CPHI FRANKFURT REVIEW
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partner of choice ” for pharma and biotech companies .
Shortly before the show , Aragen had announced the launch of its newly optimised RapTr 2022 cell line development ( CLD ) platform . This royalty-free platform is said to offer a 33 % reduction in CLD timelines and deliver increased titres up to 6g / L , helping to accelerates the process of cell line engineering from DNA transfection in the host cell lines to research cell bank within 18 weeks .
Chinese-based giant WuXi STA had made a large number of investments across the world in the last few years , the most recent being its first high potency oral drug product facility at its Wuxi city campus . This will complement two nearby HPAPI facilities in other cities . The firm will also open a new HP sterile parenteral production plant there in Q3 2023 .
Kevin Li , senior director of marketing and communications , revealed that WuXi STA will shortly announce a new continuous manufacturing line for drug product at the site . He described the firm as a “ unique CRDMO ” because
of its wide range of capabilities at all stages of development .
Further investments
At the time of CPHI Frankfurt , Thermo Fisher Scientific had just announced that it would acquire The Binding Site Group , a speciality diagnostics firm , for $ 2.6 billion . This , combined with a $ 1.0 billion share repurchase programme in Q4 , will bring its capital deployment commitment in 2022 to $ 6.1 billion .
Other recent investments comprised a 28,000 m 2 viral vector facility in Plainville , Massachusetts and two new translational sciences labs in the US . A cell therapy development and cGMP manufacturing centre will open next year at the University of California San Francisco ’ s Mission Bay campus , while a new manufacturing facility for steriles and biologics manufacturing will open at Hangzhou , China , by the end of the year .
“ We believe that new modalities are growing fastest , although small molecules are still of interest ,” said Dr Anil Kane , global head of technical and scientific affairs . “ Patientcentricity is an increasing focus for our Patheon business and its small molecules will continue to support patient requirements .”
Russell Kneipp , the new CEO of Spectrum Chemical , said that the last few years had been transformative for what had historically been a catalogue company active in many industries . “ Customers no longer want a catalogue , they expect you to know what they need and to be able to supply all the relevant documentation ,” he said .
Spectrum has increasingly focused on biopharma , notably through the recently launched BioCertified line of products , and has developed its portfolio to offer support from testing through to packing . However , it is also active in small molecules and other fields and expanding its services into China , which , Kneipp said , “ has really taken off in biologics in the last three or four years ”.
Biovectra revealed that it is now accepting projects at its manufacturing facility in Windsor , Nova Scotia , Canada , for its new , biologics fermentation suite . This contains 100L and 1,000L single-use fermenters and became fully operational during November .
“ The new suite enables execution of a state-of-the-art process train that enhances Biovectra ’ s microbial fermentation capacity and supports the tech-transfer , optimisation , early / mid-stage clinical investigation and commercial-scale supply of highly specialised therapeutics and biologics ,” the firm stated .
This followed the addition of two 17,000L stainless steel fermentation vessels with advanced control systems in Prince Edward Island , where the firm has four more sites , over the summer and many others into new modalities over five years , particularly the last two , noted CCO Heather Delage . These have already been used to produce recombinant proteins .
Among European CDMOs , Minakem has made a € 40 million investment in multi-purpose capacity at its
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