Week of December 3, 2012: Biogen Idec Opens New RTP Facility; Tekmira, Marina Biotech Enter into License Agreement for UNA Technology; and More

Biogen Idec has opened its new facility in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina, consolidating its 300-person patient-services operation with the existing RTP campus. The new 190,000-ft² building is anticipated to achieve LEED-Gold certified status in the next several months and will accommodate increasing levels of manufacturing activity at the site. The official groundbreaking for the building took place in April 2011. Read More

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, a developer of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics, has obtained a worldwide, nonexclusive license to an RNAi payload technology called Unlocked Nucleobase Analog (UNA) from Marina Biotech for the development of RNAi therapeutics. UNA technology can be used in the development of RNAi therapeutics, which treat disease by silencing specific disease-causing genes. UNAs can be incorporated into RNAi drugs and have the potential to improve them by increasing their stability and reducing off-target effects. Read More

TOT Biopharm has completed an 18-month construction project in the first stage of its $100-million factory complex in eastern China’s Suzhou Industrial Park. The factory complex specializes in the R&D, production, and marketing of anticancer drugs globally. The first stage of TOT Biopharm’s new factory complex includes an oral anticancer drug plant with separate production facilities for both cytotoxics and noncytotoxics, an injected anticancer drug plant, and a GMP bio pilot plant with a capacity of 500 L for cell culture, purification, and filling. Read More

A roundup of additional company and people news from pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, their suppliers, and contract-service providers. Read More