February 12th 2025
Personalized medicine is a trend that continues to impact innovation and business decisions in the biopharma industry.
The evolution of therapeutic modalities drives the adoption of single-use technologies.
On the Biotechnology Frontier: Personalized Medicine, A Discussion with E.J. Brandreth
October 1st 2007Favrille, a San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company, is one of a handful of firms on the forefront of personalized medicine. Because personalized treatment is tailored to an individual's biology, it has the potential to be far more effective than current approaches to disease management.
Final Word: In the Quest to Manage Capacity, Biology Trumps Stainless Steel
September 1st 2007From the earliest days of the biotechnology industry, companies have grappled with the complexities of making innovative biopharmaceuticals on a large scale. Success in manufacturing begins with process science, since biotech production requires perfection in maintaining living organisms in a sterile environment under controlled physiological conditions. But unless companies can solve the challenge of planning for and managing manufacturing capacity, they will not be able to achieve the full potential of promising biotech products.
FDA Recommends Development of Guidelines for Nanotechnology
August 21st 2007The US Food and Drug Administration's Nanotechnology Task Force (www.fda.gov/nanotechnology/ nano_tf.html) has released a report recommending the agency develop guidelines and take other steps to address the benefits and risks of products, including drugs and medical technology, that use nanotechnology.
The Adjuvant Patch: A Universal Dose Sparing Approach for Pandemic and Conventional Vaccines
In animal studies, we have demonstrated that the dose of an injected H5N1 vaccine candidate can be significantly reduced by using a skin patch containing E. coli heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) applied over the injection site. LT-activated epidermal Langerhans cells migrate to the nearby draining lymph node and enhance the immune response to the injected antigen. A dry patch formulation has been optimized as a dose sparing strategy for pandemic flu and other vaccines. Iomai Corporation has developed a proprietary stabilizing formulation for the patch that allows use and storage at ambient temperature. The patch withstands temperature extremes during shipment, and is suitable for stockpiling.
Manufacturing Vaccines in Adherent Cell Lines Using Disposable Multi-tray Bioreactors
August 2nd 2007The recent growth in the vaccine market has led to renewed interest in using adherent human cell lines for vaccine production. Traditionally, small-scale adherent cell line production has been carried out in roller bottles or T-flasks. Over the past few years, however, a number of companies have found multi-tray disposable bioreactors an effective method for producing high-quality drug products using adherent cells. These disposable, expandable systems have also facilitated scale up from laboratory to clinical-scale.
Drug Delivery: What The Future Holds
August 1st 2007Drug delivery technologies have the potential to enable drug candidates with poor pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical properties, both for macromolecule and traditional compounds. While there have been many success stories to date, the future offers even more promise. In this article, the author surveys the top ten areas in drug delivery looking forward.
Final Word: The Case for Flexible Manufacturing Capacity
August 1st 2007The mounting threats of pandemic influenza, bioterrorism, and emerging infectious diseases continue to be the focus of research programs and funding initiatives, not only within governmental agencies, but also universities, private research firms, and commercial manufacturing entities. With all of these efforts, however, the question of manufacturing capacity and the ability to respond to pandemic and emerging threats continues to be a major concern.
USP Extends Time to Meet Residual Solvent Standards
July 24th 2007The US Pharmacopeia (Rockville, MD, USP, www.usp.org) recently announced that the implementation period for its USP–NF general notices statement requiring all manufacturers to conform to recently revised residual solvent standards in General Chapter <467> has been extended from July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2008.
Process Development: Maximizing Process Data from Development to Manufacturing
July 1st 2007Process development and manufacturing for biopharmaceuticals are often disjointed activities. Disconnects among groups are aggravated by a lack of common terminology and poor data management practices. A UK biotech consortium has initiated a collaborative development effort to address data management issues. The proposed outcome is a data model, based on the ISA-88 Standard for Batch Control, to capture process and facility data throughout the product lifecycle. A data framework that follows the ISA-88 model can simplify process scale up and enable early views of project costs and facility fit.
Expanded FluMist Indication Delayed by cGMP Violations
June 21st 2007The FDA issued MedImmune, Inc. (Gaithersburg, MD, www.medimmune.com), a warning letter for violating the agency's manufacturing rules and held off approving the company's influenza vaccine for use in children younger than age five until the problems are resolved.
IBPL Becomes India's First EU-GMP Certified Biopharmaceutical Facility
June 21st 2007Intas Biopharmaceuticals Limited (IBPL, Gujarat, India, www.intasbiopharma.co.in) has become India's first dedicated biopharmaceutical company to receive certification from the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA, London, UK, www.emea.europa.eu) or an EU-GMP certification for its manufacturing facility at Ahmedabad, Gujarat.