BioBusiness

A research team at the Keck Graduate Institute will work to adapt its decade-long low-cost vaccine R&D for developing countries into a COVID-19 vaccine.

A collaboration between Aldevron and Ginkgo Bioworks has resulted in a manufacturing enhancement that can improve production of an enzyme used for mRNA therapeutics.

Lonza and Sheba Medical Center have successfully dosed four patients with a CD19 autologous CAR-T cell therapy using Lonza’s Cocoon automated manufacturing platform.

AGC Biologics has acquired Novartis’ Longmont, Colorado, manufacturing facility for the commercial production of cell and gene therapies.

Novavax and European Commission have finalized an agreement to purchase up to 200 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

BeiGene plans to build a new campus for R&D and commercial-scale biopharmaceutical manufacturing in Hopewell, NJ.

Catalent finalizes their acquisition of iPSC developer and manufacturer RheinCell Therapeutics.

Syngene International appoints two US-based executives to senior level positions.

Nanoform and Boehringer Ingelheim have executed a master services agreement in relation to pre-clinical development projects.

A research collaboration will combine Imugene’s oncolytic virus technology with Celularity’s allogeneic CAR T-cell therapy.

FDA has accepted Genetech’s BLA for faricimab, a bispecific antibody in development for treating wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema.

The European Commission has entered into a supply agreement with GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology for up to 220,000 doses of sotrovimab, an investigational mAb for treating COVID-19.

Growing demand for bispecific antibodies increases the need for automated and miniaturized high throughput screening capabilities.

Entries are now open for the 18th Annual CPhI Pharma Awards in Milan.

VICO Therapeutics’ drug candidate, VO659, for treating Huntington’s Disease was granted orphan drug designation by FDA.

Byondis and Glycotope have formed an agreement to discover and develop antibodies that target specific glyco-epitopes.

Cytiva and Pall reinforce recent expansion efforts with a $1.5-billion dollar investment in new manufacturing facilities.

Samsung Biologics and Kineta have entered into a strategic partnership for drug product manufacturing services and to support an IND filing of a novel antibody therapeutic.

BioNTech will acquire a TCR cell therapy R&D platform as well as a manufacturing facility in Gaithersburg, Md., from Kite, a Gilead company.

Nkarta will establish a new combined scalable NK cell therapy manufacturing facility and corporate headquarters in South San Francisco, Calif.

Cellares has entered into a strategic relationship with Poseida Therapeutics to advance a closed, automated, and scalable cell therapy manufacturing system.

Pall has secured a manufacturing contract with Exothera for the suspension-based manufacture of gene therapies and viral vector-based vaccines.

The US federal government awarded new funding to the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals, including funding under the American Rescue Plan that will be used to advance vaccine manufacturing.

The ever-increasing complexity of biotherapeutic molecules presents unique analytical challenges for developers.

Developing analytical methods and bioassays is necessary from early on in the drug development life cycle.