Deals, Development and Manufacturing

GE Healthcare will equip Cellular Biomedicine Group's cell therapy manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China, with its FlexFactory single-use platform, designed to speed up cell therapy manufacturing timelines.

The acquisition strengthens Charles River Laboratories’ capabilities in the oncology and immunology therapeutic areas.

The acquisition, valued at EUR 520 million (US$631 million), would expand Takeda’s late-stage pipeline in gastroenterology and would extend an already existing collaboration between the two companies.

Sartorius Stedim Biotech will equip Abzena’s contract development and manufacturing facilities in Bristol, PA, and San Diego, CA, with single-use equipment and scale-up technologies.

A Takeda and Denali collaboration includes three named programs for treating Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, using Denali’s antibody transport vehicle (ATV) technology to enhance blood-brain barrier penetration.

The company announced 15 new collaborations focused on addressing unmet medical needs, including using artificial intelligence in the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease, saliva testing for throat cancers, and using the microbiome to treat sleep disorders.

The companies aim to discover and develop locked nucleic acid oligonucleotides as orally available therapies for treating inflammatory bowel diseases.

The companies aim to develop a potential zinc finger protein transcription factor-based gene therapy for treating Lou Gehrig’s disease.

The companies will collaborate on the development of vaccines to expand GeoVax’s cancer immunotherapy program.

Scientific advances and renewed investment may infuse biopharma for growth.

The companies have entered an agreement involving assay development and the manufacturing of kits supporting biomarker research programs.

The company has completed development of a first-generation production process for its chimeric antigen receptor regulatory T cell product portfolio and is selecting a CMO for clinical supply.

The European Medicines Agency has granted Samsung BioLogics approval to manufacture a monoclonal antibody at the company’s second facility in Songdo, Incheon, South Korea.

The partnership aims to develop and commercialize a skin-care drug candidate being developed to treat actinic keratosis, which, left untreated, can progress to cancer.

Gilead Sciences will acquire Cell Design Labs to further cell-therapy research and development efforts.

The acquisition deepens Astellas’ involvement in the development of a pipeline of therapeutics focused on mitochondrial function.

Lonza has entered into strategic license agreements for exclusive rights to a gene-therapy platform for developing treatments for hearing and balance disorders.

Biocad and Sothema Labs have partnered to release cancer-treating biosimilars into the North African market.

The acquisition gives GE Healthcare access to a nanofiber-based platform purification technology that can offer improvements in biopharmaceutical productivity.

The joint venture will focus on the discovery, development, and commercialization of potential new drugs for the global market as well as speed delivery of new medicines to China.

The opnME.com platform offers scientists access to best-in-class molecules supported by comprehensive data packages.

Bayer will make a $400-million upfront payment to develop and commercialize two anti-cancer compounds in Loxo Oncology’s portfolio.

As part of the deal, J&J’s Janssen will pay an upfront payment of $50 million to research, develop, and commercialize up to six bispecific antibodies.

The use of therapeutic vaccines presents a new way to manage diseases, such as cancer and sexually transmitted diseases.

The companies will collaborate to develop and manufacture Grid’s lead therapeutic candidate for the treatment of solid tumors.