Valo Therapeutics Oy (ValoTx) has selected CDMO Exothera to develop a large-scale production process for clinical development of its oncolytic adenovirus, VALO-D102. ValoTx’s VALO-D102 is an oncolytic adenovirus, which the firm says is an essential component of its immuno-oncology platform PeptiCRAd (Peptide-coated Conditionally Replicating Adenovirus). “We take an oncolytic adenovirus (VALO-D102) and add immunogenic positively charged tumor peptides, which are adsorbed onto the negatively charged viral capsid to create PeptiCRAd,” a spokesperson for ValoTx told us. The platform works by…

Astrea Bioseparations has acquired Delta Precision, a manufacturer of chromatography columns for the biopharma space. The deal, of which financial details remain undisclosed, sees Astrea Bioseparations acquire Delta Precision. The firm says the acquisition will enable its product offering to include an entire range of chromatography columns for biomanufacturing. Astrea claims Delta’s products are recognized in the field for their wide range of applications, protein purification, vaccine production, drug development, and ease of use. A spokesperson for Astrea told BioProcess…

CytomX Therapeutics will combine its Probody platform with Moderna’s mRNA technology to create and advance therapeutics for oncology and non-oncology conditions. The partnership and licensing agreement, which aims to generate investigational messenger RNA (mRNA) based conditionally activated therapies, will use Moderna’s mRNA technologies alongside CytomX’s Probody therapeutic platform. According to CytomX, its platform enables proteins to activate in diseased tissue while remaining masked in systemic circulation, expanding the availability of new targets for the potential treatment of a large range…

Catamaran Bio will have non-exclusive clinical and commercial rights to use MaxCyte’s Flow Electroporation technology and ExPERT platform. MaxCyte has signed a strategic platform licence (SPL) with Catamaran, a company focused on developing off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor natural killer (CAR-NK) cell therapies used to treat a wide range of cancers, particularly solid tumors. While financial details of this deal remain undisclosed, MaxCyte has confirmed it will receive platform licensing fees and program-related revenue under the terms of the agreement. “The…

The extended collaboration sees Sartorius and RoosterBio aim to commercialize exosome production and purification processes using various technologies.  The partnership between Sartorius and RoosterBio began almost two years ago. The firms teamed up to find ways of scaling-up production of stem cell-based regenerative therapies and combined Rooster’s human mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (hMSC) working cell banks and media systems with Sartorius’ single-use manufacturing tech, process control software and analysis tools. Now, both parties say the extended partnership looks to “take a…

Moderna says the acquisition of Japan-based OriCiro will provide it with the tools needed for cell-synthesis and amplification of plasmid DNA. Moderna will buy OriCiro Genomics, a company founded in 2018 that focuses on cell-free DNA synthesis and amplification technologies, for $85 million, bolstering its messenger RNA (mRNA) technology offering. OriCiro is Moderna’s first acquisition since the company launched in 2010. The deal  comes two years after the success of its cell-free COVID-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273, which received emergency use authorization (EUA)…

Fresh from announcing its acquisition of Tmunity, Kite Pharma is buying a 50% stake in a cancer drug being developed by US biotech Arcellx. The Gilead unit will pay $225 million and cash and make a $100 million equity investment in Arcellx for a half share in CART-ddBCMA, a candidate treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Currently in Phase II clinical development, CART-ddBCMA is made of autologous T cells that have been modified using Arcellx’s novel D-Domain…

ReiThera is manufacturing the drug substance for Sabin Vaccine Institute’s ChAd3 Ebola Sudan vaccine and performing fill/finish for the first 9,600 doses. Contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) ReiThera will produce Sabin’s ChAd3 (chimpanzee adenovirus) Ebola Sudan single-dose vaccine at its Castel Romano Technopole plant, Italy, which it opened in November. ReiThera claims Sabin is the first organization to provide the World Health Organization (WHO) its Ebola Sudan vaccine to support the Ebola Sudan outbreak in Uganda.  Around 1,100 doses of Sabin’s vaccine…

As the year draws to a close, BioProcess Insider brings you our Christmas quiz special where we test your 2022 M&A knowledge. 2022 has been a year full of M&A activity, some with big price tags and others that have seen companies move into different modalities and service offerings. BioProcess Insider wanted to bring our readers some festive fun ahead of Christmas and the New Year. Happy Christmas from Bioprocess Insider and here’s to another year full M&A activity!   Loading…

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…