GE HealthCare today announced it is investing $80 million to expand contrast media production capacity in Norway. The investment will go toward increasing manufacturing capacity by 30% at its active pharmaceutical ingredients site in Lindesnes, Norway. As a result, the investment will create around 100 new jobs. GE HealthCare officials have committed to addressing the…

The Basel, Switzerland–based Big Pharma company has decided to consolidate the manufacturing for its gene therapy Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi). Plants dedicated to producing Zolgensma were based in Libertyville, Illinois and Durham, North Carolina. The company has announced that it will close the former plant, ultimately eliminating 275 jobs.  Novartis anticipates that the Libertyville site will…

Stäubli Robotics will highlight its robot-based automation technology used for pharmaceutical manufacturing and packaging at the Pack Expo event scheduled for October 23–26 in Chicago. The company will display its technology at booth 18025 at the event The company notes that robots for primary and secondary packaging and palletizing are evolving in complexity to handle…

Contract development and manufacturing organization Lonza has completed the expansion of its highly potent API (HPAPI) multipurpose suite in Visp, Switzerland. The expansion gives Lonza additional development and manufacturing capacity for antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) payloads. The site includes a range of equipment for manufacturing payload linkers. Divided into cleavable and non-cleavable types, linkers are a vital…

The National Science Foundation has granted Purdue University researchers a $3 million grant to explore new pharma waste reduction strategies. While many life science companies have prioritized sustainability initiatives, the pharmaceutical industry continues to generate substantial sums of toxic waste. “It’s a waste problem that causes economic, social and environmentally negative impact,” noted project leader…

The Swiss multinational manufacturing firm Lonza (SWX:LONN) has bolstered its particle engineering services available at its site in Monteggio, Switzerland. In particular, the new site will offer X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) services. XRPD is a rapid analytical technique that offers insight into the polymorph and solid-state properties of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Lonza employees at…

Astellas Pharma (TSE: 4503) plans to establish a biotech campus in South San Francisco, California, as the core of its West Coast R&D operations. Located near Genentech and Verily Life Sciences facilities, the site at 480 Forbes Boulevard will consolidate several Astellas business units and functions currently based throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. The…

Liquid-handling instrument firm Mettler-Toledo Rainin, LLC has expanded its presence in the Interchange Business Park in Vacaville, California, a biomanufacturing hub 35 miles southeast of Sacramento. “We are excited to expand our manufacturing operations in Vacaville,” said Werner Maas, Rainin general manager, in a news release. “The high cost and scarcity of real estate in the central…

LabOps intelligence platform developer Elemental Machines is vying to boost enrollment in the Freezer Challenge, an annual competition intended to reduce the environmental impact of lab refrigerators, freezers and cold rooms.  Organized by the nonprofit My Green Lab and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL), the Freezer Challenge attracts thousands of scientists internationally with a…

The voluntary Net-Zero Standard asks organizations to reduce emissions to near-zero levels by 2050 and neutralize any residual emissions. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) has announced its intent to meet that benchmark by 2040. Pfizer intends to reduce its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 95% and its value chain emissions by 90% from 2019 levels by 2040. To…