Bioreactors

Abzena choses North Carolina for new $200m biologics manufacturing site

15-Apr-2021 By Rachel Arthur

Global Partner Research Organization Abzena will build a new GMP manufacturing facility in Sanford, North Carolina.

COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing centre gains MHRA approval; ready to produce tens of millions of doses in the UK

06-Oct-2020 By Rachel Arthur

The UK’s Vaccines Manufacturing & Innovation Centre (VMIC) announces that the UK Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved the second of two GMP COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing suites located at Oxford Biomedica's...

Serum Institute to double COVID-19 vaccine productivity with ABEC’s bioreactors

30-Sep-2020 By Rachel Arthur

The Serum Institute of India will receive six 4,000L CSR bioreactors from ABEC to help it scale up manufacture of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

‘Viral vector production demand will ultimately exceed the current global capacity’

23-Sep-2020 By Jane Byrne

Catalent recently announced that it is investing US$130m in an expansion project at its viral vector manufacturing facility located in Harmans, Maryland, with five new manufacturing suites set to respond to a growing customer pipeline and market demand.

Using HSV helper viruses to increase AAV production

23-Sep-2020 By Nick Taylor

Recognizing the industry-wide need to improve adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector manufacturing, Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (AGTC) has adopted changes intended to increase yield and purity.

Vaxart's oral COVID-19 tablet vaccine to enter clinical trials

15-Sep-2020 By Rachel Arthur

Vaxart will start a Phase 1 clinical trial for its oral COVID-19 vaccine candidate, having received Investigational New Drug (IND) clearance.

Thermo Fisher addresses the growing need for more flexible, scalable biologics development

15-Sep-2020 By Jane Byrne

Thermo Fisher Scientific has opened a new bioprocessing collaboration center (BCC) adjacent to its biologics manufacturing facility in St Louis, Missouri.

Cytiva invests for global capacity expansion

14-Sep-2020 By Jane Byrne

Cytiva is to invest US$500m over the next five years to raise manufacturing capacity, hiring nearly 1,000 personnel in Austria, China, Singapore, Sweden, and the US, and bringing on new manufacturing lines, 24/7 shift patterns, and increased automation.

Fujifilm to produce COVID-19 vaccines, BARDA speeds up capacity boost

03-Aug-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

US BARDA drafts Fujifilm Diosynth into its vaccine production effort, offering to also accelerate capacity expansion.

Tesla’s ‘side project’ building RNA microfactories for CureVac

03-Jul-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Elon Musk revealed the news on Twitter that Tesla was working with CureVac and ‘possibly others’ to produce RNA vaccines.

Fujifilm set to invest $928m into ex-Biogen facility

15-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

The company will have sunk nearly $2bn into the facility, after acquiring and planning to double its capacity.

CMAB completes antibody development for QureBio

10-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

The Chinese CDMO takes bispecific antibody through to IND-stage in nine months.

Single-use systems: Finding the ‘sweet point’ of capacity

10-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Samsung Biologics director outlines the difference between single-use and stainless steel systems, noting the difficulties of the former at large scales.

AGC Biologics acquires commercial-scale facility from AstraZeneca

09-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

The Colorado site currently possesses two 20,000L bioreactors, with the potential to add four more.

Rentschler enters agreement with Genmab for antibody manufacture

04-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Rentschler will manufacture Genmab’s bispecific antibodies and expand the US site where the work will take place.

Novavax expands COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing through acquisition

02-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Novavax buys Praha Vaccines and gains the capacity to produce over one billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Novartis to manufacture partner’s COVID-19 vaccine ‘at no cost’

01-Jun-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Massachusetts General Hospital readies its vaccine for clinical trials by signing manufacturing agreement with Novartis.

Thermo Fisher takes over operation of $1bn CSL facility

28-May-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

A strategic partnership is announced that sees Thermo Fisher run the Swiss site and manufacture CSL’s products.

WuXi Biologics seals deal for first US production facility

21-May-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

WuXi Biologics signs land deal for a clinical and commercial facility located in Massachusetts.

Regeneron devotes New York facility to COVID-19 cocktail treatment

11-May-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

Regeneron expects an antibody cocktail against coronavirus to be ready for trials in June, plans to utilize entire facility for production.

MilliporeSigma set to build $100m facility for viral and gene therapies

23-Apr-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

The facility will be the company’s second facility in Carlsbad specifically for its BioReliance viral and gene therapy service.

Routine continuous bioprocessing up to ten years away

23-Mar-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

A report claims that despite significant interest in implementing continuous bioprocesses, fully continuous systems are five to 10 years away from widespread adoption.

Sartorius targets reduced use of plastic and greater recycling

12-Mar-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

In line with the European Plastics Pact, Sartorius outlines its aims to use plastic responsibly in biopharma research and production.

Univercells expands its offering to meet ‘fast-growing’ gene therapy demand

19-Feb-2020 By Vassia Barba

Funding from Gamma supports the development of Univercells’ biomanufacturing platform and bioreactors, with the latter looking to expand into the fast-growing gene therapy segment.

Eppendorf hails ‘smart’ bioprocessing with ‘future-proof’ bioreactor controller

18-Feb-2020 By Vassia Barba

Aiming to improve flexibility in bioprocessing, Eppendorf launches SciVario twin, a bioreactor control system enabling remote monitoring of microbial and cell culture processes.

Yposkesi doubles manufacturing footprint to meet AAVs growing demand

14-Jan-2020 By Vassia Barba

Yposkesi CDMO announces expansion to cover growing demand, strikes a deal on viral vectors production for a gene therapy development project.

Industry equipment is causing a ‘data deficit’, says Fujifilm exec

13-Jan-2020 By Ben Hargreaves

In terms of data generation, equipment currently used in bioprocessing is ‘pretty dumb’ and needs to become more sophisticated, explains Fujifilm CSO.

Akeso speeds up antibody production in China with GE’s platform

19-Nov-2019 By Vassia Barba

GE to set up its FlexFactory platform for antibody manufacturing at Akeso’s facility in Guangzhou, aiming to optimize the latter’s biologics production.

Top five stories from September

04-Oct-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

The news most interesting to our readers were those featuring collaborations, whether in the production of an Ebola vaccine, biosimilars entering new markets or creating new manufacturing modalities.

GSK invests $120m in genetics-focused US manufacturing hub

26-Sep-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

GSK’s biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility will be focused on the company’s pipeline of biologic medicines, including gene therapies, and vaccines.

CGT Catapult doubles capacity to accelerate manufacturing

25-Sep-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

CGT Catapult adds six additional clean room spaces to its Stevenage manufacturing center, to aid companies readying themselves for clinical and commercial manufacture.

GE Healthcare partners to create manufacturing suite for gene therapies

17-Sep-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

GE Healthcare teams up with Germfree to create a fully integrated, expandable manufacturing solution that is geared towards the development of ‘emerging biotherapeutics’.

ABEC launches 6,000L single-use bioreactor to answer scalability needs

12-Sep-2019 By Vassia Barba

After breaking the 2,000L ‘ceiling’ of manufacturing capacity, ABEC launches a single-use bioreactor of 6,000L to answer clients’ scalability demands.

iBio and CC-Pharming to launch plant-based rituximab in China

03-Sep-2019 By Vassia Barba

iBio grants CC-Pharming exclusive license to commercialize rituximab in China, as well as a research license to bring its FastPharming technology to the country.

UPDATED

Pfizer puts $500m into gene therapy, expands manufacturing facility

22-Aug-2019 By Vassia Barba

Pfizer invests half a billion dollars to expand its gene therapy manufacturing facility in North Carolina and enhance its position to compete in the booming market.

Fujifilm aims to become a ‘total healthcare company’, acquires Biogen facility

07-Aug-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Fujifilm completed the acquisition of Biogen manufacturing site in Denmark for $890m in a cash transaction as it works to expand its global business lines.

Celltrion sets up Chinese JV and eyes manufacturing facility in country

30-Jul-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

Celltrion has partnered with Nan Fung Group to create Vcell Healthcare, which will manufacture and commercialize three of Celltrion’s biosimilar products in China.

July roundup sees flurry of partnership deals

29-Jul-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

The summer months are traditionally slow on movements across the industry, but July saw a number of manufacturing partnership deals take place as companies look ahead to product commercialization.

Lonza readies for ‘new wave of ADC therapies’ with Visp expansion

25-Jul-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

Lonza already manufacturers three out of five commercially available ADCs but is preparing for additional demand with a two-year expansion project at its Visp site.

Servier taps Pall for biomanufacturing facility operations set-up

23-Jul-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Pall works with Servier to get the latter’s oncology drug production and biomanufacturing up and running to support its Bio-S project.

Wacker Chemie turns to biopharma during period of uncertainty

12-Jul-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

Wacker Biotech looks to corner the microbial expression system niche, as Wacker Chemie’s traditional areas of focus face difficult market conditions.

Fujifilm in $10m investment for continuous bioprocessing facility

11-Jun-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

Utilising single-use flow paths, Fujifilm will create a continuous bioprocessing manufacturing facility after three years of in-house development.

WuXi ploughs ahead with ‘world’s largest’ single-use facility

11-Jun-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

WuXi Biologics has selected its construction partner, Jacobs, for the building stage of its ‘Factory of the Future’ facility in Dundalk, Ireland.

Single-use tech ‘reshaping’ the industry as Thermo Fisher further invests

11-Jun-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Thermo Fisher invests into bioproduction capabilities as ‘single use continues to reshape the face of the industry,’ says single-use technology executive.

WuXi Biologics to build 1.3m-sq-ft manufacturing centre

16-May-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

WuXi Biologics announces its latest expansion, with plans for a drug development and commercial manufacturing site with a potential bioreactor capacity of 144,000L.

Catalent’s $1.2bn Paragon deal sign of booming gene therapy market

16-Apr-2019 By Ben Hargreaves & Vassia Barba

Catalent to acquire Paragon and plans “substantial capital investments” to ensure Paragon’s further growth, the latest deal in a busy area.

Pall agrees to develop New Jersey cell and gene therapy sites

26-Mar-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

Pall Biotech signs an industry participation agreement with the New Jersey Innovation Institute to create two centres designed to develop and manufacture cell and gene therapies.

Novasep and Sartorius combine forces on chromatography applications

13-Mar-2019 By Maggie Lynch

Sartorius and Novasep collaborate to bolster chromatography and single-use bioprocessing applications for efficiency and efficacy.

Fujifilm continues ‘aggressive’ expansion with $890m site purchase

12-Mar-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

Fujifilm continues investment in its manufacturing capabilities through the acquisition of a large-scale biologics site from Biogen.

‘Can you manufacture consistently?’ The big question in regenerative medicine

11-Mar-2019 By Ben Hargreaves

Regenerative medicine raised $13.3bn in funds during 2018 but investors question whether treatments can be manufactured consistently, according to AMR annual report.