Acquisition-hungry Danaher Corporation could continue to eye-up CDMO opportunities despite reports it has given up on Catalent. In February, the Danaher rumor mill turned to the tune of a potential $20+ billion takeover of contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Catalent. But this week Bloomberg reported Danaher’s acquisitional interest has fallen, citing people familiar with the matter. Reasons why the alleged deal has fizzled out were not divulged, but Catalent’s stock price dropped 26% last week after the firm reported…

Merck & Co. will add monoclonal antibody (mAb) candidate PRA023 to its pipeline by acquiring Prometheus Biosciences for $10.8 billion. Merck & Co. (known as MSD outside North America and Canada) will pay Prometheus, a Californian-based clinical-stage biotechnology firm that focuses on treatments for autoimmune diseases, $200 per share in cash to acquire the firm. Merck will gain Prometheus’ lead asset PRA023, which is a humanized mAb targeted to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-like ligand 1A (TL1A) to treat immune diseases…

The acquisition of Cell Systems will advance AnaBios’ human tissue and cells portfolio and provide access to a range of tools, says firm. Under the terms of the deal, of which financial details have not been disclosed, AnaBios will acquire Cell Systems, which is a human primary cell and cell culture media firm located in Kirkland, Washington. AnaBios, a pre-clinical-focused firm  that  provides human tissue samplesand cells to the industry and academia, said the deal will “further enhance” its portfolio…

Biogen will develop and commercialise an Alzheimer’s candidate using Denali’s Antibody Transport Vehicle (ATV). Following the original $1 billion deal forged in 2020, Biogen has licensed Denali’s Antibody Transport Vehicle (ATV) Amyloid beta (ATV:Aβ) program through an additional upfront exercise payment, granting Biogen access to Denali’s technology to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Biogen has not disclosed the licensing cost, but Denali has potential to receive additional development and commercial payments, dependent on future sales. Biogen will be responsible for developing and…

Samsung Venture Investment Corporation has invested an undisclosed amount in Araris Biotech ahead of a series A funding round. The investment was made by Samsung Life Science Fund, a joint creation between Samsung Biologics and trading company Samsung C&T, which is managed by Samsung Ventures Investment Corporation (Samsung Ventures), an investment corporation that aims to promote the advancement of technologies. “Samsung Biologics plans its investments with Samsung Life Science Fund […] The fund is worth of KRW150 billion [$113 million],”…

Dyadic has expanded its licensing agreement with Rubic One Health to develop and commercialize vaccines and biologics for Africa. Since 2015, Dyadic International has focused on bringing the C1 gene expression platform to the biomanufacturing space, and the firm has struck numerous deals with partners including Luina Bio, Novovet, Alphazyme, and Sanofi. The C1 platform is based on the fungus Myceliophthora thermophila and is used in the industrial enzyme space, where it achieves productivity as high as 80 grams per liter for…

ABL Bio has selected Lonza to support its bispecific antibody candidate; AGC Biologics has signed a service agreement with The Jikei University in Japan; Remedium Bio has picked Exothera to support the manufacturing process for its lead candidate. Great to have you here for BioProcess Insider’s CDMO round-up. First up in our contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) round-up is Swiss company Lonza, which Korean biologics firm ABL Bio recently selected to support the development and production of its bispecific antibody product. Under…

The partnership between Sensible Biotechnologies and Ginkgo Bioworks aims to develop an in vivo alternative to in vitro mRNA manufacturing technology. The in vivo mRNA manufacturing method Sensible and Ginkgo are jointly developing is designed to scale to produce 100,000 L of product. The partnership has an overarching aim to manufacture better quality mRNA over traditional IVT. According to Sensible Biotechnologies, an early-stage biotechnology company based in Europe, and Ginkgo, which is building a platform for cell programming and biosecurity, the mRNA…

Thermo Fisher Scientific and Arsenal Biosciences said its updated partnership will further advance  the development of production processes for cancer treatments. Contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Thermo Fisher first teamed up with clinical-stage cell therapy firm manufacturing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies ArsenalBio in 2020. Under the terms of the deal, Thermo Fisher aimed to support ArsenalBio to tackle specific challenges connected with cell therapy production by working as a team to aid advancement of a clinical-scale gene editing…

The collaboration aims to help gene therapy companies streamline their downstream purification processes, says Alpha Teknova and Sartorius BIA Separations. Teknova, a manufacturer of reagents for research, development, and commercialization of vaccines, therapies, and molecular diagnostics has partnered with BIA Separations – part of Sartorius  after being acquired  for $423 million in October 2020. Sartorius BIA Separations’ adeno-associated virus (AAV) platform, which has been designed to improve the separation of viral particles and Teknova’s buffer solutions developed to expand capsid…