Albumedix has completed expansion of its commercial-scale manufacturing facility and established new labs, doubling its albumin production capacity. After more than three years of design and construction work, Albumedix has completed the expansion of its Nottingham facility and is now able to manufacture out of this site. The expansion enables the firm to more than double its albumin production, which is used for stabilization and to deliver pharmaceuticals. “Part of the expansion included the construction of a four-storey building adjacent…

Abzena has selected Sanford, North Carolina as the site of a biologics manufacturing facility equipped with 12x 2,000 L bioreactors. In January, British contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Abzena announced the addition of a sixth global site in the US. The exact location of the plant was not divulged. However, the firm revealed this week that the site will be in Sanford, North Carolina. The Sanford facility will cost over $200 million and will be dedicated to manufacturing mammalian biologics.…

CDMO Catalent has completed an $85 million expansion at its Madison drug substance facility and has started work on customer programs. The contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Catalent has added two mammalian cell culture suites at its Madison facility, meaning the site has five suites in total and has more than doubled its overall capacity. The two additional suites each boast a 2 x 2,000 L single-use bioreactor system that can process batches of 2,000 L or 4,000 L for…

The industry relies on horseshoe crab blood for endotoxin testing. These marine arthropods are endangered but the race to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines in large volumes is placing them under further threat. Often referred to as ‘living fossils’, horseshoe crabs have inhabited the Earth for more than 450 million years. For drugmakers, it is the horseshoe crab’s blue blood that has remained a fascination and until recently a necessity . The chemicals in the crab’s blood can react to harmful bacteria…

Catalent has dedicated a high-speed vial filling line to Moderna at its site in Indiana, which it says will free up space for its non-COVID related customers.  The high-speed vial filling line expands upon an agreement inked between the two firms last June, and provides Moderna with a dedicated fill-finish service through to June 2023. It will initially be used to manufacture Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, approved by the US FDA under an emergency use authorization (EUA) last December, though there is potential for it to produce other clinical products in the firm’s pipeline. According to the…