Supply Chain

Shares of Eastman Kodak (NYSE: KODK) are up two-thirds so far this week after a special committee set up by the company’s board found no lawbreaking in controversial stock trades made by top management in the leadup to announcing a $765 million federal government loan to support a shift to pharmaceutical manufacturing. CEO Jim Continenza…

Teknova (Hollister, Calif.) recently announced that it has significantly scaled up production of its viral transport medium and saline to support COVID-19 testing. VTM (or universal sample transport medium) is a sample collection solution for virus stabilization that maintains virus viability from the point of collection to the testing laboratory. It’s but one of a…

Tiny vaccine delivery patches could solve logistical challenges, but they face manufacturing hurdles. Here’s how Vaxxas is trying to overcome them. Merck (NYSE:MRK) and Vaxxas announced earlier this year that the pharmaceutical giant was using Vaxxas’ High Density Microarray Patch (HD-MAP) platform as a delivery platform for a vaccine candidate. Vaxxas did not disclose what…

Nestlé (VTX:NESN) announced today that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire food allergy treatment developer Aimmune Therapeutics (NSDQ:AIMT). Under the agreement, Nestlé Health Science (NHSc) would acquire Aimmune with a cash offer for $34.50 per share, totaling approximately $2.6 billion. The per-share price for Aimmune represents a 174% premium to the company’s closing share…

Private equity outfit Kohlberg & Co. announced today that it has agreed to acquire a majority stake in pharma supply chain outsourcer PCI Pharma Services. Abu Dhabi-based sovereign investor Mubadala Investment is also making a significant investment in Philadelphia-based PCI. Financial terms of the deal were not disclsoed. Private markets investment manager Partners Group, previously…

Even as a host of companies rush to create COVID-19 vaccines, there’s another looming challenge: how to safely and quickly distribute them. Officials at Honeywell (NYSE:HON) think they have one potential solution with their Aclar Edge bottles and vials, touted as a safer alternative to glass packaging for pharmaceutical products. Kori Anderson, Honeywell’s healthcare packaging GM,…

Shares of Eastman Kodak (NYSE: KODK) were down more than 30% near the close of trading today after a tweet from the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. said a $765 million loan for domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing is on hold.  The Aug. 7 tweet said: “On July 28, we signed a Letter of Interest with Eastman…

President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order meant to encourage the reshoring of pharmaceutical manufacturing to the U.S. The executive order, signed Aug. 6, includes “buy American” provisions for U.S. government agencies’ procurement of essential medicines and reduces regulatory provisions. The Secretary of Health and Human Services and FDA commissioner, consistent with applicable law,…

HHS’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority is helping BD expand operations and manufacturing capacity in Nebraska to boost syringe and needle supplies for an eventual COVID-19 vaccine. Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) said today that the total project will cost $70 million, with BARDA providing $42 million. The company expects the new capacity to be online within…

Emergent BioSolutions announced a five-year manufacturing agreement with Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE:JNJ) Janssen Pharmaceuticals for the parent company’s SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate. Gaithersburg, Md.-based Emergent is set to provide contract development and manufacturing services to produce Johnson & Johnson’s Ad26.COV2-S vaccine candidate at scale over five years, with the deal valued at approximately $480 million for…