Seqens, CordenPharma, Baxter BioPharma, Avantor Announce Expansions
The latest from CDMOs, CMOs, and suppliers featuring Seqens, CordenPharma, MilliporeSigma, Baxter BioPharma, Avantor, Roquette, and August Bioservices.
Chemicals/Chemical API Manufacturing
Seqens To Invest EUR 65 M ($77 M) To Expand Five Sites in France
Seqens is investing EUR 65 million ($77 million) to increase capacity and implement new technologies at five sites in France: its R&D center and four production sites for active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates. The investment in the facilities will support the supply of drug substances for essential medicines in France as part of a plan by the French government to fortify its supply chains in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Seqens
CordenPharma To Expand Peptide Mfg at Colorado Site
CordenPharma announced plans to further invest in capacity and technology for peptide manufacturing at its site in Colorado, CordenPharma Colorado.
Earlier this year (2020), the company completed an expansion of its solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) manufacturing capacity with the addition of an extra-large 3,000-L SPPS vessel. The company plans to invest in new manufacturing techniques to improve the productivity of its peptide assets, in particular through the deployment of process analytical technology (PAT).
In addition, a long-term expansion initiative was approved. Under the first phase of the expansion, customized automated synthesizer production lines will be installed to support GMP manufacturing. This infrastructure will further strengthen existing peptide manufacturing in the low- to mid-kg scale range and complement current large-scale manufacturing capabilities at CordenPharma Colorado.
Earlier this month, CordenPharma announced plans to expand its solid-phase peptide synthesis manufacturing capacity at its Center of Excellence for Peptide Process Development and non-GMP manufacturing site in Frankfurt, Germany.
The company provides an integrated supply of peptide active pharmaceutical ingredients to injectable drug products. CordenPharma Caponago, its facility in Italy, is dedicated to the formulation development and drug-product manufacturing of sterile injectables.
Source: CordenPharma
Biologics Manufacturing
MilliporeSigma, Transcenta in Pact for Continuous Biomanufacturing
MilliporeSigma and Transcenta, a Shanghai-based biopharmaceutical company, have entered into a strategic technology collaboration for continuous manufacturing of protein therapeutics.
Transcenta and MilliporeSigma will converge single-use, continuous, and digital bioprocessing technologies for the further development of Transcenta’s integrated continuous bioprocessing (ICB) platform. As part of the initiative, Transcenta and MilliporeSigma will co-develop a single-use flow-through polishing system, one of the key elements of Transcenta’s ICB platform.
The first phase of this multi-year partnership will focus on developing and designing the process technologies, single-use systems and automation. The second phase will focus on an expanded scope of process and digital technologies to optimize a continuous manufacturing process. This collaboration will use MilliporeSigma’s BioContinuum Platform and knowledge in continuous bioprocessing to implement continuous bioprocessing in China.
Source: Transcenta and MilliporeSigma
Formulation Development/Drug Product Manufacturing
Baxter BioPharma To Invest $50 M To Expand Fill–Finish Mfg
Baxter BioPharma Solutions plans to invest $50 million to expand its sterile fill–finish manufacturing facilities in Bloomington, Indiana.
The planned expansion of existing facility infrastructure includes construction of a new 25,000-square-foot warehouse, a new filling line for flexible plastic containers, a high-speed automated syringe fill line, and a new high-speed automated visual inspection line.
Construction is currently underway and is expected to be completed in 2021. Contract product manufacturing in the expanded facilities is expected to begin in 2022. The new facilities will support programs that are expected to add approximately 100 new jobs at the site.
The expansion is being funded by a combination of Baxter and a client investment. Additional details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Source: Baxter International
August Bioservices To Invest $64.7 M To Expand Sterile Mfg
August Bioservices, a Nashville, Tennessee-headquartered CDMO (formerly PMI Biopharma Solutions), has announced it will invest $64.7 million to expand its sterile manufacturing operations.
The investment will allow the company to expand services within its current facility and to build a 60,000-square-foot commercial manufacturing facility in Nashville. The first phase of the project, which is slated to be completed in late 2021, will expand the company’s existing Nashville facility by adding technologies such as lyophilization and terminal sterilization to its existing fill–finish manufacturing capabilities.
The second phase of the project involves the construction of a new drug development and manufacturing facility that will feature multiple high-speed production lines for commercial- scale production across an array of sterile injectables containers, including vials, IV bags and prefilled syringes.
Source: August Bioservices
Roquette Launches Vegetarian Softgel Capsules
Roquette, a provider of excipients and food ingredients, has launched pharmaceutical-grade vegetarian softgel capsules using pea starch technology.
The Lycagel system consists of pea starch, carrageenan, a setting agent sourced from marine macro algae, sorbitol, and a jellifying agent.
Source: Roquette
General
Avantor Opens New European Biorepository Facility
Avantor, a supplier of ultra-high-purity materials for the life sciences and advanced technology industries, has opened a new biorepository and sample archiving facility in Frankfurt, Germany.
Located near the international airport in Frankfurt, Germany, the new facility enables researchers to have access to their samples for future research and analysis or study validation within 24 hours.
The new facility complements the company’s US campus in Leesburg, Virginia and its other campus located near Nice, France.
Source: Avantor
