Upstream & Downstream Processing

High Octane: Lonza buys 80% of ‘game-changing’ cell therapy tech partner

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Lonza has acquired a controlling stake in its partner Octane Biotech and will incorporate the closed and automated Cocoon processing tech into its autologous cell therapy offering. Contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Lonza has collaborated with Octane Biotech for the past three years to develop the Cocoon manufacturing system. But this week, the Swiss CDMO purchased additional equity to hold a controlling stake of 80% in the firm, with an option for outright ownership. “Owning a controlling stake ensures…

October 30, 2018

Thermo Fisher services biz up 28% as Patheon enters the mix

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Construction is underway at the ‘largest outsourced single-use site in North America’ says Thermo Fisher, a year after acquiring CDMO Patheon. In April 2018, Thermo Fisher Scientific announced a $50 million (€44 million) expansion at a plant in St Louis, Missouri to add 16,000 L of single-use capacity. The facility is run by contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Patheon, acquired by Thermo Fisher in August 2017 for around $7.2 billion. And during a Q3 financial call, Thermo Fisher CEO…

October 25, 2018

Single-use, double-digits: Robust quarters for Pall and Sartorius

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The “large molecule dynamic” underpins Pall Corporation’s continued quarterly double-digit growth, says owner Danaher. Fellow bioprocessing vendor Sartorius also saw double-digit gains in sales revenue and earnings. “Pall had a great quarter, producing double-digit core revenue growth,” Tom Joyce, CEO of Pall’s parent company Danaher Corporation told stakeholders during its recent third quarter financial call. “In particular, our biotech business, including single-use technologies was up mid-teens in the quarter.” For Danaher’s total business, Q3 sales were $4.85 billion (€4.25 billion),…

October 24, 2018

Aglaris talks automated and closed cell therapy platform

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Anglo-Spanish firm Aglaris has developed an autonomous, closed production system for the manufacture of cell therapies such as T-cells and MSCs (Mesenchymal Stem Cells). According to new CEO Steven Docksey, the platform overcomes many issues associated with this new product class. “Most current processes are intensive, manual techniques derived and scaled-up from the cell preparation techniques used in research labs – adapting existing tools to the job. There is little in the way of genuine innovation that has come to…

October 18, 2018

Eli Lilly to demolish mothballed Erbitux plant in NJ

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The former Imclone facility will be knocked down to give Eli Lilly “flexibility for future opportunities” at its Branchburg, New Jersey site, the firm says. Building 36 on Eli Lilly’s Branchburg, New Jersey campus is scheduled to be demolished by the end of the first quarter of 2019, Lilly spokesperson Tamara Ann Hull told BioProcess Insider. “A second building on the same campus – a new, higher capacity, modern facility, Building 50 – has been producing biologics since 2006. Therefore,…

October 17, 2018

Turning over a new Leaf? Plant-based expression as a disruptor

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Plant-based protein expression offers high yields and easy harvesting but has been held back by a lack of funding and the ubiquity of mammalian and bacterial systems, says Leaf Expression Systems. UK-based contract biopharmaceutical development firm Leaf Expression Systems has appointed Simon Saxby, a former executive at contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) Recipharm and Cobra, as its CEO. Leaf Expression Systems offers the production of proteins, antibodies and vaccines through its Hypertrans expression system, based on tobacco plants. Saxby’s immediate focus…

October 10, 2018

Hoba (cell) banks on Selexis to advance neuropathic pain program

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Selexis will use its SUREtechnology platform to develop a research cell bank to help advance Hoba Therapeutic’s neuropathic pain candidate HB-086. The Danish firm Hoba Therapeutics has selected cell line development firm Selexis to help express viable levels of its clinical candidate HB-086 (recombinant human Meteorin) in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. The candidate is a 31 kD secreted protein that promotes neurite outgrowth and glial differentiation in the central nervous system. “We do not have a conclusive scientific explanation…

October 9, 2018

GMP round-up: Samsung Bio becomes bigger, Rentschler fills aseptic gap

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Korean CDMO Samsung BioLogics says its third facility is GMP ready and the largest single biomanufacturing plant in the world. Meanwhile, Rentschler has received GMP certification for an Austrian fill/finish plant. Samsung BioLogics has begun production at its third plant at its site in Incheon, South Korea. With 180,000 L of capacity from 12 times 15,000 L tank, the plant is the world’s largest single facility, according to the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO). It took Samsung BioLogics 10…

October 4, 2018

Pandion selects Just to cut cost of bispecific Ab development

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Just Biotherapeutics says smart design and optimization of the molecule and the manufacturing process will speed the development of Pandion Therapeutics’s lead bispecific antibody PT101. Just Biotherapeutics has entered into a master services agreement for the development and clinical manufacturing of Pandion Therapeutics’ lead candidate. Pandion is a biotech located in Cambridge, Massachusetts developing bispecific antibodies for the tissue-specific treatment of patients with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and organ transplants. The firm completed a $58 million (€50 million) Series A…

October 3, 2018

The POD couple: Pall and G-CON team on modular cleanrooms

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Pall’s continuous bioprocessing technologies will be incorporated into G-CON’s prefabricated ‘POD’ cleanroom units in efforts to address current capacity constraint, CAPEX deferment, and cost predictability. G-CON’s PODs are mobile cleanroom units, which include integrated process piping and heating and air conditioning (HVAC) system. A collaboration with bioprocessing vendor Pall Biotech will bring its continuous bioprocessing and viral vector production designs, including automation and utility supplies, to the units. The partnership sets out to solve three needs: contract development and manufacturing…

October 2, 2018