At a time when single-use manufacturing equipment is riding on a
surge of popularity, in-PharmaTechnologist.com talks to Vijay Singh
of GE Healthcare's newly acquired Wave Biotech unit about the
impact disposables will have on...
Lonza is building a new plant in its home country to become the
only contract manufacturer with large-scale capacity for making
highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
Just weeks after announcing intentions to snap up biologics firm
MedImmune, AstraZeneca has acquired DSM's old biologics
manufacturing facility in Montreal, Canada, a site that's been
gathering dust since it was mothballed...
Danish firm Novozymes has launched its first range of animal-free
recombinant cell culture ingredients from its new business unit in
the UK, offering biopharmaceutical firms an alternative to
traditional serum-based production methods.
Swiss contract manufacturer Lonza has decided to merge its US
microbial biopharma business activities in a single location, three
months after buying Cambrex's biopharma unit.
The critical role transgenic animals could play in the future of
biopharmaceutical production has been tackled by a task force in a
new report out this week.
US-based firm Goodwin Biotechnology said it is about to complete
the expansion of its biomanufacturing facility as the number of
contracts with biotech companies has jumped in the past two years.
The US Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO) has fuelled even
further the ongoing debate over the potential approval path for
follow-on biologics in the country with the release of a white
paper this week that stressed that 'generic'...
ProBioGen, a specialist in mammalian cell engineering and cell
culture, has entered into two separate agreements to develop
therapeutic proteins with Egyptian drug manufacturer Minapharm..
GE Healthcare has snapped up specialist in disposable manufacturing
technologies Wave Biotech, adding a host of new products and
services for the biopharmaceutical manufacturing sector to its
catalogue.
GE Healthcare and the Bio Affinity Company (BAC) have extended
their biopharmaceutical partnership to develop purification media
for Factor VIII (FVIII) for the treatment of haemophilia A.
A Brazilian firm has signed a licensing deal to take advantage of a
biopharmaceutical manufacturing technology which will allow the
company to locally manufacture complex biopharmaceuticals destined
for the South American market.
German firm Sartorius has merged its biotech unit with
biopharmaceutical supplier Stedim Biosystems, forming a company
anticipated to generate sales of €400-420m during 2007.
The collaboration between DSM Pharmaceutical Products and
biotechnology firm Crucell has raised the bar for antibody
production, whilst decreasing manufacturing costs.
This week Lonza took over the reigns of two new US business units
from Cambrex after completing the largest acquisition in its
company history and also announced a capability expansion at its
Czech Republic site.
Contract manufacturer Lonza has completed its acquisition of two
Cambrex subsidiaries, research bioproducts and microbial
biopharmaceutical, in a move that is fuelled by its strategic move
into biopharmaceuticals.
US-based firm Xcellerex yesterday announced it has completed the
second half of a $20m (€15.4m) financing deal, raising $11m to
speed up commercialisation of its innovative disposable
manufacturing technology for vaccines and biotherapeutics.
Swiss chemicals firm and contract manufacturer Lonza has announced
18 per cent rise in net profit in 2006 rising to CHF 222m (€137.4),
fuelled by its strategic move into biopharmaceuticals.
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has started the first human clinical trials
to evaluate a new antiviral drug against respiratory synytial virus
(RSV) - the major cause of pneumonia and bronchiolitis in children.
Cellexus has introduced a technology - CellMaker Lite - that
satisfies the appetite for disposable bioreactors, grows bacterial
and mammalian cells efficiently and cuts production costs.
Crucell yesterday announced it had received the first orders from
US-headquartered Wyeth Biotech. The order represents the first move
following the finalisation of the contract manufacturing agreement
between the two companies at...
Swiss custom manufacturer Lonza and Singapore's BioOne Capital have
announced a new joint venture to build a $350m (€263m) large-scale
manufacturing facility in Singapore.
Dutch biotech company Crucell said last week that it had completed
its acquisition of SBL Vaccin in an agreement worth €39.4m, but
remained tight-lipped about its plans for the Swedish firm's
contract manufacturing business.
Lonza has signed two separate deals with California-based Genentech
- a move that illustrates the re-emergence of a relationship
between the two firms.
DSM Biologics, the biopharma arm of DSM group, has signed a
manufacturing deal with Japanese UMN Pharma based on the firm's
novel recombinant protein manufacturing platform.
Drug maker Eli Lilly has completed the first phase of a $560m
(€446m) expansion of its biotech facility in Indianapolis, US, in
order to match the growing number of biological drugs in its
pipeline.
NovaThera and Dutch biotech company Pharming have pooled their
resources to develop a new generation of bioactive materials aimed
at the delivery of therapeutic transgenic proteins.
A majority stake in Irish biotechnology contract services firm
Archport has been snapped up by German-based Chemie Uetikon as the
bio-outsourcing market heats up.
US contract pharmaceutical manufacturer Metrics has announced a
$17.5m (€13.7m) investment to double the size of its drug testing
and manufacturing plant over the next three years.
MedImmune has embarked on an expansion of its biologics
manufacturing facility in Frederick, Maryland, to ramp up its cell
culture production capacity, as several of its monoclonal
antibodies (MAbs) approach commercialisation.
Bruised by Novartis's snub over a $600m (€466m) vaccine plant,
Maryland has commissioned a study on what more the state can do to
attract a major cell culture vaccine manufacturing facility there.
Industrial enzyme maker Novozymes is seeking to strengthen its
presence in the biopharmaceutical market by offering to acquire
Australian biotechnology firm Gropep for AUD83.6m (€49.6m), eager
to become a supplier of recombinant ingredients...
Contract research organisation iNovacia is expanding its compound
library by increasing the number of compound storage modules in a
bid to cope with new contracts.
Cambrex's Q2 results show that the life sciences firm is slowly
making a comeback after being crushed by a $140.3m (€116.7m) loss
in Q4, however, it has failed to completely stem the bleed from its
Biopharma unit, blamed for...
Rentschler Biotechnologie has heralded the start of a €50m
expansion to increase its capacity to produce antibodies and
mammalian cell culture-derived proteins on a commercial scale.
Momentum is growing at the UK's new National Biomanufacturing
Centre (NBC) as its operator Eden Biodesign inked a second contract
at the centre - set up to establish England's Northwest as one of
the top biomanufacturing...
Biotechnology firm Alexion has acquired a Dow biomanufacturing
facility in Rhode Island as it gears up for the commercialisation
of its blood disorder drug Soliris, yet the move does not signal
the end of the company's contract...
Wyeth has announced that it has selected NovaScreen to conduct a
high-throughput screening (HTS) campaign, which makes use of
Caliper's microfluidic screening platform, which utilises
reproducible electrophoretic separation of...
Cambrex Bio Science has successfully completed its first monoclonal
antibody project in the company's new cell culture bioreactor, as
well as its first small-large molecule conjugation project.
Hyclone has unveiled a new single-use bioreactor at the BioLOGIC
exhibition in Amsterdam which promises the same performance with
traditional stainless steel bioreactors but with the benefits of
single use in which all the contact...
The world's first drug made from a genetically engineered goat has
been given the thumbs up in Europe after being initially rejected
in February. The decision has reopened the door for "pharming,"
where transgenic animals...
Laureate Pharma is planning to invest up to $9m (€7.1m) to expand
its biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in New Jersey with a
new pilot production plant, as it seeks more capacity to cope with
increased demand from clients for...
The first ever monoclonal antibody obtained starting from
transgenic plants with the purpose of purifying a human vaccine has
been registered with Cuban authorities, meaning cigars may not be
the only application the country's...
Pall is organising a free chromatography seminar in Paris this week
presented by leading chromatographers from the pharmaceutical,
biotechnology and biologicals industries.
