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.
Stem cell therapies are on the brink of breaking through into the mainstream drug market, according to a GlobalData report, despite having been hindered by a lack of R&D funding.
Manufacturers developing Ebola vaccines will be immune from lawsuits following a decision by US HHS (Health and Human Services) to issue a declaration on the matter.
There is an upsurge in biopharma demand for cell and gene therapy applications, says Transposagen as it inks a deal with Janssen to develop allogeneic Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cells.
An API facility in Singapore acquired by AbbVie on the site where it is building a $320m biologics plant will support the firm's antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) pipeline.
Novartis says it will keep biomanufacturing in-house and outsource more production of its small molecule portfolio in a strategy mirroring its Big Pharma peers.
Drug companies are looking for ways to put biologics in topical creams or “zap” them into skin using electricity as more large molecules come off patent.
Bristol-Myers Squibb has announced plans to build a biologics facility in Ireland, eight months after winding down a small molecule API plant at the same site.
GSK is keeping its Ebola vaccine production in-house, despite previously leaked documents which suggested the company could not ramp up volume of BS-2 manufacturing without impacting its other vaccine lines.
Eli Lilly’ manufacturing network will give it the edge in the glargine insulin market, the firm says having received tentative approval of its “Lantus look-alike” from the USFDA.
Biopharmas struggle to comply with GMP requirements for personalised meds and the outstanding questions mean some are reluctant to invest according to German firm immatics.
