The latest from CDMOs, CMOs, and suppliers featuring PCI Pharma Services, LSNE Contract Manufacturing, BD, Avid Bioservices, Aceto, Pace Analytical, and Velesco.

Chemicals/Chemical API Manufacturing

Aceto Acquires A&C Bio Buffer 
Aceto, a provider of specialty materials for life sciences and advanced technology end markets, has acquired A&C Bio Buffer, a manufacturer of custom buffer and chemical blend products used in the manufacturing of bio/pharmaceutical drug products.

This transaction complements Aceto’s acquisition earlier this year (2021) of A&C, a manufacturer of specialty excipients, buffers, and process solutions.

A&C Bio Buffer manufactures over 50 products including biological buffers, process solutions, cleaning solutions and WFI (water for injection) in its facility in Limerick, Ireland.

Source: Aceto

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Element Materials Technology Acquires CDMO Nanosyn
Element Materials Technology, a London-based provider of testing, inspection and certification services, has acquired Nanosyn, a Santa Clara, California-based CDMO.

Nanosyn offers services for drug discovery and small-batch manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients. The company operates three facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area with combined space of approximately 100,000 square feet.

Source: Element Materials Technology and Nanosyn

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Biologics Manufacturing

Avid Bioservices To Build New Viral-Vector Development, Mfg Facility
Avid Bioservices, a biologics CDMO, has announced plans to construct a viral-vector development and manufacturing facility in Costa Mesa, California to expand into the cell- and gene-therapy market.

The planned 53,000-square-foot viral vector development and manufacturing facility is approximately five miles from Avid’s existing operations in Tustin, California. The company says it expects the entire new facility buildout to take up to 18 months at an estimated cost of approximately $65 million to $75 million. The new facility’s analytical and process development laboratories are expected to come on line sooner, with the potential to be operational within six-to-eight months.

This investment into viral vector services follows Avid’s recent investments in its existing biologics manufacturing capacity through ongoing expansions at its Myford manufacturing facility in Tustin.

Additionally, Avid has appointed Drew Brennan, a CDMO business development executive, as General Manager of Viral Vector Technologies to oversee all business activities related to Avid’s expansion into the cell- and gene-therapy market. He most recently spent more than a decade in senior sales and operations positions at Novasep, a Lyon, France-based CDMO of active pharmaceutical ingredients and antibody drug conjugates.

Source: Avid Bioservices

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Formulation Development/Drug-Product Manufacturing

PCI To Acquire LSNE; LSNE To Expand Lyophilization Capacity
PCI Pharma Services, a CDMO and contract provider of packaging services, has agreed to acquire LSNE Contract Manufacturing, a CDMO of fill–finish and lyophilization services.

With the addition of LSNE, PCI says it will be able to offer integrated large- and small-molecule services, including expanded global manufacturing capabilities in complex formulations, high potency, and lyophilization for a range of injectables, including nanoparticles, mRNA, monoclonal antibodies, proteins, oligonucleotides, and other biologics in vials, bottles, pre-filled syringes and autoinjectors.

The acquisition adds five facilities in the US (New Hampshire and Wisconsin) and Europe (Spain), with a sixth expecting approval over the coming months (as reported on October 12, 2021), and three additional facilities under development, to advance the PCI’s global 30-site network.

Additionally, LSNE has expanded its sterile drug-product lyophilization capacity at its parenteral-drug manufacturing facility in Madison, Wisconsin with the installation of a new lyophilizer. The Madison capacity increase is one step in a company-wide lyophilization expansion plan adding capacity to all existing facilities. LSNE’s new 120-square-foot commercial lyophilizer is equipped with systems to protect active pharmaceutical ingredients and doubles the lyophilization capacity at the site.

Source: PCI Pharma Services and LSNE Contract Manufacturing

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Pace Analytical Life Sciences Acquires Velesco Pharmaceutical Services
Pace Analytical Life Sciences, a subsidiary of Pace Analytical Services, a CDMO, has acquired Velesco Pharmaceutical Services, a CDMO that specializes in liquid, semi-solid, and oral solid dose product development.

In the coming months (as reported on October 11, 2021), Velesco will transition to the Pace brand. Velesco operates two sites in Wixom, Michigan.  

Source: Pace Analytical Life Sciences and Velesco Pharmaceutical Services

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Packaging

BD Expands Mfg Capacity, Supply for Injection Devices
Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD), a Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based medical technology company, has increased manufacturing capacity and domestic supply for injection devices with the addition of new syringe- and needle-manufacturing lines.

The manufacturing lines represent the public-private partnership between BD and Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). The new manufacturing lines will provide the US government with priority access to hundreds of millions of needles and syringes and advance supply readiness.

In July 2020, ASPR’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority invested approximately $42 million into a $70-million capital project to further expand BD’s operations and manufacturing lines in Holdrege, Nebraska.

The new lines increase capacity of BD’s existing needle and syringe supply capabilities domestically. To date (as reported on October 7, 2021), the company has provided several hundred million injection devices to the federal campaign.

Source: Becton, Dickinson and Company