Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NSDQ:INO) announced that it received $71 million from the U.S. Defense Dept. to support its Cellectra 3PSP smart device.
Funding from the DoD is set to support large-scale manufacturing for the Cellectra 3PSP and the procurement of Cellectra 2000 devices, which are used to deliver INO-4800 directly into the skin. It may also be used to deliver a potential COVID-19 vaccine.
Get the full story at our sister site, Drug Delivery Business News.
[Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash]
Two U.S. government agencies today announced an agreement with Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) for production and delivery of 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, along with the U.S. Defense Dept., agreed to the large-scale production and U.S. delivery deal once Pfizer’s vaccine is successfully manufactured and approved. In addition to the 100 million doses initially agreed upon. the U.S. government will be able to acquire an additional 500 million doses.
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It’s possible to use advanced analytics to predict biopharmaceutical failures, allowing corrective action to be taken before batches are lost or quality is degraded. A Seeq expert explains.
Joe Reckamp, Seeq
[Chromatography image courtesy of Seeq]
The biopharmaceutical industry uses chromatography processes extensively. Along with filtration, they are one of the most important separation and purification unit operations. These two processes affect quality and consistency significantly.Chromatography is the principal purification unit operation in biologics synthesis, and it requires precise monitoring of column integrity and efficiency. Chromatography columns consist of packed resin or media used to separate solution components based on chemical or physical properties such as size, charge, hydrophobicity, or affinity. As the chromatography column is cycled, degradation of the resin ligand can …
Smiths Medical announced today that it has landed a federal contract to produce more than 78 million syringe-and-needle units and $20 million in federal funding to expand its Keene, N.H. plant to produce them.
The Plymouth, Minn.-based company said it received an order for 78.6 million syringe-and-needle units and that BARDA and the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense will foot $20 million of the Smiths’ $38 million capital expansion project in Keene. The partnership will increase needle production capacity by 125 million units per year, according to the company. The federal government will have priority access to this expanded capacity for vaccination efforts dedicated to COVID-19, flu vaccines and future pandemics.
Get the full story on our sister site, Drug Delivery Business News.
Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) and Catalent (NYSE:CTLT) today announced a collaboration for large-scale, commercial fill-finish manufacturing of Moderna’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate (mRNA-1273) at Catalent’s biologics facility in Bloomington, Ind.
Catalent will provide vial filling and packaging capacity, as well as additional staffing required for 24×7 manufacturing operations at the site to support production of an initial 100 million doses intended to supply the U.S. market starting in the third quarter of 2020. The companies said they are in discussions to secure fill-finish capacity for continued production of hundreds of millions of additional doses. Somerset, N.J.-based Catalent will also provide clinical supply services from its facilities in Philadelphia, including packaging and labeling, as well as storage and distribution to support Moderna’s Phase 3 clinical study for this candidate.
The randomized, 1:1 placebo-controlled trial is expected to b…
The U.S. Department of Defense announced today that it will dedicate $100 million authorized by the CARES Act to boost medtech and pharmaceutical manufacturing in the U.S.
Working with DOD, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) launched a request for proposals from companies seeking financing under the Defense Production Act, which prioritizes government orders amid a war or national crisis.
Get the full story on our sister site MassDevice.
[Image courtesy of Legacy Pharmaceutical Processing]
Legacy Pharmaceutical Packaging recently announced that it has bought a 215,000-square-foot open-space facility near its St. Louis area headquarters to support widescale third-party logistics and distribution services.The new facility, announced last week, nearly doubles Legacy’s total footprint to more than 500,000 square feet.
The new space allows Legacy Pharmaceutical Packaging to significantly grow its existing third-party logistics operations. The company has plans to divide the open-design building into dedicated departments. There will be departments for new SKU handling and artwork, a retail management team for real-time inventory monitoring and reordering, an automated oversight initiative to best ensure quality and price competitiveness via enhanced efficiencies, and a warehousing and shipping wing to finalize and even deliver finish…
The Princeton West Innovation Campus in Hopewell, N.J. [Image courtesy of Bristol Myers Squibb]
Lincoln Equities Group and H.I.G. Realty Partners announced today that they’ve acquired the 1.2 million-square-foot life sciences campus that Bristol-Myers Squibb owned outside Princeton, N.J.Brokerage firm JLL is helping the real estate outfits market the 433-acre “Princeton West Innovation Campus” in Hopewell, N.J., to life sciences companies as a secure, multipurpose research and development (R&D) and biologic/pharmaceutical manufacturing campus.
“Given the current public health crisis, we anticipate pharmaceutical and life sciences manufacturers to consider ‘reshoring’ and expanding operations in the U.S.,” Joel Bergstein, president of Lincoln Equities Group, said in a news release. “This spacious, modern BMS campus — located in the center of ‘Einstein’s Alley’ in Central New Jersey — i…
[Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash]
A new study by West Health and Gallup revealed that Americans are concerned with potential negative developments resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.Nearly 90% of the 1,016 U.S. adults surveyed between May 11, 2020, and May 22, 2020, said they are “very” (55%) or “somewhat” (33%) concerned that the pharmaceutical industry will leverage the ongoing pandemic to raise drug prices. According to a news release, Democrats (66%) were more likely to say they are concerned than independents (52%) and Republicans (49%).
Other concerns raised include, to a lesser extent, rising health insurance premiums and the general cost of care, with 79% of those surveyed saying they are very or somewhat concerned about their premiums. Additionally, 84% said they are very or somewhat concerned about the cost of care generally rising and 41% are very con…
The U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services (HHS) and Dept. of Defense (DoD) announced a joint effort to increase manufacturing for vials earmarked for COVID-19-related drugs and vaccines.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), as part of HHS, collaborated with DoD to provide funding for U.S.-based companies Corning Inc. and SiO2 Materials Science.
Under the Trump Administration’s “Operation Warp Speed,” HHS and DoD plan to scale up domestic manufacturing capacity for the vials that could be needed for vaccines and drugs in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as well as future public health emergencies, according to a news release.
BARDA is partnering with and offering $204 million to Corning in return for manufacturing capacity expansion to produce an additional 164 million Valor glass vials each year if needed. Corning will accelerate manufacturing at its facilities in Durham, N.C., Big Flats, N.Y…
Sherlock Biosciences announced today that it will collaborate with Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) to enable large-scale manufacturing of the Sherlock CRISPR SARS-CoV-2 kit for COVID-19 detection.
Officials at Cambridge, Mass.–based Sherlock Biosciences think the company’s CRISPR-based diagnostic test, which recently received an FDA emergency use authorization, will increase testing capacity and decreasing time to result amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The company says the test provides specific and sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2, with no need for specialized instruments to complete a test. It’s used on standard laboratory equipment, which provides a minimal footprint and helps enable a turnaround time of only about an hour.
IDT (Coralville, Iowa) is supplying several key components for the test kits, including the Cas13a enzyme on which the test is based, as well as CRISPR RNA (crRNA) and primer mix.
“Through this strategic …
Canada reportedly signed a contract to purchase 37 million syringes from Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) in preparation for a potential COVID-19 vaccine.
A report in The Record revealed that Public Services & Procurement Minister Anita Anand said the country made a purchase order from the Canadian branch of BD in an effort to make sure Canada is ready for mass vaccinations if the cure for COVID-19 is discovered. There is no definitive timeline for the delivery of the syringes as of now.
Get the full story on our sister site MassDevice.