Friday, June 24, 2022 Daily Archives

China’s First Digital mRNA Vaccine Facility: Leveraging Automation and Digitalization Solutions

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Vaccines against sudden acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are designed to elicit immune responses that prevent recipients from getting — or becoming seriously ill or dying from — novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Two available COVID-19 vaccines are based on genetically engineered messenger RNA (mRNA). After administration, such molecules give muscle cells “instructions” for how to make target proteins — e.g., the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein. Immune-system detection of those proteins prompts creation of neutralizing antibodies. Immediately upon delivery of…

June 24, 2022

Flexible Vaccine Manufacturing: Collaborations Bringing Localized Solutions

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The COVID-19 pandemic has become the most recent reminder of how accessibility to drugs and vaccines depends heavily on geographical location and a country’s economic health. Some countries continue to lack the infrastructure, regulatory support, and trained workforce necessary for establishing a viable bioindustry. Unizima, part of the Univercells Group, is a team of experts, scientists, and engineers that partners with public and private companies and other organizations to help build biomanufacturing capabilities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We…

June 24, 2022

Advancing In Silico Tools for Vaccine Development and Process Modeling

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The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of — and significant demand for — vaccines. However, vaccine development for large-scale manufacturing can be difficult and resource intensive because of the diversity and complexity of vaccine types that are needed. Developing a new vaccine typically takes more than a decade, with costs ranging from US$200 million to $500 million per successful program. That figure rises to $8 billion for epidemic vaccines (1). Vaccine programs also face a 90% risk of failure…

June 24, 2022

Developing Subunit Vaccines Based on an Amphiphile Platform

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Subunit vaccines stimulate immune cells by delivering selected components of a pathogen of interest rather than the entire pathogen. Elicio Therapeutics is developing subunit vaccines that target a recipient’s lymph node to elicit a robust immune response. The vaccines are based on the company’s amphiphile (AMP) platform (Figure 1). The platform-based drug candidates are targeting cancer and COVID-19. Their development would allow the vaccine to be stored without the need for ultracold and cold storage. Below, we discuss the development…

June 24, 2022

Development of Allergen Immunotherapies

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Desentum, a biopharmaceutical company that specializes in developing allergen immunotherapy (AIT) products, has partnered with contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Biovian to advance hypoallergens based on targeted modifications to recombinant proteins. I spoke with Kati Sallinen (director of strategy and communications at Desentum) and Jonne Vaarno (project manager at Biovian) about their companies’ development of AITs and a potential platform to treat different types of allergies. Our Discussion We all know someone with an allergy, and many people have…

June 24, 2022

June 2022: From the Editor

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Although somewhat of an arbitrary practice, celebrating an anniversary milestone offers a chance for useful and productive reflections. Events of the past couple of years placed a number of projects on hold — especially some that we wanted to launch at in-person events. But finally, coming this month, we are introducing the BPI Best Places to Work in Biotech awards. In the midst of celebrating the publication’s 20-year anniversary, and given the current job market, we feel that this is…

June 24, 2022

Facing a Unique Challenge: Building an In-House Cell and Gene Therapy Manufacturing Facility During the Pandemic

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In 2019, Expression Therapeutics (ET) obtained investigational new drug (IND) approval for its lead clinical product. The third-generation lentiviral vector (LV) expresses a bioengineered coagulation factor VIII to be used in an autologous hematopoietic stem- and progenitor-cell gene therapy for patients with severe hemophilia A. Like many other emerging biotechnology companies, ET’s initial strategy used reputable contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) for vector and cell manufacturing needs and a prominent clinical contract research organization (CRO) with extensive experience in…

June 24, 2022

Multimodal Facility Design for Cell and Gene Therapies

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Cell and gene therapies (CGTs) are progressing rapidly through development pipelines and advancing through clinical trial phases. Manufacturing capacity will need to be sufficient when such products are approved for commercialization. Thus, biomanufacturers are seeking ways to leverage multimodal facilities. I spoke with Stephen Judd, who is principal process engineer for biologics and cell and gene therapy at DPS Group, an engineering and construction management consultancy. We talked about design considerations for multimodal facilities, how such facilities contribute to overall…

June 24, 2022

Improving Gene Therapy Viral Vector Manufacturing Economics: Modelling Bioprocess Costs

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This webcast features: Emmanuelle Cameau, Strategic Technology Partnership Leader, Cell and Gene Therapy, Pall Corporation & Maxime Dumont, Cell & Gene Therapy Product Manager, Polyplus-transfection. Gene therapy viral vector manufacturers strive to reduce time to market and cost per dose to ensure treatment affordability and patient access. Approved and commercialized AAV-based gene therapies Luxturna® and Zolgensma®, for patients suffering from vision loss and spinal muscular atrophy, are the first of many gene therapies that are expected to reach the market…

June 24, 2022

BioMarin’s EU nod another lift for budding gene therapy sector

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The European Medicines Agency (EMA) endorsement of BioMarin’s hemophilia A gene therapy comes days after the US recommended two bluebird bio gene therapy products. The Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) adopted a positive opinion for Roctavian (valoctocogene roxaparvovec), laying the ground for the approval of the first gene therapy for the treatment of hemophilia A. Roctavian is based on an adeno-associated virus (AAV) containing the gene for factor VIII, which, once administered as a one-off therapy,…

June 24, 2022