Supplier News: Bora, Recipharm, Olon & More
The latest from CDMOs, CMOs, and suppliers featuring Bora Pharmaceuticals, Recipharm, Olon, Evotec, Renaissance Lakewood, Aenova, Rentschler Biopharma, Vetter, and Cardinal Health.
Chemicals/Chemical API Manufacturing
* Olon Acquires API & Intermediates Producer Huvepharma Italia
Biologics Manufacturing
* Bora Biologics, Tanvex To Merge Biomanufacturing Facilities
* Rentschler Biopharma Launches Lentiviral Mfg Toolbox
Formulation Development/Drug Product Manufacturing
* Drug Product CDMO Renaissance Lakewood Opens New Warehouse
* Aenova Adds New Gummy Mfg Line
* Vetter Completes 100 Aseptic Fills at EU Site
General
* Recipharm Completes Sale of Seven Sites to Private Equity Firm
* Evotec’s Chief Business Officer Steps Down
* Cardinal Health Opens New Cell- & Gene-Therapy Logistics Center
Chemicals/Chemical API Manufacturing
Olon Acquires API & Intermediates Producer Huvepharma Italia
Olon, a CDMO of small-molecule and biologic drug substances, has agreed to acquire HuvePharma Italia, a CDMO of active pharmaceutical ingredients and advanced intermediates, and its site in Garessio, Cuneo, Italy.
The acquisition plan involves a complete operational integration of Huvepharma Italia and a plan to bring the Garessio plant to full production capacity. With this latest acquisition, Olon now totals nine manufacturing plants in Italy and a total reaction capacity of 3,250 cubic meters.
Source: Olon
Biologics Manufacturing
Bora Biologics, Tanvex To Merge Biomanufacturing Facilities
Bora Pharmaceuticals, a Taipei City, Taiwan-based bio/pharmaceutical company and CDMO of drug products, has announced a strategic investment into Tanvex Biopharma, a San Diego, California-based CDMO of biologics and biosimilars developer, whereby Bora Biologics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bora and a biologics CDMO, and Tanvex will combine their biomanufacturing facilities.
The investment will bring together Bora’s CDMO capabilities, including new fill–finish capabilities in Maryland, with Tanvex’s scale, development expertise and commercial-scale facility in San Diego. Bora also operates facilities in Taiwan for various other dosage forms (solid dosage, liquids, semi-solids, and ophthalmic dosage forms). Tanvex has over 100,000 square feet of biomanufacturing space and 1,000-liter bioreactors, which complement Bora’s 500-liter bioreactors.
Upon completion, Bobby Sheng, Chairman and CEO of the Bora Group, will become Chairman of the merged organization. Upon completion of the transaction, which is expected in the first quarter of 2025, Bora will hold approximately 30.5% of Tanvex’s total outstanding shares based on the current shareholding structure, becoming the single largest shareholder of Tanvex.
In addition, Tanvex has appointed Stephen Lam as the company’s Chief Executive Officer, effective September 5, 2024. He succeeds Henry Chen, current Chairman and CEO of Tanvex, who will remain the Chairman until the closing of Tanvex’s strategic alliance with Bora. As a part of the new leadership initiated by Bora, Lam will be responsible for ensuring a successful integration, driving the company’s strategic initiatives as well as overseeing Tanvex’s day-to-day operations, including its global CDMO operations and the commercialization of its biosimilars pipeline. Lam has over 35 years of experience in the bio/pharmaceutical industry. including with Lonza, Amgen, and Thermo Fisher’s Patheon. More recently, he served as Vice President and General Manager, Head of Biologics at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Source: Bora Pharmaceuticals (Merger) & Bora Pharmaceuticals (Tanvex CEO)
Rentschler Biopharma Launches Lentiviral Mfg Toolbox
Rentschler Biopharma, a Laupheim, Germany-based CDMO of biologics, has launched an expanded service offering at its dedicated advanced therapies site in Stevenage, UK. The enhancement introduces a new lentiviral vector manufacturing toolbox, adding to the company’s existing adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector services.
Source: Rentschler Biopharma
Formulation Development/Drug Product Manufacturing
Drug Product CDMO Renaissance Lakewood Opens New Warehouse
Renaissance Lakewood, a CDMO of drug products, has opened a new 67,000-square-foot warehouse at its headquarters in Lakewood, New Jersey.
The multi-million-dollar expansion and facilities upgrade of its now 370,000-square-foot main campus footprint in Ocean County, New Jersey, began in 2020 and consists of two new buildings as well as the renovation of its 177,000-square-foot manufacturing building.
The structure will increase Renaissance’s GMP warehouse square footage as well as serve as the primary client engagement and administrative hub for the company. The office space portion of the building opened earlier this spring (2024).
Source: Renaissance Lakewood
Aenova Adds New Gummy Mfg Line
Aenova, a CDMO of drug products, is implementing a new gummy production line at its site in Cornu, Romania. The new gummy line will be launched by the end of 2024 with a capacity of approximately 1 billion gummies per year, targeted for the pharmaceutical and nutrutional markets.
Source: Aenova
Vetter Completes 100 Aseptic Fills at EU Site
Vetter, a Ravensburg, Germany-headquartered CDMO of aseptic filling and packaging, has successfully completed the first 100 clinical batches of liquid and lyophilized vials at its dedicated site in Rankweil, Austria.
Source: Vetter
General
Recipharm Completes Sale of Seven Sites to Private Equity Firm
Recipharm, a CDMO of drug substances and drug products, has completed its divestment of seven sites to Blue Wolf Capital Partners, a US-based private equity firm. The sites included in the sale include five sites in Sweden (Solna, Strängnäs, Höganäs, Karlskoga and Uppsala OTC Development; Pessac in France; and Parets in Spain.
This divestment follows further restructuring of its operations, which included the sale of of its Advanced Delivery Systems (ADS) business, Bespak in early April 2024. Recipharm spun out Bespak to form a new stand-alone organization focused on drug-device combination products and drug-delivery devices for pulmonary and nasal inhalation. Reciopharm and Bespak are owned by the same private equity firm, EQT Private Equity.
Separately, Recipharm has announced the launch of ReciPredict, a platform for quality by design designed for drug product development, tech transfer, and manufacturing.
Source: Recipharm (Divestment) & Recipharm (ReciPredict)
Cardinal Health Opens New Cell- & Gene-Therapy Logistics Center
Cardinal Health has opened a new advanced therapy innovation center for the distribution of cell- & gene-therapies. The new 8,000 square-foot space is located in a 172,000 square-foot Cardinal Health distribution center in La Vergne, Tennessee. The center features a deep-frozen storage suite, including cryo- and ultra-low cold storage freezers to store products between -40 to -196 degrees Celsius (-40 to -320 degrees Fahrenheit).
Source: Cardinal Health
Evotec’s Chief Business Officer Steps Down
Evotec has announced that its Chief Business Officer (CBO), Dr. Matthias Evers, has decided to step down to pursue opportunities outside of Evotec. He will leave the company effective October 1, 2024. Matthias was appointed CBO of Evotec on May 1, 2022. As of October 1, the responsibilities of the CBO function will be distributed across other Management Board functions.
This announcement comes as part of a larger restructuring plan, which Evotec announced in August 2024. As part of its “reset,” the company is rationalizing sites and is planning staff reductions. Specifically, the company is doing the following: (1) exiting gene therapy and closing its site in Orth, Austria; (2) closing chemistry activities in Marcy (Lyon), France; (3) separating manufacturing at its site in Halle/Westphalia, Germany, as a non-core activity; (4) identifying a headcount reduction potential of approximately 400 roles across the company’s global footprint; and (5) reducing its physical footprint through surrendering certain lease agreements
Source: Evotec
