BioPharm International Editors

FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific’s new manufacturing facility in Tilburg, the Netherlands, is now fully operational.

FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies plans to invest £400 million (US$528 million) to expand its Billingham, Teeside facility in the United Kingdom.

The European Medicines Agency has accepted Sanofi’s marketing authorization application for olipudase alfa, a potential new therapy for acid sphingomyelinase deficiency, a rare disease.

Pfizer’s $6.7 billion acquisition of Arena will give them access to a portfolio of immuno-inflammatory therapies.

GlaxoSmithKline, together with the University of Oxford, has launched the Oxford-GSK Institute under a new collaboration that aims to study complex diseases to accelerate the success of drug discovery and drug development efforts.

GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology have received a conditional marketing authorization from MHRA for Xevudy (sotrovimab) in the treatment of COVID-19.

Aizon Unify is designed to provide a digital platform for biopharmaceutical data monitoring, analysis, and optimization.

Lonza has signed a five-year services agreement to provide for the development and manufacturing of biologics and small molecules for portfolio companies owned by Bioqube Ventures.

Leucid Bio will collaborate with Lonza to use Lonza’s Cocoon Platform for clinical and commercial manufacturing of CAR T cells for Leucid’s lead candidate.

Sanofi’s acquisition of Origimm Biotechnology will add to its pipeline of vaccine candidates for treating acne.

Pfizer found that two-dose recipients exhibited a more than 25-fold reduction in neutralization titers against Omicron relative to wild-type.

Doer Biologics will use Lonza’s XS technology in the production of its proprietary platform technology.

Fujifilm’s new cell culture media manufacturing facility in the Netherlands has officially opened.

The additions to Crown Bioscience’s UK facility will increase and expand the company’s current in-vivo offering.

Roche’s Actemra/RoActemra (tocilizumab) is now approved in the EU for the treatment of adults with severe COVID-19 symptoms.

AstraZeneca struck a deal worth up to more than $3.5 billion with Ionis Pharmaceuticals for the rights to develop and commercialize their transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis treatment.

Longeveron’s Lomacel-B received an Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.

Following mixed results from clinical trials, a panel of outside experts voted 13-10 to recommend Merck’s pill for Emergency Use Authorization.

Recordati’s blockbuster acquisition of EUSA Pharma gives them access to a portfolio of four drugs that treat rare cancers.

Subtitle FDA approved rituximab in combination with chemotherapy for pediatric patients with previously untreated, advanced stage, CD20-positive DLBCL/BL/BLL/B-AL.

The companies will focus on the rapid development of polymerase chain reaction assays for emerging pathogens and potential health threats, including biological threats.

This collaboration aims to better understand Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and increase drug discovery and development success rates.

Moderna’s agreement with the UK government includes 29 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for delivery in 2022 and 31 million doses for delivery in 2023.

EMA has fully validated the marketing authorization application for Atara Biotherapeutics’ off-the-shelf allogeneic T-cell therapy, tab-cel (tabelecleucel), with an approval decision expected in 2022.

Chinook Therapeutics has formed a 50/50 joint venture with investors to develop kidney disease therapies in China.

Sartorius is investing €100 million (US$113 million) between 2021 and 2025 to expand capacities for production, innovation, and storage at its French facilities in Aubagne, Cergy, and Lourdes.

Sartorius will invest approximately €270 million (US$305 million) to expand its biopharmaceutical manufacturing activities in South Korea’s biopharm hub.

Novozymes and Novo Nordisk Pharmatech are teaming up to develop best-in-class technical enzymes to support biopharmaceutical production processes.

BeiGene has acquired property in Hopewell, NJ to build a new manufacturing site and clinical R&D center for advanced new medicines.

Samsung Biologics, GreenLight Biosciences, and Environmental Impact Acquisition Corp. have partnered to advance GreenLight’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate.