Pharma manufacturing news in brief
pharmafile | November 23, 2010 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â Alpah Biologics, Alpha Biologics, Kemwell, Lonza, Phil Taylor, RocheÂ
Facility updates from Roche, Alpha Biologics, Kemwell and Reinnervate, new contract services from Lonza and Patheon, plus a milestone in the production of HESylated proteins.
UK company Alpha Biologics has opened a new process development laboratory at the Babraham Research Park in Cambridge, UK. The new facility is designed to complement the contract manufacturer’s recently-completed $18 million biomanufacturing plant in Penang, Malaysia, with earlier-stage manufacturing services including bioprocess development, scale-up and optimisation.
One of the casualties of Roche‘s recently announced manufacturing cutbacks is the company’s Boulder plant in Colorado, USA, which focuses on the production of peptides and employs 280 staff. The facility – which was originally part of Syntex before being acquired by Roche 16 years ago, has been put up for sale.
Swiss contract manufacturer Lonza has partnered with California Peptide Research Inc (CPRI) to provide small scale synthesis of peptides to the North American market, complementing its existing capabilities across Europe and in Asia. The company said the alliance would provide customers with services from research through commercial supply from CPRI’s small-scale facility and Lonza’s larger facilities. Meanwhile, Lonza has also partnered with Dalton Pharma Services to provide customers in North America and other markets with early phase chemistry and kilo-scale manufacturing services for small molecules.
Indian contract manufacturer Kemwell has started constructing a non-sterile liquid production facility at its manufacturing site in Bangalore which is due to come online in May of next year, doubling the firm’s capacity to around 250 million bottles a year. Earlier this year Kemwell partnered with Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim for a 15,000-sq. m. biologics production facility on the same site, with an investment of around $50 million.
UK firm Reinnervate has moved into a purpose-built R&D and manufacturing facility in Sedgefield, County Durham, allowing it to start commercial production of its alvetex 3D cell culture technology in readiness for the launch of the technology later this year. The approach enables routine 3D cell culture in the lab, i.e. more akin to the way cells grow in tissues in the human body than conventional 2D cell culture technologies, where cells grow in flat sheets.
Canada’s Patheon has launched a new service called SoluPath to help customers improve the bioavailability of poorly-soluble drug candidates. Using the approach multiple formulations are tested in parallel in order to arrive at the best version to take forward in development. SoluPath will cover non-GMP formulation using five different drug delivery modalities: micronisation, nanoparticles, lipid-based solutions, co-solvent solutions; and spray drying.
Boehringer Ingelheim and fellow German company Fresenius Kabi have successfully produced therapeutic proteins linked to hydroxyethyl starch (HES) technology at an industrial scale, opening the way for the technology to be offered to pharmaceutical partners. The HESylation technology can be used to improve a range of protein characteristics, including absorption, metabolism, half-life, water solubility and safety.
Phil Taylor
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