MDRNA’s liposomal drug delivery formulation, DiLA2, lost no potency when stored for 12 months in conditions ranging from -80ºC to 4ºC, helping to validate it for administration of UsiRNA.
ISCO’s stem cell manufacturing facility has passed final building inspection, enabling it to implement the processes and cGMP standards needed to produce clinical-grade products.
TTP LabTech has launched a contract screening service to assist various aspects of clients’ drug development programmes, from target identification through to preclinical toxicology.
Belgium-based Galapagos NV has acquired Argenta Discovery for €16.5m ($23.1m), creating a drug discovery service company with 390 employees and estimated revenues of €70m.
Crospon has spun out its transdermal controlled release patch into a distinct company, two years after it licensed the system from HP, using funding from a pharma firm to further its development.
Detection of Mycoplasma contamination in biologics manufacture can be cut from up to 35 days to four hours using Millipore’s MilliPROBE, according to the company.
SurModics has opened a 90,000 sq ft cGMP manufacturing and development facility in Birmingham, Alabama, US to support its partnerships and shorten time to market.
Access Pharmaceuticals’ insulin diabetes treatment has shown promise in preclinical trials, achieving over 80 per cent oral bioavailability, leading the company to target proof-of-concept studies in humans.
Cambridge Consultants (CC) says experience developing auto-injector technologies was critical to its contract appraisal work during Consort Medical’s £16.8m (€11.5m) takeover of The Medical House (TMH).
Pall says its acquisition of MicroReactor Technologies (MRT) broadens its offering in the $1bn (€689m) a year global biopharmaceutical process development market.
Novavax has completed cGMP scale up of its RSV-F vaccine candidate, with the material being used in preclinical studies, and amended the terms of the H1N1 collaboration with Xcellerex.
in-PharmaTechnologist presents its latest round up of movements in the pharma sector, including Genzyme strengthening its quality team and appointments at ISPE and Biogen Idec.
A recently completed manufacturing and filling capacity expansion will help Florida Biologix meet deadlines and win repeat business according to company director Richard Snyder.
Vaccines could be produced in less than 10 weeks from first isolation of the RNA sequence by using insect cell derived influenza VLPs, according to research which has implications for H1N1 and H5N1.
InNexus Biotechnology believes 2010 is the year for biotechs to differentiate and has begun this process by using its Transmab delivery technology in a product for treating psoriasis.
Laureate Pharma and Selexis SA have entered into a joint-marketing relationship, drawing on their respective strengths in contract manufacturing and cell line development to shorten timelines.
Sartorius Stedim Biotech has introduced FlexAct BP, the first product in a range which will be an integrated single-use system for entire biomanufacturing steps in upstream and downstream processing.
SAFC Biosciences hopes Ex-Cell Antifoam, its new foam control product for cell culture bioreactors, will work the biomanufacturing sector into a lather.
SAFC Pharma has added extra viral and biologics capacity at its California plant in a $12m project that allows it to take projects from the lab to commercial scale.
Canadian biologics CMO BioVectra has been contracted to make trial supplies of the candidate cancer treatment Prolanta by US biopharmaceutical firm Oncolix.
US CMO Florida Biologix (FB) says its new contract with America Stem Cell (ASC) shows that demand for trial-phase biologics manufacturing is starting to recover.
CMO Avid Bioservices’ revenues rose by 74 per cent to $2.1m (€1.5m) in Q2, generating a further $7m from its parent company, and it has plans to boost output and become a leader in mammalian cell culture production.
Basel-headquartered Roche has paid fellow Swiss firm Lonza $290m (€203m) for its Singapore biologics plant in a bid to secure long-term manufacturing capacity for biotech cancer drugs.
Pfizer’s new $214.8 million (€150m) biotechnology facility in Strangnas, Sweden was inaugurated yesterday, securing the country’s future in the company’s manufacturing network according to global manufacturing president Natale Ricciardi.
Demand for downstream processing products from biotechs drove the continued recovery of Millipore’s bioprocessing division in Q2 but operating income remained flat.
US biotechnology group OSI Pharmaceuticals will move HQ to a facility in Greenburgh, New York due, according to observers, to the high cost of land at its current base in Long Island.
Novartis and Jubilant Organosys are among several companies forced to recall generic drugs after manufacturing operations at their shared CMO, India’s MJ Biopharm, were found to be in breach of GMP guidelines.
BASF and Sinopec are to invest $1.4bn (€1bn) in expanding their Chinese specialty chemical joint venture, adding 10 plants and increasing capacity at three existing sites.
Novasep has bolstered its upstream processing capabilities by acquiring Henogen, a Belgium-based CMO that has biotech development and cGMP manufacturing expertise.
Millipore has ramped up capacity for its Mobius range of single use bio-processing and manufacturing technologies with a new purpose built production facility in Danvers, Massachusetts.
CMO Kemwell is receiving technical assistance from Boehringer Ingelheim for the construction of its new biotech facility, which is designed to marry European technology with Indian low cost manufacturing.
Wacker has brought its expanded cyclodextrin facility online following its $21m (€15m) expansion, which has significantly increased capacity in response to growing demand for the excipient.
CMO Richter-Helm BioLogics has achieved a 60 per cent increase in yield using technology from Upfront Chromatography, which demonstrated its system at BIO 2009.
in-Pharmatechnologist's Nick Taylor looks back on BIO 2009, an event at which uncertainty about the development of the biotechnology industry’s future shape dominated proceedings.
HEM Pierre Vimont, Ambassador of France to the US, was at BIO 2009 talking about the measures his nation have taken to attract biotechs, including the introduction of the "most favourable R&D tax in Europe".