Facilities

Merck develops new technology to address solubility and speed to market challenges of ADCs

28-Oct-2021 By Jane Byrne

Merck has launched new technology and is set to expand manufacturing capacity to advance antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) therapies.

Rentschler tie-up with XL-protein expands CDMO’s growing biotechnological toolbox

28-Oct-2021 By Jane Byrne

Rentschler Biopharma and XL-protein have teamed up on the manufacture of what they say is a long-acting, hyperactive recombinant human deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I) that may open better treatment options for patients suffering from inflammation, chronic...

Biolife Solutions opens new facility in Amsterdam

26-Oct-2021 By Rachel Arthur

Biolife Solutions and its subsidiary SciSafe have opened a new 40,000 square-foot biorepository Center of Excellence in Amsterdam, located next to Schiphol Airport.

Synthetic biology innovator opens new campus to speed up drug discovery

21-Oct-2021 By Jane Byrne

Absci Corporation says its newly opened campus in Vancouver, Washington, in the US, expands its ability to accelerate discovery and development of biologic drugs.

Novartis signs new agreement with BioNTech for COVID-19 vaccine fill and finish

21-Oct-2021 By Rachel Arthur

Novartis has signed a new initial agreement with BioNTech for COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing: with its sterile manufacturing facilities in Ljubljana, Slovenia, to fill at least 24 million doses in 2022.

Support from venture lender will enable Locus to expand bacteriophage platform and production capacity

21-Oct-2021 By Jane Byrne

Locus Biosciences has entered a credit facility of up to US$25m with Hercules Capital, which it says will support the expansion of its precision engineered bacteriophage discovery platform engine and in-house manufacturing capacity.

EMA approves new Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing sites

19-Oct-2021 By Rachel Arthur

The European Medicines Agency’s human medicines committee (CHMP) has approved two new additional manufacturing sites for Comirnaty in Italy.

Touchlight set to break ground on world’s highest-capacity DNA manufacturing facility

18-Oct-2021 By Jane Byrne

Touchlight, a synthetic DNA producer, says it has received the first phase of planning approval for breaking ground on its new research and manufacturing facility in Hampton, UK.

PTC Therapeutics opens new gene therapy manufacturing facility

14-Oct-2021 By Rachel Arthur

PTC Therapeutics is celebrating the opening of a new gene therapy manufacturing facility in Hopewell, N.J.

Aceto makes further inroads into biopharma space, buys up A&C Bio Buffer

12-Oct-2021 By Jane Byrne

Aceto expands GMP product lines for biopharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing with acquisition of A&C Bio Buffer, growing its manufacturing footprint and strengthening its presence in Europe.

Lonza invests in Singapore to support growth in mammalian biologics

11-Oct-2021 By Jane Byrne

Lonza is investing to expand mammalian development services at its Singapore facility; the move will bring additional capacity for cell culture, purification, and analytical services for mammalian biologics.

Boehringer Ingelheim inaugurates Vienna production facility

11-Oct-2021 By Rachel Arthur

Boehringer Ingelheim has inaugurated a state-of-the-art biopharmaceutical production facility in Vienna, Austria: representing the single largest investment in the company’s history.

Moderna to build $500m mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in Africa

07-Oct-2021 By Rachel Arthur

Moderna will build a state-of-the-art mRNA facility in Africa, with the goal of producing up to 500 million vaccine doses a year.

‘Human error’ at CDMO blamed for contamination of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

06-Oct-2021 By Jane Byrne

A probe has identified 'human error’ at the Spanish contract development and manufacturing organization, Rovi, as the reason for the presence of metal contaminants in Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses, leading to Japanese authorities withdrawing 1.6...

DNA plasmid manufacturer taking orders for mid-2022 production slots at new site

05-Oct-2021 By Jane Byrne

VGXI, Inc, a provider of plasmid DNA manufacturing and development services, says multiple construction milestones have been reached for its new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Texas.

Moderna sets up 'next chapter of discovery' with dedicated science center

04-Oct-2021 By Rachel Arthur

Moderna is investing in a 462,000 square foot building in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to create a purpose-built space for scientific research and development labs.

Thermo Fisher opens Swiss biologics production facility

04-Oct-2021 By Jane Byrne

The operation of the 1.5 million square-foot biologics manufacturing site in Lengnau, Switzerland is part of a strategic partnership agreed with CSL Limited, announced last year, says Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Europe to get new cell culture media hub: Fujifilm site to go live in late 2021

30-Sep-2021 By Jane Byrne

Fujifilm Irvine Scientific Inc has started the commissioning phase of its new 250,000 square feet (22,800 square meter) cell culture media manufacturing facility in Tilburg, the Netherlands; the site joins existing plants in the US and Japan.

Japan backs Takeda stem cell therapy targeting Crohn’s disease

27-Sep-2021 By Jane Byrne

Takeda has received approval from Japan’s ministry of health to manufacture and market its stem cell therapy, Alofisel, for the treatment of complex perianal fistulas in patients with non-active or mildly active luminal Crohn’s disease (CD).

Sartorius to open new plant in Michigan

27-Sep-2021 By Rachel Arthur

Sartorius will open a new 130,000-square-foot (12,000-square-meter) state-of-the art plant in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in late 2023.

Touchlight extends funding round, sees hike in demand for synthetic DNA vectors

20-Sep-2021 By Jane Byrne

Synthetic DNA vector producer, Touchlight, has announced the extension of its fundraising round to a current aggregate total of US$125m (£92m). The financing was led by Bridford Investments Limited and Novator Partners.

AGC Biologics invests in Germany to address booming mRNA industry

16-Sep-2021 By Jane Byrne

AGC Biologics is expanding its Heidelberg facility to create new capacity for messenger RNA (mRNA) projects, and to boost its plasmid-DNA (pDNA) manufacturing capabilities.

APAC region: Cytiva and Wego in capacity expansion move to support single-use technology trend

15-Sep-2021 By Jane Byrne

Cytiva, in collaboration with China's Wego Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, is expanding manufacturing capacity for bioprocessing single-use consumables in China.

BMS joins $75m funding round for French biotech developing pipeline of stem cell-derived cell therapies

14-Sep-2021 By Jane Byrne

French innovator, TreeFrog Therapeutics, which is focused on developing affordable stem cell-derived cell therapies, has just closed a US$75m (€64M) Series B financing round, bringing its total funding to date to US$83m (€70M).

CureVac terminates COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing contracts with Wacker and Celonic

14-Sep-2021 By Rachel Arthur

CureVac is streamlining its external European manufacturing network for its mRNA product pipeline; having reassessed demand for its first-generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

AbbVie, Regenxbio in macular degeneration focused gene therapy deal

13-Sep-2021 By Jane Byrne

AbbVie is aligning with Regenxbio to develop and commercialize a potential one-time gene therapy for the treatment of chronic retinal diseases.

Thermo Fisher Scientific to double SUT manufacturing capacity with new Nashville site

09-Sep-2021 By Rachel Arthur

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will create a manufacturing facility in Nashville dedicated to the production of single-use technologies (SUT) products.

Vaccitech to scale up operations with new facility

07-Sep-2021 By Rachel Arthur

Vaccitech has signed a lease for 31,000 sq. ft at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in the UK, fitting out the facility with a state-of-the art wet laboratory and offices.

Catalent expects to see multi-year revenue from COVID-19 vaccine business

31-Aug-2021 By Jane Byrne

Catalent sees COVID-19 vaccines being an 'enduring and sustainable' revenue stream for the company, particularly with the advent of boosters, and the fact that developing countries, to date, have very low vaccination rates.

CAR T therapy focused Umoja hits manufacturing capability linked milestone

30-Aug-2021 By Jane Byrne

Seattle-based Umoja Biopharma, a company looking to reprogram immune cells in-vivo to create next-generation immunotherapies for the treatment of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, has started work on its new development and manufacturing facility...

BioNTech looks at mRNA vaccine manufacturing options in Rwanda and Senegal

29-Aug-2021 By Rachel Arthur

BioNTech is looking at establishing vaccine manufacturing capabilities in Rwanda and Senegal to support long-term vaccine supply in Africa.

Eurofarma to manufacture Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 shot for Latin American market: Production set to exceed 100 million doses annually

26-Aug-2021 By Jane Byrne

Brazil’s Eurofarma Laboratórios SA is to manufacture Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, for distribution within Latin America.

EMA gives green light to additional mRNA COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing facilities

26-Aug-2021 By Rachel Arthur

The European Medicines Agency’s human medicines committee (EMA CHMP) has this week approved additional manufacturing capacity for Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

Biotage moves to support scale up of lipid production for COVID-19 vaccines

24-Aug-2021 By Jane Byrne

Sweden’s Biotage says its expanded facility in the UK will allow it to triple its production capacity for equipment crucial in the supply chain for the production of mRNA vaccines, and thus eliminating a bottleneck for COVID-19 vaccines.

Lonza to establish drug product manufacturing capacity at Chinese facility

24-Aug-2021 By Jane Byrne

Lonza is to install a new drug product fill and finish manufacturing line at its Guangzhou site in China.

Valneva begins COVID-19 vaccine regulatory review process in UK

23-Aug-2021 By Jane Byrne

Valneva today commenced rolling submission for initial approval of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, VLA2001, with the UK health regulator.

AGC Biologics starts construction at new Copenhagen facility

20-Aug-2021 By Rachel Arthur

CDMO AGC Biologics has announced the groundbreaking of a new multipurpose facility in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Moderna secures extended vaccine supply with Canada, sees regulatory advances

19-Aug-2021 By Jane Byrne

The last week has seen a plethora of announcements linked to Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 shot.

Moderna is anchor client in new Azzur on-demand cleanroom facility

18-Aug-2021 By Jane Byrne

Azzur Cleanrooms on Demand (COD) announced this week that it is expanding its ongoing business relationship with Moderna Inc.

Rentschler Biopharma to use Industry 4.0 to transform manufacturing at new Boston site

18-Aug-2021 By Jane Byrne

Earlier this month, Rentschler Biopharma, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), announced that it had broken ground on its new production facility, adjacent to its existing site in Milford, Massachusetts, in the greater Boston...

Special Edition: Meeting demand for viral vectors

Polyplus launches transfection reagent for large scale viral vector production

18-Aug-2021 By Jane Byrne

Recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAVs) are becoming the vector of choice for delivering gene therapies, says the French firm.

Special Edition: Meeting demand for viral vectors

VIVEbiotech looks to overcome challenges related to LVV production

18-Aug-2021 By Jane Byrne

VIVEbiotech, a lentivirus-specialized contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) that produces vectors for projects from early-stage to GMP production, is working on enhancing intrinsic lentivirus characteristics and streamlining the process....

Artiva looks to commercial allogeneic therapy manufacture with US expansion

17-Aug-2021 By Ben Hargreaves

The company will add an additional facility in San Diego to house research and process development labs, and a manufacturing center.

Evotec speeds from ground-breaking to complete facility in 19 months

17-Aug-2021 By Ben Hargreaves

The company opens the 130,000-square-foot facility, with manufacturing planned to begin later this year.

Nkarta and Sana lease cell therapy manufacturing space in California

10-Aug-2021 By Nick Taylor

Nkarta and Sana Biotechnology have each leased space in California to support their cell therapy manufacturing plans.

Novartis looks to manufacturing investment to drive down cost of siRNA drug

09-Aug-2021 By Nick Taylor

Novartis has outlined plans to drive down the cost of producing its siRNA therapy, Leqvio, to support use in larger patient populations.

Amgen to build biologics drug substance manufacturing facility in North Carolina

04-Aug-2021 By Rachel Arthur

Amgen will build a new multi-product drug substance manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina.

Sartorius downplays threat of Chinese regulatory changes to single-use tech

02-Aug-2021 By Nick Taylor

Sartorius has expressed confidence that demand for single-use technologies will be unaffected by changes to the regulation of biologics in China.

Cytiva and Pall to spend $1.5bn on manufacturing capacity expansion, new hires

27-Jul-2021 By Jane Byrne

Cytiva and Pall Corporation, both subsidiaries of Danaher Corporation, have announced they are to invest US$1.5bn to expand manufacturing capacity across 13 sites globally

Generate looks to in-house stem cell manufacturing

22-Jul-2021 By Jane Byrne

Generate Life Sciences is establishing a GMP facility in La Jolla, California that it says will enable end-to-end manufacturing of newborn stem cell biologics, bolstering supply and safeguarding clinical research.