaceutical clients.

AI in drug development: ACRO, DIA, and Owkin to talk use cases and what comes next

18-Sep-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

There has been a lot of discussion surrounding the use of artificial intelligence in drug development – with several deals, alliances, and partnerships made so far this year. Here, Outsourcing-Pharma takes a look back at some of these announcements, as...

O2h to do ‘heavy lifting’ as part of synthetic chemistry collaboration with Cedilla

17-Sep-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Cedilla Therapeutics and o2h Discovery have announced a multi full-time-equivalent (FTE) expansion to their synthetic chemistry collaboration.

Covance doubles capacity with new R&D center in China

12-Sep-2019 By Vassia Barba

Covance opens a new facility in Shanghai, its biggest in Asia Pacific, to boost its research and development services offering.

Charles River ups microbial solutions offering

12-Sep-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Charles River has added to its microbial solutions offering with two new products that aim to reduce risk and increase the efficiency of drug testing.

What’s next for M&A? Precision medicine, diagnostics, new customers to disrupt pharma services market

06-Sep-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Increasingly complex clinical trials are putting pressure on CROs to expand their service offerings in what has been a historically monolithic space – with diagnostics also continuing to play a more important role in the market, says industry expert.

Velesco acquires facility, triples clinical manufacturing capacity

05-Sep-2019 By Vassia Barba

Velesco to triple its capacity for non-sterile clinical material manufacturing and consolidate its cGMP capabilities with the purchase of a facility in Wixom, Michigan.

People on the Move: Outsourcing-Pharma roundup August ‘19

04-Sep-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

The last month of summer saw several hires, including a lead for Worldwide Clinical Trials’ Japan operations, CEO appointments at CordenPharma and LabConnect, and Altasciences’ new CSO, who joins the company from Syneos.

908 Devices launches a Rebel-lion in media analyzing

03-Sep-2019 By Vassia Barba

908 Devices launches Rebel, a bioprocess analyzer, enabling researchers to conduct their own cell culture media analysis to accelerate process development ‘by weeks’.

PCI boosts Ireland investment pre-Brexit with new clinical facility

27-Aug-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

As part of its global network expansion strategy, PCI Pharma Services is investing in a new dedicated clinical facility near Dublin, Ireland, which will provide space for secondary packaging, storage, logistics, and distribution.

Organ-on-e-chip tech circumvents challenge of reading the heart's electrical patterns

26-Aug-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Researchers develop organ-on-an-electronic-chip platform to explore the electrophysiology of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and understand how the heart communicates.

Ex vivo 3D cell culture tech makes ‘true drug response prediction’ possible: Kiyatec

19-Aug-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Capital Health joins Kiyatec’s clinical trial to validate a patient-specific predictor test to improve response to cancer therapies for glioblastoma and anaplastic astrocytoma.

SGS connecting systems, labs via fully digitalized global network

15-Aug-2019 By Maggie Lynch

SGS’ OneVision initiative is working to standardize record-keeping across the global life sciences industry in an aim to accelerate laboratory testing, development, and eliminate paper-based systems.

People on the Move: Outsourcing-Pharma roundup July ‘19

02-Aug-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

CordenPharma has a new CEO, Arbour Group advances plans to expand in RTP, Ashfield brings on a former Iqvia VP, and Recursion adds to its c-suite after raising $121m this month.

PPD boosts clinical trials testing with NeoGenomics lab opening in Singapore

01-Aug-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

To further support Asia-Pacific oncology trials, NeoGenomics opens new Singapore-based pharma services laboratory in the same building as PPD Laboratories’ central lab.

Reactor malfunction results in employee death at India-based CRO

11-Jul-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

One worker has died at GVK Bio’s Hyderabad site after a reactor malfunctioned, though the root cause remains unknown, according to the CRO.

People on the Move: Outsourcing-Pharma roundup June ‘19

03-Jul-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Newly-minted Signant Health named a new CTO, Parexel bolstered its Japan presence, and BioAgilytix’s CEO was appointed to the board of FSD Pharma – a company developing products based on cannabinoids – among other people on the move in June.

Concept Life Sciences providing ‘fully integrated offering’ in the early development space

24-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

The drug discovery, development, and analytical service provider has opened a new facility in Sandwich, UK to support the development and manufacturing of APIs – a market expected to top $270bn by 2026.

FDA to ‘institutionalize’ compounding regulation to ‘protect consumers’

19-Jun-2019 By Nick Taylor

The US FDA is set to center its drug compounding regulatory program in an office focused on stopping poor quality, unsafe and ineffective drugs reaching patients.

Aptar scoops up two pharma services firms in $50m deal

11-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Aptar Group acquires two pharmaceutical services companies, Nanopharm and Gateway Analytical, to boost its analytical, testing, and development capabilities.

GSK spinoffs join forces as single CRO providing immunology lab services

10-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Neomed-Labs/Pacific Biomarkers last week announced its acquisition of PairImmune in a bid to expand its immunology offerings.

Covance to invest $5.7m in new equipment, hire 203 at Indianapolis site

10-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Covance seeks an Economic Revitalization Area designation at its Indianapolis, IN-based site, at which the company looks to expand its sample storage capacity and add space “dedicated to innovation" as part of an $11.8m construction project.

ElevateBio secures $150m to move cell and gene therapy companies forward amid ‘overwhelming’ CMO demand

06-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

ElevateBio’s BaseCamp facility will provide “bench-to-bedside” services to its portfolio and partner companies – as the demand for cell and gene therapy CMOs “far outweighs the capacity,” says CEO.

Scientist.com teams up with VC firm to create marketplace for biotech

03-Jun-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

The online marketplace for outsourced R&D services Scientist.com partners with 5AM Ventures to help researchers save time and money – as the industry is "caught between a rock and a hard place," says CEO.

Accenture launches AI tool to improve connectivity between researchers

30-May-2019 By Vassia Barba

Accenture’s technology platform, Intient, will provide access to clinical data and links companies working on drug delivery.

BASi acquires Smithers Avanza’s tox services business unit

06-May-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Bioanalytical Systems acquires Smithers Avanza Toxicology Services business unit in response to a strong demand for its toxicology and drug disposition services.

Lonza serves small biotech with services to accelerate movement to the clinic

06-May-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Lonza announces service offering to accelerate the movement of poorly-soluble small molecules into first-in-human clinical trials.

Charles River extends Huntington’s Disease collaboration, shutters site in San Diego

15-Apr-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Charles River Laboratories has extended its ongoing collaboration with the CHDI Foundation by five-years – and is closing its San Diego, CA-based research model production facility.

Quantified ‘immune age’ could transform drug development, disease management: CytoReason

08-Apr-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Researchers describe a technique to quantify a person’s “immune age,” information which could help design and analyze clinical trials – improving the drug development process, among other “impressive” possibilities, says industry expert.

Catalent expands HME capabilities at drug development center of excellence

08-Apr-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Catalent Pharma invests $5m in drug development center of excellence to expand its hot melt extrusion capabilities for formulation and drug delivery method optimization.

Constrained by outsourced testing? Study shows viability of in-house assessment

04-Apr-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Clinical trials often rely on outsourced testing which poses potential logistical and cost challenges, though researchers recently demonstrated the viability of bringing these tests in-house to speed turnaround time – and more quickly match patients to...

People on the Move: Outsourcing-Pharma roundup March ‘19

29-Mar-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

The industry in March saw new c-suite appointments at CRF Bracket, PCI Pharma Services, George Clinical, and Paragon Bioservices – as well as moves to boost medical device and DMPK services at Premier Research and Sygnature Discovery, respectively.

On a Mission: LabCorp taps single cell-sequencing tech to accelerate drug development

28-Mar-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

LabCorp’s collaboration with Mission Bio will use single cell-sequencing technology to understand the genetics of rare cell populations, which could be key to making clinical trials successful, says CEO.

‘The UK may no longer be a country where bioanalytical innovation is feasible,’ says CRO on Brexit

28-Mar-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Clinical trials in the UK are reportedly declining as the country grapples with Brexit – a change which could make access to preclinical and bioanalytical research materials, including NHPs, problematic, says QPS.

Trianni mouse model tapped for HIV vaccine research

25-Mar-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Trianni and San Diego Biomedical Research Institute enter license agreement for the use of the Trianni Mouse in HIV vaccine research.

‘Better decisions and shorter project timelines’: Optibrium taps InfoChem to up offering

19-Mar-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

Optibrium develops software for drug discovery and today announces a collaboration with InfoChem GmbH, a cheminformatics company, to provide users with a computer-aided synthesis design tool.

SenzaGen inks agreement with CRO to expand in vitro testing

18-Mar-2019 By Melissa Fassbender

In response to a growing interest in alternative testing methods, SenzaGen signs a license agreement with MB Research Labs to expand the use of its animal-free testing platform.

Charles River licenses rodent model for global diabetes reserach

14-Mar-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Charles River Labs enters a licensing agreement with Crown Bioscience to expand access to the latter’s diabetic rat model.

Drug development research agreement leverages simulation platform

12-Mar-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Drug development advisory firm Rosa & Co. enters research agreement with Chugai pharmaceutical to provide access to PhysioPD research services for translational biology.