The BPI Theater at BIO began its program on Monday afternoon, 5 June 2023, with a panel titled “How Did the Pandemic Adjust the CDMO Landscape, and How Will This Sector Change Moving Forward?” Moderator S. Anne Montgomery introduced the panelists. Richard Richieri is the chief operations officer at Avid Bioservices, where he is responsible for current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) operations that include process development, technical operations, facilities, supply-chain management, and manufacturing. He’s been with Avid for more than 18…

Moderator: Dan Stanton, Co-founder and Editor, BioProcess Insider. Featuring: David Backer, Chief Commercial Officer, Oxford Biomedica. Early in 2022, Oxford Biomedica (OXB) purchased a majority stake in Homology Medicines. The companies have taken similar journeys, the primary difference being that they have worked with lentivirus (LV) and adenoassociated virus (AAV) vectors, respectively. Both companies started as drug developers and established manufacturing capacity to support internal products. Because of program attrition, OXB began offering its capabilities as a service. OXB now…

Moderator: Dan Stanton, Co-founder and Editor, BioProcess Insider. Featuring: Jon Gunther, Head of Business Development, Just–Evotec Biologics. Evotec’s presence in the biopharmaceutical industry grew significantly with its May 2019 acquisition of Just Biotherapeutics. The combined company now provides integrated research and development (R&D) services and good manufacturing practice (GMP)-grade production processes for antibody (Ab) therapeutics. Just–Evotec already has established a manufacturing facility in Redmond, WA, and has initiated construction of a sister site in Toulouse, France, which should come online…

Elie Hanania, PhD, vice president of process development for viral vector technologies, Avid Bioservices. Speaking as a representative of a global biopharmaceutical manufacturer, Hanania explored several considerations for identifying a suitable third-party manufacturer. Developers approach contract development/manufacturing organizations (CDMOs/CMOs) for different reasons. Biotechnology start-ups often lack internal capabilities for producing clinical-trial drug substance; thus, many such companies leverage CDMOs’ capacity and process-development expertise. Large, established pharmaceutical companies might work with contract partners to free up internal capacity for other products,…

Jijie Gu, chief scientific officer, WuXi Biologics. WuXi Biologics has established itself as a contract research, development, and manufacturing organization (CRDMO) with comprehensive capabilities for multiple biopharmaceutical modalities. Gu presented on advances that his company has made in contract research for drug discovery. WuXi Biologics provides services for target evaluation, antibody generation, lead identification and optimization (LI and LO), developability study, and regulatory submission. The company leverages multiple platforms to accelerate LI, including an improved murine hybridoma technology with optimized…