Deals, Development and Manufacturing

Technological advances are helping advance biologics development and manufacturing and reduce bottlenecks.

Contract manufacturer SK pharmteco will manufacture as well as conduct testing and release of Ferring Pharmaceuticals’ Adstiladrin (nadofaragene firadenovec-vncg), a gene therapy for bladder cancer.

Under the agreement, Bristol Myers Squibb will have access to Cellares’ fully automated cell therapy manufacturing platform, Cell Shuttle, to manufacture select CAR-T cell therapies.

In back-to-back deals, Charles River will offer plasmid DNA manufacturing services for a gene therapy under development by Axovia Therapeutics and for a lead candidate being developed by Ship of Theseus.

Lonza has made a deal with Acumen Pharmaceuticals to manufacture sabirnetug, a mAb that will soon be entering Phase II development for treating Alzheimer’s disease.

In a $1.8 billion transaction, Genmab will gain three clinical-stage next-generation ADC candidates with its acquisition of ProfoundBio.

Univercells and Altamira Therapeutics are collaborating on nanoparticle-delivered mRNA vaccines, while Andelyn Biosciences and Grace Science are partnering on novel therapies for NGLY1 deficiency.

AbbVie’s acquisition of Landos includes a lead asset that boosts its portfolio in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, while the ADC, ELAHERE, gets full FDA approval.

With the Vacaville, Calif., site acquisition, Lonza gains one of the largest biologics manufacturing sites for mammalian cell-based therapeutics.

In a non-exclusive licensing agreement, Ricoh will have access to ERS Genomics’ CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology to create novel disease models.

ProBioGen and Mapp Biopharmaceutical will use the former’s GlymaxX technology to develop a cell line for an afucosylated antibody that targets Marburg virus infection

Under a new agreement, Chime Biologics will manufacture Domain Therapeutics’ antibody cancer immunotherapy candidate, DT-7012.

Johnson & Johnson’s $2 billion acquisition of Ambrx boosts its pipeline of next-generation ADCs for cancer treatment.

Under a global license and collaboration agreement, AbbVie and OSE Immunotherapeutics will aim to develop OSE-230, a mAb for treating chronic inflammation.

Nona Biosciences and Boostimmune will collaborate to develop ADCs against novel targets using Nona’s proprietary platform technology.

CSL will share access to Cytegrity, its proprietary stable production system for lentiviral vector production, with Genezen.

GSK is expanding its respiratory biologics portfolio with its acquisition of Aiolos Bio and its novel therapy, AIO-001.

BioVaxys has acquired the full portfolio of discovery, preclinical, and clinical development-stage assets of the former IMV.

Under the new partnership, Samsung Biologics will develop and manufacture an antibody for a LegoChem Biosciences ADC candidate.

Through a €2.7 billion (US$2.9 billion) acquisition of MorphoSys, Novartis will get pelabresib, a late-stage drug candidate in development for cancer treatment.

Novo Holdings has entered into a merger agreement with Catalent and will acquire Catalent in a deal valued at $16.5 billion.

With the formation of the new R&D unit, Regeneron will assume full development and commercialization rights to 2seventy bio’s preclinical- and clinical-stage cell therapy pipeline.

Under a new alliance, KBI Biopharma and Argonaut Manufacturing Services will combine their strengths to offer end-to-end biopharma development and CGMP manufacturing solutions.

Through the acquisition of Harpoon Therapeutics, Merck will gain an investigational delta-like ligand 3-targeting T-cell engager under development for cancer treatment.

In a deal worth up to $1.4 billion, GSK aims to acquire Aiolos Bio and gain an expanded pipeline of biologic-based respiratory therapeutic candidates.

MediWound has been granted an additional $6.7 million by the DoD to advance NexoBrid as a non-surgical field care solution for the US military.

Under the collaboration, Boehringer Ingelheim and Ribo will develop RNA-based therapeutics to treat NASH/MASH.

Roche will acquire select parts of the LumiraDx group related to that company’s point-of-care technology, which integrates multiple tests on a single instrument.

AstraZeneca’s acquisition of Gracell includes a clinical-stage autologous cell therapy targeting hematologic malignancies and autoimmune diseases and a proprietary manufacturing platform.

Through Syena, its oncology-focused product company, Replay will develop and manufacture T-cell receptor and natural killer cell therapies with the NIH and Miltenyi Biotec.