Deals, Development and Manufacturing

Biogen’s acquisition of HI-Bio includes lead investigational mAb, felzartamab, under development for treating a range of immune-mediated diseases.

The Mirus Bio acquisition will boost Merck KGaA’s viral vector manufacturing services.

Under a partnership, ProPharm and PBL have launched the Cell Factory Box, an enclosed and fully automated cell factory manufacturing device.

The collaboration will target solid tumors using Poseida’s allogeneic CAR-T platform to develop convertibleCAR programs.

Technological advances are helping advance biologics development and manufacturing and reduce bottlenecks.

Contract manufacturer SK pharmteco will manufacture as well as conduct testing and release of Ferring Pharmaceuticals’ Adstiladrin (nadofaragene firadenovec-vncg), a gene therapy for bladder cancer.

Under the agreement, Bristol Myers Squibb will have access to Cellares’ fully automated cell therapy manufacturing platform, Cell Shuttle, to manufacture select CAR-T cell therapies.

In back-to-back deals, Charles River will offer plasmid DNA manufacturing services for a gene therapy under development by Axovia Therapeutics and for a lead candidate being developed by Ship of Theseus.

Lonza has made a deal with Acumen Pharmaceuticals to manufacture sabirnetug, a mAb that will soon be entering Phase II development for treating Alzheimer’s disease.

In a $1.8 billion transaction, Genmab will gain three clinical-stage next-generation ADC candidates with its acquisition of ProfoundBio.

Univercells and Altamira Therapeutics are collaborating on nanoparticle-delivered mRNA vaccines, while Andelyn Biosciences and Grace Science are partnering on novel therapies for NGLY1 deficiency.

AbbVie’s acquisition of Landos includes a lead asset that boosts its portfolio in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, while the ADC, ELAHERE, gets full FDA approval.

With the Vacaville, Calif., site acquisition, Lonza gains one of the largest biologics manufacturing sites for mammalian cell-based therapeutics.

In a non-exclusive licensing agreement, Ricoh will have access to ERS Genomics’ CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology to create novel disease models.

ProBioGen and Mapp Biopharmaceutical will use the former’s GlymaxX technology to develop a cell line for an afucosylated antibody that targets Marburg virus infection

Under a new agreement, Chime Biologics will manufacture Domain Therapeutics’ antibody cancer immunotherapy candidate, DT-7012.

Johnson & Johnson’s $2 billion acquisition of Ambrx boosts its pipeline of next-generation ADCs for cancer treatment.

Under a global license and collaboration agreement, AbbVie and OSE Immunotherapeutics will aim to develop OSE-230, a mAb for treating chronic inflammation.

Nona Biosciences and Boostimmune will collaborate to develop ADCs against novel targets using Nona’s proprietary platform technology.

CSL will share access to Cytegrity, its proprietary stable production system for lentiviral vector production, with Genezen.

GSK is expanding its respiratory biologics portfolio with its acquisition of Aiolos Bio and its novel therapy, AIO-001.

BioVaxys has acquired the full portfolio of discovery, preclinical, and clinical development-stage assets of the former IMV.

Under the new partnership, Samsung Biologics will develop and manufacture an antibody for a LegoChem Biosciences ADC candidate.

Through a €2.7 billion (US$2.9 billion) acquisition of MorphoSys, Novartis will get pelabresib, a late-stage drug candidate in development for cancer treatment.

Novo Holdings has entered into a merger agreement with Catalent and will acquire Catalent in a deal valued at $16.5 billion.