The latest from CDMOs, CMOs, and suppliers featuring AGC Biologics, Piramal Pharma Solutions, Agno Pharma and LTS.  

Chemicals/Chemical API Manufacturing 
* Piramal Pharma Completes $57-M Expansion of UK ADC Mfg Facility 
Biologics Manufacturing 
* AGC Biologics Plans New Biomanufacturing Facility in Japan 
Formulation Development/Drug Product Manufacturing 
* CDMO Agno Pharma To Acquire Lubrizol’s Particle Sciences 
* LTS Receives $4.3-M Grant from Gates Foundation for Microneedles Array Patches  

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Chemicals/Chemical API Manufacturing 

Piramal Pharma Completes $57-M Expansion of UK ADC Mfg Facility 
Piramal Pharma Solutions, a CDMO of active pharmaceutical ingredients and drug products, has opened its expanded antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) manufacturing facility in Grangemouth, Scotland, UK, with an investment of £45 million ($57 million). 

This expansion increases the site’s capacity by approximately 70% to 80% to enable scale-up of commercial ADC manufacturing batches. The capacity expansion features two new ADC manufacturing suites to complement the existing three and has been designed to accommodate further expansion. Potential future enhancements may include a new sterile fill–finish suite dedicated to ADCs and two additional large-scale manufacturing suites capable of handling increased batch sizes.  

Source: Piramal Pharma Solutions 

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Biologics Manufacturing 

AGC Biologics Plans New $350 M Biomanufacturing Facility in Japan  
AGC Biologics, a contract biologics manufacturer, has announced an investment of JPY 50 billion ($350 million) to construct a new manufacturing facility at its Yokohama Technical Center in Japan.  

The new facility will offer preclinical through commercial services for mammalian-based protein biologics, cell therapies, and messenger RNA (mRNA). The site will house multiple 2,000-L single-use bioreactors and several 4,000-L or larger reactors for mammalian cell culture services. The facility is expected to be operational in 2026, and once fully operational, employ 400 people.   

AGC Biologics is building this facility with a grant from the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as part of a government initiative to develop bio/pharmaceutical manufacturing sites to strengthen vaccine production in the region, which was announced in October 2022. The company currently operates one site in the region, in Chiba, Japan, which provides mammalian expression and microbial fermentation services.   

Source: AGC Biologics 

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Formulation Development/Drug Product Manufacturing 

CDMO Agno Pharma To Acquire Lubrizol’s Particle Sciences 
Agno Pharma, a Piscataway, New Jersey-based CDMO of active pharmaceutical ingredients and drug products, has agreed to acquire Lubrizol’s Particle Sciences business. The acquisition includes the drug-product formulation technology behind the Particle Sciences business as well as the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania development and manufacturing site with approximately 65 employees. 

Founded in 1991, Particle Sciences specializes in preclinical and clinical-stage drug-product formulation and provides supporting services, including analytic, bioanalytic, physical characterization, and manufacturing. Lubrizol acquired Particle Sciences in 2015.  

The acquisition of Particle Sciences will provide Agno with expanded capability and capacity to extend its drug-product formulation and clinical manufacturing services. Following the acquisition, Agno says it plans to further invest in its clinical-scale manufacturing services from sterile liquid manufacturing and filling services to micronization of sterile powder-filling capabilities/ 

Source: Agno Pharma 

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LTS Receives $4.3-M Grant from Gates Foundation for Microneedles Array Patches  
LTS, a drug-delivery technology company, has received a $4.3-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the development of microneedle array patches (MAP) for self-administration of contraceptives for women in low- and middle-income countries. The grant will fund $4.3 million over a duration of 25 months. 

MAPs are a drug-delivery technology that may provide advantages over other established drug-delivery applications for contraception such as fewer side effects, potentially improved bioavailability, and self-administration.  The MAP contraceptive is planned as a long-acting application (six months).  

Source: LTS