Disposable Manufacturing Tech

BPI Europe 2016

Pall: Bioprocessing's future is made of virtual reality

27-Apr-2016 By Dan Stanton

Pall Corporation has embraced a virtual reality platform to showcase some of its bioprocessing systems at industry shows.

Merck opens €55m Irish plants supporting downstream consumables business

26-Apr-2016 By Dan Stanton

Germany’s Merck has opened a chromatography media facility as part of a €55m investment in Ireland supporting growing demand for its Protein A resin.

Exclusive Q&A

Breaking barriers: Can continuous manufacturing prevail despite hurdles?

26-Apr-2016 By Dan Stanton

Regulations, recruitment and facility refits are holding continuous manufacturing back, but a Rutgers’ associate behind J&J’s recent success believes industry can overcome these hurdles.

Sartorius pumping over €100m into production network to support growth

22-Apr-2016 By Dan Stanton

Sartorius will invest around 10% of its annual revenues into its manufacturing network to support continued double-digit growth of its bioprocessing equipment business.

Shire to construct $400m biologics plant in Ireland; create 400 jobs

19-Apr-2016 By Dan Stanton

Shire says it is investing $400m into a new manufacturing facility in County Meath in the latest boost for the Irish biopharma industry.

Dispatches from BPI Europe 2016

Steel crazy after all these years? Bioprocess industry talks facility of future

13-Apr-2016 By Dan Stanton

Stainless steel systems have become the niche single-use was five years ago, but could a shift to continuous manufacturing drive its return?

Dispatches from BPI Europe 2016

GE Healthcare: Expanded Austrian plant incorporating ex-Thermo media business

12-Apr-2016 By Dan Stanton

GE Healthcare has expanded a facility in Austria to house the European wing of the Hyclone cell culture business it acquired from Thermo Fisher.

Eppendorf addressing stem cell scale-up challenges in Horizon 2020 project

08-Apr-2016 By Dan Stanton

Eppendorf will tackle the challenges of scaling-up human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) as part of a Horizon 2020 project to develop cell-based heart therapies.

US Gov: Critical need for reproducible regenerative med manufacturing processes

06-Apr-2016 By Dan Stanton

Cell therapy firms must invest in engineering and learn from biopharma according to the US Government, which says high cost of regenerative treatments is slowing uptake.

GE and Zenith collaborate on bioprocessing automation

05-Apr-2016 By Dan Stanton

GE has teamed up with Zenith Technologies to implement automation across its single-use and modular bioprocessing technologies.

Beyond Protein A: Repligen continues diversification with Atoll buy

05-Apr-2016 By Dan Stanton

Repligen has expanded its downstream portfolio through the acquisition of chromatography column maker Atoll.

GE calls on diagnostics systems firm LeukoDx for cell characterization tech

25-Mar-2016 By Gareth Macdonald

LeukoDx will develop a cell characterization system for GE Healthcare in a deal designed to bolster the latter’s cell therapy manufacturing technology offering.

Biogen ups biologics capacity 73% through extra 144,000L at new Swiss plant

25-Mar-2016 By Dan Stanton

Biogen will equip its new Swiss biomanufacturing plant with eight 18,000L stainless steel bioreactors supplied by ABEC.

Hitachi Chemical licenses PCT tech and mulls cell therapy JV

23-Mar-2016 By Gareth Macdonald

Hitachi Chemical has licensed cell therapy manufacturing technology from PCT in a deal that may see the firms set up a European JV.

GSK partners with Miltenyi Biotec to target CAR T cell therapy automation

18-Mar-2016 By Dan Stanton

GSK says the collaboration will attempt to overcome scale-up issues, a major concern among cell and gene therapy developers.

Time-saving benefit a factor in decision to go disposable, says Avid

16-Mar-2016 By Dan Stanton

The changeover time between batches is significantly quicker using disposable equipment, says Avid Bioservices whose new biomanufacturing facility boasts several 1,000L single-use bioreactors.

Pfizer to invest $21m in Australian filgrastim plant

15-Mar-2016 By Gareth Macdonald

Pfizer has said it will invest $21m to expand a plant in Adelaide, Australia which will manufacture a candidate biosimilar version of Amgen’s white blood cell booster, Neulasta.

Life science becoming ‘growth engine’ following Sigma-Aldrich buy, Merck

10-Mar-2016 By Dan Stanton

Germany’s Merck expects to achieve cost synergies of €90m ($98m) in 2016 from the integration of Sigma-Aldrich which the firm acquired in November.

Peregrine: new biologics plant may boost contracting revenues by $40m

08-Mar-2016 By Gareth Macdonald

Avid Bioservices has formally commissioned a biologics manufacturing facility that more than doubles its production capacity.

32 tonnes, 8,500km, 18 months: JHL says off-the-shelf mAb plant to open in June

01-Mar-2016 By Gareth Macdonald

A mAb plant fabricated in Germany and shipped to China last year will be operational this summer according to Wuhan-based JHL Biotech. 

Biowaste treatment at UK biologics test hub will be handled by Suncombe

23-Feb-2016 By Gareth Macdonald

Potentially hazardous bio-waste generated at the UK National Biologics Manufacturing Centre (NBMC) in Darlington is being made safe using a bespoke system developed by Suncombe.

Cell Therapy Manufacturing & Gene Therapy Congress, Brussels

Supply chain fears drive in-house tech for CAR-T cell developers

10-Feb-2016 By Dan Stanton

Reliance on third-party technologies is leaving T-Cell drug developers vulnerable and has driven the larger players to invest in their own platforms, say experts.

Dispatches from the Cell Therapy Manufacturing & Gene Therapy Congress

Bovine-derived media still 'gold standard' despite safety and reliability concerns, expert

05-Feb-2016 By Dan Stanton

Bovine serum remains the gold standard in cell culture supplements despite its many flaws, says Cook Regentec.

Dispatches from Cell Therapy Manufacturing & Gene Therapy Congress

Vendors must collaborate to develop cell therapy production automation, experts

04-Feb-2016 By Dan Stanton

Cell therapy development and production will not be sustainable unless there is a vendor-led shift to automated processes, said experts in Brussels yesterday.

GSK biopharmaceutical trade secrets defendant still "at large"

26-Jan-2016 By Natalie Morrison

Yan Mei, a defendant charged with stealing GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) trade secrets including biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes, remains at large, a spokesperson for the US Attourney's office told us yesterday.

In good Cell Culture Company? Biovest spin-out to compete in consolidated sector

22-Jan-2016 By Dan Stanton

Consolidation among bioprocessing tech companies is set to continue, according to Cell Culture Company - the bioreactor and contract manufacturing firm set to spin-out from Biovest.

Pall ups its continuous biomanufacturing game in Kaneka Protein A deal

20-Jan-2016 By Dan Stanton

Pall Corporation has teamed up with Protein A chromatography sorbent supplier Kaneka to support its end-to-end continuous biomanufacturing offering.

GE teams with Canadian Gov to set up C$40m cell therapy tech centre

13-Jan-2016 By Gareth Macdonald

GE Healthcare has teamed up with the Canadian Government and the Toronto-based Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine develop cell therapy manufacturing technologies.

Thermo Fisher to expand cellular analysis toolbelt in $1.3bn 'sensible' deal

12-Jan-2016 By Dan Stanton

Thermo Fisher will expand its antibody, multiplex RNA, and protein analysis tech offerings through the $1.3bn acquisition of Affymetrix.

Single-use perfusion tech will cut cost of vaccine production, says Univercells

05-Jan-2016 By Dan Stanton

Univercells has received a grant of over $500,000 to help develop a single-use platform to reduce the cost of manufacturing antibodies and vaccines.

AstraZeneca broadens JV with WuXi and eyes up China biologics plant

16-Dec-2015 By Dan Stanton

MedImmune has the option to acquire a Chinese biologics manufacturing facility for around $100m in an expansion of its joint venture with WuXi Apptech.

Californian SU plant set to go online, but Avid already eying up extra capacity

11-Dec-2015 By Dan Stanton

A new single-use bioproduction plant will bring in annual revenues of $40m, says Avid Bioservices which is already eyeing up additional capacity to cope with contract manufacturing demand.

Production begins at uniQure MA plant to support gene therapy pipeline

04-Dec-2015 By Dan Stanton

Uniqure has begun manufacturing runs at a new 50,000 sq. ft. single-use gene therapy plant in Massachusetts.

Rise of the robots: UK pharma would gain from more automation investment says Barclays

01-Dec-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

UK drugmakers have a lot to gain from additional investment in robotic production technologies according to Barclays.

GE collaborates with Emerson on bioprocess automation tech

18-Nov-2015 By Dan Stanton

GE Healthcare has teamed up with Emerson Process Management to offer biomanufacturers increased automation from its single-use technologies.

Clarification

Repligen halting one Protein A media programme but still in resin market

10-Nov-2015 By Dan Stanton

Repligen has halted a Protein A media programme due to mixed feedback and dilution risks but says it is still a player in the $350m market.

Big Biopharma? ABEC launches 4,300L single-use bioreactor

10-Nov-2015 By Dan Stanton

ABEC has launched the world’s largest single-use bioreactor with a working volume of 3,500L.

Single use

GE ships pre-built plant to China as Asia pursues homemade production

06-Nov-2015 By Fiona BARRY

As GE ships the world’s largest ready-made biomanufacturing plant to China, the team involved tells us modular facilities are in demand from southeast Asian governments – and could hold the key to future pandemic treatments.

Takeda taps Univercells for low-cost vaccine technology

04-Nov-2015 By Phil Taylor

Takeda has taken a stake in Belgian bioprocessing start-up Univercells as part of a programme aimed at supplying low-cost vaccines to lower-income countries.

Bioprocess International

Takeda: tech innovation is answer to COG pressures

30-Oct-2015 By Fiona BARRY

The therapeutic protein and vaccine industries could learn from each other on keeping COG low although their production costs are moving in opposite directions, according to an expert panel at BioProcess International conference.

Bioprocess International

‘Beyond revolutionary’: bioreactor-in-a-briefcase brings warzone production

27-Oct-2015 By Fiona BARRY

Soldiers on the battlefield will soon be able to manufacture life-saving biologics in under eight hours using a portable briefcase-sized kit.

Bioprocess International

There’s more to single-use than switching to bags, says Amgen

27-Oct-2015 By Fiona BARRY

Changes to biologics manufacturing will have to go beyond swapping steel vats for single-use to adapt to future industry needs, says Amgen’s drug development expert.

Thermo Fisher benefitting from blossoming biotechs, regardless of size

23-Oct-2015 By Dan Stanton

Thermo Fisher has positioned itself to capitalise on the success of small biotechs, the firm says as it reports flat third quarter results.

Puridify's $4m funding pushes single-use purification tech closer to market

23-Oct-2015 By Dan Stanton

A single-use nanofibre-based purification technology could overcome limitations of current chromatography processes says Puridify, which has raised an additional £2.2m ($4m) in funding.

Sartorius: 'Overproportionate' earnings growth led by US single-use uptake

20-Oct-2015 By Dan Stanton

Gains in market share and better-than-expected market environment drove year-on-year sales growth of 36% for Sartorius’s bioprocessing business.

ABEC opens Irish bioprocessing equipment plant

16-Oct-2015 By Dan Stanton

ABEC has begun supplying the Irish biopharma industry bioprocessing equipment from an ex-electronics facility in County Cork, acquired earlier this year.

Dispatches from CPhI

Catalent to expand biologics facility to keep up with capacity demand

14-Oct-2015 By Dan Stanton

Catalent says it is contemplating expanding its Wisconsin single-use biologics facility as strong demand from SMEs and biotechs has almost filled current capacity.

Final designs for UK Gov-backed facility 'weeks away' says Cell Therapy Catapult CEO

13-Oct-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

The CEO of Cell Therapy Catapult says technical designs for the new UK biomanufacturing centre will be completed in the next few weeks.

UK's CPI opens doors for SMEs at new biologics manufacturing centre

02-Oct-2015 By Dan Stanton

The £38m ($58m) National Biologics Manufacturing Centre has opened its doors offering bioprocessing space to SMEs in the UK.

Regeneron to make mAb Ebola drug for trials with BARDA backing

23-Sep-2015 By Gareth Macdonald

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will use it speedy mAb development tech to move an Ebola drug into clinical trials under a $38m (€34m) US Government contract.