This week’s biotechnology news headlines include, Ebola news, Roche building diagnostics factory in China, Actavis in talks to acquire Allergan, Harvard readies animal study of CRISPR for HIV, Hepatitis C Combo approved, and Harvoni for Hepatitis C very effective in studies.

Cell Culture Events

2-Day Workshops on Modeling and Simulation in Biomanufacturing Operations

Bio-G is hosting 2-Day workshops around the country on Modeling and Simulation in Biomanufacturing Operations. Attendees work in hands-on sessions with the Bio-G Real-Time Modeling System (RTMS) to solve challenging manufacturing problems, including:

• Modeling and Optimization
• Production Planning and Scheduling
• Cycle Time Reduction and Debottlenecking
• Capacity Analysis
• Analysis of Utilities and Waste Streams

For more information on the 2-Day Workshops, including cities and dates, go to http://www.bio-g.com/post/2-day-workshops.

Life Technologies’ 2nd Annual, 24 Hours of Stem Cells Virtual Event Now Available On Demand

Register free for the 2nd Annual 24 Hours of Stem Cells presentations on demand.

Please see our summary blog from this year, “The Second Annual 24 Hours of Stem Cells Virtual Conference Begins Today”

November

Continuous Manufacturing in Biopharmaceuticals – November 18-19th, 2014 – Dublin, Ireland

This event has been specifically designed to offer delegates an informative platform for in-depth discussion, sharing of experiences and an opportunity toexplore the latest progress and cutting edge technologies on how continuous systems have been successfully implemented in bioprocessing.

At the conference, don’t miss the panel discussion “Interface of Existing Bioprocessing Trends and Continuous Manufacturing,” panel conducted by William Whitford, Sr. Manager, HyClone Cell Culture, GE Healthcare USA.

3^rd Annual Cell Culture and Bioprocessing Congress – November 17-18^th, 2014 – London, UK

This Congress is an executive platform for over 170 experts working in cell line development, cell line engineering, up and downstream operations, fermentation and biologics production. The Congress brings together leading experts to discuss ways to support this growth and overcome industry-wide challenges, and will be supported by key industry solution providers like Merck Millipore, Eppendorf, UPM, Solentim and Hamilton. Problems to be discussed include cell line stability, cell line authentication, scale-up improvements, contamination control and increasing reliability and consistency between batches.

Please take a look at the website for more detail  http://www.cellculture-congress.com/

December

Cell Therapy Manufacturing – December 3-4, 2014 – Brussels, Belgium

http://www.informa-ls.com/event/celltherapy2013

ASCB – December 6-10, 2014 – Philadelphia, PA

http://www.ascb.org/meetings-home

Headlines

“Outpaced by an outbreak,” Nature Biotechnology

“The international community’s woeful response to the West African Ebola epidemic has been compounded by the lack of vaccines and therapies on the ground. That is why US government cutbacks to biodefense funding should be reevaluated and five-year funding tranches restored.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Three vaccines in development are poised to make significant impact on global public health”

“The Inaccurate And Unfair WHO Attack On Pharma Ebola Efforts, Forbes

“With the Ebola virus ravaging Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, one would think that the World Health Organization (WHO) would be very busy doing what it can to help slow this serious outbreak. Yet, it appears that one of the WHO’s priorities is to attack Pharma as part of the problem. Last week, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan assaulted the industry for not taking an interest in developing an Ebola vaccine.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “The Benefits of Implementing Bioprocess Monitoring and Quality by Design in Process Development“

“Roche to spend $470 million on diagnostics factory in China,” Reuters

“Swiss drugmaker Roche will spend 450 million Swiss francs ($470 million) over the next three years to build a new diagnostics manufacturing facility in China to meet rising Asian demand for clinical tests, the company said on Wednesday.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “2014 BioProcess International Award Winners”

“Actavis in Talks to Acquire Allergan for Over $60 Billion,” Bloomberg

“Actavis Plc (ACT) is in talks to acquire Allergan Inc. for at least $60 billion, and striving to reach a deal that would help the Botox maker rebuff Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (VRX)’s hostile advances, said people with knowledge of the matter.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Last Week’s BioProcess International Conference and Exhibition”

“U.S. Will Test Multiple Ebola Drugs in Clinical Trials,” Bloomberg

“U.S. health officials are planning a clinical trial that would involve multiple experimental Ebola drugs in an effort to speed approval of the medicines.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Raw Material Sourcing for Cell Culture Media – Important Considerations”

“Harvard investigators prep an animal study of CRISPR Cas tech for HIV,” Fierce Biotech Research

“Investigators at Harvard say that they have successfully used CRISPR Cas gene-editing tools to come up with a new approach in curing HIV, a lethal virus that has claimed millions of lives over recent decades. And they’re prepping for animal studies now to see if they can provide some preclinical proof-of-concept data to back up their lab experiment.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Genome Editing and Associated Technologies”

“Gilead hepatitis C drug highly effective in cirrhosis patients,” Reuters

“Gilead Sciences Inc on Tuesday said its new Harvoni drug for hepatitis C achieved cure rates of 96 percent to 97 percent in a study of patients who had cirrhosis and had failed to benefit from prior treatments.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Interactive Scheduling is Key to Successful Biomanufacturing Operations”