Cell lines

Mammoth undertaking: CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing goes beyond medicine

22-May-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Big Pharma is not the only slow moving behemoth involved in the CRISPR/Cas9 revolution with a US team citing the gene editing tech as key to its efforts to resurrect the woolly mammoth.

US scientists vow to answer CRISPR’s sticky moral questions

22-May-2015 By Fiona BARRY

Top science academics have launched an initiative to consider emerging human gene-editing tools such as CRISPR-Cas9.

Medicago plants $245m seed for plant-based vaccine plant

20-May-2015 By Dan Stanton

Medicago has ploughed $245m into an influenza vaccine plant that will use a tobacco-based technology it says produces high yields quicker than with egg-based platforms.

Catalent to use GPEx cell line tech to make Amarantus' protein candidate

18-May-2015 By Dan Stanton

Amarantus BioScience has selected Catalent to make the protein mesencephalic-astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) for its Phase I candidate.

US FDA finalizes three guidance documents tied to biosimilar science, quality

05-May-2015 By Zachary Brennan

With the release of three final guidance documents on biosimilars, the FDA is offering more clarity for developers seeking to fine-tune their understanding of the science and quality of biosimilars.

Sigma-Aldrich opens doors to latest Singapore biopharma investment

22-Apr-2015 By Dan Stanton

Sigma-Aldrich has opened a cell culture Technical Center in Singapore and plans to expand further in the city-state with a cGMP distribution site.

Genentech makes cell line identification faster and cheaper

22-Apr-2015 By Anthony King

Genentech scientists have created a faster, cheaper way to identify cell lines, a boon for CMOs and preclinical researchers.

CMOs earn €8.4m in EU grants to help scale-up manufacturing of thermo-stable vaccines

20-Apr-2015 By Zachary Brennan

A new round of €8.4m ($8.9m) in grants will help develop a scalable manufacturing process to wean vaccines off of their cold-chain dependency and help ensure they can be manufactured as stable and temperature independent.

StemBioSys closes $8m in funding to help launch its stem cell culture system

17-Apr-2015 By Zachary Brennan

San Antonio, Texas-based StemBioSys has closed an $8m round of Series A preferred stock financing that it will use to help launch its bone marrow-High Performance MicroEnvironment (BM-HPME) stem cell culture system.

Dispatches from BPI 2015

Sartorius' new cell harvesting tech uses brewing sector filtration knowhow

15-Apr-2015 By Dan Stanton

Sartorius has launched a cell harvesting technology, the first to incorporate diatomaceous earth filtration more commonly associated with the brewing industry.

BMS inks gene therapy deal with uniQure worth up to $2bn

07-Apr-2015 By Dan Stanton

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).

Japan's yen for regenerative meds: Fujifilm to buy Cellular Dynamics

01-Apr-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Fujifilm will buy Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) for $307m to add induced stem cells to its offering and further build in regenerative medicines.

AstraZeneca teams with Harvard to make human beta cells for drug screening

25-Mar-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Sourcing human beta cells may soon no longer be a challenge for AstraZeneca diabetes researchers thanks to a new partnership with stem cell scientists at Harvard University.

CRISPR tech raises urgent ethical questions, say original DNA pioneers

24-Mar-2015 By Fiona BARRY

Gene-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9 must not be used to alter human DNA until the risks have been researched and the ethical issues considered, say scientists.

Thermo licenses CRISPR tech from ToolGen

18-Mar-2015 By Anthony King

Thermo Fisher Scientific has licensed CRISPR/Cas9 intellectual property from ToolGen, a Korean biotech focused on genome editing.

DNA ‘Lego’ to accelerate biodrug production say scientists

18-Mar-2015 By Anthony King

A new technique for creating DNA constructs will accelerate development of bacterial strains for drug production say UK scientists.

SAFC cell line tech CHOZN by Chinese cancer drug firm BeiGene

13-Mar-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Chinese cancer drug developer BeiGene will create production cell lines using a platform developed by Sigma Aldrich's custom manufacturing services business.

Path of Khan: DNA tests show millions of Asian men descended from 11 nomadic kings

12-Mar-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Ancient nomadic kings’ love of life in the saddle did not hamper another of their favourite pastimes according to a study suggesting millions of Asian men are descended from just 11 fathers.

Biobetters may fare better than biosimilars in some therapeutic areas, says analyst

11-Mar-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Biobetters stand a better chance of winning market share than lower cost biosimilars in some indications according to new analysis.

Orgenesis buys cell therapy CMO to cut manufacturing costs and diversify revenue stream

11-Mar-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Orgenesis has bought Masthercell SA to take control of production of its Type 1 diabetes cell therapy candidate ahead of clinical trials.

Update

FDA approves first US biosimilar from Sandoz

06-Mar-2015 By Zachary Brennan

The FDA on Friday morning approved Sandoz’s Zarxio (filgrastim-sndz), the first biosimilar product approved in the US.

US FDA postpones Celltrion's Remicade biosimilar review meeting

27-Feb-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

The US FDA has delayed an advisory committee review of Celltrion's Remicade (infliximab) biosimilar after asking the South Korean drugmaker for more information.

Apotex's Neupogen biosimilar could be battling Sandoz's copycat in the US in 2015

26-Feb-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Apotex’s Neupogen (filgrastim) copycat Grastofil could be on US pharmacy shelves as early as December, after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started its review this week.

Cobra teams to fine tune E.coli for biomanufacturing

24-Feb-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Cobra Biologics will work with UK academics to fine tune E.coli for protein production in a Government backed project announced this week.

Cynata validates stem cell manufacturing process at Wisconsin biomanufacturing site

24-Feb-2015 By Zachary Brennan

Australian stem cell and regenerative medicine company Cynata Therapeutics is now set to scale up manufacturing of its mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for therapeutic use.

Celltrion: Remsima could save UK, Italy and France $336m in five years

20-Feb-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Celltrion has emphasised the savings Remsima ((inflizimab) could offer at a conference in Spain as partner Napp Pharmaceuticals prepares to extend the roll out of the Remicade biosimilar to the UK.

Targeting stem cell cilia could prevent obesity and yield new cancer and arthritis drugs say researchers

17-Feb-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Having shorter hair stops you becoming fat…at least it does if you are a stem cell say researchers who claim restricting the growth of hair-like cilia found on such cells could yield new treatments for obesity.

One in the eye for Lucentis? Pfenex says Pfizer takeover will benefit Hospira pact

11-Feb-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Pfenex expects its new Lucentis biosimilar partnership to benefit from Pfizer’s economic clout after the Hospira takeover completes.

Boehringer and VTU extend yeast-based expression system tech deal

10-Feb-2015 By Dan Stanton

Boehringer-Ingelheim has renewed its collaboration with VTU technology to develop a yeast-based protein expression system for biopharmaceutical production.

Sanofi to hike biologics CapEx in 2015

06-Feb-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Sanofi will invest in biologics and vaccine manufacturing capacity in 2015 to sustain product launches and ease constraints that impacted its Sanofi Pasteur division in the past few years.

Provenge in a dish not yet sold: Valeant ups Dendreon offer after competing bids

06-Feb-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Bankrupt cell therapy firm Dendreon has attracted more suitors according to stalking horse bidder Valeant, which upped its offer for the Provenge (sipuleucel-T) developer to $400m this week.

UPDATE: Merck says switching cell lines would impact safety and quality

Anti-abortion group won't judge parents who choose Merck & Co's MMR vaccine

04-Feb-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

The anti-abortion group that blames Merck & Co for the recent US measles outbreak says it would not judge parents who have children vaccinated with MMR II for the good of society.

Long manufacturing timeline hampers annual flu vaccine strain selection, experts say

04-Feb-2015 By Zachary Brennan

US government scientists told a House subcommittee on oversight and investigations on Tuesday that the six months production time necessary for flu vaccine manufacturers can create difficulties for health experts selecting the appropriate virus strains...

Tech that can untangle hard boiled eggs could save biopharma time and money, say researchers

28-Jan-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Researchers have used shear stress to repair misfolded proteins in an approach that could help biopharmaceutical firms bypass expensive refolding techniques and time-consuming cell line optimization.

Irvine Scientific looks to tap CAR-T growth with new media

21-Jan-2015 By Zachary Brennan

Cell culture media manufacturer Irvine Scientific has launched a new xeno-free and serum-free medium that supports immunotherapy production.

Antitope to produce manufacturing cell lines for two potential HIV vaccines

21-Jan-2015 By Zachary Brennan

Abenza subsidiary Antitope has extended its relationship and will provide manufacturing cell lines for two developing HIV vaccines from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM); the National Health Agency for Research on AIDS...

Catalent and Mitsubishi GC team up for Asian cell line offering

20-Jan-2015 By Fiona BARRY

Catalent is taking aim at the Asian market with a partnership with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company to make cell lines for the region.

Lonza's biopharma focus intensified towards end of 2014

14-Jan-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Lonza signed a flurry of biopharma-related deals and launched a number of drug industry services in the final quarter of 2014 as its efforts to focus on pharma intensified.

Cellectis patent surprises biopharma, could block CRISPR

09-Jan-2015 By Fiona Barry

A patent issued to French biotech Cellectis threatens to block gene editing tools currently in use by several big pharma and service companies.

Horizon buys Haplogen chromosome tech for ‘10x’ faster cell production

09-Jan-2015 By Fiona Barry

Horizon says its £6m (€7.7m) purchase of Austrian biotech Haplogen Genomics means it can produce cell lines ten times faster than before using a haploid gene platform.

Kymab in consortium to develop Ebola drug using mouse mAb tech platform

19-Dec-2014 By Dan Stanton

Kymab has received a grant from the UK’s Wellcome Trust to develop treatments against Ebola using its human antibody discovery platform, Kymouse.

EU court opens the door for patents for stem cell treatments

19-Dec-2014 By Zachary Brennan

In a reversal from three years ago, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on Thursday that an organism incapable of developing into a human being is not a human embryo and may be patented.

$A dry fracture of a Vero cell exposing the contents of a vacuole where Coxiella burnetii (the Bacteria that cause Q Fever) are growing$

Baxter exits vaccines business as it preps for biopharma spinout

16-Dec-2014 By Dan Stanton

Baxter has sold its pandemic flu portfolio and Vero cell technology to Nanotherapeutics in preparation for the launch of its haematology and oncology-based spinout company Baxalta.

'Off the shelf' stem cell firm to benefit from in-house facility, says analyst

12-Dec-2014 By Dan Stanton

Analyst firm N+1Singer has endorsed stem cell manufacturer Reneuron based on its “off-the-shelf” therapy pipeline and a new facility that will reduce the need to outsource.

Report: Increased dealmaking will launch stem cell therapies within 5 years

11-Dec-2014 By Dan Stanton

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.

Horizon Discovery enters crowded CHO cell line market

09-Dec-2014 By Zachary Brennan

Horizon Discovery Group announced Monday that its bioproduction division has shipped its first commercially available engineered CHO (Chinese Hamster Ovary) cell line for use in manufacturing of antibodies.

GE Healthcare licenses CRISPR gene-snipping tool from Broad Institute

05-Dec-2014 By Fiona Barry

GE Healthcare is the latest company to adopt the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology through a deal with the Broad Institute.

NIST recommends purity test for plant-derived recombinant albumin products

05-Dec-2014 By Zachary Brennan

Scientists at the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) are now recommending that biopharma manufacturers use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) testing to look for potentially harmful contamination by a group of plant enzymes called...

Catalent contracted to manufacture Valerion's orphan drug candidates

03-Dec-2014 By Dan Stanton

Valerion Therapeutics has inked an agreement for the manufacture of two orphan drug candidates using Catalent’s GPEx mammalian cell line platform.

Novartis flu vaccine suspended following deaths in Italy

28-Nov-2014 By Dan Stanton

Italy has suspended the use of Fluad despite Novartis saying no causal relationship has been established between its seasonal flu vaccine and three deaths.

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