Drug Development

Applying a QbD approach helps address excipient variability and other quality features.

Vaccine development is inherently challenging; however, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, innovations have been prioritized, leading to accelerated development processes.

Aprecia and Glatt investigate manufacturing technologies to widen the formulation design space for oral delivery.

Mass spectrometry and automation are growing in importance for protein characterization, but further improvements are still needed.

As face masks start to come off, bio/pharma’s COVID-19 battle goes on.

Merck has entered into non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreements with five Indian generic drug manufacturers for the development of molnupiravir, an investigational, oral antiviral agent for the treatment of non-hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19.

Since launching the partnership, Evotec and Bristol Myers Squibb have established a pipeline of novel first-in-class targeted protein degradation projects, two of which have transitioned into lead optimization.

DCAT’s annual bio/pharmaceutical development and manufacturing business event, DCAT Week, will take place virtually from July 12–16, 2021, with the in-person even postponed to March 20–24, 2022 in New York City.

Vertex and CRISPR have amended their collaboration agreement to include the development, manufacture, and commercialization of CTX001, an investigational CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing therapy for sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia.

Biogen UK has announced that the UK’s MHRA and the EC have granted marketing authorization for the subcutaneous (SC) formulation of Tysabri (natalizumab).

Catalent plans to add cryogenic capabilities to its facility in Philadelphia, which will strengthen its ability to cryogenically preserve cell therapies and other biological materials.

This new technology could eliminate the need for cold chain storage, transport, and distribution of temperature-sensitive molecules.

FDA has accepted Airway’s investigational new drug application for the development of its novel human recombinant protein, AT-100 (rhSP-D), as a treatment for COVID-19.

Intensified and distributed manufacturing approaches create flexible, local capacity.

Topical drugs are attractive to patients, but these complex products pose challenges for formulators.

Accelerated formulation strategies are a useful tool to reduce development timelines and cost, but key priorities must be considered early on to ensure success.

Despite its importance in drug development, dissolution testing still has some limitations, but advances in automation and real-time monitoring are producing promising results.

Smart, accurate, science-based messaging is needed to advance bio/pharma science.

In-vitro and in-silico tools can help predict in-vivo outcomes for low-solubility drugs formulated as spray-dried dispersions.

The companies will use Ajinomoto’s AJICAP proprietary site-specific bioconjugation technology for the development of Bright Peak’s Immunocytokines.

The companies will aim to establish clinical and commercial supply agreements for Plus Therapeutics’ RNL-liposome drug product at the appropriate stage of development.

The fund will focus on emerging life science companies with novel platforms and methods to improve therapeutic outcomes and those with technologies that support science research, development, and manufacturing.

The move to continuous manufacturing and Pharma 4.0 is resulting in a more data-driven approach to bio/pharma development. Enabling this approach are innovative data systems that can help users improve product quality while facilitating audit-trail review. First used with chromatography, they are now being applied to mass spectrometry.

Hovione has successfully completed the Phase II clinical trial of its ophthalmic formulation of minocycline, Meizuvo.

An integrated CMC provider can help smaller companies to streamline development timelines and reduce project management complexity when compared with multi-provider models.