Deal-making digest: IDT’s $80m US contract, WuXi’s strategic partership

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded IDT Biologika a ten-year contract to make biologics and vaccines worth up to $80 million.

IDT Biologika has been contracted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services – to provide process development, manufacturing and characterization of vaccine and biologic products.

The German drug and vaccine maker will receive an initial $88,900 (€78,000) to support the first year of the contract, but over the ten years could receive up to $80 million if project milestones are met.

Image: iStock/metamorworks

IDT spokesperson Christian Herschel told this publication the products to be contracted are currently still to be determined but will focus on infectious diseases.

“In dependence on the contracted work our facility in Dessau-Roßlau [Germany] or our facility in Rockville [Maryland, US] will perform the manufacturing activities,” he told us.

According to the firm’s CEO Andreas Kastenbauer, “IDT has a long-standing history and proven track record of developing and manufacturing bacterial and virus-based vaccines, including fill and finish for international governments and a number of pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide.

“Our state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities located in Dessau and Rockville are well positioned to serve the current and future requirements of NIAID.”

WuXi and CANbridge Pharmaceutical strategic partnership

Over in China, CANbridge Pharmaceutical has selected contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) WuXi Biologics to develop and commercialize several biotherapeutics for the treatment of rare diseases.

The strategic partnership aims to file the first Investigational New Drug (IND) application in a rare disease in China with the lead candidate from the program in 2019.

“This historic partnership marks a watershed event in the development of therapeutics for patients with rare diseases,” said James Xue, CEO of CANbridge. “We believe it is a perfect marriage between two forward-thinking organizations and has the potential to change the world of rare disease dramatically in China, as well as globally.”

The news comes amid large investments by WuXi into its China’s biomanufacturing network. The CDMO has three GMP-ready plants in China, with another four clinical and commercial plants under construction. Furthermore, the firm has also begun investing overseas with sites in Singapore, Ireland and the US. The full list of facilities in the pipeline can be found here.