Creating a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine is just the first step. Recent media reports suggest that making it will also be a major challenge. There are presently a number of vaccine candidates around the world that are showing promise and entering the clinical studies phase — a speed of development usually unheard of in…

Phlow announced today that it received $354 million in U.S. government funding to manufacture essential medicines at risk of shortage, including those involved in the COVID-19 pandemic response. Richmond, Va.–based Phlow’s manufacturing is being funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the office of Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR)…

ACG (Mumbai, India) announced today that the nonprofit Clean Label Project has certified its ACGcaps H+. Clean Label Project certification signifies that a product has met strict and comprehensive testing to demonstrate a priority on purity and environmental sustainability, according to ACG. The nonprofit evaluates test results against California Proposition 65, which is meant to…

Gilead Sciences’ (NSDQ:GILD) said Tuesday that it has signed licensing agreements with five generic pharmaceutical manufacturers based in India and Pakistan to further expand supply of remdesivir, the experimental drug being used in the U.S. to treat COVID-19. The non-exclusive, voluntary agreements allow the companies — Mylan (NSDQ:MYL), Cipla, Ferozsons Laboratories, Hetero Labs and Jubilant Lifesciences — to manufacture remdesivir for distribution in 127…

Pfizer is turning to its 200-strong network of outside contractors to make more of its existing medicines as it prepares for a potential COVID-19 vaccine, according to media reports. The New York–based pharmaceutical giant said May 5 that it will invest at-risk to produce millions of doses of a coronavirus vaccine in 2020, boosting production…

U.K. scientists have joined a research effort in India to help solve distribution problems around whatever COVID-19 vaccine hopefully emerges from global efforts, according to a recent news release from the University of Birmingham. Backed by the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, experts from the University of Birmingham and Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh are investigating the challenge involved…

Quartic.ai and Bright Path Labs announced today that they’ve agreed to develop an AI-powered continuous manufacturing platform for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and other small molecule drugs. The technology will use Bright Path Labs’ continuous bioreactor and the Quartic.ai smart manufacturing technology. The companies are touting the technology as a way to diversify supplies of APIs, many…

Pharmaceutical giant  AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) has won U.S. antitrust approval for its purchase of Allergan (NYSE:AGN) for $63 billion in cash and stock. The purchase is seen as a hedge against the impending expiration of U.S. patents on AbbVie’s blockbuster drug, Humira. North Chicago-based AbbVie announced the deal in June 2019, but ran up against U.S. Federal Trade Commission…

Evonik recently announced that it will spend an initial €25 million (equivalent to nearly $28 million) to expand its Dossenheim and Hanau facilities in Germany. The expansion is meant to meet the growing demand for the contract manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and advanced intermediates within Europe. Evonik expects to complete the €25 million…

Dr. Anthony Fauci said this morning that hundreds of millions of doses of a vaccine for COVID-19 could be ready by January. In an interview on the Today Show, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that a vaccine candidate is in the first phase of a clinical trial. If the second…