Avid Bioservices Expands Process-Development Capabilities

On April 24, 2018, contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Avid Bioservices provided an update on its ongoing efforts to expand its process-development capabilities and laboratory space within its Orange County, CA, CDMO campus.

The company has begun expanding its total available process-development laboratory space to more than 6,000 square feet, upgrading the infrastructure and equipment within its existing process development laboratories, and implementing new technologies and equipment designed to facilitate efficient, high-throughput development of innovative upstream and downstream manufacturing processes.  

According to Avid, the company is strategically conducting this work in phases to avoid disruption to current customer programs, with the first new laboratories expected to be operational during the third quarter of 2018. The expansion is expected to directly improve the company's cell line development capabilities, supporting the ongoing evaluation and optimization of the its new Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-based expression system.

Recently, the company has signed new agreements with three additional undisclosed international drug development companies, for which Avid will provide process-development and manufacturing services to support the advancement of each company's novel biologic candidate into clinical development. The drug candidates involved in these agreements are being developed for application in certain cell therapy, respiratory, and oncology indications. Avid states that it has already started work on each of these projects. With these recent agreements, the company has now executed master service agreements with four new clients in calendar 2018, as compared with four similar agreements during the entire 2017 calendar year, as stated by the company.

Source: Avid Bioservices