Deals, Development and Manufacturing

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and vaccine manufacturer IDT Biologika will collaborate to develop and manufacture a vaccine against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

The companies entered a multi-year R&D collaboration to develop mRNA-based flu vaccines.

Avalon and Weill will co-develop bio-production and standardization procedures for CAR-T therapy.

The companies will collaborate on the discovery, development, and commercialization of cell therapies for cancer.

Boehringer Ingelheim joins Oxford BioMedica, UK Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium, and Imperial Innovations to form a partnership for developing a new gene therapy to treat cystic fibrosis.

The companies will collaborate to bring InnoCore Pharmaceuticals’ proprietary SynBiosys biodegradable polymer platform to market.

Stem-cell developer TiGenix has been acquired by Takeda Pharmaceutical for approximately EUR 520 million (US$604 million).

Frustrated by slow market adoption, Gottlieb maps out new plan for biosimilar competition.

GlaxoSmithKline and 23andMe, a personal genomics and biotechnology company, will partner to research and develop new drugs using human genetics.

The companies will work together to develop novel gamma delta T-cell receptor therapies in various cancers.

CMOs have been active over the past year in expanding their biologics production and capabilities.

Novartis is set to partner with MorphoSys and Galapagos in a deal worth up to $1.1 billion to develop and commercialize their joint investigational, fully human, IgG1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) directed against the target IL-17C.

Waters’ acquisition of Prosolia’s DESI technology boosts its mass spectrometry imaging portfolio.

CELLforCURE will produce cancer CAR-T treatments for Novartis at a manufacturing facility in Les Ulis (Essonne), France.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical will acquire Visterra, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing antibody-based therapies, for approximately $430 million.

The company has received clearance from the United States Federal Trade Commission for the proposed acquisition of Shire, a deal valued at $62 billion.

Biogen will pay Samsung BioLogics approximately $700 million to increase its stake in Samsung Bioepis to approximately 49.9%.

The pharma major intends to spinoff Alcon as a stand-alone eye-care devices company.

Sanofi will sell Zentiva, its European generics business, to private equity investor Advent International.

The companies will partner to develop T-cell therapies for cancer.

The three-year collaboration will focus on developing vaccines for up to five infectious disease pathogens.

WuXi STA supported the development of hepatitis drug through marketing authorization holder pilot program.

The companies will partner in research for HIV and hepatitis B immunotherapies, and Hookipa will manufacture arenavirus-based vectors for clinical development by Gilead.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals and Complement Pharma will partner to develop a preclinical C6 complement inhibitor to treat neurodegenerative disorders.

The company will provide the first FlexFactory manufacturing platform for cell therapy manufacturing.

Under the contract, AMRI will focus on the development and manufacture of APIs and drug product for Phase I clinical studies.

GE Healthcare and the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) will support scale-up efforts by DiscGenics for a new cell therapy intended to treat back pain.

The gene therapy company is expected to invest $55 million in a new manufacturing facility that will produce therapies for rare neurological genetic diseases.

Allergan will buy a potential depression treatment from Aptinyx.

The new company will develop proprietary RNA-based therapeutics and will provide broad lentiviral development and manufacturing expertise and support.