Bio/Pharma Business

GlaxoSmithKline and iTeos Therapeutics enter into a development and commercialization collaboration worth up to $2.08 billion for a new therapeutic anti-cancer mAb candidate.

Evonik and Stanford University have signed a research collaboration to develop and market a new drug delivery platform for mRNA and gene therapy.

Yposkesi is building its second commercial facility for cell and gene therapy manufacturing at its campus on Corbeil-Essonnes, France.

Optima has teamed up with the Robert-Bosch-Krankenhaus and Heidelberg University to develop a unit for decentralized, automated production of CAR-T cell therapies.

AGC Biologics has partnered with BioNTech to further supply plasmid DNA starting material from its Heidelberg, Germany, facility for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

FDA has granted accelerated approval to Biogen for Aduhelm (aducanumab), a new mAb treatment for Alzheimer’ disease.

Bio/pharmaceutical manufacturers have made a good first step toward global vaccination through pledging doses at no- to low-profit rates.

The acquisition gives PerkinElmer access to Nexcelom Bioscience’s complementary cell counting and analysis capabilities and enhances its QA/QC capabilities.

The Discovery Labs has signed a foundational lease with the University of Pennsylvania Gene Therapy Program to build a new life sciences cluster in King of Prussia, Pa.

Moderna and Aldevron have expanded their existing collaboration to support Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine program as well as additional clinical programs in Moderna’s pipeline.

Biogen and Ginkgo Bioworks have partnered to develop a next-generation AAV production platform to accelerate Biogen’s gene therapy drug development efforts.

Codagenix and Univercells have partnered on a research collaboration to pursue an undisclosed, high-priority human vaccine target.

The US Supreme Court has denied a petition by Sandoz, a Novartis company, to review a July 2020 ruling concerning its biosimilar Erelzi (etanercept-szzs), blocking the company from launching the product.

Lonza plans to invest approximately CHF 850 million (US$936 million) to build new state-of-the-art mammalian manufacturing facilities at its Visp, Switzerland, and Portsmouth, NH, sites.

Projects led by collaborating researchers from both Sanofi and Stanford Medicine will focus on autoimmune diseases and inflammatory conditions.

Eli Lilly and Company has partnered with leading diabetes tech firms to offer app compatibility with insulin smart pens to streamline diabetes management with automated data collection.

Combating COVID-19 is bolstering efforts to limit patent protections on innovative medicines and vaccines.

The world of bio/pharma has been celebrating its achievements across a variety of categories in the latest rounds of awards.

Sartorius has expanded in the United Kingdom with the relocation to a new facility in Havant, Hampshire, for downstream processing equipment.

The ATMPS and Ori Biotech collaboration aims to improve visibility and reporting of cell and gene therapy manufacturing through a pre-integrated data solution.

Smart, accurate, science-based messaging is needed to advance bio/pharma science.

The White House’s American Jobs Plan includes investment in new technologies for rapid scale up of vaccine production, in expanded emergency production capacity and enhanced US infrastructure for biopreparedness, and in greater production onshore of APIs.

BIA and Clarivate have released data showing that UK biotech companies are set to experience another strong year for fundraising in 2021.

The need for added revenues to fund billion-dollar infrastructure improvements has fueled challenges to industry pricing practices.

The Federal Trade Commission is launching a broad review of drug-company mergers, with an eye to examining how such actions can harm competition in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Many biologic drug manufacturers encounter similiar challenges; precompetitive collaboration can help resolve these issues. Representatives of the IQ Consortium’s Biologics CMC Leadership Group describe efforts to address the safe handling of biologic drugs in closed-system transfer devices in healthcare settings and the need for phase-appropriate specifications.

This agreement enhances GSK’s investment in cell and gene therapy manufacturing in the UK for clinical trials.

The companies intend to design and implement algorithms for the early stages of research for drug discovery and development of drug candidates to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

The acquisition strategically expands SPT Labtech’s offering in sample management for life sciences.

The acquisition will integrate drug substance, drug product, and clinical testing capabilities under Quotient.