CDMO giant Lonza Group (OTCMKTS:LZAGY) has revealed its plans to establish a new lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The facility will primarily support small- and medium-sized biotech companies. In particular, the facility will help clients optimize candidates by detecting and resolving potential issues in the early-stages of development before starting clinical trials. This move is part…
Genentech invests $450 million in Oceanside campus, creating 150 local jobs
Genentech has announced the construction of a new biologics manufacturing facility in Oceanside, California. The facility, located about 35 miles north of San Diego, will use digital technologies to make the production of medicines more efficient and environmentally friendly. The company hails the plant as one of the world’s most advanced commercial-scale biologics manufacturing facilities.…
Agilent spends $725M to expand manufacturing
Agilent recently announced that it plans to double its manufacturing capacity of therapeutic nucleic acids. The $725 million investment will go toward the Santa Clara, California–based company’s Frederick, Colorado facility. The Colorado plant will get new Train C and D manufacturing lines. The facility already has a Train B manufacturing line, announced in 2020, that…
Athenex to layoff 92 workers as it closes New York plant
The biotech Athenex (Nasdaq:ATNX) plans to close a facility in Clarence, New York, by March 17, according to a notice from the New York State Department of Labor. It will cut 92 jobs in the process. The company also noted it would close its 503B sterile compounding business to focus on cell therapy. In the third…
Why Servblock is still banking on blockchain for pharma and biotech
In recent years, interest in blockchain distributed ledger technology has crescendoed and crashed. Boosters of the technology proclaimed that it could revolutionize everything from the pharma supply chain to business contracts. However, critics lamented that the technology often appeared like an expensive solution in search of a problem. “There’s been a lot of false promises…
Scorpion Biological Services changes name to Scorpius BioManufacturing post-expansion
The contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Scorpion Biological Services will adopt the name Scorpius BioManufacturing after unveiling expanded manufacturing capabilities earlier this year. The company opened a new biomanufacturing facility in San Antonio in October. Scorpius will be headquartered in the same city. A string of companies have also changed their name in 2022. The smoking…
GSK announces plans for new headquarters in London
GSK plc (LSE/NYSE:GSK) has announced its plans to move to its global headquarters to a new building in central London in 2024. The company is currently based in Brentford, a suburban town in West London. GSK isn’t the only Big Pharma company to announce a headquarters change. In late November, Sanofi (Nasdaq:SNY) moved its home base to…
Pfizer to invest billions in plants in Europe
Pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) plans to spend more than $2.5 billion in facilities in Belgium and Ireland as it looks to diversify its product portfolio, according to Reuters. In 2021, Pfizer generated $36.9 billion in sales from the Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine. The company projects its COVID-19 vaccine to rake in $34 billion in 2022, but COVID-related sales…
Catalent lays off workers, expands clinical supply facility in Shanghai
Contract manufacturing giant Catalent has wrapped up the expansion of a clinical supply facility in the Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Shanghai, China. The company is also cutting 400 temporary and full-time workers in Bloomington, Indiana and more than 210 workers in Texas and Maryland. In a statement from Bloomington, Indiana Mayor John Hamilton blames the…
AstraZeneca sells Ohio manufacturing site to National Resilience
AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) has sold its site in West Chester, Ohio, to National Resilience, a San Diego–headquartered biomanufacturing company. Resilience has agreed to maintain the site’s operations and assets while retaining its employees, including executives. The company will also continue investing in the site’s workforce and facility. Privately-held National Resilience also has separately announced that it…