Britain will start rolling out Pfizer’s (PFE.N) COVID-19 pill to vulnerable people next month, the health ministry said on Friday, targeting the treatment at people with compromised immune systems for whom the vaccine can be less effective…
The Dish’s Biotechnology News Wrap Up – February 4, 2022
This week’s headlines include: Biden relaunches ‘Cancer Moonshot’ initiative aimed at halving rate of cancer deaths by 2047, Mersana, Janssen Come Together in Potential $1B ADC Deal, Doctors: Cancer patients cured a decade after gene therapy, WHO: In 10 weeks, omicron surge causes COVID cases to soar, Israel signs deal with Novavax for COVID vaccine, health ministry says, and Britain to start rolling out Pfizer COVID pill next month.
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In Case You Missed It, Recent Articles on Cell Culture Dish and Downstream Column:
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Don’t miss our top Podcasts of 2021! I have compiled a list of our most popular podcasts for 2021 in alphabetical order…
Revolutionizing the Standard of 3D Bioprinting with the Corning® Matribot® Bioprinter
3D bioprinting is a powerful tool with the potential to fast-forward translational research for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The concept is simple – depositing cells layer by layer following a prescribed 3D pattern to create tissue-like structures that emulate in vivo environments – but complicated to execute. The long-term goal is to use 3D bioprinting to fabricate viable human tissues and organs for transplantation to alleviate the need for living or deceased human donation. Using a patient’s own cells to bioprint an organ could circumvent immune rejection and translate to better clinical outcomes. While the technology is not there yet, 3D bioprinting could be used to create complex biomimetic tissue models to test novel drug therapies, develop patient-specific treatment regimens, and study complex physiological processes. Moreover, 3D bioprinting can be used to generate large-scale constructs using cellular aggregates like spheroids or organoids as building blocks. The specific 3D arrangement of cells within these models reproduces structural features seen in vivo. The spatial distribution of cells, the cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions provide greater predictive power than 2D monolayer cultures and animal models. Although current 3D models, like tissue-specific organoids, have provided insight into developmental and disease mechanisms, the inability to control the organization of the cells within the structures presents a number of limitations that may be solved by 3D bioprinting. Over the past decade, remarkable advancements in bioprinting technologies (i.e., 3D bioprinters and bioink composition) have enabled the biofabrication of realistic 3D biological structures with improved architectural quality and functionality. However, there are still technological challenges to overcome as the field continues to mature and diversify to address more complex questions…
Biopharma Solutions – What we can Learn from the Pandemic
The speed with which the COVID-19 vaccines were brought to fruition is possibly one of the greatest achievements in biopharmaceutical history. United by a common goal, unprecedented global collaboration driven by innovative technologies has proved what the industry is capable of and has catalyzed progress across the biopharmaceutical industry. In a recent e-book by The Medicine Maker and Pall – Seeking Solutions in Biopharma– experts come together to reflect on the pandemic response and how it has spurred changes in the biopharmaceutical manufacturing paradigm with the goal of helping drug developers move more easily and quickly through different stages from discovery to manufacturing…
Utilizing N-1 Perfusion to Increase Productivity and Intensify Processes
Perfusion technology is a tool to increase productivity that can be applied at different stages during upstream cell culture for biotherapeutics products. Perfusion allows removal of waste by-products and replenishment of fresh nutrients so that the cells are able to grow and reach higher cell densities and higher productivity. N-1 perfusion, the application of the perfusion technology in the step immediately before the production bioreactor, is a good option for processes that exhibit low productivity. Join Claudia Berdugo, Ph.D., Director of Process Development at Catalent Biologics, where she discusses N-1 perfusion and how Catalent Biologics works toward process improvements for each client to enable them to move their pharmaceutical products forward with confidence…
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DAC ERGO takes column changeover from unwieldy to manageable
Chromatography columns are an integral part of many biologic purification processes. As such there has been an increase in the use of large-scale columns, including popular stainless-steel Dynamic Axial Compression (DAC) columns. These columns are flexible as they allow packing of any required bed height to enable a variety of different media types and sizes. In addition, their design allows for a quick, easy and homogenous packed bed as well as an even distribution for plug flow of liquid to achieve better peak resolution…
Cool Tool – OCELOT™ System Control Provides Flexible Automation for Process Precision
The biopharma industry has continued to embrace automation as a key part of creating more efficient, cost-effective manufacturing. There are many options for how to automate systems, but a universal requirement is the need for a responsive, built for purpose automation software. In most cases automation software provides a single interface for all applications, while this may seem convenient, it often can’t be configured to meet an end users’ exact process or mode of operation…
Addressing the increasing demand for single-use technologies and supply chain shortages with future proof systems
In this podcast, we talked with Phil Sanders, Biotech Chief Innovation Officer, Agilitech, about the increase in demand for single-use equipment and consumables and how this has led to supply chain shortages. We also talk about how to address these issues by incorporating strategies like being brand agnostic and designing systems that are future proof…
Driving Efficiency and Ingenuity with an OPC Platform
The regulatory approval of several oligonucleotides over the past five years – combined with the recent headlines around rapid COVID-19 vaccine development – has created significant interest in the oligonucleotide (DNA/RNA) segment of the scientific industry. This includes everything from antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) to lengthy gene transcript mRNA, as well as shRNA (small hairpin RNA), siRNA (small interfering RNA), CRISPR/Cas9 and anti-miR (anti-micro RNA)…
Headlines:
“Biden relaunches ‘Cancer Moonshot’ initiative aimed at halving rate of cancer deaths by 2047,” CNN
President Joe Biden on Wednesday relaunched the White House’s “Cancer Moonshot” initiative, committing the nation to working toward reducing the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years. “We can do this. I promise you, we can do this. For all those we lost, for all those we miss. We can end cancer as we know it,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. The President pledged to bring a “fierce sense of urgency” to the fight against cancer and better support cancer patients and their families…
“Mersana, Janssen Come Together in Potential $1B ADC Deal,” BioSpace
On Thursday, Mersana Therapeutics signed a research and licensing deal with Janssen Biotech to access each other’s proprietary technology in discovering new antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for three cancer targets. Janssen Biotech, owned by Johnson & Johnson, will provide its proprietary antibodies for research, while Mersana will contribute its proprietary Dolasynthem platform to target cancers with large unmet medical needs.
“Doctors: Cancer patients cured a decade after gene therapy,” Associated Press
In 2010, doctors treated Doug Olson’s leukemia with an experimental gene therapy that transformed some of his blood cells into cancer killers. More than a decade later, there’s no sign of cancer in his body. The treatment cured Olson and a second patient, according to the University of Pennsylvania doctors, who said it was the first time the therapy had been studied for so long. “I’m doing great right now. I’m still very active. I was running half marathons until 2018,” said Olson, 75, who lives in Pleasanton, California. “This is a cure. And they don’t use the word lightly.”…
“WHO: In 10 weeks, omicron surge causes COVID cases to soar,” Associated Press
The World Health Organization chief said Tuesday that 90 million cases of coronavirus have been reported since the omicron variant was first identified 10 weeks ago — amounting to more than in all of 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. With many countries easing their restrictive measures amid public fatigue about them, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyeus cautioned that omicron should not be underestimated even though it has shown to bring less severe illness than earlier variants — and cited “a very worrying increase in deaths in most regions of the world.”…
“Israel signs deal with Novavax for COVID vaccine, health ministry says,” Reuters
Israel has signed a deal to buy 5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from Novavax (NVAX.O), the Health Ministry said on Friday. The vaccines are due to arrive in Israel in the coming months, pending regulatory approval. Financial details of the deal, which includes the option for an additional 5 million doses, were not disclosed…