Deals, Development and Manufacturing

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.

Brinter has successfully closed a €1.2 million (US $1.5 million) seed funding round, which was led by the early-stage venture capitalist Innovestor.

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.

Hovione has re-joined iBET to increase its R&D programs in novel and high potential pharmaceutical technologies and to combine expertise for industrial innovation in new therapeutic fields.

Through the acquisition, Aceto can now offer its customers support throughout the drug development process and access to North American manufacturing for APIs and advanced intermediates.

Aptamer Group and PinotBio have formed a strategic collaboration aimed at the development of new drug conjugates for targeted drug delivery.

The Optima Group is expanding production capacities in Germany to meet with high demand for packaging and filling solutions.

Samsung Biologics and KAHR Medical have signed a strategic development and manufacturing agreement for a cancer immunotherapy drug candidate.

GoSilico’s software for digital twins of downstream biopharmaceutical processes will be integrated into Cytiva.

Currently, PNI offers a Genetic Medicine Toolkit, including its GenVoy LNP delivery platform and NanoAssemblr microfluidic-based nanoparticle manufacturing platform, for the development of genetic medicines.

Through the acquisition, Avantor will have access to RIM’s Changzhou, China, facility, making it Avantor’s first single-use production plant in the AMEA region.

The companies are expanding their collaboration to extend the drug substance manufacturing of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine with the addition of a new manufacturing line at Lonza’s Geleen, Netherlands, site.

GSK’s position is raising concerns as it continues working towards its separation of businesses.

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.

CMA has launched an anti-competition investigation into AstraZeneca’s $39-billion acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals.

Samsung Biologics plans to support the production of hundreds of millions of doses of Moderna’s vaccine to supply to markets outside of the United States beginning in the third quarter of 2021.

Under the terms of the agreement, Thermo Fisher will construct and operate a 44,000-ft2 cell therapy development, manufacturing, and collaboration center on UCSF's Mission Bay campus.

Bristol Myers Squibb has entered into a definitive agreement with Agenus for a global exclusive license to Agenus’ proprietary bispecific antibody program, AGEN1777, that blocks TIGIT and a second undisclosed target.

Univercells will introduce the intermediate capacity scale-X carbo system to NIBRT’s facility for hands-on demonstration and training in CGT.

Charles River plans to enhance its gene therapy capabilities through the acquisition of Vigene Biosciences.

WuXi Biologics and WuXi STA have established a joint venture company named WuXi XDC to provide contract development and manufacturing of bioconjugates, including antibody-drug conjugates.

Biogen and Capsigen have entered into a strategic research collaboration to engineer novel AAV capsids to deliver gene therapies that address the underlying genetic causes of various central nervous system and neuromuscular disorders.

Through the collaboration, MiNA will use its saRNA platform to research up to five targets selected by Lilly to address diseases across Lilly's key therapeutic focus areas.

Sterling Pharma Solutions and OncoTEX have entered into a clinical development agreement for the manufacturing of OncoTex’s novel platinum-resistant oncology drug candidate, OxaliTEX, for use in clinical trials.

The collaboration, which has been in place since 1998, will focus on drug discovery, translational medicine research, and pharmaceutical development.

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