CDMO (contract development and manufacturing organisation) Goodwin Biotechnology is working with CNS biotech Q Therapeutics to produce mAbs for a clinical trial to treat motor neuron disease.
Transgene will close a biomanufacturing facility with the loss of 120 jobs to cut costs after Novartis pulled out of an immunotherapy collaboration last year.
Takeda is closing three US R&D facilities and relocating its global HQ to a site in Massachusetts as part of plans to consolidate its vaccine business.
Biomay has licensed a yeast-based expression system from fellow Austrian biotech VTU Technologies to use for the commercial production of its recombinant allergens.
Pfizer has invested $87.5m in Dutch biopharma AM-Pharma B.V., which develops recombinant human Alkaline Phosphatase (recAP) therapies for orphan inflammatory diseases.
Alexion will expand its manufacturing network with a €450m ($507m) biologics facility in Ireland, a week after entering an $8.4bn agreement to acquire Synageva.
The UK Bioindustry Association (BIA) has set out a vision to create a biotech cluster which could compete in size and scale against hubs in Massachusetts and California.
Cheaper disposable manufacturing techs and increased demand for outsourced production will see more CMOs enter the contracting sector according to HighTech Business Decisions
Merck & Co. will invest €11.5m ($12.5m) at a plant in Ireland to manufacture its oncology drug Keytruda, an anti-PD1 mAb recently approved by the US FDA.
Medgenics has expanded a partnership with Harvard University to use its Transduced Autologous Regenerative Gene Therapy (TARGT) platform for potential applications involving the central nervous system.
US rheumatoid arthritis (RA) sufferers will still face high drug prices after biosimilar are available unless insurers reclassify such meds according to the author of research on biologic DMARD costs.
An Ebola viral vector vaccine in development by Profectus BioSciences works in monkeys against the virus strain currently infecting humans in West Africa.
Pfizer’s termination of a partnership to develop Factor VIIa products may have implications in the recently announced merger of Catalyst Biosciences with Targacept.
Bristol-Myers Squibb will use uniQure’s insect-cell based technology and manufacturing facilities to develop gene therapies for cardiovascular diseases in a deal potentially worth $2bn (€1.8bn).
Juno Therapeutics has agreed to settle litigation with Novartis and the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania after Juno entered into a December 2013 license agreement with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which owned the patent rights.
Athersys and Chugai Pharmaceutical have announced a partnership and license agreement to exclusively develop and commercialize MultiStem cell therapy for ischemic stroke in Japan.
A doctor whose thumb was punctured by a needle while working with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone received Merck & Co.’s vaccine candidate and did not develop the virus.
Novasep has signed a €4.7m ($5.4m) agreement with Celladon, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, to prepare to supply the drug substance for the heart failure treatment Mydicar.
Fresh of its acquisition of Novartis’ vaccine business, GlaxoSmithKline is doubling down with the purchase of GlycoVaxyn AG, a Swiss-based specialist vaccine maker, for $190m (£124m).
Big biotech firms risk the empty pipeline pitfalls of old pharma if they protect their drugs from biosimilars rather than invest in innovation, ex-Teva CEO Jeremy Levin warns.
update: WHO says tech like Nanopatch can help get vaccines to the people that need them
Amgen has benefited from enhanced regulatory discussions surrounding biosimilars, the firm says, as it develops a pipeline of nine products alongside its own biologics.
Sanofi has selected Boehringer-Ingelheim to manufacture monoclonal antibodies in an agreement that extends to the French drugmaker's partner Regeneron.
The Scripps Research Institute has created a nicotine conjugate vaccine with a technique it says could also treat cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine addiction.
The $20m funding led by Pfizer Venture Investments will help advance a platform to make Probodies which CytomX says offers more precise tumour targeting than antibodies.
AstraZeneca has continued the Big Pharma trend away from small molecule blockbusters and towards a biologics-heavy pipeline, announcing the closure of its Pulmicort facility in Massachusetts.
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals is expanding its contract manufacturing capacity to meet growing client demand and to produce its own monoclonal antibody bavituximab, the company has revealed.
