Peas in a pod: BioCina and NovaCina ink fill/finish deal

The agreement enables Australian contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) BioCina to offer drug product manufacturing to its clients, a service absent before this partnership. 

Additionally, BioCina will offer fill-finish solutions, to convert the drug substance produced at its facility in Adelaide, South Australia into ready-to-use drug products at NovaCina’s Perth, Australia facility.

 “Prior to the establishment of this partnership, BioCina could not offer drug product manufacturing,” Mark Womack, CEO of BioCina told BioProcess Insider. 

“NovaCina (previously part of Pfizer), has been successfully producing drug products for several decades, previously for small molecule products, and now also for biologics products.” 

Furthermore, both BioCina and NovaCina aim to provide their customers with NovaCina’s drug product manufacturing services as a seamless extension of BioCina’s offerings. 

“This is not only a significant step, with respect to what BioCina and NovaCina now offer the market through this partnership, it’s also quite a significant milestone, in the development of Australia’s biotech ecosystem within the global industry,” Womack said. 

The financials of this partnership have not been disclosed. 

The two companies are both part of Bridgewest Group’s Biopharmaceutical portfolio, and Womack is also a member of NovaCina’s Board. 

In 2021, CDMO BioCina broke ground as a microbial therapy and mRNA-based manufacturer operating from a former Pfizer facility in Adelaide, Australia. 

Recently, BioCina partnered with GenomeFrontier Therapeutics to develop virus-free chimeric antigen receptor T cell products (CAR-T) to treat cancer. The firm also inked a partnership expansion with GPN Vaccines against Streptococcus pneumoniae. 

NovaCina was launched in April 2023 with its focus on sterile injectable drug products.