Friday, July 28, 2023 Daily Archives

Mammalian, fill/finish, and ADCs key to Lonza’s biologics biz

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Lonza continues to focus on biologics, identifying three key areas it will invest in to strengthen the business. Swiss contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Lonza reported biologics sales of 1605 CHF ($1.85 billion) in the first half 2023, a slight decrease of 1.2% compared to the same period last year. The firm attributed this to growth project dilution. During the call, the company spoke candidly about its biologics business and the three key areas of focus. CEO Pierre-Alain Ruffieux told…

July 28, 2023

Takeda opens Germany plant to support dengue vaccine

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Takeda has opened a €74 million ($82 million) plant in Singen, Germany in anticipation of demand for its recently approved dengue vaccine Qdenga. Takeda’s production site in Singen had just completed a €130 million expansion in 2020 when the firm laid plans to invest a further €74 million to build a drug substance plant to support the then dengue disease vaccine candidate TAK-003. The vaccine has recently won approval across various regions under the name Qdenga (Dengue Tetravalent Vaccine [Live,…

July 28, 2023

AstraZeneca ups CGT interest through $1bn Pfizer deal

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Through its Alexion business, AstraZeneca will add a portfolio of preclinical gene therapies from fellow Big Pharma firm Pfizer. The deal sees AstraZeneca pay Pfizer $1 billion, plus tiered royalties on sales, for a number of adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids, used as therapeutic gene cargos for the undisclosed gene therapy candidates. The preclinical assets will form part of AstraZeneca’s rare disease division pipeline. AstraZeneca acquired Alexion in 2021 for $39 billion. “Today’s announcement represents another major step forward in Alexion…

July 28, 2023