In late spring of 2022, the combined BPI editorial and marketing teams sent out a “Best Places to Work in Biotech” survey to BPI readers. Similar surveys appear every year from a number of other organizations. Our focus was less data driven than many others, instead inviting commentary on factors that are becoming essential to job satisfaction and employee retention. One strong conclusion to draw from our reader responses is that people in biopharmaceutical careers want to play a key…
The emergency authorization, regulatory approval, and successful commercialization of Pfizer–BioNTech’s and Moderna’s respective mRNA vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 have ignited considerable interest in the modality across the biopharmaceutical industry — and for good reasons. Establishing a platform process for mRNA production could facilitate and accelerate several aspects of vaccine development and manufacturing. Drug makers also intend to leverage benefits associated with cell-free bioprocessing. But as the contributors to this eBook show, mRNA remains a nascent modality, and companies must surmount new…
CDMO sector M&A activity continued apace in 2022 with contractors making deals to cater for evolving drug industry demands – particularly mRNA-related production capabilities – to add capacity and to tap regional markets. The pharmaceutical contract manufacturing sector is highly fragmented yadda, yadda, yadda… Consolidation is an acknowledged growth strategy blah, blah, blah… Deal making has been, and always will be, a defining characteristic of the CDMO space. The difference this year is that while some contractors have bought for…
Current payment models must change to make gene therapies more accessible, say experts. The cost of gene therapies continues to be a hot topic in the industry. Last month, CSL Behring’s one-time gene therapy Hemgenix (etranacogene dezaparvovec) for hemophilia B received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with a list price of $3.5 million, making it the most expensive single-dose drug on the market. With such hefty costs, various firms are looking at solutions that could potentially drive…
Gene therapy developers need access to high quality viral vectors and to meet this need suppliers need to optimize manufacturing processes, says Genemagic Biosciences’ CEO, Jingmin Zhou. Viral vectors are empty virus particles that can be used to deliver selected sections of genetic material into target cells. They are a key component of modern molecular biology and have been used in everything from cell line development through to crop engineering. In addition, viral vectors are vital to the cell and…