Deals, Development and Manufacturing

Novavax will sell two Maryland-based vaccine development and manufacturing facilities for Catalent’s expanding gene therapy footprint.

Be The Match BioTherapies and TrakCel have announced a collaboration to provide integrated solutions for companies developing cell and gene therapies.

IVERIC bio and Catalent Biologics have entered into a strategic manufacturing agreement for gene therapy product candidates to treat orphan inherited retinal diseases.

Biotech company Genmab signed an agreement with Johnson & Johson’s Janssen Biotech to develop a monoclonal antibody product using Genmab’s HexaBody technology.

The companies have signed a strategic multi-year manufacturing agreement for the future commercial production a late-phase investigational cell therapy.

Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) is set to host an event in Darlington, UK, on June 26, 2019 to showcase the results of a £11.2-million (US$14.03-million) collaborative project to optimize biotherapeutic development.

GSK has revealed that it has entered into a five-year collaboration with the University of California to advance genomic research and improve drug discovery.

The acquisition will boost Merck’s pipeline for cancer, fibrosis, and autoimmune disease therapeutics.

The acquisition will boost Biogen’s gene-therapy pipeline with the addition of two mid- to late-stage clinical assets and preclinical programs.

A new United Kingdom life-science asset, HIRANI, was launched at a reception at BIO in Philadelphia.

CPI, has supported a project focused on developing and integrating novel recombinant prokaryotic lectins (RPLs) into a biosensor-based platform.

ERS Genomics and Bioneer have revealed the signing of a license agreement for access to CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology intellectual property.

CDMO, Vibalogics, has revealed that it will be acquired by a private equity firm, Ampersand Capital Partners.

The company says it will work with payers to create payment options for its recently approved gene therapy, Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi), priced at $2.125 million.

The companies will develop a new generation of biotherapeutics from cell-line development through to GMP manufacturing.

Catalent expands gene therapy capabilities with $1.2-billion acquisition of Paragon Bioservices.

The partnership will focus on the commercialization of inducible promoters to improve biomanufacturing.

The acquisition provides Valby, Denmark-based Lundbeck with a discovery platform and a US-based research hub.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awarded grants totaling $41.6 million to establish four cooperative research centers focused on developing vaccines to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

The acquisition will expand Pfizer’s rare disease portfolio with an early pipeline candidate for treating dwarfism.

A UK-based company, Atelerix, has revealed that it has closed a second round of funding worth £700,000 (US$911,000).

Vibalogics has increased its single-use bioreactor and purification capacity with a new manufacturing for its specialist oncolytic virus and viral vector manufacturing services as a result of a growth in demand.

Dyadic International has announced its collaboration agreement with Serum Institute of India for the development and manufacture of up to 12 antibodies and vaccines using Dyadic’s C1 gene expression system.

The UK government announced during the ABPI’s recent conference that it is making improvements to the Accelerated Access Collaborative.

AbCellera, Niaid Vaccine Research Center, and Ichor Medical Systems have formed a partnership to develop an end-to-end platform capable of developing field-ready, nucleic acid-based countermeasures against a pandemic strain of influenza.

Novartis will acquire assets associated with Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ Xiidra (lifitegrast ophthalmic solution) 5%, an eye-care drug.

Lonza will provide development and manufacturing services to two of Alector’s neurodegeneration drug candidates.

Samsung BioLogics will provide contract development organization services to drug developer GI Innovation.

The companies have entered into a sub-licensing agreement to develop products based on Dyadic’s C1 expression platform and Alphazymes’ enzyme technology.

The companies will work together to develop observational research analytics to assess treatment outcomes for areas of unmet need in oncology.