This week’s headlines include: GSK slims portfolio with sale of rare disease Gene Therapy drugs, The Focus Shifts in Alzheimer’s Research, Healing process after breast cancer surgery may trigger cancer to spread, study says, Sanofi ups the ante in vaccines—big-time—with new €350M plant, and Lonza’s virus factory shows Gene Therapy’s Texas-sized promise.

In Case You Missed It, Recent Articles on Cell Culture Dish and Downstream Column:

Optimizing Virus Production Media for Cell-based Vaccine manufacturing

There has been increasing interest in moving from egg-based vaccine manufacturing to cell culture-based methods. Cell-based vaccine manufacturing is quicker, efficiently scalable and offers more control over the manufacturing environment. There is also the advantage of fewer virus mutations and thus a more effective vaccine. This was certainly true with the 2017-2018 flu season. In a recent PBS article, “Flu vaccine grown without eggs provided measurably better protection this season, FDA says,” the FDA reported that the approved cell-culture based influenza vaccine performed about 20 percent better than the standard egg-based vaccines. This is due to the fact that the viruses have to adapt to grow in the eggs and with this adaptation can come mutations that render the vaccine less effective…

Insights and Innovations From the 2018 World Vaccine Congress

For the past 18 years, the World Vaccine Congress has played a prominent role in educating biotech industry leaders on the latest research, innovations, and advocacy in vaccine development. This year’s World Vaccine Congress took place April 2 – 5 in Washington D.C., with 1000+ attendees, 250+ speakers, and 60+ exhibitors. According to a conference organizer, this year’s congress was both the largest and most successful event to date, with a ~25% increase in overall attendance…

Bioprocessing Technologies for Stem Cell Therapy Manufacturing

In this podcast and accompanying article, we interviewed Ricardo Baptista, Lead Process Development Scientist, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, UK about his impressions on current bioprocessing technologies for stem Cell Therapy manufacturing and possible future innovations…

Significant Growth Expected for Stem Cell Manufacturing Market

The market outlook has proven favorable for regenerative medicines as well as genetically modified Cell Therapy products. The role of stem cells has grown vastly; various stem cell lines are being evaluated by life science researchers for use in effective disease management and biological studies. This trend has provided a lucrative growth opportunity for cell line manufacturers offering specific stem cell lines and related products…

Cell Harvesting – Selecting a technology compatible with cell density and feed turbidity

In this podcast and accompanying article, we interviewed Silke Bergheim-Pietza, Global Product Manager Depth Filtration, Pall. We discussed challenges faced in the cell harvesting step, in particular, selecting the best cell harvesting method based on the cell density and feed turbidity of the process and meeting the demand of increasing cell densities. Download the cell harvesting technology selection guide and use the guide to compare the latest single-use harvesting technologies...

Flexible Downstream Platform Facilitates Adaptation to Scale

In biomanufacturing, upstream titers are increasing as new cell lines and technologies are being developed. This puts pressure on downstream processes, especially the capture step…

Integrating Downstream Unit Operations – Polishing and Concentration Steps

Most downstream biomanufacturing process steps are conducted as separate unit operations. As such, there are a great number of manual tasks including individual instrument function, intermediate handling of material, and product transfer. This high reliance on manual tasks consumes more resources and introduces greater opportunity for operator error…

Global Downstream Bioprocessing Market Expected to Demonstrate Significant Growth

Downstream bioprocessing involves a number of products such as chromatography columns and resins, filters, membrane adsorbers, single-use products, and other products (consumables and instruments). Columns and resins are the most important components of a chromatography system and are extensively used in the separation, recovery, and purification of components of a bioactive sample. In addition, different samples in the drug development phase require different types of columns for separation, and these columns have to be frequently changed to optimize the stationary phase. Also, for the purpose of purification, resins need to be repurchased…

Conferences:

Stem Cell Community Day

The second international Stem Cell Community Day will take place on April 24, 2018 in Duesseldorf, Germany. The event brings together experts from industry and academia to discuss recent trends, achievements, and challenges in bioprocessing technologies for Stem Cell Research. The conference is organized by leading life science company Eppendorf AG. In three sessions, the participants will discuss ways for establishing robust stem cell culture protocols, process strategies for obtaining commercial cell quantities, and challenges related to product purity. Professor Joaquim M. S. Cabral from the University of Lisbon will chair the conference. Dr. Robert Zweigerdt from Hannover Medical School and Karen Coopman, PhD from Loughborough University will present their latest findings in keynote lectures. For more information, please see www.stemcellday.de

Podcasts:

Check out our podcast channel. We have over 20 great podcasts covering drug discovery, stem cell culture, upstream and downstream biomanufacturing and more! Click below to download from iTunes or Google play:

Headlines:

“GSK slims portfolio with sale of rare disease Gene Therapy drugs,” Reuters

“GlaxoSmithKline is divesting its rare disease Gene Therapy drugs to private biotech company Orchard Therapeutics as Chief Executive Emma Walmsley makes good on her promise to prune the drugmaker’s pharmaceuticals portfolio…”

“The way that Alzheimer’s disease is defined for research should be based on brain changes rather than symptoms. That’s what leading Alzheimer’s scientists are proposing in what could be a major policy change for investigating the brain-robbing illness. “We have to focus on biological or physical targets to zero in on potential treatments for Alzheimer’s,” explained Dr. Eliezer Masliah, who directs the division of neuroscience at the U.S. National Institute of Aging (NIA), a partner in the new Research Framework guidelines…”

“Healing process after breast cancer surgery may trigger cancer to spread, study says,” USA Today

“Doctors have long wondered why breast cancer patients are more likely to see their cancer spread within the first 18 months after a lumpectomy or mastectomy. A new study suggests the wound healing that follows surgery may trigger this spread…”

“Sanofi ups the ante in vaccines—big-time—with new €350M plant,” FiercePharma

“Sanofi CEO Olivier Brandicourt took a hard look at the French drugmaker’s operations after he took the helm—and he put its vaccines business front and center in the company’s growth plans. Nothing confirms that decision more obviously than what Sanofi rolled out Thursday: plans for a brand-new €350 million vaccine plant in Canada, one of the company’s largest-ever investments in a single facility…”

“Lonza’s virus factory shows Gene Therapy’s Texas-sized promise,” Reuters

“Sanofi CEO Olivier Brandicourt took a hard look at the French drugmaker’s operations after he took the helm—and he put its vaccines business front and center in the company’s growth plans. Nothing confirms that decision more obviously than what Sanofi rolled out Thursday: plans for a brand-new €350 million vaccine plant in Canada, one of the company’s largest-ever investments in a single facility…”